Bombay Spice

Icy Pleasures August, 2010

Colourful push-peddle carts abound this time of year throughout perennially hot Mumbai. These carts, know as Golas, feature a local favourite beach-side treat: rustic ice lollies made from big balls of ice shavings stuck on rudimentary bamboo sticks.

Monsoon Cornucopia! July, 2010

July has to be the soggiest month of the year here in Mumbai – a month when life as we know it, with all its inherent rushing about and stopping to breathe only on Sunday, suddenly comes to a standstill as endless curtains of rain curtail all normal activity. It is a month of endless waiting in blocked trains and traffic snarls, a month when everything seems damp – damp clothes, damp hair, even the air seems damp (and redolent with the smell of mould thriving in corners deprived of sunlight). A month of days with no maids, no vegetables, no electricity or sometimes all these together!

Currying Flavour! June, 2010

We have a wealth of greens in Indian cuisine, but June is not the best month for them. In India, June brings the monsoons, and greens are traditionally limited or nonexistent on the plate. But then I remembered a green leaf that is a year-round staple: the aromatic curry leaf, the unsung hero of the Indian kitchen.

Chai Masala Memories May, 2010

I still remember my first foray into the kitchen – not just because it was my first time but more so because of its association with my mother. Afternoon tea was a daily ritual in my maternal home. The entire extended family would congregate in my grandmother’s room for chai (tea) daily. The actual making of the chai was usually the duty of the youngest daughter-in-law, but one afternoon, popular consensus decreed that I would make the chai. It was time – as reasoning went – for me to learn these little household chores.

Rice and Relationships April, 2010

I have a very strong relationship with rice. I love it in all its forms. At its simplest, dressed with a little ghee (clarified butter) and salt, it reminds me of my mother: Steaming hot rice as an accompaniment to dal represents comfort and homecoming; cooked with spices and meat or vegetables, it becomes a special meal I can serve those I love. But our relationship did not start out that way.
 

Delicious Chutneys and Chaats March, 2010

It’s hard to believe that, with all its variety, Indian cuisine does not really have cheese in its repertoire. Of course, there are some Western cheeses being produced in different parts of India these days. I also have it on good authority that there are some really stinky cheeses being produced in the relatively undiscovered cuisine of the Northeastern states of India. But, apart from these, the only cheese we can call our own is paneer, or cottage cheese. So I was stumped with what to write for a cheese theme.

CHOCOLATE WITH INDIAN APHRODISIACS February, 2010

We live in an age of marketing, advertising and endemic consumerism, and Valentine’s Day has been transported into that universe of excessively hyped holidays. I am tired of deleting Valentine’s Day promotions from my inbox, and the papers are full of advertisements for jewellery. (Rub it in, why don’t you!) Let’s face it: Valentine’s Day is no longer just for lovers, and we are all victims of the times.

The Comforts of Home February, 2010

Breakfasts of sweet and juicy grapefruit freshly picked from one’s own garden, hot, doughy rotis topped with freshly churned butter and crumbled jaggery and endless cups of steaming ginger tea…. Meals of steaming-hot real basmati rice doused in homemade ghee, hot tor dal (a soup-like dish made with whole Pidgeon peas, indiginous to Uttarakhandi cuisine) tempered with pharan (a chive like herb indiginous to Uttaranchal) and garlicky stir-fried greens from the kitchen garden...and the sweet, sweet finale: hot halwa!

Thali December, 2009

With myriad gods and as many ways to praise, petition and appease them, Indians have an inherent sense of pageantry, and no celebration – be it a naming ceremony, religious ceremony or wedding – is complete without food! We never miss an opportunity to bring colour into our lives, and this is true of our food as well. In India, we grow up with a sense of hospitality ingrained in us. It stems partly from believing in atithi devo bhava, which means that guests are avatars of God, and the essential role that food plays at religious and social gatherings in our lives.

Bombay's Vegetable Lane. The Colourful Promenade. November, 2009

I cook and eat a wide variety of cuisines, but a home cooked meal of dal and rice is the first thing I crave when I am away from home or feeling down. It is also a meal I love to cook for my family, because they never eat as well as when I cook it. Meals in India are defined by a visit to the local market, a “food promenade.” Since I only have access to modern supermarkets near where I live in Mumbai, I often try to shop at the local market near where I grew up.

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