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Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 3, No. 47 - November 25, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................8
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Hawthorne............................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals............................. 5,6,7
Finance..................................3
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
76˚/53˚
Saturday
Sunny
74˚/54˚
Sunday
Sunny
74˚/55˚
The South Bay Cities Show the
True Meaning of Thanksgiving
The 14th annual Operation Gobble provided an estimated 700 families with turkeys and gift cards to help them this Thanksgiving with food for their families. Thank you to everyone who helped our South
Bay families in their time of need. Photo courtesy City of Hawthorne.
Sacred Cows and Curries—
Dining Out (or Not!) in India
Article and photos
by Ben & Glinda Shipley
It will either infuriate you or endear them
to you, but the British, with their astonishing
tin ear for foreign languages, have left a trail
of odd monikers everywhere they’ve ventured
on the globe. Venice, Florence, and Naples
instead of Venezia, Firenze, and Napoli. Frogs
for French, Jerries for Germans, Eyeties for
Italians. Bombay and Mysore for Mumbai
and Mysuru.
In the 19th century Indian Raj, one favorite
culinary mangling gave us the term “curry”—
from the Tamil “kari”, which means nothing
more than “sauce” or “stew”. Even today,
tikka masalas are all the rage in England,
but the word “masala” means nothing more
than “mixture”. Neither of these terms, in
fact, says a thing about the ingredients in
a dish.
But they do key in on one timeless bit of
foodie serendipity, which is that roasted and
ground spices are the key to Indian cuisine—just
like sauces to the French, pasta to the Italians,
broiling to the Americans, and chopping and
dicing to the Chinese. Every venerable Indian
amah guards her secret masala recipe, passed
down and augmented through Lord knows how
many generations. And at the opposite extreme
from fast food, every Indian meal you consume
will be a unique product of that chef’s family,
culture, religion, personal tastes, and mood.
After five years of traveling in India, we no
longer buy pre-mixed powders, but roast, grind,
and mix our own. We still blend something
you’d recognize as curry powder, but only for
western and Jamaican dishes (deviled eggs,
anyone?). For Indian food, there’s nothing
like the aroma that greets the visitor when
you throw together a five-course meal with
that morning’s fresh spices. And it’s really
Best seat in the house for Mumbai street food from Bademiya.
not that ambitious.
The possibilities are mathematically endless,
but savory Indian dishes start in two basic
directions:
Coriander—cumin—turmeric (in the Indian
shops: dhanya—jeera—haldi). Mix in a variety
of other spices, and you have something you’ll
recognize as western curry powder.
Cardamom—cumin—cinnamon (elaichi—
jeera—daalacheenee). Start here, and eventually
you’ll arrive at garam masala.
To these bases, Indian chefs and amahs add
saffron (kesar), peppercorns (kalimirch), chili
(laal mirch), fenugreek (methi), fennel (saunf),
cloves (laung), nutmeg (jaiphal), anise (chakri
phool), dried bay and curry leaves (karee pattee),
and the seeds of celery (ajavaayan), caraway
(shah jeera), poppy (khas-khas), sesame (til),
and black mustard (raai). Not to mention
asafoetida (don’t ask). Not to forget garlic,
ginger, onions, tamarind, and tomatoes. Not
to neglect ghee (butter), coconut, and yogurt.
Like any other cuisine, there are distinct
regional variations in Indian cuisine. On the
west coast of America, you’ll most likely be
familiar with Punjabi, from Northwest India,
Kashmir, and Pakistan (think lamb, tomatoes,
marinade, Tandoor). The British started out in
Bengal in Eastern India, so that tends to dominate
their preferences (the color yellow comes
mouths to demand CPR after every blistering
bite, but most Indian cooking is actually
quite mild. And subtle. Even coconut, which
can overwhelm a Thai curry, is held on a
tight leash. There’s a spice in everything you
eat, but if one taste (cumin?) blows away the
others, you might want to request an upgrade.
Not a lot of alcohol:
Alcohol isn’t necessarily banned, especially
at the big western hotels. And in Maharashtra
and Karnataka, India boasts two of our favorite
wine regions on the planet. And there’s nothing
for atmosphere quite like a gin and tonic on a
steamy afternoon at a crumbling colonial tennis
to mind). One of our favorite styles originated
in Kerala in the south—think seafood, chilis,
and coconuts. In the big cities like Mumbai and
Delhi, you’ll find everything from extremely
sophisticated (and expensive) inter-regional
feasts to some of the most renowned street
food in the world.
Four common threads run through most
Indian cuisine:
Not a lot of chilis:
As Westerners, we naturally expected our See Travel, page 4
club. But Indians just aren’t big drinkers.
Most of the time, with our meals, we take a
spectacularly refreshing mango lassi (mango,
yogurt, cardamom, and mint).
Not a lot of meat: