Kolkata
Kolkata stirs up my soul. Wherever I go, whichever city I live in and call that my home, there is always a reference to something or someplace or somebody or some incident in Kolkata. It amuses me sometimes as well as it irritates me. I end up finding Venice as water-logged North Kolkata! I cannot ever severe my soul Konnection...
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Dilipda’s Phuchkas in Vivekananda Park | ‘World Famous’ In Kolkata
Parar Phuchkawalah Each Para/neighborhood in Kolkata has their local celebrity Phuchkawalah/Phuchka-seller. They are the most sought-after street food. Phuchkas, also known as Golgappas or Panipuris elsewhere, are not only a popular street food in many places in India but also in Nepal and Bangladesh. Though we get Panipuris in many places in Dubai, the Bengali variant Phuchka is very different. And obviously not so easily available elsewhere. I’m glad that Wikipedia considers Kolkata’s Phuchka to be ‘the king of this variety of snacks, compared to its cousins like Golgappas or Panipuris. The filling is made by lightly mashing boiled potatoes with black salt, salt, some spices, a generous portion of…
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A Tale of 2 Cities & Naru/Coconut Jaggery Truffles | A Dubai Expat’s Summer Story!
At any point of time the story of my life revolves around 2 cities – the city that we are living in at that point in time and which we refer to as our home and Kolkata – the city which has shaped my life and which has brought me up. Again which I also refer as home. Lucky to have two homes at any point in time! Right now these two cities are Dubai and Kolkata. It has been for the last one and a half decades with a gap of 3 years in between when when Frankfurt had replaced Dubai. Or in the beginning of my married life…
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Featured in Foodie BlogRoll & Green Mango Chutney!
I feel like a Chutney at this moment and hence this special post on a traditional Bengali Green Mango Chutney or Kaancha Aamer Chutney! Why Chutney? Well, to be honest Chutney is the only thing that can describe how I feel at this moment. My blog is being featured in this week’s FoodieBlogroll’s Featured Blogs! What does this mean to me? It means that somewhere down the blogging journey, special moments like these will add more spice, more spunk to my writing, bring in more readers. What’s the other alternative? Well, I could be standing in the highway with a poster – Buddies, Please Read My Blog! I’m trying to…
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Notun Gurer Payesh/Traditional Bengali Rice Pudding | Remembering My Dida
Today’s dish is special and very primitive. The only other way to explain the importance of a traditional Payesh/Rice Pudding is to compare it with Champagne. If you can understand the importance of Champagne to bring in a family celebration then you can probably understand the importance of Payesh. Or say, cutting a cake on a birthday. For a Bengali, a spoonful of Payesh is a must on a special occasion. Also, the first spoon of non-solid food that goes into a Bengali child during Annaprashan or the First Rice is Payesh. Annaprashan’ or the First Rice The first ceremony or celebration that a Bengali child witnesses is Annaprashan or…
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Bengali Sweets That Came By Parcel!
I have just explored my photographic and nostalgic journey into the world of Rôshogolla or Rasgulla – probably the most famous Bengali Sweet in my previous article. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect another volatile mission so soon with my camera and my blogging – on one of my favourite topics – Bengali Sweets. That too traditional Bengali Sweets. But then not many are lucky to have a friend like mine who can not only talk about Bengali Sweets for hours but also couriers and parcels them for friends from across continents and countries. In the same article I had mentioned my friend Srikanth, a connoisseur in Bengali…
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Rôshogolla or Rasgulla – Bengali’s Own Sweet
We are just 2 days into the Bengali New Year and what better excuse can there be than this to share a bit of Bangaliana (everything Bengali) with everyone – the ones who are already familiar with Bengali culture and tradition and also those who are absolutely uninitiated to it. But where to start and how to start? When you grow up amidst a certain culture it becomes so much a part of you that it is not very easy to dissect oneself from it and write about it, specially if the intention is to introduce that culture to the world. But nothing is impossible. One just has to make…
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Purple Haze Yoghurt With Purple M&Ms
The Purple Story A beautiful wedding where the bride is in love with the colour PURPLE. An emotional church wedding followed by a beautiful wedding dinner amidst white silk linens & purple bows, silver & purple butterflies, bubbles & bubblies – signed off by purple M&Ms! M&Ms are perhaps the World’s most popular and colourful chocolate candy lentils and our family is besotted by them. Hence this recipe is my personal favourite. Since the Z-SISTERS were left at home amidst hue and cry of utter unfairness and injustice, we decided to recreate some purple magic with the Purple M&Ms and the butterflies that came back home with us in the tiny…
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Shiraz Golden Restaurant, Dubai | From Lucknow To Kolkata And To Dubai!
The Shiraz Nostalgia Amongst all the golden memories of my college days in Kolkata, the one thing that consistently churns up is Shiraz Golden Restaurant in Circus Avenue, Park Circus (left). All our random parties or any special party during any festival, for example Holi, Diwali or even Durga Puja was necessarily powered by Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Chaap and Firni (an Indian Dessert made with milk and powdered rice) from Shiraz. Each one of us would be handed over one packet of Mutton Biriyani and one piece from the Chicken Chaap to start with… and would end up with forever licking the spoons that scooped out the mildly aromatic Firni…
