Panfusine

Anyone from Mumbai (the city formerly known as Bombay), with a passion for its incomparable street food will relate to the following scenario. Standing in front of a vendors cart waiting for a fresh batch of Batata vadas (garlicky potatoes enrobed in a spiced chickpea flour batter) to be fished out of a huge wok of hot oil, there is an aroma that quietly stamps itself into your memory. Rustic, yeasty and downright comforting. The stacks of  country rolls piled up 2 feet high, in the corner. These are the native 'Ladi Pav', a Portuguese contribution to this vibrant culinary scenario. The Pav is everything that the snooty slice of white bread is not -  tough, chewy, with a tang that is halfway to sourdough. Its usually partially sliced,  soaked in melted butter when served up with Pav bhaji or Usal. Alternatively, dusted liberally with garlic chutney with a golden orb of batata vada stuffed in between. Lets not beat around the bush, the Pav has always been looke...

  I've often been asked why I chose  into food blogging with a niche idea of redesigning and tweaking Indian dishes instead of plunging full fledged into classic recipes that I had grown up with. I had serendipitous stumble upon the best possible answer I'll probably ever get, thanks to Chef Marcus Samuelsson's new memoir 'Yes Chef'. There was one paragraph that practically leaped out of the book searing itself into my mind : "  Who lied? Who started the lie that France had the greatest food in the world? That question ran through my head every time I bit into something new and that changed my notions of what “good food” is. Then that question was replaced by a second: Who’s going to make the people realize that food dismissed as “ethnic” by the fine-dining world could be produced at the same level as their sacred bouillabaisses and veloutes" - Marcus Samuelsson, Yes, Chef! I could not ask for a better validation beyond this paragraph. In time, I...

Yes, I was supposed to post a recipe for Valentines day, but that didn't happen. Not because of the lack of trying, but simply because the truffles that I had planned on making was headed for the dud recipe files even before the filling cooled. The initial plan was to make some  scented truffles with a white chocolate center and into a saucepan went 2 bars of good white chocolate (NOT the fake white chocolate morsels that Ghirardelli is being hauled to court for ), 1/4 cup heavy cream... melted beautifully, extra aroma added via 2 pods worth of crushed cardamom and one star anise.. mmm (the kitchen was beginning to smell great) until the addition of 2 teaspoons of that classic brand of Indian herbal sharbat - Rooh Afza.  It was as if the world completely did a turn around.. A synthetic aroma of 'natural flavors' suffused the kitchen and .... as Forest Gump would say 'and that was the end of that'. The resulting color , it reminded me of that denture fi...

 One of the oft repeated dishes at home has been a Rajasthani variation of  a chickpea curry, using the smaller brown Bengal chickpeas. This variety of chickpea is smaller than the Mediterranean one  with a brown skin that adds a lovely texture to the finished dish. The recipe for Jaisalmer chana as the dish is referred to is a classic one with multiple variations of spice combinations. The constant ingredients however, are  the brown chickpeas, and the gravy consisiting of a yogurt and chickpea flour (Besan) blend. I've deliberately worked my way through 3 different recipes in a search for my favorite. Recipes from Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, an old recipe book by Nita Mehta and the third by Tarla Dalal. Nita Mehta's recipe is delicious, but calls for a detailed list of dry whole spices that one may not have on hand every time. Tarla Dalal's recipe is a total disaster . Yes, I know I'm being blunt and may invite harsh comments and protests, but unfortunately ...

After a perfect meal with a choice of your favorite dishes, have you ever felt so satisfied that you could (almost) give away your wealth & precious possessions? I think this could fall under that oft shared slide of wisdom from the social networking sites.. "Never speak when you are angry, never promise when you're happy, never decide when you're sad." and food definitely falls plumb into the second category. There is something so lulling about certain dishes that are categorized under the umbrella term 'Comfort food' and its usually the stuff that one grew up with.

Its been a bountiful summer, in that every week I manage to get a couple of food sessions done with veggies picked from my own back yard. This week it was half a dozen decent sized tomatoes. The thing with such personal experiences with produce, is that you want to ensure that they are used in dishes that are specially created. In a sense thanking them for the priceless opportunity of sampling food at its sun kissed best. These tomatoes found their way into a dish that in all fairness, is  in search of a better name. You see,  I happen to  belong to the foodie camp that cringes at hearing terms like 'Chai  Tea' and 'Paneer cheese'. Pleonasms , as they are called, refers to redundant words paired together, such as 'join together' or 'exact same'. So here I was with a recipe idea that seemed quite deliciously possible and ingredients to match,  - organic tomatoes from the backyard, Organic Tofu from Whole Foods Market in ...

The Year: 1999, October. I'd just been set up with this handsome Mathematician from Bell Labs and by all accounts hit off wonderfully (set-ups in the South Indian lingo is ALWAYS keeping the long term prognosis , i.e Marriage, in mind). So here I was like a typical Indian girl, taking the BIG step of inviting the guy home for Lunch. Ringing up a huge bill calling my mother back in India about what I should make. 

 In the middle of repetitive daily chores, that go by week after week, there suddenly pop up opportunities that one must simply take advantage of, or else spend the rest of your life regretting it. As you've probably figured out, I'm completely hooked on to Food52. Its not just the recipes, the contests and the little bantering corner for exchanging ideas that they refer to as the 'hotline' (previously known as the food pickle). Its a community of friends I've gained online, most of whose names & faces I have no idea of since most of us go by our usernames online, & yet, my eyes widen in delighted anticipation at their comments, suggestions & recipes.

As puerile as it sounds, the recipe for Bambalay curry caught my attention  purely on the basis of the phonetic sound of it, the inner loop voice in my head kept going 'Bambalay bambalay, bambalay...' (reminded me of the song by the Gipsy kings 'Bamboleo')

A Terrine is basically a French dish traditionally made from scraps of meat pressed down and baked into a loaf. This pressed down technique lends itself beautifully to starchy potatoes bound by cream. When pressed down and cooled, the sliced up loaf can be pan-fried to yield a crisp texture. The end result is a decadent side dish that may be served with your choice of entrée & a simple green salad. Such techniques however never feature in Indian cuisine. Ever. First and foremost, because baking is not a preferred means of cooking, and foods cooked and served the next day are generally frowned upon. This is primarily because of the weather conditions in most of India. Heat & lack of refrigeration do not lend themselves well to edible dishes that are meant to be served the next day, least of all terrines.

 Spring... you definitely know its here when you spy these beauties in a single basket on the supermarket grocery shelf.. accompanied by a gasp inducing price tag.. ~ $12.99 /lb.. Black Truffles, they ain't, but addictive & seductive enough to compulsively  buy some each time I make a visit. I'm referring to Ramps , that all American wild onion that peeps out from swampy shaded land all the way from the south to Canada. The term Ramps derives from the Old English word Ramson, the term used for another wild species of onion , the European bear leek. Resembling scallions with broad green leaves, the flavor has been described somewhat as similar to " fried green onions with a dash of funky feet".

I'd been racking my brains as to what to create for Terra Madre day (India) hosted by Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal , but sometimes the answer is staring at you in the face! The best dishes in life are those created with the simplest of ingredients, locally sourced and seasoned with an abundance of love and care. The first dish that comes to mind was a Maa ladoo a delicious confection made with roasted chick pea flour sugar, ghee and cardamom. This is still my all time favorite sweet snack that instantly reminds me of my mother. The second  was a recipe taught to me by my aunt Lakshmi Ramanathan while on holiday in Bangalore, India. The perfect dish for supper, simple eggplant bharta with fresh roti. 'Chithi' as I call her has been the mother figure in my life from the moment I lost my own mother in 2007. The dominant flavor is brought about, not by any spice or spice blend, but simply the robust smokiness of the char grilled eggplant and heat from gin...