A handful of spice in a mouthful of food ...

0149 hours.

Let's face it. We Indians cannot cook without spices. Some of my American friends tell me that I do not put spices in my food, but rather put food in my spices. Well, I know better than to argue with that !

Last time I had some of my American colleagues over for dinner, and they were all left red faced and sweating. Looking at them I really felt guilty of trying to kill them and that was when I thought that I had gone easy on the red chilly powder !

After sampling various cuisines from different parts of the world, and after numerous trips to the local supermarket, I firmly believe that no other community spends as much time in the 'spices' alley as the Indians. I once saw a girl pick up 17 different types of spices, and couldn't help but notice, that she also had a large pack of toilet paper in her shopping cart. I was really tempted to suggest her to also buy a fire extinguisher because the toilet paper was sure to catch fire the next morning.

Eating spicy food is in some ways like weight training. On Day one, you struggle with the 20 pound weights and after a couple of months you are pumping away to glory with the 50 pound dumbbells. Ditto for a Nigerian friend of mine who at one point of time found guacamole extremely spicy, but now dips his crackers in habanero salsa ! What helped him achieve this transition ? Indian food ! Now that he is comfortable with the fiery salsa, his Everest is to eat a portion of Kolhapuri Chicken (a freaky traditional Indian chicken preparation that even I cannot eat) all by himself.

I have some more of my American friends coming over for dinner tomorrow. Let's see if they are up to the challenge !

The menu -
1. Tandoori Chicken
2. Fish Tikka
3. Kadhai Chicken
4. Vegetable Jalfrezi
5. Alu Matar Bhaji
6. Naan
7. Pulao

A dangerous game is about to begin ...