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Mangsho Ghughni | Mutton & Peas Curry
I’m still staggering under the number of sweets I’ve gorged on in the past few days. Diwali season was literally a ‘mithai season’ (sweets season) for me with sweets made at home, others’ homes and store-bought making their merry way into my system. I won’t insult your intelligence by insisting ‘I couldn’t say no’. Nope, I could have but I am a greedy human being who loves her food too much and does not resist when someone holds a plate filled with goodies under her nose. However, after that mega sweet binge, my taste buds are protesting even that measly teaspoon of demerara sugar that goes in my cuppa. “We want savoury! We want…
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Harepyaaz ki Lehsuni Khichdi | Spring Onion & Garlic Khichdi
I’ve been feeling a bit off weather the past few days, having strained my right arm to the maximum with all the typing and keyboard bashing that I indulge in. Add to that the moody weather – at times cloudy, at times scorching – and I am feeling down in the dumps. At such times it’s comfort food that the body and soul crave. Cue in lots of khichdi – sometimes with kadhi, or roasted fish, or vegetable fritters or just some achaar. Khichdi, after all, is the hug in a bowl. As a Bengali growing up in Gujarat, I’ve had my share of khichdi at Bengali and Gujarati households. And the tastes varied in each…
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Nimki | Bengali Savoury Crackers
An oval-shaped dining table dominates the living room of our family home. It’s the place where we eat our meals, yes. But there’s much more to that table. The dining table is where Baba* sits to sift through the daily mail and at the end of the month, attempt to make sense of my expenses. The table is where Maa prefers to solve the newspaper puzzles and crosswords. It’s my choice of seat with a cuppa as I read through gossip pages of newspapers or drool over the magazines I subscribe to. The table is where we dissect the ‘who said what’ and ‘why they said what they said’. It’s…
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Kicking off winter & festivities
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‘Dip’ it Greek Style: Skordalia & Tzatziki
I will forever be indebted to the hostess at the Moma Rest & Cafe on Adrianou Street, Athens, who introduced me to the wonderful union of Greek dips and freshly baked pita bread. Thank you! It was a ‘perfect’ moment as I sampled the freshly baked warm pita bread dunked in cool tzatziki, my senses doing a jig in delight at the refreshing flavours. And then there was the silky fava dip, so unassuming in appearance yet filled with flavour. Watching the world go by from the corner table on that April evening, I was yet again reminded of my mother’s cooking mantra “simple works wonders.” The tzatziki is a…
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Vegetables Chops and Nostalgia
“At the hostel, we were only given a mug of tea – no milk or sugar – in the evenings. So our group of 5 would buy mudi (puffed rice) on the way back from college, take our mugs of tea and gather in one room. A sheet of newspaper would be spread open, the mudi poured onto this in a heap and the lot of us would settle down for an evening of gossip-tea-mudi. On special occasions, we would buy some vegetable chop for our evening snack,” said maa, thinking about her days as a student at the University of Calcutta, her face alight with memories as pishi (paternal…
