“The Indian subcontinent owes a deep debt to the Muslim community, for it is they who introduced the gamut of biryanis and pulaos to us.”- Pratibha Karan

My first taste of Biriyani was when I was 7.

and for that first time, I was lucky enough to taste the real deal- cooked by khansamah from Lucknow and served as a community meal.

'Maa see Robin eggs" squeaked my little 5 years old. a second later the brother too joined in the excited jumping.

and even before we could realize they gathered around the old man who was sitting on the pavement selling those light blue eggs. Something that we haven't seen ever before. We enquired about it and was very surprised to know that these are duck eggs. How the markets in Kolkata never ceases to surprise me. 

As much as I love cooking, eating and writing about Bengali food, it's a strict NO for me to go to Bengali restaurants when eating out. The reason being we eat Bengali food every day at home and when out I rather prefer to experiment and experience new cuisine. But that is not the case with my father, who lives with us. Every time he agrees to accompany us for a meal outside he would make sure that we head to a Bengali restaurant. Following the tradition he made us visit Bhajohori Manna this Nababarsho when I announced loud and clear that am not going to cook a five-course meal them to celebrate the Bengali New Year.

As a food enthusiast, I love to explore a country through its cuisine. So every time we plan a travel I do extensive research on what to eat and where to eat. So my joy knew no bound when my husband took up a new job in Singapore.

Singapore can by no means be defined by its tiny size. Rather its the melting pot of various cultures with people coming from all over the World. But the four prominent culture that could be seen in its culture, food and art are the Chinese, Indian (Tamil), Malay and Peranakan or Baba Nyonya.

Now that winter is here t and we find reasons to veer towards the richer spicier gravies, let me present to you this rich, spicy, soul satisfying dish called Mutton Dopiyaja or dopyaja. Do piyaja literally means with two types of onions. Traditionally fried onion or birista and fresh onion are used to create a thick brownish gravy. But in my recipe, I have used onions thrice. The third variant is those whole small purple onions, which I cook along with the mutton and by the time the dish is ready the whole onion becomes soft and jammy, a delightful addition to the succulent meat and spicy gravy.

No self respecting Indian restaurant, anywhere in the World would miss out on having chicken tikka or butter masala on their menu.  It might be frustrating and crib worthy for us Indian but in reality, anywhere in the World this will win hands-down as the most popular and loved Indian dish.

While I sit and write this I can hear many crackers bursting behind the verandah. Diwali, the biggest festival of India is certainly upon us. While most of you are busy prepping for snacks and sweets for the coming festivities I am yet to gather enough energy to start making some. There is something about Diwali, the hangover and guilt pangs of over indulging from Durga puja, The shortest holiday break and between exams in school, it makes you little skeptical to go overboard with these fried stuffs. But unless you start making them you really do not get the feel of the festivities.

This recipe of cocktail samosa is a regular one for my family. Whenever I get time I make a batch of  The samosa skins or more commonly known as pattis. In Kolkata we are not lucky enough to get readymade samosa pattis or phyllo pattis so we have to make them. These are good for making spring rolls as well. 

This recipe has three parts, Making the skin, making the filling and finally filling and shaping and frying. Hopefully my long term plan of making videos would be soon materialised to make a detailed post for this but if you follow my step by step instruction here, you would be fine.

Sorry for being MIA for sometime. First the Sonny boy's half terms kept me busy and then had to travel all the way to home at Santuniketan for the arrival of the littlest bundle of joy-my Nephew. His arrival kept my hands and heart full. We returned a couple of days back, just in time to clean the house and prep for Durga Puja.

Thank you to all of you who mailed and messaged me to inquire about my whereabouts and asked for recipes. sorry again for not being able to answer in time. Hopefully now will be able to post the recipes you have requested for one by one.

Today am posting this delectable recipe of Bangladeshi Chicken Roast, A scrumptious, creamy, nutty, delightful gravy with big juicy pieces of chicken thighs in it. It's a staple at home whenever we need some pick me up without going overboard with cream, ghee or spices, we cook this. 

I first tasted it long back in my childhood when maa's Bangladeshi friends from Santiniketna art college used to claim our kitchen on holidays and prepare a feast. I was very small then and it never crossed my mind to write down the recipe but Maa did. Many moons later,  few years back when fellow blogger Archita cooked this dish for a fun competition and I was going gaga about how awesome it looks, Maa smiled  and took out the hand written recipe for me to copy. Over Time I saw more recipes and tweaked it here and there.

The truth is I had never eaten Mutton Tehari before I watched this video. The Tehari of North India which we were served every Sunday for lunch in our Delhi hostel is quite different. This peasant dish of UP basically is a vegetarian dish made with winter veggies like cauliflower, peas and potatoes but this Tehari from Bangladesh could be the close cousin of a basic Biriyani. It's a cross between an yakhni pulao and a Biriyani and it's uniqueness is the zing that it gets from Mustard oil and green chilies. Quite humble at heart but hearty and satisfying for lazy afternoon.

No wonder I again decided to make it for Eid lunch this year. I was running very bsuy with my cooking Demo and and full fledged meal planning for my clients and had every intention to put my feet up for the long weekend. and thats exactly what I did. Just got out of my lazy cocoon on Minday late morning and whipped up this delicacy under 2 hours.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holi celebration this year!

Ours was not that good and both hubby and I laid in bed and watched the festival of fun and frolic around colour go by. Yes both of us were down with Chicken pox after the daughter and thank God the Doctor this morning announced us completely healed. It was a complete nightmare as somehow we were very scared of this contagious disease and sent baba and the sonny boy to My brother's at the earliest possible. Even released the house helps in the fear that they might catch the bug. At the end it was just us managing the house and the little one.

Its wonderful what 20 minutes of brisk walk in a chilly evening can do to your mood. I am not good at selfcare, I have never been. and with two small kid and plethora of work that needs to be done no matter what i hardly get any time to call my own. But this year I made a concious effort to niche out some 'me time' to do things that makes me happy inside out. and the first I did was to commit to a 20 minutes brisk walk everyday. For the kind of lifestyle I have I know I need to go for a more serious commitment but right now am happy with my small step towards my goal. 

But then most days especially the days when I go out with the day light still there the kids love to tag along. That definitely slows me down as they wonder about everything on our way and ask plethora of questions. It's like a full on blabbering session with one running after the butterfly and the other collecting leaves and flowers, playing with a sprig of twig as an imeginary car steering and what not. Those days definitely my 'all by myself' time is lost but I gain another perspective that us mothers  need to be flexible with our self care routine too. Our precious me time might look different everyday but no matter how disturbed it is we need to carry on and there still would be a certain joy. because we always know it in our hearts that this phase soon will go away and we would all be left to ourselves. 

From Time immemorial the fertile lands of Bengal has lured many traders and settlers. If you look at Bengal in the World map then you will find that not only it's the gateway to the Eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent but also has the shortest distance from any port (Bay of Bengal) to the Himalayan foothills (the Silk route). No wonder the traders have always found Bengal a convenient place to settle in, as carrying their goods through the sea and trading through Silk Route was way easier than any other place.

Apart from this huge geographical advantage The Ganges Bramhaputra Delta, the biggest of it's kind in the whole world, that had one of the most fertile land made Bengal another advantageous place. History has witnessed this land could grow almost all commercial crops like Indigo and opium so very profitably. Add to that the exquisite craftsmanship of Bengali weavers and their finest quality of Muslin which at one point of time made Bengal the foremost muslin exporter of the world.

One of the recurring questions that comes back to me again and again everyday is what to cook. With my growing interest in food and nutrition the next idea to ponder on is how to make it nutritious and balanced for the family. Over the past couple of months I have found a overall fall in our collective energy level. I know I feel low, slow and sluggish all the time because of many reasons and some I know I have to live with all my life but what scares me is the overall health of the kids.

I have been wanting to start this series for quite sometime and with the temperature and humidity killing us in India, I guess this is the best time to start. this would not only save us from toiling in the kitchen for long but also help us to make scrumptious, healthy meal ready at the table in a ziffy. So the idea here is to start a new category of egg preparation which I will post as a series in the coming months. All the recipes would be linked to Meat and Poultry category on the right side bar for your easy reference.

This series feature one of my favourite ingredient...EGGS. I cannot think of a more versatile, satisfying ingredient than this humble protein. It’s a shame that most of us associate eggs with breakfast and often forget that if prepared properly it could also make a fulfilling meal. So in my quest I have tried to scr… around the world and find out unique egg preparations which are easy, quick, healthy and balanced.

To continue with my less is more approach let me stop talking and present to you this classic Mutton Kasha recipe. An amazingly aromatic rich and delicious curry with tender pieces of goat meat laced with the warm aroma of Garam masala powder. It calls for a very few ingredients, mostly available in your home kitchen. and if you are twitching your nose looking at the amount of fat in the dish then yes it's spicy, it's rich and definitely it's oily but it makes for a finger licking meal once in a while.

How many times have you heard the words 'keeping it simple', 'less is more' etc etc. If you are an avid Masterchef Australia fan then you know that it's the best advice that the judges like to give the contestant. Respecting the ingredient, it's colour, form. taste, texture, flavour is the key and developing a recipe to celebrate the beauty of seasonal local produce is the mantra of modern day cooking.

October, my favourite time of the year is here again. Yes I love October not only because it's my birthday month or it announces the onset of our biggest festivities around Durga Puja. But October for me is a magical month when suddenly after a long stretch of extreme heat, humidity, incessant rain, waterlogged road, sweat dripping clothes the weather suddenly changes to a beautiful one. Like the touch of a magic wand the gray moody clouds makes way to a fluffier whiter ones on a clear blue sky. Suddenly the wet air turns crisp, the scortching sun  softens, the heavy humid monsoon air becomes redolent with the sweet smell of Shiuli and suddenly on a morning you wake up, look outside and feel happy for no reason.

Yes October with it's clear autumn sky and with the promise that winter is not far by is finally here.

 A change in the season which has so much to look forward to. That  fresh nip in the air, those cute as a button like new cauliflowers in the market, little bauble of dew drops glistening in the morning light and a riot of colour almost everywhere to uplift the withered spirit. After Harsh Summer it gives you a chance to feel alive again and crave for rich spices, warm flavours. It's wonderful how  just a change of weather has the power to rejuvenate everything.

And just because it's October, just because I am happy and just becasue your palette needs a spicy boost up here is my recipe for Chicken Bharta...the real one with deep ruby red oil oozing at the sides, with warm comforting spices and a tongue tantalising taste.

So finally I let go of my kitchen to another person. A cook to be precise who will come and cook our daily meals. For the longest period of time I was quite adamant to do it on my own, no matter what. But finally with the husband on an offshore project, one super active toddler, one 6 years old with loads of homework, one old and sick father who refuses to have his meals unless a full platter of 5 items are served with his rice and the tremendous heat and humidity making me sick... I was forced to take this decision.

Yes, I was sad but finally realised it's better than running around and screaming like a headless chicken the whole day. It's better to have some more time to the day, tending to the father, playing with the toddler, studying together with the kid, developing more recipes and taking more orders for homemade bespoke cakes, cookies, chocolates and other edible gifts. Yes am doing that for quite sometime for people I know personally but now it's time I spread it and accept more orders. and hopefully another big work is in pipeline...working towards my own line of handmade home accessories and apparel.

It's not a secret that I love food from Kerala. My kitchen is bursting with all kinds of ingredients and equipment needed to cook dishes from this region. Every now and then Appams, Idiyappams, Mutta curry, Chicken roast, Kadala curry grace our dinner table and make us all happy. After a soul satisfying meal of Shukto, posto, macher jhol my next best comforting meal would be rice, sambhar, Rasam, thoran, fish fry and papad. Like a true Keralite food lover, I love my dishes hot and spicy laced with the tongue tickling aroma of curry leaves.

After my last post many of my friends asked what did you have the Mishti Pulao with? some were even more conspicuous and asked directly if there is mutton curry to mop off the pulao? Well yes. There was a mutton curry but not the usual Bengali style runny jhol (soupy gravy) or rich Mutton Kasha. Rather an aromatic, slow cooked velvety yogurt based gravy nesting the most succulent and juicy meat balls. Yes, you guessed it right. Mutton Kofta curry it was, which I slow cooked over a period of an hour.