My Embarassing Crush on Kaluystans

It always starts out innocently enough. I grab a cart, throw in some nuts, dried fruits, maybe a few spicy Indian snack mixes.

But then I make my way into the long aisles of assorted culinary wares. Five different brands of pomegranate molasses? Three different colors of cardamom pods? Twelve different types of lentils? I get flustered, my cart becomes weighty. Before long, I am spending large amounts of time staring at spice mixes and walking in circles. After a while, even the sales people are looking at me funny, no doubt wondering why I am taking so long to select and purchase my items, and why I have about forty different items crammed into my cart and am clutching another twelve in my other arm.

Whenever I go into Kaluystan’s, surely the most amazing ethnic and spice grocer in the universe, I come out dazed, embarrassed, and with a bag of culinary treasures. My hair may be a mess, I may have accidentally lost three hours of my day, but I have chappati flour and omani lemons! For days after each trip, I babble to everyone who will listen about how fabulous it is. I may no longer be a schoolgirl, but Kaluystans is still my schoolgirl crush.

If you are similarly enamored with an ethnic food/spice purveyor, then you will have no problem finding most of the Asian ingredients called for in the recipes from Cradle of Flavor, by James Oseland, and will no doubt be just as floored by the resulting dishes as I was. From the first satay, this beautiful book instantly catapulted itself into my cookbook hall of fame.

James Oseland is the editor of Saveur magazine. Somehow, in his spare time, Oseland has managed to make no fewer than twenty trips to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, and to put together a set of amazing recipes interspersed with charming, evocative essays about his trips. James Oseland, wherever you are, I bow to you. It is with great humility, therefore, that I review a book by an individual who is a far better food writer than I am.

In a nutshell: every recipe in this book is well-written, highly seasoned, and spectacularly delicious. There are no plain jane filler recipes here, no Kafkaesque instructions, and no tedious prose. I loved it as a book, as a cookbook, and also as a pretext for going to visit my beloved Kaluystans…

The beef and chicken satays were tasty, carmelized bits of succulence that needed no peanut sauce adornment in order to shine; they are marinated in pastes of spices, shallots, lemongrass (for the chicken) and palm sugar. (If you are vegetarian, btw, these spice pastes also make outrageous marinades for big hunks of cauliflower or pretty much anything else).

The Yellow Celebration Rice – rice cooked in coconut milk, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and turmeric - was a rich, pillowy luscious accompaniment to the other dishes in the book.  The Cabbage with Ginger and Crispy Indian Lentil was rich, gingery, and had just the right amount of nuttiness and spice from the black mustard seed and fried indian lentil (tuvar dal).

But it was the braised dishes – Nyonya Braised Beef, Beef Rendang and Potato Rendang – where the book really shines.  They are each based on a "reverse braise" technique used in Indonesian cooking, in which food is slowly simmered until all of the liquid evaporates, and then browned in the remaining rendered fat.  The result is an intensely carmelized, concentrated flavor.  The Potato Rendang, potatoes simmered in reduced coconut milk and a miraculous paste of shallots, lemongrass, chilies, turmeric, ginger, garlic and galangal, was spicy, crispy and the most perfect use of starchy fingerlings that I could possibly imagine.

Although technically I have no basis on which to judge this, the recipes in this book feel very authentic to me; maybe it's because almost every recipe is animated by a story or a character from James' traveling adventures, or maybe it's because I had to purchase over 15 items from Kaluystans in order to finish the review.  Either way, this is a cookbook that gives you a strong sense of place, time, culture and character.  James Oseland and Kaluystans, my hat's off to you.  You two make a kick ass team.

Comments

[Mr. Addict]

While I really liked the majority of dishes from this book, the Potato Rendang was a true standout. It was simple and complex, while simultaneously straddling comfort food and something almost conceptual in nature.

I am really intrigued with this style of cooking and intend to do some of it myself.

[Danielle]

What a beautiful new blog! Kalustyan's is one of my favorite spice stores, too. Actually, Jamie from CurdNerds linked me to your blog, and once I saw that you are another food blogging lawyer in NYC, I figured I really had to stop in and say hello.

[Pbromley]

This blog continues to be both beautiful to look at and really entertaining to read! One thing I am curious about with this book is the level of "heat" in the recipes, and if would you adjust this if you made some of these recipes again?

[Nikki]

You've been so helpful! My 18-month-old loves over-the-top flavorful food (e.g., Indian, southeast Asian). It's the best way to get her to eat her veggies, which she detests when steamed (unless it's fresh broccoli, perhaps the world's greatest vegetable in her young opinion). I'm in search of a cookbook full of flavorful dishes that do not take two days to make. What do you think: Cradle of Flavor or Bombay Kitchen?

[The Cookbook Addict]

Hey, Danielle, thanks for checking in!

PBromley - I did reduce the number of chilies in the recipes when I made them. Using a little less than the recipes recommend, the level of heat was perfect for us.

Nikki -- That's a tough call...both are awesome. But, if I was stuck on desert island (why would I be stuck on a desert island with a cookbook? and how would it help me if i had no cooking utensils? never mind, just a metaphor)...probably Bombay Kitchen. But I am very partial to Indian food.

[JLV]

Wow, everything on your blog looks so great. Did you take the pictures? You couldn't possibly have that many different dishes, even after the wedding!

I went on a frozen food kick, making different dishes and freezing them for convenience, like once-a-month cooking folks do. Now I'm trying to think up new vegetarian convenience food that I can make several days in advance and pack up for me and Em to bring for lunch. Your cooking adventures look a lot more hoity than mine.

I still remember the meals we made in your kitchen on the upper west side. It seems like just yesterday I was being overly picky about how you chop onions. Can't wait for Saturday. Maybe I'll fast until then to work up an appetite.

Peace.

[DougW]

Nikki-

My two year old has a long-lasting love affair with Indian food. He also loves raw broccoli(brokbrok, as he calls it) but eats copious amounts of veggie curries(with chilis) and other things. I made a huge Indian feast for the Super Bowl(very traditional) and by my count, he ate 11 samosas over the course of the evening. I made 127 of those suckers. Labor intensive, but well worth it.