1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (219 page)

With their fragrant green leaves and bark, the trees can grow upward of 50 feet tall, but are generally pruned and cultivated when they reach a more manageable 7 or 8 feet. Once the outer bark is removed, the trees’ inner layer of bark is cut and dried into brittle, coiled sticks known as quills—these, in their unadulterated state, are the cinnamon sticks we love to swirl in our hot chocolate.

As a flavoring, cinnamon has been enjoyed for centuries; it is mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament and was used by the
ancient Greeks and Romans both as a cooking ingredient and to perfume their bodies in religious rituals. The Roman emperor Nero is said to have burned a year’s supply to honor his wife at her funeral. Pharmacists, bakers, and confectioners favor oil extracted from cinnamon, which gives them the flavor without the dusty flecks.

Any way you roll the bark, it’s a powerful flavoring. Cinnamon is also heralded for its health benefits, believed to increase glucose metabolism levels, stimulate memory, relieve congestion, and reduce the inflammation associated with arthritis, and because it contains high levels of chromium, it wards off or tempers diabetes, too.

Retail and mail order:
In New York
, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-2451,
kalustyans.com
.
Further information and recipes:
For cinnamon rolls,
The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
by Peter Reinhart (2001);
I Love Cinnamon Rolls!
by Judith Fertig (2012);
Spice
by Ana Sortun (2006);
foodnetwork.com
(search cincinnati chili).
Tip:
For true cinnamon, look for Sri Lanka or Ceylon on the label.
See also:
Cinnamon Granita
;
Cannoli
.

Indians don’t often serve a dinner without a dal, the spicy, nutty dish of pureed dried beans that is poured over rice or eaten with the tandoori bread, naan. Easy to cook in comparison to some of the more elaborate creations of the Indian kitchen, it’s a delicious and highly nutritious dish that is frequently based on yellow or black lentils. That’s no surprise, as much of the world’s stock of the tiny, disk-shaped legume comes from India. Lentils are among the country’s most consumed and produced commodities, and of them, yellow lentils (
toovar dal
, also referred to as
toor dal
or
arhar dal
) are the most common, while the black are more highly prized for dal.

To be turned into this mainstay of the Indian diet, the mildly nutty, split and hulled yellow lentils from the
Cajanus cajan
plant are gently, slowly cooked with a variety of spices until they completely fall apart, and are then mashed into a silky, flavorful puree. Black gram beans (
urad dal
when split, and
sabat urad
or
kali dal
when whole) from the
Phaseolus mungo
plant are also popular choices for dals, particularly in the northern Punjab region. There, the whole kali dal beans are slowly cooked with onions, tomatoes, ghee, yogurt, and spices. The result is an unforgettably rich, aromatic, flavorful dish. But red kidney beans may also be used as the basis for a dal, as well as yellow split peas, red lentils, and more. Each dal has a personality, color, and spice of its own, and there are many variations on the theme.

If tucking into the high-protein bean dish as a side to an already heavy meal of meat, rice, bread, and various sauces seems like overkill, remember that many Indians are vegetarian and so consider the dal as a main dish in its own right. Indeed, this might be how it was initially consumed: Food historians speculate that the pea-, bean-, or lentil-based dish was ideal working-class food, inexpensive and easy-to-prepare fuel for a day of manual labor.

Where:
In Delhi
, Karim’s Hotel, tel 91/11-2326-9880,
karimhoteldelhi.com
;
in New York
,
Tulsi, tel 212-888-0820,
tulsinyc.com
;
in Boston
, Maharaja, tel 617-547-2757,
maharajaboston.com
.
Retail and mail order:
At multiple locations across the U.S.
, Patel Brothers,
patelbros.com
;
in New York
, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-2451,
kalustyans.com
.
Mail order:
For dried lentils, beans, and prepared dal, iShopIndian, tel 877-786-8876,
ishopindian.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Classic Indian Cooking
by Julie Sahni (1980);
Know Your Dals and Pulses
by Tarla Dalal (2008);
Indian Cooking Unfolded
by Raghavan Iyer (2013);
nytimes.com
(search new york dals);
foodandwine.com
(search buttery pigeon pea dal);
cookstr.com
(search dhaabay di dal; rajasthan mixed dal);
sbs.com.au
(search black lentils kaali dal).

Tea pickers handpick leaves for the “Champagne of Teas.”

The steep Himalayan slopes in West Bengal don’t make handpicking tea leaves easy, but the effort is worthwhile. From the arid, semi-acidic soil on these peaked ridges comes Darjeeling, India’s—if not the world’s—choicest tea. With its bracing flavor and deep amber glow, it is known as the coffee drinker’s tea.

It was Dr. A. Campbell, an English military official stationed in Darjeeling, who gave root to the industry there in the 1830s. When Campbell’s attempt to plant an English flower garden failed, he turned to tea, planting Chinese and Indian bush varieties of
Camellia sinensis
(the tea plant is a member of the flowering
Camellia
genus) to see how they’d fare. What grew, very slowly, were long, golden-tipped leaves that produced a floral amber liquor tinged with the sweetness of peaches—a flavor that varies in strength with each flush during the region’s short growing season.

First-flush Darjeelings are picked in early spring—February to April—and are prized for their bright flavor and floral aroma. Second flushes, for which Darjeeling is perhaps best known, give off flavors similar to muscatel and currants. In the summer, when heavy rains roll in for monsoon season, Darjeeling’s least-favored leaves are plucked; although their flavor is the most intense, it’s the least complex and is usually the filling for tea bags. Between October and November, the autumnal flush is harvested, known for its warm, woody, copper-colored brew. Darjeeling tea leaves can be stored for up to six months, a good thing when shipping to markets becomes difficult during the harsh Himalayan winter months.

Where:
In Darjeeling
, Nathmulls Tea Room 91/354-225-6437,
nathmulltea.com
;
in Paris
, Mariage Frères, tel 33/1-43-47-18-54,
mariagefreres.com
;
in New York
, McNulty’s Tea & Coffee Co., Inc., tel 212-242-5351,
mcnultys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Chai: The Experience of Indian Tea
by Rekha Sarin and Rajan Kapoor (2014);
darjeelingtealovers.com
.
Tip:
Brew Darjeelings for three to five minutes, perhaps less for first-flush leaves.
See also:
Georgian Black Tea
.

The hours-long rising period is worth every minute for the first bite.

A non-initiate entering a South Indian vegetarian restaurant for the first time would be excused for wondering about the great rolled sheets of golden brown wrapping paper at almost every table, to say nothing of the diners tearing off bits and actually eating the thing in scraps. For a big round scroll of parcel-wrapping paper is exactly what a delectable
dosa
looks like—although it’s actually a paper-thin crêpe or pancake, usually based on rice and/or split black lentils (
urad dal
), nicely earthy fenugreek seeds, and a small amount of the clarified butter, ghee.

The dosa’s earthy batter is generally allowed to ferment and rise for eight to ten hours to develop a bubbly texture and a ripe, complex flavor of toasted grain and butter. Then comes the fun part: a process well worth witnessing if you can talk your way into a dosa kitchen to see it. Poured onto a huge, round, greased dosa stone or iron griddle, the batter is instantly spread into a silky, thin round. As its underside takes on a polished, sun-browned glaze, the top remains ever so slightly moist and spongy. At a certain point—and only real dosa craftsmen know when the time is just right—the pancake is gently lifted off the griddle and immediately rolled up while still warm and soft.

This plain-paper dosa is, to many aficionados, the best of all, its torn-off pieces offering the most exemplary textural interest. Cracklingly crisp on the outside and dewily spongy within, the plain dosa is perfect for dipping into vegetable curries, chutneys, and sauces such as the yogurt
raita
and the black or yellow lentil dal. Some dosas have seasonings and spices mixed into the batter, the best of these combining onions, chiles, and minced fresh gingerroot. And as
masala
dosas, the pancakes can be rolled around soft, steamy, and sustaining stuffings of cheese or various combinations of mashed potatoes, peas, and onion (with or without hot spicing).

Using pieces of dosa to make a wrap is an appealing idea, not least because it fits in with current anti-gluten trends, but it’s one that can compromise the pancake’s ideal texture. Still, stuffed dosas make for delicious hand-held fast food, whether they are enjoyed at restaurants or the eat-in/takeout shops that make a specialty of them.

Where:
In Delhi and environs
, Sagar Ratna,
sagarratna.in
;
in New York
, Madras Mahal, tel 212-684-4010,
madrasmahalnyc.com
;
in Cambridge, MA
, Dosa Factory, tel 617-868-3672,
dosa-factory.com
;
in Chicago
, Udupi Palace, tel 773-338-2152,
udupipalacechicago.net
;
in Los Angeles
, Mayura, tel 310-559-9644,
mayura-indian-restaurant.com
;
in Toronto
, Udupi Palace, tel 416-405-8189,
udupipalace.ca
.
Retail and mail order:
For dosa mix,
at multiple locations across the U.S.
, Patel Brothers,
patelbros.com
;
in New York
, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-2451,
kalustyans.com
.
Mail order:
For dosa mix and griddles, iShopIndian, tel 877-786-8876,
ishopindian.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking
by Madhur Jaffrey (1981);
cookstr.com
(search dosa);
epicurious.com
(search rava dosa with potato chickpea masala);
lifestylefood.com.au
(search southern savory pancakes).
See also:
Roti, and Other Breads
;
Injera
.