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At the cost of an hour of my beauty’s sleep I start this post. For some reason, I am just a little restless tonight and call me crazy but writing on the blog calms me down. I have cooked down at least three weeks worth of chickpeas under the pretext of offering my friend Chitra [...]
Today was guaranteed to be a mixed bag kind of day, and as I get ready to sleep, ok scribble some lines and sleep, I try and resign myself to its inevitable mixed quality. Pasta, especially a spring time Pasta Primavera is what works for such mixed days. It is on days like this I [...]
If you follow my blog, you know that I am a fan of eating with the seasons and one of veggies that will be making it’s way to the spring markets are the spring white turnips also known as japanese turnips. So, I am excited to announce that I will be the host of this [...]
As a matter of speaking, this post is along the lines of decompressing after a busy week of sorts and also clearing out some old pictures that needed to be organized. It has taken me several visits to write about Dong Chun Hong, because for starters it took me some time to learn the name. [...]
I recently ended up as a part of a conversation somewhere in the facebook world on authenticity and after sort of supporting both sides of the arguement I am not really sure where I ended. Well, I am a Libra, I know when I was growing up following one’s zodiac was serious business. I will [...]
I have been meaning to tell you all about this wonderful book, for the past week. I seriously have been getting all excited about, however, anytime I have been getting ready to write, I have been looking all over for the book. What does this tell you that I am a scatterbrain? Well, not [...]
Spring brings to the air a touch of color, freshness and the promise of beauty. Several parts of the world celebrate it with festivals like Easter and Purim. Well, while we celebrate all of that, come into mid- April (well almost), the celebrations vary by days, several parts of India, notably Tamil Nadu and [...]
Looks like all my pleas to spring to finally come seems to have worked, it has arrive a little later, but it certainly is here in all its glory. It has been a spectacular week! As with everything, when the sun shines and the flowers bloom, you forget that the weather was cooler for a [...]
It is this time of the year, that I again tend to get a sense of festivity. Much as I love Durga Puja, I have to confess I am generally partial to non-denominational festivals. I find them easier to share without any boundaries. In Spring, my favorite festival therefore is Bengali New Year, which we [...]
This recipe is called Bhabi’s baigan (older SIL’s eggplants) by my family. It was an accidental attempt to remake something that I had tasted when visiting my husband’s family in Northern India. I have gotten a better handle of their flavors these days, however interestingly enough this supposed recapture became quite a hit. It cooks for [...]
I love to read, but increasingly find it harder and harder to do so in a meaningful way. I love to walk, but have stopped making time for a walking routine, so I have decided to give myself a little bit of motivation this month of April. This picture might not seem like a motivational picture [...]
I have to confess, that there are many dimensions and moods to dining in a restaurant, the company, people, and sometimes the day of the week. The first time I tried Bellota at 42, it looks like almost everything, other that company did not seem right. Despite reserverations we had to wait, and the [...]
So, honestly speaking I often do not realize when we pass through festivals, particularly Indian ones. Let’s face it, today for Holi, instead of celebrating with a riot of colors and fanfare, well I had half a day at work and spent a decent amount of time working in our PTA records. However, all things [...]
Techinically, today was the start of the spring break for the kids. It offers a break in pace since this weekend we did not have the usual childrens activities. It always helps to actually have a weekend. I am however never very happy, when I cannot take the holiday week off. Although, travelling into work during a [...]
Despite the fact that I cook fish with mustard sauce pretty often, I realized that I actually do not have a basic recipe for Bengali style mustard fish on this blog. Something that I realized I had to rectify pretty soon, even if it meant starting this post at about 11pm at night. You see [...]
It has been a week full of simple wholesome meals, actually with two evenings of eating out packed into the midst. Blame one on the work being done in the kitchen and the second on Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. Somewhere in the middle of it all, I fitted in this warm potato salad, something [...]
When I first tasted this recipe, it was too spicy for my then untrained palate, however the magical flavors of the pork vindaloo made me reach out for more. I down it with enough chilled Chenin Blanc, to make the experience memorable. Despite, my first jolt of heat, I loved the dish enough to ask the cook [...]
As I had promissed my friend, there was to be at least one more slow cooker recipe in the offing. Actually, for some reason it has been a fish kind of week. I made fish about three times this week, about once more than our usual twice a week routine. And from where I come [...]
I could not help noticing that my blog does not have too many recipes for Indian breads. This is something that will make my North Indian mother-in-law shake her head in disapproval. So, I am glad that a couple of recent requests for a paratha recipe, will allow me to share my mint parathas [...]
This simple recipe is one of the many recipes that I have enjoyed from the lovely cookbook, Healthy South Indian Cooking. The cookbook is by Alamelu Vairawan and Patricia Marquardt is the third edition of an absolutely wonderful and user-friendly cookbook. The book is also a testimony to a wonderful friendship. Alamelu and Patricia are neighbors and friends [...]
All right, so once you are done wincing at the title of my post, you will realize that I am trying, truly trying to get people to take a shot at this chana masala, or Indian style chickpeas. In India, this dish actually has a super simple name – chole or chickpeas, but let us [...]
The weekend (yes, the one that is almost over was uneventful). All thing considered it provided me some rest between the runs here and there. I have been battling a touch of restlessness, I am not quite sure why. I had a planned TV event with the nice folks at CT style, (I promise to share once [...]
I have been on a quest for the past several years to find an Indian restaurant that is less that fifteen minutes away from home. It also needs to be one that I can go to with the brood when I am tired, without feeling that I am depriving the family of home-cooked comfort. Of [...]
Well, I love to cook up something to mark a holiday. The husband has gone healthy on me (or so he would like to say) and chocolate is an issue. He likes dark chocolates and I like them many shades lighter. However, when the man is North India, despite all his protests a Gajar Halwa [...]
Friday arrived in the midst of a busy few days, with snow and a blizzard named Nemo. Following a busy week, staying in offered a respectable change of pace. Like the rest of the cooking world, I like to bake when I am indoors as well. My preferred baking often tends to be of the [...]
One of the reviews of the Bengali Five Spice Chronicles that touched me was Inga’s review at the examiner. Well, I realize reviews are note supposed to touch you, but this was someone who was in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during their freedom struggle and in the midst of everything she looked for comfort in [...]
Curry Leaves are an interesting an essential spice, but before I move further let me clear up one thing, curry leaves are not in every curry and to be perfectly honest they are not present in every curry powder blend either. Clearly, I am not the only one who feels that there is some confusion [...]
Now, just because I really do not completely follow superbowl does not mean, that I cannot cook up a recipe for wings in time for the big game. I can cook it and if you try it, you will agree like me that it is pretty good. And let me tell you it is easy [...]
It is definitely roasting weather. I am so excited to share my recipe for Kolkata Style Jewish Roast Chicken at The American Bite. I have come to like this blog a lot and enjoy Yosef’s warm and comforting style of writing. The recipe is a flavorful medley of chicken, onions and potatoes nicely laced with [...]
I have often said that I am blessed in the fact that I find comfort and creativity in cooking for my family. Like it or not, cooking for a family is an everyday necessity and so I am blessed that I can approach it with joy and creativity. Now,when it comes to working with food for the kids, the stakes [...]
A couple of months back, I had told you about how I was working through the Sri Lankan cookbook by Skiz Fenando - Rice and Curry. In a house, where I am constantly working with my own recipes developing them for my own cookbooks and columns. Then again there is the constant cooking for the kids routine [...]
Doug O’ Neil at the The Life Blog of Canadian living says that, “Thanks to Rinku Bhattacharya, I can – three years later – enjoy at home the tantalizing dishes I inhaled during my tour of Eastern India”. Read the rest of the article here, I am pretty bad about sharing the coverage that the Bengali [...]
Somewhere towards the end of our summer trip, to Yellowstone we stopped and spent a day in Jackson Hole, WY. I have to confess, some trips are just meant to be perfect. As with all trips, I end up sorting and arranging pictures well into the next one, like I am sitting now going through [...]
Ironically enough, it is really when the weekend hits I am left with no doubts that the vacation is indeed over. For all its wonderful moments, the vacation left me with a bug that I am still recovering from leaving me mostly equipped for dealing with the ongoing this too barely. So, the kitchen has [...]
If you are expecting the first post of the year to be reflective, this one probably will not disappoint terribly. These lentils were one of the last meals that I had made for all of us. Simple, nourishing and full of the citrusy fragrance of curry leaves. I did not think that I would [...]
Yes, I am actually posting a fruitcake recipe after Christmas, that too a fruitcake recipe adapted from the Bengali Five Spice Chronicles, explicitly billed as a Christmas cake. Well, I did make this for Christmas actually as a gift for my mother and the most prominent adaptation is actually swapping most of the molasses for [...]
A sombre week with some troubling events happening not so far from home, I have been in and out of the kitchen. The wonderful team of bloggers have ploughed their way through some more of the recipes in my cookbook and have been announcing their giveaways. I hope that the books reach the winners in [...]
As I write to share this recipe for Alu Posto or Potatoes in a Poppy Seed Paste, which I think is perfect for the cold weather I remember and think of someone in gratitude. The recipe for Alu Posto or Potatoes in a Poppy Seed paste, is a fairly classic Bengali recipe and something that most [...]
I have featured mustard in my spice series, but lately I have gotten some questions about this basic spice base and there are enough recipes, on this site that use this particular fresh spice mixture for me to actually go ahead a do a small pictorial really on how this mixture is made. Black mustard [...]
It has been a busy week, with a lot recipe stimulation between sending out some recipe to people here and there, and then just dealing with the routine between the blogger cook-off and my spices and seasons column I have shyed away a little from this space. But, then again this space is my virtual [...]
Today, was a day of lunch with some friends. My best kind of Sunday, where I have a table full of friends, good food and wine and good conversation. I am ready to call it an early night, before I start another busy week. To end the weekend, here is the first round of what the bloggers [...]
Today is one of those Fridays, when I am glad this it is Friday. A cold evening, when I am ready for my favorite bowl of red lentils with steaming rice. The great thing about red lentils is that we all love it, especially the kids. I am hardly the first person who had [...]
I have been guilty of something! I have found yet another great cookbook and I have kept this news all to myself. Well, today Ihave decided to come out and confess, before you find out and tell me that I do not share. In fact, I have been cooking a lot of seasonal carrots and [...]
I stepped into Monday, with a sense of tired contentment. It was a good warm holiday, with a houseful of children, my brother, cousin and some friends. As with everything else in life, it is the simple pleasures in life that matter. The first time that I recieved my invite to a media event for [...]
I cannot get enough of Thanksgiving, it is my favoritest holiday of the year, however, I rarely end up doing any Thankgiving posts, because cooking the food ends up taking too much of my time, and then it is too late to post for Thanksgiving. One of my other challenges is also that, I find [...]
Vermillion was on my mind for a long time, I have a mixed relationship with fusion flavors. I like to dabble, mix and match, sometime with gentle touches and sometimes with an assertive touch. I like to check out culinary marriages of different cultures because I feel that this allows me to get an insight [...]
Something that I had wanted to see when I wrote The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles was what recipes in Bengali cooking caught the fancy of other readers, especially people who did not have native familiarity with the cuisine. I have personally found when I experiment cooking with flavors that are different, I tend to have [...]
This event is certainly one of my favorites and I had a lot of fun, seeing all the entries come in to mailbox, for what had clearly turned out to be a very crazy week. Black and White Wednesday, is originally Susan’s brainchild and currently being co-ordinated by Cinzia of Cindystar. So starting out, we [...]
The postman came on Saturday, with a heavy, non-descript looking package. I knew instinctively, that my book baby was here. It gave me almost as much happiness as welcoming my live children home. Although the wonder was really more tinged with a sense of accomplishment and completeness. And yes, I did not spend the entire night staring [...]
Gosh in the middle of all the fun stuff, I forgot to announce this event, that brings the magic of monochrome to our screens once a week. I will have the honor of hosting Black and White Wednesday this week, the event is currently resting with Cinzia of Cindystar. The rules are pretty straight forward, [...]
