Little India

Little India is a free monthly magazine that serves
Indians in the USA and is available at most
Indian/Pakistani Grocers, and also on the Web at
http://www.littleindia.com/

Link to October articles :
http://www.littleindia.com/october2005/CHANDANICHOWK.htm

ALL THAT JAZZ


A jazz player who looks like a Bollywood hero? As New York Times
jazz critic Ben Ratliff wrote, "Sachal Vasandani was a total surprise:
He looks like the leading man in a Bollywood musical, but is a very
traditional jazz crooner in the great tradition of Billy Eckstine and
Ellington's Eckstine equivalents, Herb Jeffries and Al Hibbler.
He sang swingers and ballads, and he scatted with surprising ease."

Vasandani, who grew up in Chicago, is probably the only Sindhi
jazz singer around! He was a singer at this year’s Lincoln Center
Jazz Orchestra presentation of Don Quixote. You can swing along
with him this month at Singers Over Manhattan (Oct. 20, 21, 22)
in Frederick P. Rose Hall, overlooking Central Park. He is featured
along with jazz vocalists Carla Cook and Jennifer Sanon, backed
by the Eric Reed Trio.

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DOSA-LICIOUS!


Dosas are the new pizzas! Americans are acquiring an insatiable
appetite for those lacy crepes from the south of India and dosa
joints are popping up all over. Along with the traditional dosas,
savvy entrepreneurs are introducing new flavors for a new audience.

One of the dosa-pioneers in Long Island is Jay Jeyasri, whose
House of Dosas sees a steady stream of Americans asking for
— Gunpowder Masala Dosa! After this volatile concoction was written
about in a local review, Jeyasri has experienced a huge demand for it.
“Americans now eat more spicy than us,” he says. “They take out
tissues and are sweating, but they finish it and they love it! We even
have Koreans who want it very spicy.” Other favorites with the non
Indian customers are the Spinach Masala Dosa and the Paneer Dosa,
while kids love the Cheese Dosa, a triangle filled with Amul cheese.
The Cheese Masala is a blend of cheese, onions and potatoes.
For the truly adventurous or the geographically confused, Jeyasri even
has a Chinese Dosa, which is filled with vegetable noodles and sliced
into four pieces.

Actually, an non Indian couple, Gary & Isabel MacGurn latched on to the
versatility of the dosa in 1997 when they started Hampton Chutney Co.
in Long Island, introducing such offbeat fillings as Grilled Portobello
Mushrooms, Balsamic Roasted Onions, Spinach and Goat Cheese and
Avocado, Fresh Tomato, Arugula and Jack Cheese. There's even a
Breakfast Dosa with eggs, spinach, roasted tomato, cheese and avocado.
Hampton Chutney has a very popular location in Soho and a new one is
opening uptown.