The delicious smell slowly wafting up to my room is an enduring memory of Sunday lunches growing up. It was a tradition carried over by my mother from her parent’s homes when she was growing up. Actually, I believe my paternal grandparents had the same tradition. Our family loved Sunday pulao and had many ways…
Category: Hearty
I made Ratatouille!
I have been obsessed with ratatouille since I saw the movie by the same name in 2007. Loved everything about it, the animation, the music, the city and the sentimentality of a rat who outwits a food critic with a simple dish that reminds him of his mother. I must have seen the movie half…
Scrumptious Chicken and Spinach Saag
Many winters ago, I had gone for a vacation with some friends. Zain had stayed behind. Along with him, what I missed very much was cooking in my kitchen. I daydream about cooking on my trips away, is that normal? To figure out ingredients, smells and taste of dishes I enjoy and think of how…
Dry Pepper Curry
Mirchon Ka Salan My take on an old classic. Pepper curry is one of the dishes that evolved in the melting pot of Hyderabad Deccan under the princely Nizam dynasty of India. The cuisine is a unique blend of Turkish and Arabic foods of the Mughals with the local, southern Telugu and Marathi cuisines. It is a wide-ranging spread of finely…
Borscht
The first time I had Borscht was in 2000. We lived in a one bedroom apartment on the Westside off the Theatre District. The place I had it at was the Russian Vodka Room, better known by its moniker, ‘Attitude Adjustment Hour’. Velvet curtains parted to steps leading down to a curvy bar, banquettes, and a piano….
Meaty Beet Curry
Chukandar Gosht We lived in Muscat in early childhood. The summers were bone-dry and scorching. To escape, we would travel to the equally scorching but more smoldering heat of Karachi where my aunt and grandmother lived. Their house was an updated version of a traditional South Asian home. The rooms wrapped around a courtyard that…
Broth of Happiness
Cool weather comes around and I start craving warm liquids of all kinds. Growing up, the part of being sick that I looked forward to was the chicken broth, laden with warming spices, administered as medicine and a cure-all. Now, I love broth in every form and at any time. Broth for breakfast, broth for dinner…
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