Anatomy of a Masterpiece (Part 1) This year’s Christmas offering isn’t exactly Christmas themed, but a deep-dive into a dish that screams winter, among other things. I’ve dissected dishes on my blog before, but this one has to be the most elaborate. With generous forays into a variety of aspects that ultimately converge onto a…
Tag: winter
Breads of Bengal : Kochuri, Loochi, and Beyond
Last time, we tackled the porota, comparing and contrasting our Bengali version with variants around the country, particularly the stuffed North Indian variety. It would be wrong to say that stuffed flatbreads do not exist in Bengali cuisine, for they definitely do. The big difference is that these are deep-fried in oil, creating something that…
Breads of Bengal : Ruti
Bengal is the land of fish and rice. The fertile alluvial soil of the Gangetic delta means that rice is available in plenty, and is the basic food crop here. That being said, cultures intermingle, and the flatbread tradition of North Indian cuisine seeped into Bengal over the years, giving us a varied albeit limited…
Simmer, Serve, and Savour
The Slow Cook (Part 4) We’ve come a long way in our slow cook series, and we have worked slowly and patiently through the steps of making a braise. We’ve prepped the meat, browned it, and combined it with cooked out aromatics and a flavourful liquid in a pot. The hard work is over, and…
Liquids, Layering, and Long Waits
The Slow Cook (Part 3) Last time, we discussed two of the three basic elements of our braise: the browned meat and the aromatic base. Let’s now move on to the third element, the cooking liquid. The simplest choice is obviously water, which works just fine when the aromatic base is complex enough. There is…
Foundation, Fond, and Flavour
The Slow Cook (Part 2) Last time, we began our stew with the initial steps of salting and marinading the meat, talking about how this rather passive and time-consuming step plays a major role in the flavour of the final dish. It’s finally time to turn on the gas, put on a pot, and start…
Meats, Myths, and Marinades
The Slow Cook (Part 1) Last time, we talked about the concept and charm of the dying art of slow-cooked dishes, braises, stews and pot-roasts, in the context of two of my most favourite food books (check it out here). We discussed the overarching formula of all braises, and went through a glossary of some…
The Braise and Stew Compendium
The Slow Cook (Appendix) Here is a list of dishes I’ll be mentioning in my slow cook series. While each of these could do with a separate article, here I will stick to a more restrained approach, describing each dish in a few lines. I’ve chosen a point-wise approach for this than my usual narrative…
The Power of Time
The Slow Cook (Prologue) Here we are again, on the threshold of a brand new year, full of potential and opportunities. The last year has been rough for most of us : plans ruined, expectations thwarted, a whole new array of hardships piled on us all of a sudden. Yet, these testing times have been…
Say Hello To Halwa
It’s starting to get pretty cold here in Rohtak, and ’tis the season for some hearty comfort food. And for someone with a sweet tooth, nothing shouts comfort food like the good old halwa. Although variants of halwa (or halua as we Bongs would call it) exist back home as well, it is a very…
The Gourmet Glutton 