Chicken A La Kiev has one of the murkiest histories in food, and one that is highly political. It is disputed whether the dish was invented by a French or Russian chef. In 1700s, the Soviet aristocracy had a fascination with the French culture and food and would send their chefs to Paris to train.…
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Continue ReadingLast week my maître d’home, Rekhadi, landed with a huge bunch of sojne shaak that was given to her by her neighbour, to be passed on to us. In the passing, Rekhadi mentioned that her neighbour, Habila, a Bengali Muslim from Malda in West Bengal makes a sojne shaak chhana. A lot of us urban…
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Continue ReadingOne fall out of the lockdown and social distancing has been my recollection of all those people who have showered me with affection and taught me cooking. One such person was Uma da. I had began my career in the development sector in Odisha. One early morning of August, eighteen years back, I had landed…
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Continue ReadingMost Bengali’s worth their salt will sing you paeans about their love of hilsa, or ilish as we call it. That love has been pretty detrimental for the fish though, as we have gone through populations of the fish, leaving it endangered as a species! Sadly, most Bengalis still do not acknowledge of that problem,…
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Continue ReadingI was on a work trip to Chennai and Trichi when I first met Aheila. Petite, dusky, large fluid eyes, ever smiling with a garland of fragrant jasmine on her long plaited hair. As she greeted me at the arrival section of Chennai airport, my first thought was that her personality and face matched her…
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Continue ReadingOmpok pabda or Pabda (Bengali), Pabho (Assamese) is a fresh water fish that lives in small rivers, ponds and even flooded agriculture field in sub-mountainous regions of Ganga-Brahmaputra riverine system. The fish highly prized in Bengal, Assam and also eastern Bihar and terai regions of Nepal for its sweet, fresh taste and soft, buttery texture.…
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Continue ReadingThe middle courtyard of my Mama’r bari or my mother’s paternal house had a mango tree. It was one of the three trees spread around the gardens. One behind the kitchen, that could be seen from the kitchen window, yielded the most unique mangoes I have ever had. These were small, green even when ripe,…
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Continue ReadingWhen Gitanjali sent me the recipe, she sent it to me with the concern that it perhaps wasn’t frugal enough. May be it was not, two weeks ago, but as it stands today, it isn’t too lavish either. Supply chains have become better, seafood, meat and vegetables are becoming available again albeit still with some…
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Continue ReadingOne of the first women chef’s I fell in love with (hook, line and sinker, if you may) was Kylie Kwong, the Australian-Chinese chef. I have followed her for years now and much of my Southeast Asian and Chiniese flavours are influenced by her. One of her recipes that stuck to me is of stock…
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Continue ReadingMonima is my aunt, my mother’s younger brother’s wife. To all us cousins, she has always been an aunt, a friend and a confidante. In so many years of knowing her, none of us remember her for a moment when she wasn’t smiling, patient and kind. To everyone around her. To that, add a killer…
