MellowDrama

To begin to like your own cooking is also a way of evolving. You are your own best judge and you are very well conversant with your graph. The ups and the downs. The highs and the burnt lows. Acceptance from family members is definitely a bonus but not an assured one. So I cook for myself now and the others in the house have to go along with it. I am liking what I am making more and more (like yesterday night's paneer paranthas) and that is quite a happy place to be in. ******* I went to the loo. Before I sat down on the pot Abir followed me in with 2 Peppa Pig books and sat down on the floor. Rather settled down comfortably in his striped pajamas. Then he gave me one book and asked me to read it to him. He never tires of these. So again we did Peppa's family loves different things. And we did them again in the morning when he was following me incessantly with those two again while I had to do Netra's tiffin and lunch and breakfast related cooking. 

A party is on cards. The date has been finialised. A theme has been set. The guest have been invited.  So what are we celebrating, you may ask. Well, what better than the occasion of life! And hence the theme of the party 'The joy of being alive'. The party is going to take place in a huge colonial house in the Dagshai cantonment. The gathering is cosy and comprising of about 12 people.  Let me tell you more about my party.  Winters are on the verge and the mountain wind is enveloped in the sweet fragrance of the greenest grass and loveliest songs.  Invites were sent written on parchment with a quill, informing the guests about the venue, theme, date and time, setting the mood for the occasion. In accordance with my theme, celebrating life, a lunch instead of a dinner was planned as the intent was to let the guests savour the food and surroundings to the maximum.  The beautiful  house has a blooming garden. A table is set in a corner. It has been...

For our body to function properly and grow well we need many things. Among them vitamins and minerals play a significant role. Let us find out today what they are, where we get them and the benefit of some of the important ones. Vitamins are organic substances that are manufactured by plants and animals within their bodies. Minerals are inorganic substances that are found abundantly in nature. We humans get these various minerals from the plants which absorb them from natural elements like soil and water. Can you think of some vitamins and minerals that are important for the growth of our bodies? I am sure you must have come up with a long list of vitamins such as A, B, C, D and K. Amongst the minerals were you able to think of sodium, calcium and iron? The most wonderful thing about vitamins and minerals is that they are available in all the foods we eat. Be it curd, eggs, spinach, green peas, carrots, rice, vitamins and minerals are present everywhere. It is not that one foo...

Yes, you read the headline of this article correctly. And I am not just talking about a vegetable garden. I am talking about a garden where lovely flowers bloom in abundance. Flowers have been used in culinary practices for a long, long time. The first recorded mention of the usage of flowers dates back to 140 BC. Various cultures and cuisines have been inspired by flowers and people have used them for various purposes while cooking. Some use flowers to garnish a dish while some use them as a main ingredient. Can you imagine a dish garnished with lovely lavender and blooming roses? Flower petals have been extensively used in salads from time immemorial. Candied violets and sugared roses have always lured even those who claim not to have a sweet tooth. Flowers have been used in desserts such as ice cream and custards and are also found in baked goodies. The range of flavour that flowers impart to various dishes is astounding. Violets, lavender or roses generally lend a sweet ...

Have you ever had to avoid hot potatoes? Or have you finally found your gravy train? If that answer is a yes, then you must be the cream of the crop and will soon become big cheese and if the answer is a no, then I suggest that you use your noodle, chew the fat and ensure that you don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire. So have you been able to guess what we are going to talk about today? I am sure you must have done so by now. We are stepping into the world of idioms inspired from food. Food occupies a major portion of our lives and it is no surprise that there are so many idioms inspired by food. Let us begin with the sweet example of the cake and see what some of the idioms using cake mean. The first one that comes to mind is a fairly common one. Can you venture a guess? Yes it is to ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it too’. This refers to having the best of both the worlds. Interestingly the idiom is used with some variation in many languages all over the world. F...

Pulses are eaten in every part of the country. These are a major source of protein in our diet. But do we know anything else besides the fact that pulses are members of the legume family? Let us discover some facts about the world of pulses today. Try naming the pulses that you are familiar with. How many did you get? The word ‘pulse’ has its origin in the Latin word puls which in Greek means thick soup like porridge. Proof of cultivation of pulses has been found at the site of the Indus Valley Civilisation near the river Ravi in Punjab. Traces of these have also been found at the pyramids. Some dry pea seeds were discovered in a Swiss village which are believed to date back to the Stone Age. In general, the term pulses refers to crops that are harvested for their dry seeds. Have you guessed which part of the plant pulses are? Yes! You are right if your answer is seed. Now on to the basics- I mentioned that pulses belong to the legume family. Do you know what a legume is or w...

The ethnic group of people from the princely Marwar region of Rajasthan is called Marwari. Though the term is used to refer to all the people from Rajasthan or those having roots in Rajasthan, the term specifically refers to the bania or trading community of Rajasthan. You might wonder why instead of writing about food in my column I have shifted my attention towards anthropology. Worry not, this detour will only lead us to the destined land of tastes and slurrrps. As you might have figured  by now, today we are going to discuss Rajasthani cuisine, which has been spread far and wide by the travelling business community, the Marwaris. Dal baati churma is the most common name amongst the dishes ladled out of this desert region that you might already be aware of. Let us take a look at what else is on offer. The Marwari traders used to travel far and wide on the Ganga-Yamuna trade route for business. Not much of their food was influenced by their travels though the people ...

The great poet T S Eliot is known to have said, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.” Though India is largely presumed to be a tea drinking nation, recent studies conducted by the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) in 2012 show that coffee consumption has steadily grown over the years. According to the ICO data, while in 2001 the country consumed about 1.02 million bags of coffee, in 2010 this number touched 1.71 million bags of 60 kg each and in 2011-12 the coffee consumption in our country went up by 3 per cent. India is the world’s sixth biggest exporter of coffee and the growth in coffee consumption in India is even more than the global rate. After all these mind boggling figures let us direct our attention towards the beginning of mankind’s affair with coffee. Legend has it that Kaldi, an Ethiopian goatherd, noticed the effect of the coffee beans on his goats who ‘danced’ from one shrub to the other after grazing on the cherry-red beans. History inform...

What is aromatic, has various properties and is most commonly used in the powder form? The colours may vary and so could the amount used or the time of addition but spices are one of the most prominently used ingredient to add and sometimes hide certain flavours in dishes across  various cuisines. The mention of the word ‘spices’ might bring to mind the sweet fragrance of cardamom, fennel or the pungent taste of asafoetida or clove. If you go back in time you will be surprised to know that the use of spices was associated with magic, religion, preservation and even medicine earlier on. The story of spices is one fraught with adventure, exploration and the  discovery of new lands and their conquests. Through your history books you must have come to know about the spice trade and its importance in the evolution of cities like Alexandria. Spices found mention amongst the elite items on the list of any trader worth his name. This list generally included important and valu...

Last time we talked about the goodness in some of the produce that is amply available during the winters. The list of such healthy foods available during winters does not just end here. Let us take another round of the vegetable market and see what else is available and what goodness do they hold. Mustard: Though imprinted on our memories by the efforts of late Mr Yash Chopra, Mustard or sarson does more than providing beautiful background for film songs. Mustard leaves make for a wonderful vegetable in the months ranging from November to March. It is rich in phyto-nutrients which aid in prevention of many diseases. This leafy vegetable belongs to the Brassica family, the other members of which include cabbage and broccoli. The mustard leaves are rich source of anti oxidants boosting body’s immune system. It is also rich in Vitamins A, C, E and K aiding eyesight, healthy skin and mucous membrane. Mustard is low in fat and sodium content and is an excellent source of folic aci...

In our country the winter season generally lasts from October to March. The days begin to get shorter and there is often just so much more to do, in terms of cooking and eating. A reason behind this is the ample amount of a variety of produce that becomes available in winter. When I close my eyes and think of the colours that correspond with winter I see lovely hues of greens, reds and oranges. Why don’t you try it? Close your eyes and think of the vegetables as well as various fruit that you associate with winter. Let us try and get to know the goodness that lies hidden in the wonderfully colourful world of winter vegetables and fruit: Spinach I took to spinach as a fan of Popeye the sailor man who in testing times grabs a tin full of spinach and wins against his rival. I shred palak leaves to use in soup or steam them to pair up with a healthy dose of cottage cheese to make an irresistible palak paneer or knead it into my dough to reap its goodness in the form of the reg...

Winter is here. The thought of getting under layers and layers of woollens does not really make me happy. Also, winter brings with it bouts of cold and sneezing fits which leave me with a persistent headache. But what can make winter bearable is the food — the kind and the quantity — that one can eat during this season. A mere mention of rounds of hot ginger tea accompanied by delicious pakoras is enough to set my heart racing. Add a dollop of pudina or mint chutney and I could survive on pakoras alone for days and days together. Too much pakoras in my system now and I crave for something sweet, besides the tea, to restore the balance. A godsend answer to this craving is the Indian sweet called halwa. The wonderful Suji ka halwa When I was a kid, Mithun Chakraborty in the guise of a certain halwa-wallah brought joy to children in a Bollywood film. I did not get a chance to know him or the type of halwa but I have had my share of a variety of halwas that are sumptuo...

Have you seen a tandoor? It is a clay oven that is used to cook and bake food by generating fire within it. The food cooks in its own fat and juices as it is exposed to high temperatures inside the tandoor. This method of cooking, called the tandoori method, is often associated with Mughlai food or the food from the Mughal era. This also refers to dry foods especially meats cooked in a clay oven over a high heat. The chicken tikka, mutton tikka, kebab, tandoori murg, paneer tikka are some of the grilled delights that come out of a tandoor. The earliest tandoors were discovered alongside the remains of the Indus Valley civilisation. It is now a strongly held belief that the tandoor travelled with the migrating Aryan race. The Aryans, who originally belonged to India, would travel often in search of grazing lands. Some of their travels took them to the Caucasus Mountains and also brought them back after a couple of centuries and so the tandoor travelled from India around Asia and ...

Continuing on our food journey, let us today explore a destination that has given the taste of India to the world to sample. You must be familiar with the name of this city which is also an important place of pilgrimage for the Sikhs. It has held great significance in the annals of history owing to a massacre. Amritsar is known throughout the world for its rich culture and cuisine. Harmandir Sahib or the Golden Temple is the most prominent religious place for Sikhs and in 1919 the holy city saw many lose their lives at the Jallianwala Bagh. Today let us venture into the gullies of Amritsar and explore the foodie delights they have to offer. Amritsar lends its name to a fish preparation that is not only exquisite but also has had a big hand in putting the city’s name on the food map of the world. We are talking about the Amritsari fish. A simple dish of fish that is fried in a mix of very basic ingredients like besan and yoghurt has caught the imagination of chefs around the world...

Bengali sweets have often found a major following everywhere they go. K C Das canned rosogollas and finding a confectioner who doesn’t sell them even today will be a tough task. The tradition of exchanging sweets during the festival season is indeed a sweet tradition. It serves to remind us that not only is there an unfathomable joy in sharing but also that all that is actually worthwhile in our lives are the sweet moments of togetherness. For children, these times are made even more memorable by the uninhibited supply of sweets along with an unrestricted access to them. Diwali, to my mind, is one festival that the whole country celebrates with the spirit of unity. The various elements of Diwali — sweets (of course!), bursting crackers, donning your best clothes, rangoli — are much the same from the top of the country to the bottom. So let us look at the five sweets that add that extra special flavour and sweetness to this festival of lights. Gajar ka halwa: Doesn’t just the mere...

One festive season has just gone by. I am sure you brought out your brightest and nicest clothes. Some new ones must have been purchased for an important puja or your favourite day of festivity. It is awe inspiring how various festivals celebrated by people belonging to different religions and communities follow one another so closely, and we spend so much time in gaiety and revelry. One thing common to festivals, be they of any religion, is the tradition of exchanging sweets. Durga Puja, which just concluded, brought me closer to the wonderful world of Bengali sweets and that is what we are going to delve into today. Rosogollas, sandesh and mishti doi rule the roost, yet there is much more to the Bengali sweet. The lovely chom-chom, the aromatic kalakand, the shapely langcha… you name your preference and the Bengalis will present you with something that is apt for your sweet tooth. A wonderful thing about most Bengali sweets is that they make for a healthy choice. The main c...

A little obscure village on the left bank of river Hooghly, now known as Kolkata, became the city of Calcutta under the influence of its many rulers. The Portugese landed in the village Kalikatta in 1517. In 1580, Akbar, gave them a charter to settle here. Basically traders by profession, the Portugese would buy things like muslin, spices, cotton, rice, and other agricultural products here and then sell them off at high prices at various ports in the East. Initially the Portugese would stay in Kalikatta during the rainy season, trade and then head back to Goa where rains would be over . With time this practice gave way to permanent settlements and records say that by 1670s ‘there were at least 20,000 Portuguese and their descendants in Bengal’. Though the political influence of the Portugese diminished after the arrival of Dutch and finally the East India Trading Company yet even today it pervades the life in Bengal in many other ways. One of the ways in which the Portugese influence ...

In another month’s time I will complete one year of being in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Many dishes typical to Kolkata are identified as the main stay of the Bengali cuisine. Bengal of yesteryears included the present day state of West Bengal and Bangladesh, often referred to as East Bengal. This undivided Bengal had been ruled by Mughals who made Dhaka their central seat. Kolkata rose to prominence under the British raj. Besides being a major trade centre, Kolkata was also a major centre of education, science, culture and politics. Your History books will tell you how Lord Curzon partitioned the state of Bengal in the name of administrative reforms in the year 1905. The creation of East Bengal and West Bengal was a highly unfavourable move and Bengal had to be reunited in 1911. A second partition took place in 1947 when Pakistan was formed. East Bengal came to be known as East Pakistan and in 1971 was declared as an independent state of Bangladesh. Till date the Benga...