My journey of reinventing traditional Indian desserts continue. Growing up in Assam, the state was traditionally not big on desserts and confectionery unless it can to ‘pitha and laru’ during bihu. The one dessert which however was served especially as part of the wedding feasts was Mihidana and cream. It was q very Upper Assam,…
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Continue Reading‘Aashine randhe, kartike khay Je bor mange, shey bor paey’ The above limerick translates into, ‘One who cooks in the month of Aashin and eats it in the month of Kartik is blessed with all the boons she asks for…’ When Ma all of a sudden mentioned that today is aat anaaj, it brought back…
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Continue Reading…or as minions say, “Mughlai Parantha”, to which my response is that there is no such thing! There only exists The Moglai Porota. The tongue twisting finesse of ‘Mughlai’ has long been subsumed by the rounded sweetness of the Bengalified ‘Moglai’! Do not undermine its pedigree. It was born in the royal kitchen of Emperor…
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Continue ReadingThe Social Tables Mini had as auspicious and fun a start as we could have ever hoped for. We brought together people around the tradition of making kasundi – the famous Bengali mustard condiment. Kasundi has always been shrouded in intrigue, bonding and a lot of love. We wanted to bring back all of that…
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Continue ReadingHayastan or Armenia was the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as it’s official religion in 301 AD. The Armenians played an important role in world history as merchants and power brokers. In India, the oldest reference to an Armenian dates back to the year 780 CE, when an Armenian merchant named Thomas…
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Continue ReadingThe afternoon sun in Delhi is already showing it’s true colour after being subdued by an extended winter. It is not long before it will be impossible to imagine that Delhi was cold a few months back and it will be cold again, though not sometime soon! The diet in this period of changing seasons…
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Continue ReadingPujo is a spider web of memories and longings for people who enveloped my life in love. The love stayed behind as a lot of these people exited the realms of tangible. Baba, Dadumoni, Thamma, Dadubhai, Bimalanghu Jethu, Jethimoni…there are so many memories that these wonderful people made with their ready wit, zest for life…
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Continue ReadingA Bengalis love for sweet is legendary, and why shouldn’t it be so. After all, the 5th century physician Charaka argued that the word ‘gur’ for jaggery in many Indian languages comes from the word ‘Gaud’, the ancient name of Bengal. That says a thing or two about the antiquity of Bengal’s love for gur.…