She must have great knowledge then if she have also included other South Asian dishes in her book along with her native country ones.

Malai mutter paneer? I never have eaten this one...But sounds tasty.

Yup...Indians do have lot of variety in veggie dishes, especially south India, if I am not wrong.

Great...U know cooking. I do time to time think about male cooks. I mean cooking is art mostly associated with women but men are catching up as well If a person knows how to cook, then even if his wife gets on strike, he'll still be able to manage on his own and eat like a boss

Yup...Consuming outsider/fast food frequently is not good. We just don't know how they make and we still fall in for their marketing.

May be I'll be opening a little Pak Cafe to cater the audience of Edmonton, Alberta.

By the way, Do Canadians like outside eating?...Are they fond of fast food/burgers just like their southern counterparts aka American?

I had an Indian boss a few years back and his wife gave me an Indian cookbook. I've made quite a few things in that book... including Samosa and Pindi Channa.

Yes, she is considered the person who brought South Asian cuisine to the UK and North America. She has several books (and a couple Bollywood movies) that are popular.



I learnt Byrinai as well from a cooking show.



You should try it. Fresh Naan and fresh peas are important!

Not true! I can name far more male chefs than I can female. And I grew up when they still taught Home Economics in school. We learnt how to cook, and sew, and things like that. But I already knew how to cook by then.

Yes, too many settle for someone else's cooking. But many can't find the time to cook, so they eat what they can afford for cost and for time. Too often that is heavily processed foods, or really terrible restaurant food. But things do look like they are changing.

A very heavily given gift this past Christmas was an appliance that helped people cook their own meals using fresh ingredients. And more people are taking interest in what they ar eating, and where it comes from.

Biryani and Haleem are two dishes Pakistanis are crazy for. Glad Canadians also liking it

hmm...Looks like have to think about mutter paneer

Yeah...Male chefs are getting their share but what I was saying that cooking was mostly associated with women since ages.

It's really amazing that you guys were taught about cooking and sewing...In Pakistan, mostly girls opt for this

You already knew how to cook? before being taught? how?

I am getting your point regarding outside/fast food or processed...It made me remember when there was talk of Japanese importing mangoes from Pakistan...Japanese insisted on establishing processing plant for mangoes to clean them of germs...I read then that if fruit or food is getting too much processed, then real aroma/taste of food/fruit will be killed. May be Japanese prefer that way while Pakistani digestive system goes for raw ones in this case. Raw fruit is best in my opinion. Do get Pakistani mangoes from your local store as well...We produce some really great mangoes.

It's good thing that people are taking interest in what they eat. Health is wealth

We try everybodys' cuisine, and we merge those into our traditions.

I'll tell you how I make it, if you like. It's pretty easy, and very tasty!

Yes, it's traditional as well. But for the last 40 or 50 years, we've been moving more towards an equal society, so there really isn't any 'male' or 'female' divisions in things as much as there was back then.

You might think cooking and sewing was 'womens' work, but then you also realize that tailors and chefs have been male for many decades. It's just a convention you follow, not based on reality. I sew because I like my clothes to fit properly, and I don't always want to take them to a tailor. If I could even find a tailor!

Same as sewing. I would simply hang around and learn from people around me who were cooking. It was a big tradition to get a group of people together and make large numbers of traditional ingredents. By the time I got into 'Home Ec' in school, I could already prepare many dishes myself. My mom liked to cook (french style, mostly), and many people around here would get together in the fall to preserve food for winter, and at times to make traditional foods like Pyrogies or Petsehka. I still do this myself, preserving most of my summer garden in the traditional ways like Sauerkraut, or fermented vegetables or fruit. You haven't lived until you've tried Plum Pyrogies in fresh sweet cream!

I have some cayenne pepper jelly that would blow your socks off, made from peppers I grew.

We do, but only in specific stores. 'Indian Markets', not in the regular grocery stores. Most of our food comes from California or British Columbia in summer, Chile or Mexico in winter. It's rare, but sometimes we get things like lemons from South Africa, but only produce that travels well.

I saw mushrooms from China in a store once, and they were already moldy. Don't know who though that was a good idea.

With the crisis we have with people being overweight, people are starting to realize that it's up to them to manage their own health. And food it the place to start.

You seem to be foodie guy...I googled pictures of your mentioned cuisine and it looked good/tasty. It simply boggles my mind that how such variety of food we have in so different continents...That's really amazing.

Great. You guys have great variety and availability of food from different regions...But are they expensive as well compared to ones produced locally? considering that they are coming from outside Canada?

Exactly. People also looks for diet of those people who tends to live longer than their counterparts. Awareness regarding health is just growing. That's a good thing.

Sorry for such late reply

I am constantly amazed at the variety of some cuisines, even though they might only have a few ingredients. Look at South Asian cuisine and what the basic foods are; pulses (lentils, chickpeas), vegetables like carrot, celery, eggplant, and spices. And yet there are so many varieties that one region can be totally different than their neighbors!

Simple things, like milk, flour and butter can be made into totally different things, like bread, biscuits or croissant, just depending on the order they are combined! That just fascinates me.

Or the history of US Southern cuisine, and how you can see similarities between Western Africa and it's cuisine and follow it across to the Southern US States.

Not really. It used to be there were things you just couldn't get in certain seasons, like grapes in winter. But now with all sorts of new methods of transport, different foods can be available here year round. Since they also come from regions with vastly different wage structures, prices tend to be the same year round. What does change is quality.

You just won't get a good tasting tomato at any time of the year, and California Grapes are so much better than those that come from Honduras or Chile in winter. Produce has to be shipped unripe in order to travel far, so they don't taste as good when they get here. The further away, the more bland it can taste.

But the best by far, are those that come from the next province over, British Columbia. They can be shipped almost perfectly ripe, as they only take a couple days from picking to in my belly.

No worries man, take as long as it takes.