Conserving food is the norm where I come from. It doesn’t matter how abundant food may be, using up every ounce of ingredients––even vegetable peels and fish bones––is the practice back home. This fish curry with cauliflower and eggplant is a recipe that I grew up eating. My mom would make a different fish recipe…
What is Kolkata style fish fry? For those of you who are not from Kolkata, fish fry is not the typical Bengali maach bhaja (fried fish steak) that has become a marker of authentic Bengali cuisine. This is rather the anglicized version of maach bhaja— thick fillets of fish marinated with flavorful herbs, breaded with bread crumbs…
What is goat curry? Goat curry is basically small cuts of goat slow-cooked or pressure-cooked in a gravy made with onions, tomatoes, garlic, and aromatic spices. There are as many varieties of goat curries in India as there are dialects and more. That is to say that there is no one way of making it….
What is butter chicken? Butter chicken is one of the most internationally famous Indian dishes. It is basically morsels of chicken, usually kebabs, that are then simmered in a tomato and cream based gravy. Butter chicken is obviously made with a lot of butter. The high dairy content in this dish makes it a very…
What is coconut chutney? Coconut chutney is a famous yet simple South Indian condiment made with grated coconut and a mix of fresh spices and herbs. Coconut, fried gram, ginger/garlic, and chilies are ground together, and then some oil tempered with red chili, mustard seeds, and curry leaves is drizzled on top to get this…
What is chicken curry? A polite reminder that Chicken curry is nothing but chicken in a simple tomato and onion based gravy. The word ‘curry’ by no means is a singular representation of Indian cuisine. Every Indian recipe is NOT a curry. Even this chicken curry recipe is not universal. Everyone has a different version…
What is summer without mangoes? Actually, the right question is: what is summer without Indian mangoes? We get mangoes here in the USA, but they pale in comparison to their Indian counterparts. They don’t have the smell, sweetness, or juiciness of the mangoes that I have grown up eating. So, I try to make as…
Narkel bori die lau er ghonto Beginners always find cooking Indian food daunting because most popular Indian dishes require a long list of spices; spices that non-Indian kitchens have no use for. And this explains the “curry-powder” phenomenon. The problem is, what passes or is recognized as Indian food is usually the rich, greasy, spicey,…
Rainbow pancakes are so fun to make and they look so pretty that we have been making these every alternate day. Most of the rainbow pancake recipes that I have read online are too elaborate, and, frankly, too much work for breakfast. So I have used a boxed pancake mix for these. I tried a…
How to make Bengali fish butter fry? The Bengali fish butter fry is probably a malapropism of fish batter fry but remains totally acceptable because it does taste melt-in-your-mouth buttery. Fish butter fry or fish batter fry is not commonly made in Bengali home kitchens. This is one of those Bengali recipes that is implicated…
When I think of childhood summers, I can still smell and taste the distinct flavors of my grandma’s mango pickle: pickle oil slathered on a roti rolled into an afternoon snack, pickle oil mashed with potatoes and onions to go with rice and dal, pickle straight up. My grandma, who wasn’t fond of cooking and…
I frequently get asked how to cook pulao, specifically, how to cook the Bengali style basanti pulao. I will be honest with you. I don’t cook pulao very often. Pulao, I think, is haughty and temperamental. It looks at the cook with disdain and judges them. If it doesn’t like what it sees, it sweats and…
Did you know that organic eggplants are highly sustainable with low water and carbon footprints? And as long as no pesticides are used, they cause no significant damage to air, water, land, soil, forests, etc. If you are trying to go vegan or eat and cook more consciously, this is a great vegetable to incorporate…
Sausage and jalapeño mac and cheese This is by far the most requested recipe on my blog. This is also the recipe that I make almost every alternate day because my son LOVES mac and cheese. And what’s there not to love? It’s just pasta, lots of cheese and a good white sauce. The best…
When you are trying to keep overwhelming emotions at bay and trying not to crumble under the pressure of a burdened heart, the only thing that really seems to help is lots and lots of comfort food. That is if the bottles of wine and tub of chocolate ice cream are not doing their usual…
Aloo Posto, the most popular Bengali dish. When people talk about Bengali food, they mostly talk about fish, or rosogolla, or misti doi. It’s astounding to me how little people know about the everyday Bengali vegetarian fare, which constitutes such a massive part of the Bengali cuisine. Take for example Aloo Posto. I have met…
Every Bengali family has its own recipe for a dhone patar chutney. While I love dhone pata (cilantro) in any form, my boro pishi‘s (oldest aunt) dhone patar chatni has to be the best dhone patar chutney or cilantro chutney anyone has ever tried. If you don’t believe me, try this recipe. It’s pretty simple and…
Dolly’s Tea Shop is a tiny tea room tucked away in one corner of Dakshinapan, Kolkata. Although, neither the prettiest nor the most impressive eatery in town, it still has a distinct charm of its own that got me hooked nearly two decades ago. Decorated with wooden tea chests, paper lanterns, and cane chairs, this place…
What is “chilli chicken”? The Indian Chili chicken or Chilli chicken is an Indo-Chinese dish––crispy batter fried nuggets of chicken cooked in soy sauce flavored with garlic and ginger and a whole lot of fresh Thai green chilies. It can be either dry chilli chicken to be had as an appetizer or hors d’oeuvres, or…
I made this spinach and oatmeal pancake quite by accident several years ago, and to this day it remains my most favorite oatmeal pancake recipe. I do not like to eat sugary breakfasts because they make me feel bloated all day. Plus, spiking blood sugar early in the day makes me crave more sugar throughout…
Chicken Tandoori is undoubtedly the most popular Indian delicacy across the world. Yet, the history of Chicken Tandoori recipe dates back only to 1920. It is first known to have been prepared in a Peshwari restaurant named Moti Mahal (now in Pakistan) by an experimental chef Mr. Gurjal. The popularity of chicken tandoori is largely…
On any given day, more happens in my life than the entire plot of Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001), which, unfortunately, is 3 hours 31 minutes long. The movie opens at Manor (read manure) House Mussoorie School fields as Hrithik Roshan (Rohan Raichand, referred as HR hereon), the self-proclaimed prodigal son of the Raichand family, aims…
