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Accomodating the Indian Palette

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When KFC opened an outlet in Chandigarh, it must have dreamt of cash registers ringing almost instantly; after all,  Punjabis are known to relish their chicken. Unfortunately though, the outlet found it a wee bit hard to attract customers, owing to the very typical taste of American fast food. Eventually things — rather ingredients — had to be toned to suit the Punjabi palate and now if you go into the same branch located in the Sector 8 market, you will hardly find a place to sit. This is a case in point that in India we know our taste buds very well. A huge range of fast food coming from various countries has had to be adapted to suit us. Look at the innovative pizzas that are available right, left and centre. Pizza Hut recently came up with as many as 15 variants of the Italian dish where flavours were derived from regional preferences. The names of these offerings were as sumptuous as the dishes themselves. You got to pick between Chettinad Paneer, Nimbu Mirchi, Sev Puri,

Of old posts and lost friends

Visited my first blog at Sulekha. I feared that it might not be possible to track those entries but lo and behold, they are very much there. These entries were a delight in themselves as they revealed a person who has now been missing for a while. They also brought back memories of people who at a junction were my world. None of them were present physically around me and I think I ever met only one guy from the whole gang, yet the love, the warmth and the innocence of those days has added a shade of mellow to this warm afternoon in Kolkata. Pradzie, my first internet friend, Nimmi, Adra, Atracus, La Louve, IBL, Unni, Perpetually Perplexed.....people or identities, who gave me much needed love, appreciation and helped gain confidence in my voice. To day I have left messages for them on their blogs though I saw that many have not visited the blog since years. Yet I am hopeful milegi baharon ki manzil raahi. Some of the ancient entries: Coming full circle was where it all s

The Culinary Gene: Black Garlic

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Thanks to this one dear girl, Prerna Uppal , I got an opportunity to do a couple of articles for a magazine called Prismma. One of the articles is out in the July-August issue of the magazine. The main character of this story is Black Garlic. If you have always liked the garlicky taste in your Indian or Italian dishes, you will love it all the more in the length and breadth your Japanese and Korean cuisines. Or maybe you would like to applaud the dessert for the taste lent to it by the black garlic. Yes, you read it right- black garlic- is here and is making place for itself in kitchens all over the world. The Culinary Gene: Black Garlic

Finger licking good

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You cannot escape its tantalising aroma as you cross the street and the mere mention of some of these preparations is sure to get your mouth watering. Yes! You guessed it right. I am talking about the rich variety of our yummy street food. Earlier on, no mohalla (neighbourhood), worth its name was complete without these street hawkers who would come to sell their preparation, especially to the women folk during afternoons. Street food today ranges from simple snacks like chaat, paani puri, sev, chuskis, jalebis to full meals like aloo puri, fried rice, chowmein, aloo matar kulcha for the working masses. Every Indian city has a special trademark ‘street food’ where it is a part of everyday life to take a snack break while catching up with the day’s gossip. Let us dig a bit deeper from one end of the country to the other. Delhi, the nation’s capital, could well be called the street food capital of the country. Dilliwallas, I think would like to take credit for the one-of-its

Laddoos and Festivals

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One of the most important festivals in Hindu tradition, Rakhi, has just gone by. This festival symbolising the great love between sister and brother is synonymous with yummy mithais being made in almost every household. We are two sisters but our mother made sure that we did not feel left out of the celebrations and so we were involved ceremoniously in making motichoor laddoos. Oh! What an indescribable pleasure it was. The whole process of making those yellow balls of delight would get us excited days before the actual event. As we grew up we came to love other variants of this versatile sweet. My sister, who is a much better cook than me, has gained proficiency in making modaks. Modaks are a popular form of sweet from western and southeren India. The mention of modaks brings to mind the colourful and vibrant celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi. The sweet filling is generally made up of freshly grated coconut and jaggery while the outer shell is made of rice or wheat flour mixed