“The happy sing their songs whilst the rest of us seek poetry” Read this somewhere recently and it gave me pause. And like the sun spilling its light at dawn, which, like flood waters in slow motion fills every dark corner of the world, realisation rushed over me that it rings so true. At least with me.…
I wanted a bowl of calm. A spoonful of a Zen garden with limpid, darkly-soothing pools of elegantly standing lily pads and gracefully gliding, vermilion-flashing koi. If only I could partake of that invisible yet fluid harmony between the visual, the smell and the taste that I had experienced in many Asian meals. I felt I had been unable to achieve that beautiful balance in similar home-cooked dishes. This time I was determined…
Who am I in terms of food? What do I cook and what do I like to eat? These questions bothered me plenty when I first started blogging and still do from time to time. The truth is that I cook all kinds of food from all over the world if I can get my hands on the ingredients. And I certainly like to eat my way through life. To…
You can be a breast person or a leg-lover. A few may even be wingmen or women. But you can be sure nobody wants to be a friend to chopped liver. This delicious, nutrient-packed and inexpensive part of a chicken has always been treated like the ugly step sister. I think chicken livers deserve a second chance. It’s time to push aside the pates and bring on the pepper. Spices…
I have a memory. A cold winter evening in a small town in Bihar, North India in the early 1980s, Mom, Dad and me sitting around our sunmica-topped dining table eating shepherd’s pie. This old English favourite was new to us but we loved it. A rustic dish, it was my mother’s attempt at ‘Continental’ cuisine. Meat and potatoes, yes, but with dollops of butter, a hint of Worcestershire, lashings…
Summer is early and the rains are reluctant. Chameleon-like, green plantains change colour in less than twelve hours as I think of ways to cook with them before they go to mush. Although, ripe plantains and bananas make great milkshakes, banana bread and cupcakes, my palate craves something savoury. In Kerala, in South India, they have countless ways of cooking both green and ripe plantains – from crunchy, completely addictive…
Rain on the phone in another continent, leaks into my ear, a hypnotizing drip-drip slowly flooding my brain. Drowned memories float up. Striped paper boats born from ripped pages of school notebooks, plastic raincoats smelling like a wrestler’s underarms, wrinkly toes squeaking in brimming school shoes and earthworms sneaking in through bathroom drains. In a different time, cups of coffee, seaside strolls, hormones and anticipation in the theatre of the…
Garish weddings, cakes groaning under sugar sculptures, pancake and blue eye shadow, bling and blow-dried beehives, melodramatic soaps and mushy greeting cards crammed with pink hearts, gilt and glass drawing rooms,red and oily overcooked curries…are just some of the things that make me scream OTT (over the top). I’m more of a less is more kind of person.…
A special prawn and rice dish for Sundays, holidays and even dinner parties. Ever since I picked up Pratibha Karan’s Biryani, my husband and son have been waiting for a biryani to pop out of the pages onto their plate. Their patience has been wearing thin and after months of broken promises, I decided to roll up my sleeves and grant them their wish.…
Why does lettuce always end up being the sidekick, like Robin? Something that you throw in to make up the numbers or fill empty spaces. While I have serious doubts regarding Robin’s capabilities of playing the lead, I have no such reservations about lettuce. A head of fresh, crisp iceberg can absolutely be the hero of a dish. I cast it in a starring role when I made Asian-style spinach,…