A traditional Bengali winter vegetable stew flavoured with dried lentil dumplings that’s flavourful and gut friendly. Just like the humble khichuri/khichdi (or kedgeree if you want to be colonial) has a recipe unique to every Indian household, the ubiquitous ‘rosha‘ has its singular version in homes across West Bengal. Simply put, the rosha is a selection of winter vegetables and…
Banana are a must in our kitchen. They make for an easy snack any time of the day, are tasty and easy to eat. All you have to do is peel and chomp. And my father feels incomplete without them. Sometimes I feel they are the food version of a security blanket for Baba – I’ve seen him get agitated…
A fellow blogger and adorable friend recently shared a beautiful post on her Instagram feed. The sentiments she expressed in the post echoed my thoughts, many of you might also agree with me… Posts like this one by Kamini Patel of the Kitchen Therapy, the various positive videos and memes on social media platforms are like energy shots on dreary…
I have a strange relationship with expiry dates. I tend to forget about them until that moment of realization which leads to ‘mission expiry date check’. This is a mission in which you’ll find me combing through the medicine cabinet, my makeup stash, the spice cabinets and… you get the drift? The latest ‘expiry check’ had me cleaning out my…
Between the time I spend in the kitchen for the baking orders and winter laze that makes us want to snuggle under the blanket with a book, the ‘cooking’ mood at home has been at an all-time low. But since one has to eat and I’m doing my best not to succumb to the lures of ‘restaurant food’, Maa has…
Do you know what one of the best parts about winter is? It’s that special fragrance that comes from generous amounts of ghee or butter. It’s the heady aroma of paratha being roasted in ghee, the sizzle of the spices when they touch the hot makkhan (homemade butter), the hiss as a rainbow of vegetables slide into the butter for a winter-special stir fry. A mention of halva that has…
I had always found it odd that some of the best cooks around me wouldn’t eat some of the foods they made. For instance, an aunt of mine makes some amazing Thai non-vegetarian food but she never tastes any of it. Why? Because she gave up non-vegetarian food decades ago for health reasons. Then there is a friend’s mother who…
“To health drink or not” – this is the question that plagued my mother since the time a friend of hers raved about a nutrition drink, especially for senior citizens. While the friend claimed to have felt a difference after regular consumption of the drink, Maa was not convinced owing to the ‘chemicals’ and ‘sugar’ contents. Her concerns, when relayed to the…
As a child, I used to be fascinated with the concept of a red coloured vegetable and immediately made it my favourite. What tickled me pink was the rice turning pink when mixed with red spinach. Seems it was officially my favourite food and the only time I liked the colour pink! Yes, I never appreciated the various hues of…
It’s the last week of the year for several of us and preparations are in full swing to celebrate the first day of the New Year. Invitations to attend community celebrations have already started making the rounds and the “I’ll-go-if-you-go” discussions have begun. In a week’s time, Bengalis worldwide will step into the New Year on ‘Poila Boishakh’ or ‘First…