Bombay Foodie

Spring has given London a miss this year. Never mind that we are already well into April, it was still snowing yesterday and you can go nowhere without heavy coats and full winter gear. Thankfully, the no spring memo didn't reach the farms and the spring vegetables have been out in time. Last week's trip to farmer's market yielded asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli, both of which go into this risotto. If you've dealt with mushy vegetables in your risottos in the past, this recipe also tell you how to get that creamy rice without overcooking the greens. And as a  bonus, there is no butter or cream anywhere so pay attention. For half a cup of rice (which I found is enough for two servings at least), cut 4-5 stalks of asparagus in 1-inch pieces. Cut broccoli into small florets and also, if you are using the sprouting version, add leaves to the mix. Now put 1 1/2 cups of stock to heat in a saucepan. If you don't have stock, plain water will do. No really, t...

Friends often ask me why I take the trouble to go all the way to Borough Market every weekend. It's crowded, it's touristy and London has so many other farmers markets that are much quieter and easier to shop in. But Borough is nicer because it's touristy -which means that competitive farmers and traders show up not just with fresh rhubarb and raspberries but also with unique treasures like these pink mushrooms I got last week. I got two other things from the mushroom forager - a bulb of smoked garlic and advice on how to cook these mushrooms. Although they are pink, these are just a variant of your standard oyster mushrooms. So I just tore them roughly with my hands. The mushrooms were quite delicate and didn't even need a knife. Next, I finely chopped two cloves of smoked garlic. Heated a tbsp of olive oil and added the garlic. Once it started to brown, I added the mushrooms and cooked for 4-5 minutes until they looked done. I added a dollop of cream to the ...

But then, you may wonder why someone would want to eat mincemeat in the first place. To begin with, there is the whole confusion with the name. For years, I kept away from mince pies as I assumed they had meat. It was only around last christmas that I figured that this was a misnomer and the mincemeat referred to a concoction of dried fruit, sugar and booze. At around the same time, I learnt that mince pies get a bad rap for being too sweet and too stodgy and generally not good. But then, I tried them and fell in love with mince. I think my lack of experience with mince pies of yesteryears helped. This year, London supermarkets were stocked with Heston Bluementhal's dreamy puff pastry pies that came with sachets of pine needle sugar. Even my school did some great take with filo pies and there wasn't a stodgy shortcrust one in sight. Of course, the jars of mincemeat went on sale at the same time and I brought one home. But then I didn't get around to baking with mince i...

One upside of having a large bunch of classmates is that it solves the perennial problem I've had with trying out new recipes - finding enough people to eat what I bake. What was even more fun was baking birthday cakes and surprise birthday parties. This cake is from one of the first surprise birthday parties I planned. While there were a few others after this one, this cake was my favourite among all the cakes I baked so I thought I'd tell you where to look if you are planning to bake a decadent chocolate cake. The recipe's from Dorie Greenspan. In her book, it's a rather elaborate cake topped with caramel and peanuts. What I did was bake the cake, then pour a layer of ganache to cover. And while you don't see it here, the cake then had a happy birthday written on it with a tube of "white chocolate writing icing". Of all the things I discovered on the London supermarket aisles, this little tube of icing is my favourite. Takes the hassle away from ...

One of the first things I did when I got to London last year was seek out ingredients hard to find in India. Like tahini, the sesame seed paste used to make hummus. What I didn't realise though was that good hummus was equally easy to buy, practically at every supermarket and there was no need to fuss with making your own. Which is why the jar of tahini has been lurking in the cupboard ever since. I decided to look up other uses for tahini, apart from hummus, and found it to be a good addition to cookies. Other bloggers advocated using tahini just like peanut butter and so these cookies came into being, adapted from multiple peanut butter and oatmeal cookie recipes. First off, mix a cup of oats, 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp baking soda. In another bowl, mix 60 grams softened butter with 1/4 cup tahini. Add 2/3 cup castor sugar, a tsp of vanilla extract and an egg. Mix with a whisk until everything is blended. Pour the flour mix from the first bowl into ...

Yesterday, I decided to make a trip out to Stoke Newington in North London, quite far away from my Central London home but known to have one of the best South Indian restaurants in the city. Coming from my part of town with Starbucks and Pret A Manger at every corner, the quaint and charming Stoke Newington blew me away. Tiny stores selling toys and mugs and pottery and not a single chain store in sight. I didn't know places like this still existed. The restaurant alas, was a lot less impressive and when I left, the bland food was still half uneaten, I still a little hungry. Then I remembered a sign I'd seen from the bus on the way. Right opposite Newington Green, a tiny hole in the wall promising gozleme. I first heard of gozleme on Masterchef Australia last year when a Turkish contestant made them. I've been intrigued by this filled flat bread ever since but this was the first time I've seen it being advertised in an actual store. So I got off the bus at the righ...

I've done it again. After telling myself that I have way too many gadgets and no space to put them in, I've gone ahead and bought the one gizmo I've been eyeing for years - an ice cream maker. It isn't anything fancy. In fact, it was the most basic and the cheapest model around. In this version, you get a tub that you put in the freezer for about a day. This frozen tub does the actual freezing and the rest of the ice cream maker is just to churn the ice cream to make it nice and soft. I still haven't mastered the art of making custard without scrambling eggs so the new gizmo was christened with David Lebovitz' strawberry yogurt . Once blended, it took around 15 minutes to churn into delicious frozen goodness. The tub's now gone back into the freezer and I am now on the lookout for my next ice cream flavour to be churned tomorrow. With small batches I can eat in a day, it's practically like having your own ice cream parlour. Now how cool is that...

Weekday dinner at its simplest. The pasta is fresh tagliatelle bought from the farmers market this weekend. The sauce is a take on my perfect pizza sauce . The two are mixed together and topped with rocket, a salad leaf that makes everything better in my view. Sprinkle some parmesan and mondays couldn't feel better. I'm going to write down the sauce recipe for you because it was made from canned tomatoes this time round. It took a while to cook but most of this time was the sauce simmering away on its own. First off, finely mince 2-3 cloves of garlic and thinly slice an onion. Grab 7-8 olives and give them a rough chop. If your olives aren't pitted, bashing them with a rolling pin will do the job nicely. Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Saute garlic on a medium heat until it starts to brown. Add onions, lower the heat and let cook slowly until the onions start to caremalise. Now add the olives, a hearty pinch of salt and if you like, some chilli flakes. Ad...

So you know I went back to school last year. At first, I tried to keep up with the blogging. But as life got busier with classes and assignments, I found it hard to keep up with the social aspects of blogging I so enjoyed - visting other blogs, chatting with other foodies both online and in real life. Eventually, I found it impossible to even update the blog regularly and rather than keep up a half hearted effort, I stopped blogging completely a few months back. Now that poses a few problems. Like, on days like today, when I come back from my favourite farmers market in London. And I want to share the excitement, the marvels that Borough Market offers - fresh pasta, sourdough bread with a lovely goat cheese, gorgeous rhubarb and wild blue mushrooms I've never seen before. And a tart au citron baked by two French home bakers just this morning. Then there's another, bigger problem I've had with not blogging. For the past five odd years, this blog has been a place for...

How do you describe the most amazing meal of your life. It's almost a whole day since I got back from lunch at Heston Bluementhal's "The Fat Duck". And I still can't find the words to explain what you experience as you sit there for four hours, enjoying his decadent 14 course tasting menu. Maybe I'd start where he starts, the amuse bouche that was one of the my favorite courses. Sweet aerated beets with horseradish cream, the whole package looking like a tiny red velvet whoopie pie. The next course was an apertif. In mad scientist way, the server brought liquid nitrogen and converted vodka and lime or campari and orange into meringue like things that numbed your tongue and set you up for flavor assault about to hit you. The other courses that would make my top 5 hall of fame include this risotto you see above. It's not from his main menu, and I only got it because I am a vegetarian. This is beetroot risotto topped with radish carpaccio, some kind o...