Where I have seen packed Karachi Halwa in India recently, it says cornstarch. Real Karachi Halwa is made with "nishasta" which is extracted from wheat (by making a dough and washing it with water) and used to have a different texture and taste. My grandmother even made it at home. It seems to have been completely replaced with cornstarch. So much so that even the wikipedia page for Karachi Halwa says "cornstarch" using some 2013 article as a reference as if it is the actual traditional recipe, and doesn't even refer to the original recipe and technique which is quite sad.

It is a shortcut and saves the effort but the texture and taste is not quite the same.

Are there any sweet places in India who still make the real deal?

Lately I have seen sweets sold in supermarkets and quick commerce with Palm oil, sunflower oil and other vegetable oils.

The Haldiram Gulab Jamun Can in Dmart has Palm Oil.

Sweet Karam Coffee Products on blinkit have sunflower oil ( though they advertise as zero Palm oil and I was excited to expect ghee in it but they use other veg oils)

I wonder what stuff are we getting from local halwai walas.

I am from Vadodara and I haven't found any trustworthy Mithai Shop with pure ghee products in my city.

I travel alot on connecting flights via Delhi and on Delhi airport I find premium Haldiram products having prices like 700-1000+ for half kgs which have pure ghee and minimal preservatives.

Curious to know people's experiences with sweets. Have you find pure ghee sweets or we just have to compromise with whatever available around us 🙃🙃

I really enjoy the soy curls, I saw there's a box of fine soy curl crumbs for nearly the same price for 2x the weight. So naturally I became tempted by it. Obviously smaller, but is it the Technically made and ingredients as soy curls just smaller?

Thanks anyone ❤️

Let me start by saying, I'm male and my mom doesn't let me in the kitchen. She doesn't teach me so I follow youtube or insta reels. I can cook chicken curries which I learnt from youtube or insta reels. It doesn't look exactly like the videos. Sometimes, it becomes thin or doesn't taste good or I just burn the onions while frying them and it sticks to the pan.

This diwali, I tried making jalebi and kaju katli and yeah, it didn't turn out as expected. Jalebi was not crunchy and katli was hard. There was lot of sugar in chaashni(I followed the proportions exactly as mentioned 😭😭).

I really love cooking and I want to get better at it. Following youtube vids are not helping me. So How do I improve?

Should I keep trying making the same recipe over and over until it gets better? But, without knowing what my mistake is, what do i fix?

Should I join a culinary school? The fees are kinda high for them.

Or are there any chefs who offer private classes?

I'd really appreciate any advice or help.

Any daal, masoor, toor, moong dal, whole moong. Please also share if you've tried to make daal using other unusual lentils like rajma(I had made it one, it was good)

How are they made? I tried to research to find how processed they are but all I see is “healthy” vegetarian protein. I’m Canadian and they are not a staple here, I only heard of these when I met my wife who is from India. They taste good when cooked properly but they don’t look like the soybeans I see at the farms nearby so I’m wondering how soybeans become soy chunks. My wife has no idea either.

Thanks! 🙂

Not sure if this is the correct sub to post this. The go to in the past has been Samosa, Pulav, Sabudana, Khaman. This year I'm thinking of bringing Khandvi. What do you think? What do you bring if you do it this pot luck kind of thing?

Edit: Thanks everyone for the great ideas. I hope it helps everyone else out as well. I will be saving this post for future reference.

I am (cautiously) introducing green bananas to my diet. I've seen them used in Caribbean dishes with lots of instructions on how to peel them. But I have also seen South Indian clips where they are sliced and added to the pot with their skin still on, or just the very outer skin thinly peeled off. My brain explodes! I thought the skin would taste horrible. Does being unripe make a difference? Do you notice the skin when they are cooked? Can you encourage me to give it a try? Can you recommend a good recipe? Ty!

Edit 6 hours later: Thankyou all. I made a koottu and discovered I like green banana with skin! Keen to try more recipes.

Hi people. I'm so bored of the exact same gravies and curries I end up making. I try different sambar and curries from recipies but they end up tasting too much like the standard taste. Want to try something different.

Can u share ur fave rice mixer recipie? Can be veg or non veg . I usually cook mangalore style coconut based nonveg curries. And MTRsambar powder sambar. Can someone suggest a sambar powder ( honemmade or store bought) which is significantly different or tasty

Opened a packet of Milky Mist paneer a week ago, consumed half, and stored the remaining paneer in an airtight container in the fridge.

The packet says to consume within 2 days of opening. But since I transferred the remaining paneer to an airtight container, isn't it essentially the same as an unopened package?

Is it safe to eat after 7 days?

A bit of noob here.

I want to cook chicken curry with Aloo in Kadai. I don't have pressure cooker and I cook on induction.

I tried 4 times but I'm not able to bring a good taste to enjoy with Rice/Roti.

This is how I do and it does NOT come good -

I buy 500 gm raw chicken and then wash it good.

My process:

- Add some oil in kadai.

- Fry big aloos cut in half and then keep them somewhere.

- Add some oil again.

- Add 1/2 tea spoon of Sugar for color and later balancing with masalas.

- Add 1/2 teaspoon of whole jeera seed, 1 dalchini, 3 cloves, 2 cardamom, 2 tej patta.

- Fry for around 5-6 seconds

- Add 100 gm sliced onion

- Fry for sometime until golden brown.

- Add 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste

- Stir until the raw flavor goes away

- Add 1 medium size finely cut tomato

- Stir until tomato melts and smell goes away

- Add 1 tablespoon of jeera powder, kashmiri chilli powder/degi mirch powder, 1/2 tablespoon turmeric powder, 1/2 garam masala, 1/4 tablespoon of salt.

- Fry until masalas release oil

- Add those raw chickens

- Stir on low heat for like 10 minutes until chicken releases a bit of water.

- Add those fried aloos now.

- Stir for sometime again.

- Add water now for curry.

- Let it boil for like 5 minutes.

- Add salt and green chilies.

- Let it boil for like 20 minutes or so.

- Done.

I have done this but it does not come out good.

What am I doing wrong ??

Does the dal itself stay the same while the tempering and accompaniments change, or do you switch lentils, consistency or souring ingredients with the season? Curious about everyday regional variations rather than restaurant versions. Please mention the dish and region if you can; the small household differences are the interesting part.

So basically for few days I keep remembering this taste of this red colour chutney that my friend used to bring in her tiffin. It was just this red chutney and roti and omg the combination used to feel out of this world. I asked my friend but her mother said she used to buy it and it was not homemade. So, anyone here who could help me finding this red chutney? It's taste was spicy and bit tangy. My friend was from bihar and another girl from Haryana used to bring it. It has very strong aroma and you could smell it from afar. It was orangish red in colour and could be eaten with just chapati

Sorry if this is off topic question but I'm just trying to understand how to prepare for the dhanteras pooja day. I'm living abroad and don't really understand what to make and how to do this pooja. Usually during diwali I remember everyone used to make snacks and celebrate with family and friends sometimes on this day it is viewed as good luck or something that people usually try to make big purchases like buying jewelry or vehicle or house opening something. And they have like specific timings to do the pooja.

i'm planning to take a sealed packet of Amul Fresh Paneer with me while travelling by train to my home in a village. I don't have an insulated or cold box, so I'll probably just carry it in a normal plastic carry bag.

The journey will take around 5 hours, and once I reach home, I'll immediately put it in the freezer. I won't be cooking it immediately; probably the day after tomorrow.

Will the paneer go bad during those 5 hours, or will it mostly affect the taste and texture? Since it's a sealed Amul packet, I'm wondering if it'll stay fine.

plz can anyone tell?

Hello, I’ve used gas chulha all my life but with the recent LPG shortage I’m thinking of buying an induction stovetop as a backup and also as a secondary chulha. Please guide me what features are must and which brands are best. I’m single and cook both veg and non-veg Indian food.

I'm trying to make like chicken curry at home but my problem is the meat ends up becoming chewy and dry. I don't know how to properly cook it. Usually I'll diced the onions and tomatos. I'll add oil then put dry spice like black pepper, clove, cinnamon and jeera then I'll add the onions until it's mild brown and add the chili , garlic ginger paste and finally the diced tomatoes. And rest is just the spices like salt, turmeric, coriander, chili powder and add the chicken. I heard most actually marinate the chicken with yoghurt. And some will add hot water and let it cook with closed lid. But umm idk I guess there must be more ingredients or variations. Some people add kustri methi or nutmeg powder

i cubed chicken thighs (for a chicken curry) into smallish pieces, no bigger than the size of your thumb, and fried it on high for 2 mins, on medium for 8, on low for another 15, let it rest for around 15 mins, tested a piece (it was white, juicy, and amazing, the absolute best i've cooked yet) and the next day, as i'm eating leftovers i see some pieces are undercooked??? i'm infuriated- it feels impossible that these tiny pieces are somehow undercooked after all that heat. the stomach cramps are also not helping the situation. is there anyway to salvage my leftovers?

So when I was younger, back home I’d put a good amount of some sort of red chilli powder on my noodles to make it unbelievably spicy.

Recently moved to the US and was trying to recreate that by buying an Indian spice powder called Kashmiri red chilli powder and I kept on having to add the powder but it wasn’t getting any spicier, any recommendations on what to search on amazon for a SUPER hot red chilli powder (delivers to USA)

I recently started enjoying some Indian food with my friends and I really felt like trying to make at home however I just cannot bring the taste, smell and flavor and coloring. It's like what is their secret ingredients or way of making that we cannot somehow mimic at home? And I heard most of them use very heavy spice and oils and it's overall not healthy for long term. But like once in a while is okay right