Basmati with chickpeas and herbs

We had a difficult time explaining to my friend's general factotum, who was helping us cook, what on earth this is called. 'Lekin didi yeh kaunsa biryani hai?' Somehow 'Basmati and chickpeas Babulalji' just didn't seem to work. So we called it Choley ka biryani. Once again from Ottolenghi, this time from Jerusalem, we served it with this yummy yummy chicken sofrito, which I didn't make so no recipe and wasn't in serving dishes when we had light so I have no pictures of sadly.

Roasted Aubergines with Yoghurt Sauce

More Ottolenghi. I must say I had my doubts about this. Thyme? And then the aubergines came out looking all sad and pathetic. And I'm thinking okay I know I'm all don't over spice it, let the flavours of the vegetables shine and all, but maybe too much shining? But nope, it was perfect.

Stuffed Zucchini

My favourite cousin got me my first Ottolenghi book, Jerusalem, as a present in February, and then I went and bought Plenty at the book fair. They've been hanging out in my cookbookshelf all this time and, on the occasion of dinner birthday party for two beloved friends, I fished em out to plan menus. Now these recipes are a little daunting, partly because he seems to use a hundred things in each recipe, but also partly because I'm like erm...really? THIS combination? Are you SURE? But I finally picked some stuff and went for it, shearing it of whatever I couldn't be bothered to do of course, and the results! Oh my god the results. 

Corn Chowder

Back in November, I went on my first proper trip to the hills with friends since I moved to Delhi three years ago. Fuck more than three years now I come to think of it! Anyway, it was planned with The Writing Twins, and they brought friends with them. The six of us had a hysterically good time, ably assisted by the mascot and theme song, and have been planning a reunion hangout ever since then. We managed a crazy birthday party but haven't yet managed to do a six-of-us thing. So this dinner was planned, especially since three of them have never met The Balcony. But sadly people kept dropping out and it ended up being just three of us, all south Indian so I thought to myself I shall make sambar saadham. Only I woke up last night and had this...NEED to cook something warm and liquid and bland. And so I came up with corn chowder, grilled garlic chicken with mushroom bourgignon as sauce, mashed potatoes and butterscotch cake with caramel sauce.

Grilled Garlic Chicken

I like to call myself a non-practising non-vegetarian. This is because I don't have a problem with meat per se, only with pork, fish and seafood, I hate the smell, and with beef and mutton, it's too chewy. But my biryani must be mutton, I love murg malai kababs, have adored the beef broth soups I ate in Colombia, and am generally happy to pick the meat out and eat. This of course leads people to look at me in shock and say 'you're vegetarian???' or mock me by calling me a fake vegetarian or asking me whether I am vegetarian today. Pffft to them I say ;)

Mushroom Bourgignon

Gosh I started making this recipe way back in 2009, and have been meaning to post it ever since. It's become a staple favourite of mine, especially in cold weather, and I have evolved so far from the original smitten kitchen recipe that I don't even know if it still is what I claim it is!

Sundays with Joe: Puff Pastry

One week, 2B1M suddenly sent me a link to pasteis de nata, which she'd seen on pinterest or something, and then I grinned and sent her here. That was the weekend we'd planned on puff pastry, so it all dovetailed nicely, and we set out on this magical adventure. Which was totally worth it.

Sundays with Joe: Pasteis de nata

My dear baking-loving friend 2B1M and I have decided that we are going to try and bake our way through Joe Pastry, especially since he has all those recipes we've been dying to try, like puff pastry and croissants and eclairs. So, during the week, in all our food porn reading, we decide on something and on Sunday, bake it. This means we can offload it on colleagues on Monday morning and refrain from eating our own weight in butter. (Sorry for the horrible photo it was like 8pm.)

The Scientist's evil potato bake

Many years ago (something like twelve or thirteen urk) I made a friend in college. She was a local and used to periodically take me home with her and feed me real food, as opposed to hostel mess. In fact I used to carry a toothbrush in my bag so I could disappear at the drop of a hat heh. Her very cool father let us drink from his posh bar and make cocktails and whatnot--there was a notable night involving several blue lagoons, and that's where I learnt to make Long Island Iced Tea. The highlight of those evenings was not the booze, but this INSANE potato bake she used to make.

Gingerbread cookies

As a kid I never liked ginger cookies (I think everyone says this heh). For the life of me I don't know WHY I ever decided to bake any (maybe I wanted to do a house but chickened out), but I did for my 2012 christmas cake party, and they were such a hit, even with me, that I have made them a bit of a tradition now. The recipe is from the lovely Annie, of course duly tweaked by yours truly.

Christmas is here!

And you have two recipes! First up, Christmas Cake.

When I moved to Delhi in 2010 the Dragon and I were thrilled with our spanking new house and decided we wanted to have a christmas party. We made many plans but I don't remember if we did bake all the things we planned, and we didn't have many guests--only the Glare if I remember right--but I did make my hero Joe's Old School Fruitcake for the party. And dear lord in heaven. I decided immediately that I had to make it every single year. And thus was born the annual Christmas Cake Party, in it's fourth edition this year.