A long time ago, a demon called Kolhasur settled in the beautiful and rugged land along the West coast of India, bordering the Indian Ocean. The people suffered terribly at the hands of their demon neighbour. A goddess, Mahalakshmi, was sent to free them. Mahalakshmi killed Kolhasur, but in an act of benevolence, granted his [...]
‘Bhuna‘ is a particular Asian cooking style where a sauce is reduced and reduced until it is so thick that it just clings to the meat, making the meat appear ‘browned’. Dishes cooked in the bhuna style are rich and pungent, the flavour of the spice mix concentrated down by the fierce reduction of the [...]
India and Pakistan are home to some of the world’s best pickles, all types of fruit and vegetables preserved in a fiery mix of spices, citrus juices and oils. The best are little more than sliced chillis with lime, oil, mustard and turmeric. They’ll blow you away. Literally. In Hindi, ‘achar‘ means pickle, and gosht [...]
My curry of choice is always the rogan josh. It’s solid and dependable, the backbone of Indian cookery, unpretentious, hot but not overpowering, deeply flavoured and intense. It’s a proper curry. I’ve made variations on the rogan josh with chicken, lamb, mutton and the decidedly unauthentic and borderline sacrilegious beef. Each produces a different result, [...]
A common Indian, specifically Moghal, technique is to cook a lot of onions separately and add them to a curry dish during the last few minutes of cooking. This has the effect of substantially altering the taste and consistency of the dish…the end product is something of a surprise to the diligent cook who has [...]