In early September, I joined my husband as he went back to his village in Palakkad, Kerala, after a ten-year hiatus. He had grown up in Palakkad in a large joint family with his grandmother, mother, brother, and sisters along with several uncles, aunts, and cousins,...
From Bombay with love “The thing about Mumbai is you go five yards and all of human existence is revealed. It’s an incredible cavalcade of life, and I love that.” Julian Sands. Dishoom is so much more than a cookbook. It is a walking serenade to South Bombay and...
Drawn from our archives, this set of recipes for soups is perfect for your dinner table. First published in November, 2008. I love the fall season. The hot days of summer have given way to misty mornings and gentle afternoons, and this autumn slowly but surely eases...
My initiation into baking was in the 70s, growing up in India. There were no electric or gas ovens and my mom made butter biscuits on a stove top. She used a heavy deep pan with sand at the bottom and a lid with a vent. A thin, greased aluminum plate held small rounds...
My grandmother loved to reminisce about her life in Palakkad, Kerala. She would talk about many local characters: some bums, some quirky and a few fascinating outliers. When we moved to Coimbatore, we got to meet one such outlier, Mani Kuttan. He was dressed “tip- top...
