[Sca-cooks] weird Indian Hindustani stuff

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Makhana are lotus seeds.  They puff up when roasted.  These goodies are either
sugared lotus seeds or else sugar candy made up to look like the puffed-up lotus
seeds.  Like in Europe, sugared seeds are served after meal to aid digestion.

For more quickie definitions of Indian food, see:
http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/glossary.shtml

I can also highly recommmend a book called THE INDIAN GROCERY DEMYSTIFIED BY by
Linda Bladholm & Neela Paniz [Renaissance Books, 2000; ISBN: 1580631436] I
believe Bladholm has also done books to demystify Latin American and Asian
groceries as well.

Selene C.

Devra at aol.com wrote:

> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> I went into the local Indian convenience store --next to the 'mailbox'-- to
> pick up some sugared fennel seeds for the potluck, and noticed some very
> strange lumpy things (looking sorta like the animated models of a molecule,
> or maybe a bucky-ball).  Smaller ones were pinky-white; larger ones were
> bluey-white.  The manager said they were sugar, and he'd seen them make them
> in large pans when he was a kid, but that was all he knew.  Thought there
> might be some special flavor to them, but not whether there was anything but
> sugar in them.  Next-door guy who runs the mailbox said that you used them on
> altars and for festive occassions, but they were really just sugar...
>
> The package says 'Sweet makhana' and the larger ones are Jaipur brand, while
> the smaller ones as "Rose brand".  The label also says 'processed sugar'.
>
> So anyone know what they are?
> Devra (who is easily distracted)
>
> Devra Langsam
> www.poisonpenpress.com
> devra at aol.com
> _______________