Panfusine

Chaats: that hallmark of the ultimate street food category have been around for longer than we can imagine. Coveted & reviled at the same time, I really cannot think of how life would have been without them. (search and replace 'internet' with 'chaat' & run it through your neural  thought processor and you'll get an idea of what I mean). While chaats are a lifeline in cities such as New Delhi (gol guppa, alu tikki chaat, coal roasted sweet potato chaat to name a few signature dishes), Mumbai (Bhel poori, Ragda Patty, Paani Poori)& Kolkata (Jhaal Muri, Puchka), Madras never really had a chaat culture.  Vadai, idlies & dosas were after all stuff that you technically made at home regularly, then " why would you want to eat something made by that &^%^%^ fellow?'  GOD knows what oil that fellow uses, you'll get sick ", was an oft heard reprimand the minute you raised the issue of eating out. Maybe it was because of the innate cons...

Growing up in a traditional Tambram household invariably means that one is subject to an array of stringent rules regarding food. ' ecchhil ' (Jhoota or portion of plated food that has already been tasted by someone else), ' Patthu ' (a complicated set of rules dictating the washing of hands after touching a particular cooked dish), ' theendal ' (roughly translated as 'polluted', especially by women going through their monthly cycles). Beyond these basic set of 'kosher' rules, are others that are not so well known.. Like.. 'Did you know that it was taboo for an observant brahmin to eat anything that contained yogurt & urad dal' in the same dish.  In other words ( assuming the tone of the ' soup nazi ' from Seinfeld ): No Dahi vada/ Thayir vadai for you... EVER!!. The reason apparently is that Urad dal (& this is partially my extrapolation)  is said to have protein ( as in all the amino acids) that are similar to muscle ti...

Phew... getting caught up in the excitement of the world cup was really something & the echoes of a hard fought & well deserved win for the boys in blue still reverberate up & down ones spine....anyways, passion is passion in any form & I had to get myself to post this long overdue recipe before the taste buds lost the thrill of sampling this experiment that has undoubtedly worked its way to my list of 'must make on a regular basis' recipes. As is my practice, I usually test out a recipe (with my twist on it of course) whenever I review a book, because to me books on food constitute a  valuable literature survey that I sometimes draw inspirations from. My personal belief as far as creating recipes has not altered one bit from my academic approach to science. There are hypothesis that one may chose to validate from scratch or a touch of applied experimentation from known tried and tested existing work. Either way, in all fairness credit should be given to th...

Cricket... If there ever is a word that evokes passionate fanaticism unrivaled by any religious fervor in the Indian sub-continent, it is this, it is this, it is this!! Even for those who have crossed over to the other side of the Atlantic & have heartily embraced the NFL, NBA & baseball... every four years, these American sports are pushed to near oblivion the minute the cricket world cup rolls around! In the eyes of most sports loving Indians & Pakistanis, there is cricket... & then the rest of the other.. now what was that game?? Cricket has admirably caught up to the glitz of the NFL superbowl in terms of the advertising & appeal, and whats more, it truly involves teams from ALL over the world. There are official songs , not only from India but also extremely catchy numbers from Sri Lanka and this pepsi ad from Pakistan . Music & a nail biting finish for a final match. What more could one ask for? If you're as crazy a foodie like me.. a dessert...

Image credit: Monicabhide.com The books that I have reviewed during the past one year all had something in common, The authors were first & foremost, passionate about food, the history & traditions behind it & ultimately, the art of creating a perfect dish. Reviewing this book has put me into a totally new turf. The author, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is  the most well known celebrity chef in India and amongst the Indian diaspora worldwide. which clubs him in the exclusive clique of such personalities as Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck & Mario Batali. The task of being objective is made just a tad bit more challenging. What drove me to buy this book was the curiosity about how Indian cuisine was represented. Its an unfortunate fact that cuisine from Southern India still continues to play second fiddle to its more well known Northern Indian counterpart and this may be partially because it lacks a celebrity force to champion its unique flavors. (Top Chef's Padma Lakshm...

Today was a wonderfully productive day in terms of recipes.. 2 new dishes with secret ingredient that hardly features in any Indian dish, North, South, East or West.  A. One of the first things that popped up on my facebook page was a YouTube video posted of a  song that has seen a resurgence thanks to the movie Mamma Mia. Yes. I'm referring to that ABBA Classic 'I have a dream' As with all of us who have grown up to Abba, this was that 'song of the day' that would keep humming inside my skull for the remaining part of the day, thanks in part, to an Ipod set on repeat! B. The person responsible for the ABBA posting was Karan Bali , an alumni of FTII and co-founder of http://www.upperstall.com/ . This is the site I go to by default whenever I need objective information & reviews on any Indian movie in any language, new or not. Its one of the most comprehensive databases for all kinds of films made in India. Do take a moment to check the site out, Its defin...

When I blogged about my foray into mixology fusion, in addition to the group that were quite thrilled about the idea of a boozy version of  the traditional South indian Chukku Kaapi, there were an equal number of people who requested  a mocktail version. The immediate blunt first thought that replied mentally was... but that is just chilled regular chukku kaapi ...& nothing could have been further from reality.. A lot of fruits have flavors that cannot to 'unlocked' by  a water based solvent. They require a chemical such as ethanol to completely dissociate & be perceived by the tastebuds & the nose. Next time you hear someone extolling the virtues of the nose & bouquet of a great bottle of wine, you know why! Ditto with fruit & other flavored liqueurs, the alcohol helps unlock some flavors that are otherwise hidden simply because the H2O in our Saliva cannot dissolve them to release their aroma to be analyzed by the nose. The reason that so many ...