On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:39 PM, Thaths <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Can someone recommend
> a good cookbook in English for (preferably ovo-lacto vegetarian)
> Bengali cusine?
About the Bong cookbook, dunno...but...Thaths, I wanted to tell you that the
preparation of plantain flower ('vAzhaippoo') is a fairly labour-intensive
task. Every one of those small flowerettes has to have its pistil removed;
the pistil does not cook, and can cause diarrhoea. So one has to be very
careful, and remove each pistil individually with greased hands (otherwise
the sticky juice cause the hands to become a mess.) The flower is high in
iron, and so must be soaked after chopping in diluted buttermilk and boiled
with salt, and then used as a vegetable addition. vAzhaippoo paruppushili is
one of my very great favourites...but not making it!
Deepa.
