When Jules Verne waxed on eloquently about bananas in his runaway bestseller ‘Around the world in eighty days’, he managed to spark off the collective curiosity of an entire generation and several nations. The entire European belt wanted to know more about this wonderful fruit that had captured their imagination. India is the world’s...
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Amazing Goa…amazing India I have so many stories to share. I have been up North to the great lands of the Punjab to celebrate Baisakhi and then travelled West to the absolutely breathtaking and hedonistic beaches of Goa. More on the Baisakhi celebrations later but first I want to speak about the fantastic time...
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The Bohras or the Bohri community as they are known as, hail from the western state of Gujarat in India. They were originally Muslim traders who travelled to the country from Yemen and settled down in Gujarat. Bohri food does not stint on the calories…ergo, it tastes absolutely fantastic. If there is something in...
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Botanic and culinary experts have long been at loggerheads over the squash that is so loved the world over. Although it is technically a fruit, in culinary terms it is treated as a vegetable. Actually it is a squash fruit which is very striking in appearance because of the bright orange colour that it...
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Almost a century ago, the famous Bengali poet and Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, viewed the swaying mustard flowers and immortalized them in poetry. The mustard plant has, for centuries, been a part of most Indian diets. When I say most Indian diets, the mustard crop is grown and harvested mostly in the North and...
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Goan Chef Zubin escapes the kitchen for an Indiana Jones-like adventure with snakes Naag Panchami or the great Indian Snake festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the Hindu season of Shravan. It is a day to celebrate and repay the snakes for blessing our way of life. Snakes occur very commonly in...
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Dahi Handi is the colloquial name for a festival that bears the official name ‘Gokulashtami’. The festival is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Lord Krishna who is considered to be an incarnation of the Hindu Lord Vishnu, also referred to as the ‘Protector’. Legend has it that Krishna was extremely fond of milk...
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(1) 100 of my favourite Indian recipes – Gordon Ramsay. This accompanying book to the Channel Four television series sees Gordon visiting Kerala deep in the South of India to bring us spicy, coconut-based curries and to colourful Rajasthan to learn about the creamy, flavourful dishes of the North. Authentic and flavourful stuff, as...
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