Cooking with vahchef

November 22, 2011 12:50 PM

Chef Sanjay Thumma (vahrehvah.com) wants to teach you how to make pretty much any Indian dish you can think of.
posted by curious nu (18 comments total)

But is he "the Rachael Ray of Indian cooking"!?

I will only eat recipes created by the Rachael Ray of Indian cooking. ONLY.
posted by clvrmnky at 1:02 PM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I've always had reasonable luck with his recipes, assuming you're prepared to tweak a bit.
posted by aramaic at 1:02 PM on November 22, 2011

My mother (sorry I can't think of a higher recommendation) prefers Sanjeev Kapoor's Khana Khazana - here are his videos
posted by infini at 1:07 PM on November 22, 2011 [9 favorites]

I find his recipes to be pretty hit-or-miss, and not really very good on covering technique. It's not so bad for me, because I know that gram flour is the same as chickpea flour is the same as besan, and that "chickpeas" might refer to about three different things, but lots of people don't.

For those who don't already have a strong foundation in Indian cooking, I recommend and of Madhur Jaffrey's books.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 1:11 PM on November 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Well, he is quite entertaining if not informative. The mint chutney and butter chicken videos are infectiously enthusiastic.
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 1:19 PM on November 22, 2011

I have almost zero experience with Indian cooking; I just found a lot of the videos fun to watch, and it seemed like there was a pretty large number of available recipes.

Another channel that seems informative is Manjula's Kitchen.
posted by curious nu at 1:24 PM on November 22, 2011 [6 favorites]

Schwetty Balls is much more appealing
posted by stormpooper at 1:30 PM on November 22, 2011

Wait, it's "vahrehvah" and not "ah-reh-vah"? I had no idea.

Also, is anyone else getting a malware warning from this site? I'm using Opera, which apparently licenses blacklists from AVG.
posted by spiderskull at 1:45 PM on November 22, 2011

there are things on this planet called 'garlic pepper veggie balls' and I am just now finding out about this?
posted by Think_Long at 2:08 PM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

I take it you've never savoured the Cauliflower Manchurian?
posted by infini at 2:23 PM on November 22, 2011

Gotta try his hakka chili chicken, minus the MSG.

Namaste assalam alleikoum sat sri hakal!
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:30 PM on November 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yes 1000x yes to Manjula's Kitchen. I tried twice to make paneer the third try I watched her video now I can do it without a recipe technique was the only thing I was doing wrong.

But you must watch Chef Sanjay's Rasmalai video it was the first time I ever saw one of his videos food comedy GOLD
posted by mrgroweler at 3:10 PM on November 22, 2011

Oh man - I've learned a TON from watching Sanjay Thumma's videos. Yes, his recipes can, on occasion, be hit-or-miss. But you've got to love a guy who gets moved to tears by the the memories brought back by the taste of his mutton biryani.
posted by deadmessenger at 3:12 PM on November 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

For more amusement, turn on the captions. Something about stitching the mates...
posted by Cranberry at 3:16 PM on November 22, 2011

I came across him a few weeks ago looking for a masala dal recipe after my grocery store stopped carrying the Shan dal curry mix that I love. That was the first time I'd heard of him. He seems a little vague on the details but works well if you have some familiarity with Indian food.
posted by shoesietart at 7:12 PM on November 22, 2011

I prefer Manjula's Kitchen, but Chef Sanjay's enthusiasm and orgasm-face while tasting his food is something to behold :-)
posted by rahulrg at 8:25 PM on November 22, 2011

I think I'm going to make his Zafrani Pulao for my nontraditional Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it turned out.
posted by peacheater at 7:12 PM on November 23, 2011

OMG, the Zafrani Pulao turned out amazing -- several of my friends said it was addictive. I did take a shortcut and make the rice in the rice cooker instead of with water on the stove like he said, but the flavorings were the same. Try it!
posted by peacheater at 1:07 PM on November 25, 2011