When it comes to mastering Indian cooking, the requirement is having a thorough knowledge of the properties of each spice and how it blends with other spices.  It’s accurate to say that the characteristics of curry really depends on the balance of herbs and spices that go into its creations.  Curries differ from one region to another based on each region’s unique spice blend for their curry.

Masala is a familiar word in the Indian kitchen and itliterally means a blend of several spices. Garam (hot) masala is the most important blend masala and an absolute essential to north Indian preparations, added just before serving the dish to enhance its flavour. The rational garam masala is a blend of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Masala may be in dry, rosted ground or paste form  Look below for an idea of the types of spices used in Indian cooking, but please note that these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Curry Leaf:  Curry leaves originate from the Kari tree of Southwest Asia. They are mainly used as an aromatic and flavoring for most curries and soups. When starting a curry or soup dish, put the curry leaves into the oil to fry until crisp. For extended use, air dry them completely, and store in an airtight container.

Red Chili Powder:  Red Chili Powder or Lal Mirch (Hindi) Indian chili powder is made from ground chilies. It is much hotter than the chili powder commonly found in most stores here in the US which is mostly a blend of red peppers and cumin, coriander etc. The ground product ranges from orange-red, to deep, dark red. Red pepper is a pungent, hot powder with a strong bite.

Cardamom Pods:  These light green oval pods are known as elaichi in Hindi. Green cardamom pods are highly aromatic and very fragrant, with a sweet, nutty taste. Encased in the pod are 12-15 tiny black seeds that hold the flavor. Cardamom is often used in rices, puddings and simmered dishes. It is best to bruise the pod before adding to the dish to release flavor.

Cinnamon: In India cinnamon is commonly used in meat and rice dishes, and in Garam Masala. It is also one of the ingredients of commercially manufactured curry powder. It may also be used in stick or powder form in sweets, cakes and curries.

Clove:  Cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove tree and are strong, pungent, and sweet. Cloves are used in many meat dishes, marinades, pickles and in many “garam masalas”. It is used whole or in powder form.

Black Peppercorns:  Black peppercorns are sun-dried, fermented green berries from a pepper vine native to Southwestern India. This spice is ever so popular throughout the world. It has a pungent fragrance and spicy taste. Black pepper is evident in almost all curries, dals and numerous spice blends.

Ginger:  This fresh, light-brown rhizome, is used extensively in all forms of Indian cooking. Peeled, mashed or cut, ginger has a clean and aromatic taste with a slightly spicy edge.

Tamarind:  Tamarind pulp or juice is added to bring  a touch of sourness in the curry and is extremely popular with South Indian cooking.

Fenugreek: This very powerful Indian spice plays an essential part in the flavor of curry powder. Its bitter and sweet flavor is used in soups, dals, bean and vegetable dishes, and fish and seafood dishes. It is also used in the sugary balls, ladoos. In North India, fenugreek is used in lamb stews. In the South it used in almost everything; breads, chutneys, curries and dals. In North Africa it is also used in bread.

Now that you’ve learned a little more about the types of spices used in Indian food, here’s a list of Indian restaurants so that you can let your tastebuds do some exploring.

Cafe Maharani
2509 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 951-7447

Ghareeb Nawaz Restaurant
2032 W Devon Ave
Chicago, IL 60659
(773) 761-5300

India Oven
2890 S Colorado Boulevard
Denver, CO 80222
(303) 756-5866

India’s Tandoori
5468 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(323) 936-2050

Madhuban Indian Cuisine
6930 W State St
Suite 200
Boise, ID 83714
(208) 853-8215

Western snack culture consists of everything from potato chips to ice cream, which is a far cry from traditional Korean snacks, so let’s learn a little more about what Korean snacks are all about.

Tteok (Traditional Rice Cake): Korean cake is made steaming glutinous rice flour (also known as sweet rice or chapssal). Normal rice flour can be used for some kinds of tteok.  In Korea it is customary to eat tteok guk (tteok soup) on New Year’s Day and sweet tteok at weddings and on birthdays. It is often considered a celebratory food and can range from rather elaborate versions with nuts and fruits down to the plain-flavored tteok used in home cooking. Some common ingredients for many kinds of tteok are mung bean, red bean, and sweet red bean paste, Korean mugwort, jujube and other dried fruits, sesame seeds and oil, sugar, and pine nuts.

• Patsirutteok: Rice powder and the pounded red beans are layered alternately in siru, an earthenware steamer, with a final layer of red beans, and the mixture is steamed. The red color of the red bean is believed to keep away evil spirits and bad luck, and this tteok is prepared for many occasions to bring good luck.
• Hwajeon: Small, sweet pancake or tteok (rice cake) made of any edible flower petals such as azalea or chrysanthemum, glutinous rice flour and sugar in Korean cuisine.  Its name means “flower cake”
• Jeolpyeon: Pounded and steamed rice dough is pressed in a wooden pattern mold, cut into pieces, and coated with sesame oil.
• Injeolmi: Rice cake, made by steaming and pounding glutinous rice flour, shaped into small pieces and covered with steamed powdered dried beans or hulled red bean powder.
• Gyeongdan: Glutinous rice dough is formed into small balls, placed in boiling water and removed, and then coated with different-colored powders made from sesame seeds, beans, cinnamon, chestnut, etc.

Hangwa (Traditional Sweets and Cookies): Hangwa is appreciated for its artistic and decorative colors and patterns as well as for its pleasing sweet taste. Often taken along with traditional beverages, it is regarded as a healthful snack and classy dessert. Beautifully packaged baskets or boxes of hangwa also make excellent gifts, especially appropriate for the elderly. It is available at shops specializing in traditional cakes and sweets and special sections in department stores.

• Gangjeong: Light and fluffy, made from glutinous rice and honey. Deep-fried and coated with popped rice, cinnamon, sesame seeds, etc.
• Yakgwa: Soft cookie made by kneading sesame oil, honey, wine and ginger juice into flour.  The dough is than patterned after a flower, fried and topped with  honey.
• Dasik: Dasik is made from nongmal (which is starch made from potatoes, sweet potatoes or soaked mung beans), pine pollen (songhwa), black sesame, honey, flour from rice or other grains, nuts and/or herbs. Then it’s kneaded and pressed with decorative stamps.

Hwachae (Traditional Cold Beverage):  Traditional cold beverages are called hwachae. They are usually made with fruits or grains, and water sweetened by either sugar or honey, or flavored and colored by omija (fruit of the “five-taste” tree, Schisandra chinensis). There are also hwachae made from Oriental medicinal foods, azalea or pine pollen.

• Sikhye: A traditional sweet Korean rice beverage, usually served as a dessert. In addition to its liquid ingredients, sikhye also contains grains of cooked rice, and in some cases pine nuts.
• Sujeonggwa: A traditional fruit punch is made from dried persimmons, cinnamon, and ginger, and is often garnished with pine nuts. The flavor of sujeonggwa is mildly hot and spicy, and at the same time sweet. It is served cold, often in a punch bowl, and is dark reddish brown in color.
• Fruit Hwachae: A fruit punch made from cherries, strawberries, peaches or watermelons. There are also hwachae with floating azalea petals, boiled barley, pine pollen, or slices of pear in omija-flavored water, sweetened with honey or sugar.

Popular Snacks: Any time you pass by shopping districts, traditional markets, back streets of areas bustling with crowds, tourist spots or college towns, you will come across street vendors, canopy wagons or flour food eateries offering snacks popular among a wide range of age groups. They often serve as an inexpensive meal for Koreans in a hurry or for tourists who want to partake of the local culture.

• Ramyeon: Korean-style ramen noodles. Besides classic ramyeon, there are a variety of others such as seafood-added (haemul ramyeon), kimchi-added, etc. Instant varieties in a Styrofoam bowl can be found at supermarkets or convenience stores; just add boiling water and it’s ready in a few minutes.
• Eomuk: Eomuk is sliced fish paste that is skewered before being boiled in broth. Enjoyed during the colder months of the year, eomuk usually accompanies soju or other beverages.
• Sundae: A Korean dish made generally by boiling or steaming cow or pig’s intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients. The most common type of sundae is made of pig’s intestines stuffed with cellophane noodles (dangmyeon), barley, and pork blood, although some variants also contain perilla leaves, scallions (pa), fermented soybean paste (doenjang), glutinous rice, kimchi and soybean sprouts.
• Gimbap: Made from steamed white rice (bap) and various other ingredients, rolled in gim (sheets of dried seaweed) and served cold in bite-size slices. Gimbap is often eaten during picnics or outdoor events, or as a light lunch, served with danmuji or kimchi. It is similar, but not identical, to norimaki, one of the many variants of the Japanese rice-based dish sushi.
• Twigim: Batter-dipped items that include vegetables of various kinds, meat, seafood, kimbap – just about anything that the cook can get the batter to adhere to. The same concept as tempura.
• Tteokbokgi: Rice powder is steamed and made into a long cylinder called garaetteok. It is cut finger-length and cooked in a spicy, sweet sauce. Vegetables, or ramyeon can be added depending on one’s taste.

So if you’re hankering for something other than a bag of chips, you might want to stop by a Korean bakery/supermarket or check the menu of your favorite Korean restaurant to see the availability of some of the food offerings above.  Who knows? That bag of chips may soon be left by the wayside.

Sometimes in my reading foodie stuff, whether through a book or online or a magazine, I come across some quirky food words that make you scratch your head as to what the heck they are, until the definition helps shed some light.  See what I mean below.

bap: A soft yeast roll with a characteristic floury finish. Baps are popular in Scotland as hot breakfast rolls.

cake comb: A flat, small (usually 5- by 5- by 4-inch), triangle-shape tool, generally made of stainless steel.  Each of the three edges has serrated teeth of a different size. This tool is used to make decorative designs and swirls in the frosting of a cake.

fugu: [FOO-goo] The Japanese name for certain species of puffer fish or blowfish, which, though considered delicacies, contain a poison so toxic it can kill.  It’s so imperative that fugu can be cleaned and prepared properly that entire books have been written on the subject.  In commercial Japanese kitcens, where this fish is used in both sashimi and nabemono preparations, only qualified cooks may deal with fugu.

grog: A hot drink made with rum, a sweetner such as sugar or honey and boiling water. Grog is served in a ceramic or glass mug and often garnished with a slice of lemon and a few whole cloves.  It has long been considered a curative for colds but is generally consumed simply for its pleasure- and warmth-giving properties.

Hangtown Fry: This dish is said to have been created during the California Gold Rush in a rowdy burg called Hangtown (now Placerville) because of the town’s frequent hangings. It consists of fried breaded oysters cooked together with eggs and fried bacon, rather like an omelet or scramble.

So the next time you go out for a meal, ask your waiter if you can start with a bap and a cup of grog followed by a fugu appetizer and the Hangtown Fry dish and finished with a cake comb decorated cake!

When it comes to pie, it’s considered an American dessert icon and in fact, a well-known quote can end with “…as American as Apple Pie.”  However, there’s more to the humble pie than you may think, so I present to you 10 Things to Know About Pie.

The  Romans Have It: The first pie recipe was published by the Romans and was for a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.

Let It All Hang Out “Coffyn-Style”: The crust of the pies in England use to be referred to as ‘coffyn’. There was actually more crust than filling. Often these pies were made using fowl and the legs were left to hang over the side of the dish and used as handles.

Mince Me Out: In 1644, Oliver Cromwell banned the eating of mince pie on Christmas, declaring it a pagan form of pleasure. The ban remained in effect for 16 years.

Can I Have Eggs with my Pie?: Pie as a dessert is a relatively recent development – in the 19th century fruit pies were more commonly a breakfast food.

No Glory for Ice Cream: At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas.

The Great Pretender: Libby’s canned pumpkin was introduced to America in 1929. Libby’s is not actually pumpkin but another kind of squash called a Dickinson that also has orange flesh.

Rumor Has It: It is rumored that the Apple Marketing Board of New York used slogans such as “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” and “as American as apple pie”, and thus “was able to successfully ‘rehabilitate’ the apple as a popular comestible” in the early 20th century when prohibition outlawed cider production.

A Pie By Any Other Name: Boston Cream Pie is actually a cake; cheesecake is actually a pie (a tart, technically).

That’s a Lot of Pie: If you lined up the number of pies sold at U.S. grocery stores during Thanksgiving, they would span more than half the globe.

Apple Pie is Top Dog: One out of four Americans prefer apple pie, followed by pumpkin or sweet potato (17%), anything chocolate (14%), lemon meringue (11%) and cherry (10%)

It’s easy to lose a sense of time on YouTube, especially when you run into some hilarious videos that revolve around food.  Check out some of really funny finds below and enjoy and be sure to check out the original Funny Food Videos That Will Make You Giggle by clicking here!

They dined, they wrote and were voted the most helpful.  Congratulations to our top 3 winners for October’s Menuism Restaurant Reviewer Contest. Between the 3 of them, they garnered 100+ helpful votes.  Wow!  This trio definitely knows their stuff and apparently, many of you agreed.  Hat’s off to them and if you’d like to keep up with their reviews, check out their profiles below.

sunshyne76 from Corona, CA

Food_Posse_Miami from Miami, FL

Goodeatin from Miami, FL

As you can see, all three of our winners also received some prize money and if you’d like a chance to compete, than be sure to click this link to get more info on the November Menuism Restaurant Reviewer Contest. Good luck and maybe, in a month, we’ll be announcing you as winner as well.

More than 400 years ago cattle ranching was introduced to the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil. Cowboys, called Gauchos herded these cattle, and like the cowboys of Texas created a new style of cooking. It is their way of cooking, churrasco (shoo-rhas’co), that has inspired traditions carried on worldwide today. Since they had no way of preserving food, the gauchos would gather together after butchering a cow, and skewer and cook the large portions of meat immediately over a wood burning fire. Originally the standard formula for Brazilian style barbecue was to coat meats in coarse salt.

The meat would then sit for about 30 minutes to absorb the salt before being cooked.  Later a salt-water baste was used to keep meats moist during the open fire cooking process. Beef was typically never seasoned. The slow-cooked meat basted in its own juices and resulted in tender, flavorful steaks.  Poultry and lamb, however are spiced with a rich marinade the night before cooking.

The popularity of Brazilian Barbecue has lead to the founding of dozens of restaurants, popping up all over the world. Churrasco, which is also referred to as Brazilian barbeque,  is usually served “Rodizio” ou “espeto corrido” (all-you-can-eat). Waiters carry huge cuts of meat on steel spits from table to table, and carve off slices onto your plate (use the tongs to grab the meat slice and don’t touch the knife edge with your silverware to avoid dulling the edge).

Traditionally, you are given a small wooden block colored green on one side and red on the other. When you’re ready to eat, put the green side up. When you’re too stuffed to even tell the waiter you’ve had enough, put the red side up. Most churrasco restaurants (churrascarias) also serve other types of food, so it is safe to go there with a friend that is not really fond of meat. Churrascarias are definitely not vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants and make sure that when you dine at a Brazilian BBQ steakhouse that you plan on eating lightly, if at all, before or after your meal.  This is a protein fest that’s definitely going to knock you for a loop if you’re not prepared.

Ready to get your meat on?  Take a look at a listing below of some Churrascarias to check out for yourself.

Churrascaria Riodizio Tribeca
221 W Broadway
New York, NY 10013
(212) 925-6969

Espetus Churrascaria
1686 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 552-8792

Fogo de Chao
133 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 289-7755

Picanha Brazilian Grill
501 Castor Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19149
(215) 743-4647

Tucanos Brazilian Grill
110 Central Ave SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505) 246-9900

It’s Turkey Time and time to give thanks for the November Menuism Restaurant Review Contest?  After all, how often do you have the chance to make some money just by writing about your fun and maybe, not so fun restaurant outings?  Three chances to win and if you’re top dog, you win a cool $100.  That’s a nice bit of change that can go towards your holiday shopping.  So check out that new restaurant you’ve always wanted to dine at or re-visit old favorites.  Afterwards, put fingers to keyboard and tell us all about that restaurant, from meal to ambiance to service.  We want to know it all.

Now there’s even more chances to win with both 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes that are available.   The criteria for winning entries will be on how helpful other Menuism’ers find your reviews to be.  So what makes a review helpful?  Check out a past Menuism article called 5 Tips Towards Writing a Great Review for some ideas or you can even  emulate some of our Featured Reviewers, who have done a fantastic job sharing their dining stories with all of us.

In the end, it’s all about quality, not quantity.  So how can you improve your chances? Things to do could include giving dish reviews and uploading pictures and when combined with your informative review, those will definitely get you those “helpful votes.”  You can even encourage friends to sign up to Menuism.com and vote for your reviews or even contribute some of their own.

Now it’s time to get out, dine out and than get your fingers a-typing.  With a total of $170.00 in prize money, think of what you can do with any part of those dollars  Enjoy a Sunday brunch.   Purchase a lovely bottle of wine.  Get that new kitchen gadget you’ve been eyeing. You won’t have a chance of winning, if you don’t even try, so let’s see what you got.

Menuism Restaurant Review Contest

How to Enter:

• Dine out and than post your restaurant review to the Menuism website.  There are no limits to the number of reviews per month. No need to manually submit your reviews to the contest

Restaurant Review Criteria:

• Winners will be decided based on the number of helpful votes for the reviews they’ve written in the given month with awards going to the top 3 users with the most helpful votes.  Click here to see if you’ve made it to the Leader Board and click here to get more info about how the Leader Board works!
• Reviews must have 50 words or more to qualify.

Announcement of Winner and Prize:

• After the contest due date, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Winners will be  announced the first week of the following month.

• PRIZES:
  • 1st: $100
  • 2nd: $50
  • 3rd: $20
  • Profile Badge for Each Winner!

Rules:

• Reviews that are considered inappropriate, vulgar or lacking information will not be considered.
• Winners who do not claim their prize within 7 days of the announcement of the winner will forfeit prize money, but not the award.

Ready to get started? Sign up for your free Menuism account and start writing reviews!

November is now here, so we’d definitely love to see all of your great quality reviews. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line at abby@menuism.com.

By Abby C. Abanes
Menuism Community Manager

Minutes, Hours and Days are flying by and soon the October Menuism Restaurant Review Contest will be history.  If you haven’t already, be sure to post reviews about your latest restaurant outings and encourage friends, family, co-workers or whoever you’d like to give a helpful vote to each of your reviews.  The three top Menuism Reviewers with the most votes can win cash prizes.  To refresh your memory about the rules, click here! So come on, get those fingers a typing because how often can you truly say that eating out can actually pay you.   The October Menuism Restaurant Review Contest officially ends October 31, 2009.

According to the Food Timeline Web, food historians have yet to pinpoint exactly where the name of the cupcake originated. There are two theories. One, the cakes were originally cooked in cups. Cupcakes were convenient because they cooked much quicker than larger cakes. When baking was done in hearth ovens, it would take a long time to bake a cake, and the final product would often be burned. A practice soon developed where the cakes would be baked in a variety of small containers, including tea cups.  Gem pans, early muffin tins, soon became common in households around the turn of the 20th Century and cupcakes were eventually baked directly in those as well.

The second theory is that the ingredients used to make the cupcakes were measured out by the cup. Some say that the first “cup cakes” weren’t even baked in cupcake pans — they were simply regular-sized cakes. It was all about the measuring, but there was a shift from weighing out ingredients when baking to measuring out ingredients. It has to do with the way ingredients were measured in late 19th century America.

Back then, most ingredients were measured by weight on a balance scale, but measuring ingredients by cups replaced that system when it was found that cup measurement saved time. A cup could just be dipped into the flour or sugar instead of having to go to the trouble of weighing each ingredient. Interestingly enough, cupcakes were sometimes called “number” cakes, because they were easy to remember by the measurements of ingredients it took to create them: One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk, and one spoonful of soda.

Would a cupcake by any other name taste just as sweet? It would if it were called a fairy cake. In Great Britain however they are known as fairy cakes because they are the perfect size for a group of fairies to pleasantly enjoy. Since their creation, cupcakes have become a pop culture trend in the culinary world. They have spawned dozens of bakeries devoted entirely to them. While chocolate and vanilla remain classic favorites, fancy flavors such as raspberry meringue and espresso fudge can be found on menus. In the end, who cares who they came to be. We’re all just thankful that they are!

Looking to get your cupcake fix?  Then check out some of these cupcake bakeries that will hopefully put a smile on your face.

2 Girls and a Cupcake
140 SE 1 Ave
Miami, FL 33131
(305) 373-8001

Little Cupcake Bakeshop
9102 Third Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11209
(718) 680-4465

Saint Cupcake
407 NW 17th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 473-8760

Sweet Pockets Cupcakes
4338 Paces Ferry Rd
Atlanta, GA 30339
(770) 431-6611

Vanilla Bake Shop
512 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 458-6644