An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [114]
In private homes, paans are kept in paandaans—brass or silver boxes with compartments and trays to hold all the spices, nuts, and leaves. (A lot of the “Indian brass boxes” sold in American stores are really the outside shells of paandaans.) While the paan leaf is unavailable in America, a great many of the spices are obtainable, and can easily be served after meals to departing guests. Here are some of them. Put them into silver or glass bowls or place them in tiny mounds on a silver tray.
BETEL NUTOR SUPARI This is a round, hard nut, requiring a special cutter (sarota) to cut it into sections. You can, however, get it already cut up. To the uninitiated, it seems hard, unyielding, and fairly tasteless. It does soften if sucked for long. It has a unique mild taste, which needs, perhaps, to be acquired.
Much easier on the palate are the scented and powdered suparis available in packages at many specialty stores. They are often mixed with other seeds, nuts, and spices. If you ever travel Air India, along with the candy offered at takeoff and landing they will also offer you tiny packets of scented supari.
CARDAMOM OR ELAICHI Indians eat whole pods as well as the separated seeds. There are two varieties of pods available in America: one slightly greenish and the other off-white. The green one is much better for eating. The seeds are sucked and chewed slowly, allowing the flavor to linger in the mouth. In India the cardamom seeds can also be bought scented and covered with vark.
FENNEL SEEDS OR SONF These are easy to buy and very refreshing to taste. Their slightly nutty, slightly licoricelike flavor is very popular with all my American friends. Though you can eat them raw, they taste better if they are dry-roasted first. Dry-roast about a cupful at a time by placing the seeds in a heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium flame and stirring them until the seeds get very lightly browned. Cool and store in a lidded jar. In the Punjab, fennel is served with misri, grains of old-fashioned rock candy.
CLOVESOR LONG Indians actually suck cloves. They break off and discard the small, peppercornlike ball on the top of the clove, which is too sharp (not all cloves have it), and pop the rest into their mouths like candy. It is very refreshings—and not as harmful to the teeth! You will often see fashionable young Indian misses take out little silver boxes from their little silver purses, remove cloves and cardamom seeds from them, and delicately place these spices on their tongues when mouth fresheners seem suddenly called for!
List of sources
NOTE
Every store that has a mail-order business is willing to label ingredients that are ordered by mail. It is useful to request that your orders be labeled because it is often difficult to decipher the various spices unless you are familiar with Indian cooking.
CALIFORNIA
Bazaar of India
1331 University Avenue
Berkeley, California 94702
Retail shop open at regular hours
Mail-order business (catalogue available)
Minimum for mail orders $5.00
Bezjian Grocery
4725 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90029
Retail shop open at regular hours
Mail-order business (catalogue available)
Minimum for mail orders $10.00
Haig’s Delicacies
441 Clement Street
San Francisco, California 94118
Retail shop open at regular hours
Mail-order business (catalogue available)
Minimum for mail orders $10.00
COLORADO
America Tea, Coffee and Spice Company
1511 Champa Street
Denver, Colorado 80202
Retail shop open at regular hours
Mail-order business (catalogue available)
Minimum for mail orders $5.00
CONNECTICUT
India Health