The shop is very good - the prices are *extremely* reasonable, and the choice of different things (brands of rice, types of dal, hard-to-find ingredients) is overwhelming - like a whole wall of dal in various types and bag sizes.

They carry fresh produce, like kari leaves and special eggplants, that we can’t find elsewhere (even at our natural foods market) - also very reasonably priced. Lots in the frozen section, and they even have samosas cooked and ready to go.

The shop itself is small and jam-packed… sort of what one might see in NY. Cookbooks, videotapes, incense, and other miscellaneous items line one wall. The website is much more “elegant” than the shop! But they seem to have *everything* there. The people are very helpful.

They also offer cooking classes for locals.

They are the manufacturers of the “Nirav” brand, so I think their shop might actually be a smaller part of their business. They were voted the best Indian or specialty grocery (I forget which) by Milwaukee Magazine.

Have a great week! And thanks again - for everything!

May we please ask your advice on something? Our South Indian cookbook tells us that American yellow split peas are the same as Bengal Gram/channa dal. We have tried using American yellow split peas for tempering but they come out very hard. Is the Bengal Gram/channa dal really the same thing, or is there a distinct difference for tempering/use in sambar/etc.?

What is the difference between toor dal and channa dal, or are they interchangeable in recipes?

They “physical” store for the iShopIndian.com website is actually quite near us, so we can pick up whatever you specify there.

We are trying to make dosai this weekend… thanks again for all your great recipes!!!

Indira replies:
Thanks for your nice words about my blog, appreciate it.
1. I’ve never bought or used American yellow split peas, so I can’t tell for sure, whether they are bengal gram/chana dal or not.
2. Bengal gram and chana dal are the same thing. I use ‘chana dal’ terms like that in my recipes, because in Indian stores, they are labelled and sold under these names.
3. They do turn out hard and crispy, during tempering/popu… and give a crunchy taste. That’s why they are used, but some cooks don’t add them to ‘popu’ because of that same reason. Adding them is a personal preference, even in south India.
4. Toor dal and chana dal are two entirely different types of pulses. The taste difference between them is tremendous and for recipes, they are not interchangeable, Big no.
5. Oh… you live in Wisconsin? Have you been to this shop before? How is the shopping experience, did you find the variety and prices reasonable? I’ve added online shop, to my links, mainly because they include image and description of ingredients.
6. Yum… dosa…great for weekend. Enjoy!
I hope you find my response useful.