posted by
Samar on
December 24, 2014
Flatbreads (parathas) are common in India, and stuffed ones a speciality of the north. They are commonly eaten for breakfast or as a light snack. Fillings range from paneer to lentils, and cabbage to radish (mooli). In addition, parathas with sweetened dal are served on special occasions. Tarla Dalal, the doyen of Indian cookery who recently sadly passed away, lists over 60 kinds of stuffed parathas on her website. I would wager, though, that the most popular parathas are those filled with potatoes, or aloo as potato is known in north India.
posted by
Samar on
December 10, 2014
One way to get to know the local cuisine when visiting a new place is to sample the restaurants and markets. Even better though, as I said some months ago, is to taking a cooking class. But perhaps best of all is to get invited over to some locals’ house to cook together, as I was lucky enough to be on a recent trip to Barcelona. The local in question, Rosendo, kindly made fideua, a classic Catalan noodle and seafood dish, followed by a dessert also characteristic of that region: panellets. The former I’d heard of. The latter was completely new to me and not the sort of thing you’d discover as a mere tourist.
posted by
Samar on
November 30, 2014
From the recipes I write about here you might get the impression that all my cooking involves at least a dozen ingredients and twice as many steps. Indeed, unlike many other blogs I don’t promise you ‘5 minute meals’, healthy or otherwise. What can I say? Good food takes time. It helps that I enjoy cooking and don’t think of it as an unpleasant chore. And, yes, I do like a challenge. But most meals in the Oishii Rasoi house are fairly simple and straightforward affairs. So for those of you thinking ‘this guy has far too much time on his hands!’, here’s a typical example: roasted potatoes with a smoky and garlicky aioli.
posted by
Samar on
November 8, 2014
If asked for an example of typical British food I imagine most people would answer “fish and chips”. A year ago I would likely have said the same (“chicken tikka masala” would also have crossed my mind). But it only took me a few weeks after arriving in the UK to realize that the correct answer is “pies”. By which I mean a flaky pastry encasing some sort of meat or fish. Sure, other countries do these as well: think empanadas and American pot pies. But the British seem singularly obsessed by them. Walk along any shopping street or supermarket aisle and you’ll be spoilt for choice by the sheer variety of pies on offer.
posted by
Samar on
October 19, 2014
The New York Times ran an entertaining piece the other day on what kids around the world eat for breakfast. While a rather small sample, it gives a good sense of the remarkable variety of foods–from natto (fermented soy beans) to cold cereal–eaten in the morning. There are some commonalities though. In Asia it seems breakfast tends to be savory rather than sweet, and served warm instead of cold, the exact opposite of what one finds in the “west”. Certainly, that is the case in India where a hot breakfast is the norm. It is also highly regional: in the north bread, e.g., as stuffed parathas, is favored, while in the south rice and lentils, in the form of idli for example, rule the roost.
