Five Foods you simply MUST try!

The lovely Susan of the delectable Porcini Chronicles blog has tagged me for a "5 foods you just have to try" meme. I would have charged full steam ahead with formulating the post had I not been derailed by a flu (sort of) bug. I'm better today so here I am with the 5 foods I think you absolutely must try!

Let's start with a drink, shall we? Sugarcane juice is my absolute favorite drink. It's not just the drink and how it tastes but the whole process of making it that is so special to me( I would never drink it out of a can). In India sugar cane juice is mostly sold from a vendor's stand, positioned on a main road or dusty street. The vendor picks the cut sugar cane from a bundle at the side of his stall and runs them through a juicing contraption (pictured aboove) causing rivulets of lemony-green nectar to flow into his stainless steel bowl which he in turn pours into a cup with a dash of lemon juice and ice. One sip is all it takes for a sugar high of the nicest kind and one glass is all you need to get fully re-energised, (eat your heart out "Red Bull" drinkers!) Umm, some people (obviously not fans) call sugarcane juice "bacteria in a glass". You do have to watch where you buy your juice from - make sure there are no flies hovering about and try to avoid the ice as you don't know what water is used to make it.

Next, let's have some Rava Idlis. Rava idli is a breakfast food or "tiffin" as we would call it in India. Rava is a type of semolina and it is soaked in sour curd with a type of lentil (udad dal) before it is ground into the "idli" batter. The batter is then put into special moulds and steamed. The end product is a nice, fluffy rice cake which you eat with a "sambhar" or lentil soup. These days, you can buy a rava idli mix in a packet. I can't vouch for how good they are, but there can be no harm in trying it can there?

For a dessert, there are days here in Canada when I would give my right arm for "Mishti doi" or sweet curd which is a Bengali preparation. I have never made "mishti doi" myself but I believe if you have cream milk, sugar (caramelised), a few teaspoonfuls of yoghurt and an earthernware pot (well, now you know why I don't make it at home!) , mishti doi can be very easily made, right Bhaswati? :) DELICIOUS, I tell you!

For a snack my choice would be Sweet Tamarind (and no, I'm not talking about the Chicago restaurant here). Tamarind is a fruit which I am sure you are all aware of because its sour pulp is used in a lot of Indian and Thai curries. While I love the pulp, I love the plain ripe fruit even more. I love to peel it and put it on my tongue , I just love the dance my tastebuds do as they are squirted with the sweet-tart flavor, yum!



And finally, after all that food let's settle down with a digestive. "Paan" is a very popular after-meal snack for most Indians. Paan shops can be found outside almost every restaurant in India. The paanwallah picks out a fresh, glossy betel leaf, upon which he slathers a white, chalky paste (lime) followed by a squirting of rose syrup, fruit preserves, aniseed (both the candied and the plain kind), cardamom seeds, clove, sweet dessicated coconut and slivers of betel nut. He then folds it into a compact, flat cone holding it together by a single clove stick. You're supposed to put the entire paan in your mouth and chew it slowly. Not only does your breath smell like perfume for hours after that, but the betel leaf and betel nut both being mildly narcotic, put you in a relaxed state of mind ! ;) In Canada, I eat paan at the Sarvana Bhavan, a restaurant that specializes in South Indian food.

Now the best part is, I get to tag three victims for the meme :)
Here goes:

Melissa from Hello, Melissa
Guinness Girl from My Mental Buffet
Booklogged from A Reader's Journal