Dhruv Baker won Masterchef a few years ago. Now, normally at this point, I’d start reeling off a whole series of snide, unhelpful and generally smart arse comments about TV chefs, etc, etc, but I remember Baker coming across as a nice chap, and his food was astonishingly good, so much so that the relish [...]
The coincidence of a week in Barcelona and a publisher sending me a copy of Frank Camorra’s staggering Movida Rustica cookbook has left me cooking a lot of Spanish food. I make no apologies for this, but warn that it may continue for a while yet. Movida Rustica is three hundred and sixty-eight pages long. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]