# Pictures of Indian Goodies



## aruzinsky (Oct 22, 2004)

I bought this at Kamdar Plaza, 2646 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL, USA:





Btw, that is not aluminum foil and is to be eaten.

The fragrance is exotic, flavored with kewra (aka keora) and maybe rose.  I haven't tasted all these yet, but some are marzipan and others are condensed milk concoctions.

Kewra or keora is made from blossoms of screwpine and can be obtained as flavored water or concentrated extract:


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## scott123 (Oct 22, 2004)

Are you sure it's aluminum? It looks a lot like silver leaf, which, as far as I know, is safe to consume.


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## aruzinsky (Oct 22, 2004)

scott123 said:
			
		

> Are you sure it's aluminum? It looks a lot like silver leaf, which, as far as I know, is safe to consume.


Read it again.


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## Konditor (Oct 22, 2004)

*aruzinsky*:  Thank you introducing these exotic items.  The sweets certainly look exquisite.  Date halwa appears to be present on the plate.  Are rosewater & sandalwood essence amongst the ingredients?  

Mixtures of honey, milk, ghee, sugar, and water are known as _panchamrita_ (literally, 'five nectar,' referring to the five foods which comprise the food of the gods).

Interestingly, when baked, the fruit of the *screwpine* tastes like apricot or custard apple.


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## aruzinsky (Oct 23, 2004)

Konditor said:
			
		

> *aruzinsky*:  Thank you introducing these exotic items.  The sweets certainly look exquisite.  Date halwa appears to be present on the plate.  Are rosewater & sandalwood essence amongst the ingredients?
> 
> Mixtures of honey, milk, ghee, sugar, and water are known as _panchamrita_ (literally, 'five nectar,' referring to the five foods which comprise the food of the gods).
> 
> Interestingly, when baked, the fruit of the *screwpine* tastes like apricot or custard apple.



Thank you for your input.  I will refresh my memory by smelling some sandalwood essential oil and let you know if I find any present in these. 
I am eating a few of these every morning with my coffee.  As I write, I am eating the silver roll with the orange filling.  The outer part is marzipan, very lightly flavored with kewra and maybe rose and the filling seems to be some kind of fruit mixture that I can't identify with crunchy stuff in it, maybe, seeds.  The green filling in the silver white roll has a bland taste; maybe it is citron paste.  The orange roll seems to have a different flavor in the marzipan.  I definitely like the first roll best.  The price for these were $7.95/lb.

If I can get at least one non-Indian in the Chicago area to go to this store, I think I will have accomplished something good.  As Arnold Schwartzeneggar says, "Do it now and thank me later."

10/24/04 Addenda:

The orange filling in the marzipan rolls is fig puree similar to that of Fig Newtons.

The green filling in the marzipan rolls is pistachio.

10/25/04 Addenda:

See that yellow rectangular block on the left?   It seems to be flavored with curry or fenugreek and is quite disgusting to me.


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## scott123 (Oct 23, 2004)

aruzinsky said:
			
		

> scott123 said:
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That is weird! I could of sworn it said the opposite. I have to get my eyes checked.

Btw, my favorite Indian sweet is Gulab Jamon. If your store carrries those, you should definitely give them a try.


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## aruzinsky (Oct 23, 2004)

scott123 said:
			
		

> aruzinsky said:
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That's okay.  That's one reason you should always use quotes.  Actually, I didn't know or suspect that it was silver leaf because I would have assumed silver leaf would easily tarnish, especially if eggs are in the food.  I thought it was brushed on aluminum powder.  I Googled "silver leaf" and found that it is reputed to be an aphrodesiac. http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_2.cfm?wordid=2943


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## mudbug (Oct 23, 2004)

aruzinsky, I just have one question:

Do you eat any "regular" food?


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## buckytom (Oct 23, 2004)

lol, mudbug. aruz definitely gets my vote for being the one here who eats the most exotic stuff...


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## tweedee (Oct 23, 2004)

I had some of those sweets last christmas and they really are good


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## mudbug (Oct 23, 2004)

They DO look good (didn't mean no harm).  And I appreciate you introducting these unusual - at least to me - ingredients and foods.  Just wondering how you acquired the taste for such stuff and whether you ever hunker down over a bowl of plain ole mac and cheese.


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## aruzinsky (Oct 23, 2004)

mudbug said:
			
		

> They DO look good (didn't mean no harm).  And I appreciate you introducting these unusual - at least to me - ingredients and foods.  Just wondering how you acquired the taste for such stuff and whether you ever hunker down over a bowl of plain ole mac and cheese.



I don't eat mac and cheese, but plenty of Banquet TV Dinners or hamburgers.  You must have missed my hamburger post in which I was accused of trolling and the bad behaviour of responents got the thread temporarily locked.  Also, read my review of a famous Chicago greasy food restaurant here:
http://www.discusscooking.com/viewtopic.php?t=4205


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## mudbug (Oct 23, 2004)

whew!  you do imbibe some grease.  Must have missed the burger thing.

But anyway, how did you discover all these other foodstuffs?  Did someone turn you on to them, or was it self-discovery and education?


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## aruzinsky (Oct 23, 2004)

mudbug said:
			
		

> whew!  you do imbibe some grease.  Must have missed the burger thing.
> 
> But anyway, how did you discover all these other foodstuffs?  Did someone turn you on to them, or was it self-discovery and education?



I am not sure. My father was sort of like that in that he often bought imported food (mostly Italian) but he didn't cook exotic food.   As a child, I was exposed to a lot of German cooking from my grandmother.  She would take me to a German movie theater and, afterwards, to a German Food store (Kuhns on Lincoln Ave) and buy me German candy.  My mother often tried cooking new things.  However, my exotic tastes are mostly limited to sweets.  With non-sweets I would say that I have typical American tastes except I don't like fish.  In any event, I try to analyse the taste of food that I like because I am analytical by nature.


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## mudbug (Oct 23, 2004)

Well, you live in a great area for experimentation.  Happy hunting!
Thanks for the insight.


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