From Emergency to Kailash Kher: Raju Bhai has seen it all

A small and humble tea shop run by a Rajinder Grover who sells just chai and coca cola.   A Lota (or Bodna in Bengali) is one of the most common vessels in India and a few other parts of South Asia. In one of the India Report’s article, both Charles and Ray Eames say…

Read More

Daadi’s secret recipe: Goolar Ke Kebab

There are so many kebabs, tikkas and tikkiyas in the country but there only few which got the popularity like chicken tikka or tandoori kebab but there is one more kebab which is one the most talked about kebabs in my family. My father and uncles say that my Grandmother used to make the best…

Read More

Simple and Best Salad: Mango and Ancient Grain Salad

I hate summer, perhaps you won’t meet anyone else who hate summers as much as I do. But, it is the yellow sweet fruit, King of all the fruits, Mango which helps me survive. I look forward for this weather only because of mangoes and nothing else. Summers always remind me of my childhood. If…

Read More

A Ferry and Memory: Majuli, An Experience in Contradictions

I recently took a trip to Majuli—the world’s largest river island in the middle of the Brahmaputra—and every minute of the day-long trip was remarkable. I took a ferry down to Majuli from Jorhat—an hour-long journey on the massive river, heading downstream. The river is miles wide, and you can’t help but be in awe…

Read More

Bihari Kebab Masala

My parents, my brother and I would spend the summer vacation with our family in Bihar, as well as our Eid and Bakhrid vacations. It was kind of a ritual for us. Summer vacations were all about the fruit, the mangoes and litchis, while Eid and Bakhrid were all about the food. My favourite dish…

Read More

Popcorn Dates Back Thousands of Years: History and Facts

Biblical accounts of “corn” stored in the pyramids of Egypt are misunderstood. The “corn” from the bible was probably barley. The mistake comes from a changed use of the word “corn,” which used to signify the most-used grain of a specific place. In England, “corn” was wheat, and in Scotland and Ireland, the word referred…

Read More

Red Eye Chili Chicken and Mandua Roti

I am amazingly in love with regional cuisine and I think it is important to move beyond the usual butter chicken and Idly-Dosa. India is so vast and has many different unheard dishes outside the specific town and city. We have different green leaves, lentils, millets, meat preparation and what not. India is also a land…

Read More

Maggi Cigar

Festivities bring in family and friends together, it brings a day filled with fun and joy and lots of food which mostly includes traditional dishes. Almost every family serves the fried snack to their guests but what if we give a twist to our age-old snacks and dishes? What if you cook something amazingly simple…

Read More

Samosa Does Not Have An Indian Origin: History Of The Samosa

Lala Ji was my friend who used to sit in the neighbourhood, a few hundred metres away from our house in Ramgarh (Jharkhand) selling Samosa or as we used to call Singhara along with Jalebi and chai. He was, in fact, quite popular in the neighbourhood. Kids will go to him after school and all…

Read More

Valentine Warmth

My dish “Valentine Warmth” is basically Mawa Cake with Kulkul, Rasmalai, Smoked Strawberry Compote, Chocolate Dust and Sauteed Orange. This dish does look quite complex or that is what people have told me but wait till you actually get to learn how easy it is. Essentially this dessert plate has the very famous Mawa cake and…

Read More

A different story of Dosa and Sambaar

On a hot Sunday morning in July 1998, my brother and I sat on the back seat of father’s aqua blue scooter to head off to the sabzi mandi for our weekly foraging for vegetables. It was scorching heat in my hometown in Jharkhand and which inevitably made me wear my half shorts and a…

Read More

Kaali Dal or Maa ki Dal (Lentil Soup)

I love my simple and basic dal which has only a few ingredients but enough to make your dish taste amazing. Dishes in North India is inspired by the weather. North tends to get a lot colder than South India and people here needed a richer diet, and spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pepper, ginger,…

Read More