Growing up in Karimganj, in the far south of Assam, our understanding of the cuisines of peninsular India was wonderfully, almost endearingly, uncomplicated. Everything that came from ...
Ada Hengu Khichdi
Chapter 1 The Sun. The Sand. The Sea. There was a time when Puri meant only the sea. I ...
Thirteen Knots Against the Unknown: Memories of Bipattarini Pujo
Bipattarini Pujo arrived in our childhood home wrapped in red. Red hibiscus lay heaped on brass ...
Mathapuli
It is that time of the year again. The week when the wheels of Lord Jagannath’s mighty chariot ...
Daab Chingri
A cluster of coconut trees stood like silent sentinels at the edge of our backyard — impossibly ...
Chhotomashir Lau Shuktani
This story begins on a sultry summer day of the mid 90s in Madhyamgram. Still a quiet afterthought ...
Aam Panchforon Mete | Mutton liver with Panchforon and Raw Mangoes
I insist on accompanying Bapi to the baajaar. It’s a bright spring morning, the skies a clear ...
Didar Narkel Posto Katla
In Bengal, nothing is ever truly wasted. Not the peel of a gourd, not the stems of greens, not even ...
Pui Shaak diye Maacher Jhol (Fish curry with Malabar Spinach)
There is a certain unruliness to pui shaak that I have always admired. It does not grow—it advances. ...
Cherry Clafoutis
The fruit vendor arrives like a quiet herald of indulgence, his basket brimming with cherries—plump, ...
Dindigul Biryani
Madurai is an ancient enchantress - she does not reveal herself all at once. She unfolds slowly to ...
Watalappam | Watalappan
I first experienced Watalappam on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, on a lazy, sun-scorched ...
Pumpkin Kalu Pol | Sri Lankan Pumpkin Curry
Some dishes arrive not in grand Michelin-starred restaurants, but in nondescript hole-in-the-wall ...
Jaffna Chicken Curry
There are places where food is sustenance, and there are places where food is memory — stitched with ...
Cashew Panna Cotta
It’s a quiet afternoon. Spring is melting, slowly, very slowly into what promises to be a harsh ...