Humm okay guys,

I have read the entire forum and comprehend the sentiments of that one individual who had a bad experience in that restaurant..

Well I am a chef myself and have lived and worked in Australia, Sydney extensively. There have been times when I have faced with similar food irregularities.. i.e. Menu being over priced, the quality and standard of food dipping down or under from what it was or what it should be.

However in Auss by law if a restaurant advertises and has a certain dish on the menu they have to follow the standard recipe card; anything below that the Healthy and Hygiene dept has every right to take action if they receive a complaint. Of course only after a formal investigation.

I can honestly say there are several Indian restaurants in Sydney who I personally will never go to or would recommend to any one. Simple facts, when starting the business they provide the customers with excellent service, the food proportion is adequate and the quality is top notch, but once the business picks up they start cutting on their food cost and overheads to make more money.

Thus resulting in poor quality, standards of the food and an average desi dining there feels the food or menu is over priced for what they get on their plate, but on the other hand the rest i.e. locals feel it’s a good deal n good food primarily cause this is not their daily or native food. Its exotic & its Indian.

However a non desi with a passion and zest for Indian food will be able to identify and fell the same as us. But sadly in a nut shell this is the blunt truth be it in America, Australia, New Zeland or in this case Canada.

I feel sorry and let down that I am a part of this industry that feels comfortable to sell out the art of cooking and flavors so cheap just to make quick bucks.

Sorry Guys I hope I can hold my fort and preserve the art of cooking and costumer satisfaction yet being able to make an Ernest living.

Cooking is an Art, a Passion and Creativity in cooking derives from Passion….

Natt..

Any way guys my opinion above is not particularly towards Indian restaurants as such there are other types of restaurants too that have been under screw tinny for such misconducts I believe there is a point system rating in Canada which has to be clearly visibly displayed for the public eyes outside the restaurant to let them know restaurants rating. The same is in Australia we call it the Chef hats and in USA the diamond rating..
Bon Appetite………
Natt

Hi anand,

Dont worry , once we get to canada,my mom is planning to follow close on our heels if we get settled in quickly and then there will be a mami who, according to my hubby, makes the best molaga podi, pulikachal,chakkara pongal,vengaya sambar(which tastes awesome with dosas and idlis) and lots more. Do drop in when she is around and I promise you a great meal.

Here are some recipes..very very simple so you cant go wrong..
Paruppu Podi:
Ingredients:

Tur Dal 1 Cup
Channa dal & Urud Dal 1 Tbspn
Asafotedia 1 full tsp
Dry Chillies (red) 12-15
Salt to taste


Method :

Roast the ingredients without salt,till the Dals are golden brown.
Dry grind this mixture to a fine Rava texture.Add salt to taste.
This can be used for Rice along with oil.



Vengaya(onion) Sambar

INGREDIENTS

150 gms of Thoram parappu (Toor dall)
3 Spoons of Sambar powder
3 Onions -diced or use baby onions(sambar vengayam)
2 springs of curry leaves
4 Green chillies sliced into half
1 spoon of Perangayam(Hing)
3 medium sized Sambar Tomatoes diced in 1/2 inch pieces

Oil for seasoning into which goes...
1/2 tbsp of mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp of Fenugreek(methi) seeds
1/2 tbsp of broken Dhaniya seeds
1/2 tsp of Perangayam(hing)
3 broken dry chillies (red)
one tbsp chilli powder (optional)
1/2 tbsp of Turmeric powder
1 lemon sized ball of Tamarind (add water and extract thick juice) or use about 2 tbsps of ready tamarind paste

2 tea spoons of freshly made paste of Coconut or use ready grated coconut available in the Indian stores
1/2 cup of Kothumalli (kothmir)

OPTIONAL ADDITIVES

You can add vegetables like Brinjal, Lady's finger .Radish, kirai(bhaji) beans , carrots, etc for different variations of sambar.
But VENGAYA SAMBAR means pure vengaya sambar without any additives.

METHOD OF PREPARATION

Cook the dal well after adding one small tsp of Perangayam (hing).
Keep it aside in the cooker for thirty minutes.
Now churn the dal to a paste and keep it aside.
Take the baby onions or dices onions and saute in oil for about three to four minutes.Take care that you don't cook the onions .

There is another variation of adding the raw onions in the Dal and let it get cooked in dhal itself.I have found the second variation better for sambar taste. But try for yourself and decide.
Now add extract of Tamarind to Dal along with salt .Boil the dal till the raw smell of Tamarind goes off.
Now add semi cooked onions and springs of curry leaves and sliced green chillies.Let it boil for about two to three minutes.
Now add three spoons of Sambar powder,one spoon of chilli powder and diced tomatoes and turmeric powder.
Let the whole thing simmer for about six minutes.

Add the paste of coconut now to sambar and slowly heat it on medium flame til it boils for about three to four minutes.

Season with mustard, chillies,fenugreek(methi) seeds,broken dhaniya seeds and Perangayam(hing).

Garnish with finely chopped kothumalli (kothmir)and set aside.

POINT TO REMEMBER
Sambar must be made atleast two hours before you serve .Preferably.The real taste of sambar comes only after two hours of cooking.

Reheat the Sambar and serve hot.!!!

Bingo!! There you are...


Anand, I have already read your earlier posts on settling into canada and your experiences there. Very interesting and informative. Will be a big help to us when we get there. Sure will call on you when we are in Calgary.

Happy cooking...

Hey Anand,
Vegetarianism is bad for ya health in Beef country (esp Triple A Alberta Beef)... You need a steak, a cowgirl ( Canadian MAAMI ) and a bottle of beer to enjoy life there

BTW what kinda job are you in Calgary ? North West or North East ? NE has many Indian stores.. and a few restaurants. Also da hotbed of Gang's

N.W is da reserved area...posh and more quiet. Yeah, I agree with you. The only incentive in living in Alberta is no PST, and that makes a helluva difference. I realized that when I came to Ottawa...(in those days, was an International student ! Fees zoomed up for me )

Also, I was sharing an apt (2 bedroom apt, right near the University) with a Marwari guy and a UP ka Bhaiyya ! Both were in da Chem eng dept. As you know da Marwari guy was a Pucca Veggie.. One day I asked him if he would like to have Chicken...(actually it was on da occassion of Potluck night). He ate it and (Dharm Bhrast kar liya ) and actually started making chicken curry - Marwari style (with jeera and dhaniya ) .. So You see, I actually did "convert" one veggie guy to NV-ism..(not that I am proud of it)

"Now, I seem to like Calgary better than Toronto, as people are a lot friendlier here..."
For your sake, I hope thats true .. I really hope thats true..(esp in da workplace). Have you made contacts there ? freinds etc. ? There is a large telugu association there. I dunno abt a Tamil association, you can find it out easily ...

Let us know abt ya experiences (and also...kepp listenin' to Power 107 )

-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Aur Vaise Bhi, Sharafat ki jab kapde utarti hai, sabse zyaada mazaa shareefon ko hi aati hai"....(From The Dirty Picture)

Warning !! SCAM ALERT !!
http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=4169 & http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=1379
This is a Useful Health related Tip
http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=3865
Please visit
http://www.cmje.org/religious-texts/quran/verses/009-qmt.php for some interesting Information ! (Especially 009.005 )

Power 107 is history. It shut down ages ago.


And... Calgary is much better than Toronto in every aspect. Challenge me if you want with examples.

Moderators

In my opinion the thread in Ottawa_Nerds signature should be deleted. It is biased and has prejudiced views about a particular religion which should not be tolerated in a forum like this. He is quoting so called “Religious” web site, with distorted views on Islam, which is actually hosted by Israelis and banned in most of the Arab countries including UAE, KAS, Oman, Qatar, etc… For example United Arab Emirates’ proxy (try in yr browser http://proxy1.emirates.net.ae or http://proxy.emirates.net.ae/proxy.pac) do not let anybody browsing the net in the UAE to visit this site - (one of many ‘Muslim Religious – Quran translation’ web sites hosted by Israelis/Anti-Muslim elements). (there may be ways to by pass the ISP proxy)

OTN’s intentions are clear. He is trying to tarnish the image of a community as a whole. Healthy discussions are always good as long as we show maturity and respect sentiments of others. There is terrorism in so many nations in so many forms. Be it in Pakistan (sunny shia), India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Iraq, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Middle East, African countries or any other part of the world, it is a menace to the society. I request everyone to avoid discussing them if it is not in good taste. Apparently I didn’t find much participation in that discussion by our desis and it was evident that they were not interested in an un-healthy discussion.

Hope OTN, DIA and others understand… Thank you.

Dear ESMAILP,

Thanks for your concerns.

I checked the website http://www.submission.org" rel="nofollow">LINK (I believe this is the website you are referring to) & looked up the English Translation of Holy Qur'an - I didn't find anything objectionable there. The version I am using at home by Yusuf Ali matches with the one on the site.

I tried clicking on the links you mentioned in your post and was unable to go past the error message.