YumSugar

India Chain Claims to Be Home to Longest Ever Dosa

YumSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:07 -0700

To be filed right next to New Delhi's record for the world's largest biryani: Sankalp, a restaurant chain based in the city of Ahmedabad, India, claims to have made the world's longest dosa.

The mammoth dosa - a crepelike South Indian specialty made from rice and black lentils - was created last Wednesday and measured in at 32 feet and 5 inches long, taking less than 40 minutes to put together. To make the behemoth, a team of 16 chefs practiced for 10 days, working to achieve the correct length by maintaining a steady temperature across the entire dosa, while handling a tawa, or hot plate, that was 35 feet long. The finished product was named "Quick Gun Murungun," the title of an upcoming movie that discusses the merits of being vegetarian.

As a lover of all things South Indian, especially dosas, this leaves me with only two questions: Was the dosa filled? And do they still need someone to eat it? What do you think of the record? Have you ever tried a dosa?

India's Next Big Export: Cow Urine Soda

YumSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:00:35 -0800

Holy cow. India's oldest, biggest nationalist Hindu group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), plans to introduce a new soft drink made from cow urine.

The radical RSS group has long campaigned against beverages such as Coke and Pepsi, foreign imports that it believes to be a corrupt influence and a symbol of Western imperialism. In India, bovine urine is considered medicinal and is, like the cow itself, seen as sacred, particularly at religious festivals. In some traditional rituals, cow urine is consumed to purify those who belong to the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system. Although the group hasn't confirmed flavors or pricing for the drink, to be known as gau jal, or "cow water" in Sanskrit, the elixir will be mixed with aloe vera, gooseberry, and other herbs that allegedly combat diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. The RSS and its offshoots have been promoting gau jal as a cure-all since as early as 2001, but Om Prakash, the head of the RSS's Cow Protection Department, said the drink will be introduced "very soon, maybe by the end of this year." He added:

Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty, too. It's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins. We're going to give [American soda brands] good competition as our drink is good for mankind. We may also think of exporting it.

How do you feel about this? I think it's disgusting, but at the same time, I've promised myself that I will try anything once. Would you drink cow urine for its purported health benefits?

Source

Man Dies in Company-Sponsored Pastry Eating Contest

YumSugar — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:00:22 -0800

A few months ago we noticed that competitive eating was a rapidly growing "sport": This year, 1.5 million people tuned in to ESPN to watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, and there's now a game, Major League Eating, available on the Nintendo Wii. Yet while it's entertainment for many, it comes at a cost for others. Yesterday, Saurab Sabharwal, a 22-year-old engineer at Nokia-Siemens in Gurgaon, India, died during a company-sponsored pastry eating contest held in the office cafeteria. After choking, he ran to the bathroom alone, and was found unconscious an hour later. Colleagues called for an ambulance, which rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. This isn't the first death we've heard of from competitive eating. Last month, a Taiwanese student fell unconscious and died during a steamed bun eating contest.

Does this call for further measures to be taken, so that others don't get hurt? Should a medical expert have been mandated to stand by, just in case? Or should government officials consider placing a ban on eating contests?

Source

Sixty Chefs Create the World's Largest Biryani

YumSugar — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:01:15 -0800

I'm not sure why people feel the need to break Guinness World Records, but they do. And this time it was sixty Indian chefs in New Delhi. This past Saturday they cooked a 13 ton (28,600 pounds) biryani dish. That's right 13 TONS. It took three cranes and a huge steel vat mounted over a three-foot high furnace, but they managed to do it. The dish took 6600 pounds of rice, 187 pounds of chili peppers, 317 gallons of oil, 8045 pounds of vegetables and a "pinch" of salt weighing nearly 190 pounds.

A records manager from the Guinness Book was on hand to witness the cooking. Kaoru Ishikawa said:

I'm here to certify them for preparing the world's largest biryani weighing around 13,000 kilograms.

The weirdest thing, is that there is no current listing for largest biryani, so perhaps 13 tons might have been a bit of an overkill? Although the dish was then divided and sent to city orphanages, so at least in this case the food wasn't going to waste.

Source

Come Party With Me: Indian Dinner - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:50:50 -0800

No themed dinner party can begin without the relaxing mood enhancer and conversation stimulator that is the specialty cocktail. Since India (outside of the big cities) doesn't have much of a drinking culture, I'm turning to Dale Degroff, the king of cocktails, for inspiration.

According to Degroff, in its day - during the 19th century when East India existed - the East India cocktail was similar to the cosmopolitan in popularity: Everyone enjoyed it. The mixture of cognac, pineapple juice, and orange curacao pairs perfectly with Padma Lakshmi's salty, crispy kahti rolls.

For the main course serve cold beer, a Pinot Blanc, sweet Reisling, or an unoaked Syrah. To look at the recipe for the East India cocktail, read more.

East India Cocktail
From Dale Degroff's The Essential Cocktail

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces cognac
1 ounce orange curaçao
1 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Flamed orange peel, for garnish
Nutmeg, for grating

Directions

Combine the first four ingredients with ice, and shake.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, dust with freshly grated nutmeg, and garnish by flaming the orange peel over the top of the drink.

Makes 1 drink.

Print recipe with images | without images

Malaysia's Saturday Night Market Is a Foodie Paradise

partysugar — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:15:55 -0700

Recently reader FinnLover traveled to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. While visiting the vast city, she spent one Saturday night hitting up Little India's weekly street market. With its incredible diversity - there are stalls that serve Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Western, and Indonesian cuisine - Finn describes the event as the "biggest food celebration ever." It took her two hours to walk from one end of the market to the other, but along the way she snapped an amazing array of photos.

Lucky for us, she shared the images in the Savory Sights group on the community page. Want your mouth-watering images to be featured on YumSugar? Join the group and start participating in the YumSugar community. To check out all of FinnLover's deliciously visual Malaysian market experience, keep reading

Yummy Links: From Thomas Keller to India Pale Ale

partysugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:00:53 -0700

An early look at Thomas Keller's upcoming cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. - Grubstreet
With stabbing deaths on the rise in the UK, one knife manufacturer has taken matters into his own hands. - Eat Me Daily
Tickets for October's New York Wine and Food Festival are now on sale. - Eater
Take a trip to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. - Serious Eats
Find out how the ultimate hostess, Jenn Sbranti, has been spending her Summer. - Hostess With the Mostess
What does India have to do with India Pale Ale? - Chow

Source

Subway Poised to Surpass McDonald's in Locations

YumSugar — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:35:03 -0700

Could Subway be the world's new McDonald's? It sure looks that way. In the next few months, it will become the world's largest food chain. Although McDonald's has a total of 32,158 eateries worldwide, it has largely curtailed expansion efforts, preferring to hone in on existing store sales. Subway, on the other hand, has been multiplying exponentially, with outposts in China, Qatar, India, and France. This week, it's expected to exceed 31,800 total stores. At a time when restaurants and fast-food establishments are struggling, Subway turned a profit in the last year with its its $5 foot-long sandwich promotion. Yet in overall sales, McDonald's remains untouched. According to industry experts, the average US McDonald's generates $2.3 million in sales, compared to $445,000 for Subway. I'm surprised - I had no idea that Subway was so ubiquitous in other parts of the world. What about you? Would you rather patronize a Subway or a McDonald's?

Source: Flickr User zyphbear

Would You Drink Chicha Beer?

YumSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:15:36 -0700

"Off-centered stuff for off-centered people" is the slogan used on every beer at Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales, a Milton, DE-based craft brewery. Although the company is perhaps best known for its 60-Minute India Pale Ale, it's made headlines recently for being one of the few to produce chicha, a traditional Peruvian beer made out of corn that's been milled and moistened - in the brewer's mouth.

"Ancient brewers through trial and error learned that the natural enzymes in saliva would convert the starch in corn into sugar, so it would ferment," Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione told the New York Times.

Although the beer's boiled for an hour and Calagione claims it's "completely sterile," I simply don't know if I can stomach a drink that has a stranger's saliva in it. What about you?

Source: Flickr User zieak

Woman Breaks World Record For Eating World's Hottest Chiles

YumSugar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:35:45 -0700

For some spice lovers, jalapeno-laden hamburgers just won't do. Take Anandita Dutta Tamuly, a 26-year-old woman from Assam, India, who set a Guinness world record last week when she consumed 51 of the world's hottest chile peppers in only two minutes. She also rubbed 24 of the same chile peppers in her eyes over the span of one minute.

Overseeing the feat with a watchful eye was none other than chef Gordon Ramsay, who was in India filming for a British TV program. The reality show host and restaurateur could only consume one of the peppers before screaming for water. Measuring in at 1 million Scoville heat units, the bhut jolokia is known to the be world's hottest known chile pepper (jalapenos, in comparison, contain roughly 2,500 to 8,000 Scovilles.)

A single seed from this pepper is known to cause puffy, watering eyes, a runny nose, and a burning sensation that may last for up to five hours. So how did she manage to defy the laws of nature? The mother of one explained:

I have been eating bhut jolokia since my childhood and never felt the hotness in my mouth. When I was five, I had a sore tongue and my mother applied a chili paste to cure the infection. Since then I developed a penchant for chiles. To be honest, I barely notice them now.

I'm shocked to hear that this record was humanly possible - especially considering the tragic death that occurred last year after a UK man consumed too much spicy sauce. What do you think of the stunt: is it amazing, or simply incredibly foolish?

Source