Banarasi Vegetable Biryani ~ My Biryani Trail

I sat holding the hands of my Bua (paternal aunt) tightly, on the steps of the ghats of Banaras, looking into her eyes filled with love for me. I didn't want to let go of her hands let alone her entire being. I continued to take in every bit of her, from her smile, to her words to her scent, to her touch, in desperation, trying to cling on to them for eternity. I was only 12 but I could feel the pain in my young heart, pain of accepting that this might me the very last time I would ever see her. Bua was suffering from terminal cancer & we all had made that one last long train journey to Derhadun to meet her, spend time with her and say our final goodbyes.

Beary Biryani / Mangalore Beary Style Chicken Biryani / Karnataka Beary Biryani ~ My Biryani Trail

So continues my Biryani Trail, as promised, every week, I shall be here with a Biryani, Pulao or Rice Dish which has swept my taste buds off their feet. Here I am today to fulfil that promise to my readers with an unique Biryani Recipe from the South Indian State of Karnataka. Dear readers let me introduce you all to BEARY BIRYANI a speciality of the BEARY Community who inhabit Dakshina Kannada, a coastal district in Karnataka. The word BEARY means trade or business in the native language of this community.

Diwali Mini Vegetarian Thali ~ Wish You All A Dazzling And Prosperous Diwali

Dear Readers How are you all celebrating Diwali this year? For me Diwali starts and ends with food. I will be preparing a vegetarian Lunch Thali. Also there will be sweets galore and a very special sweet called Zauq E Shahi which means Royal taste and is mini Gulab Jamuns served in Rabri. In the evening when a thousand Diyas (Earthen lamp with a wick dipped in oil) will illuminate my home I will join my hands in prayer and just like every Diwali, this Diwali too, I will pray for Light over Darkness, Hope over Despair, Good over Evil and Love over Hatred. Along with all this I shall repeat something in my mind which I had promised myself to do many years ago. I will once again uphold my promise of embracing every aspect of the Globe while being rooted to my Rich Indian Culture and tradition. That's what my food too shall always reflect. Global with an Indian Soul.

Dhaka Style Kacchi Chicken Biryani Recipe / A Distinct Type Of Chicken Biryani From Dhaka, Bangladesh

Life those days was overflowing with selfless, unadulterated, Shat pratishat shudh desi ghee (100% pure Desi Clarified Butter) type of Love. Two sets of grandparents, two dozen uncles and aunts from both sides and off course the most wonderful parents were showering their love on me and my sister and cousins my age or couple of years elder or younger. Life was all about going to school, studying, playing outdoors and on holidays reading my story books, reciting poems from my favourite Bengali and English poets, going for a ride on Baba's Lambretta Scooter. These Italian scooters were in Vogue those days. Scooters in general was romanticized and made a dream ride when the debonair Hollywood Legend Gregory Peck rode one in the movie "Roman Holiday". Baba being an ardent Gregory Peck fan, having watched all his movies would ditch his Ambassador car for his Lambretta scooter many a times. 

Kolkata Style Chicken Biryani Recipe / Calcutta Chicken Biryani Recipe

Kolkata ~ the city of Joy, for me, apart from being the city where my family and extended family have lived for decades, is the city where food and sports are woven into the very fabric of the life of the people. A city which breathes football and cricket, a city where food is a passion and a way to express the rich cultural heritage of this vibrant city. Today let's take a virtual tour through the essence of the most famous and popular dish from here, Calcutta Biryani or Kolkata Style Chicken Biryani.

Menthya Soppina Chitranna Recipe / Ugadi Recipes / Lemon Rice With Fenugreek Leaves Recipe ~ Ugadi Special

Continuing with the Ugadi Special Recipes here, as we inch closer to the Ugadi celebrations with each passing day. My entire home is undergoing a deep cleaning and every nook and corner of my home is being spruced up. There is a lot of din throughout the day as from ceilings to a/c vents to sofas to carpets, you just name it, everything is being sprayed, soaped, mopped, wiped and made squeaky clean. All this intensive cleaning will be over by this noon and then immediately after, the entire family will get into a shopping spree including little D. The excitement is so clearly visible on each and everyone's face. This is what I love about festivals, the joy and happiness it brings with it, even days before it arrives.

Pichkari Pulao Recipe / Holi Recipes / Vegetable And Cottage Cheese Balls Pilaf Recipe ~ Holi Hai !!

Continuing the Holi Celebrations here on My Tryst With Food And Travel, let me tell you all lovely people, a little about another place in India which is on my must visit list , to experience first hand Holi Celebrations. This small hamlet in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is very famous for its Holi celebrations, known as Lathmar Holi. Barsana, a small town in Uttar Pradesh , is known as the Holi Hub of India and is the place to watch Lathmar Holi being played. Even this Holi legend revolves around Lord Krishna and Radha. Barsana is the birthplace of Radha. The legend of Lathmar Holi goes, that on this day, many many years ago, Lord Krishna visited Barsana and playfully teased Radha and her friends, the Gopis. They all got angry on his act and chased Lord Krishna away from the village using sticks. Lath stands for sticks and Mar means to beat.

Bengali Vegetarian Thali ~ A Splash of Unassuming Nuances And Striking Flavours

Bengali Cuisine has the nuances which have been imbibed from a very long and rich history with strong influences from the Mughal style of cooking, the British Babus, whose khansamas (male cook) modified the existent Bengali cuisine to suit their palates. Not only that, the style of cooking dishes, also varied as one passed through the length and breath of Bengal itself. Then there are also many dishes from Bangladesh which was earlier a part of Bengal, India. 

Keema / Qeema, Sabut Malka Masoor, Methi Biryani / Chicken Mince, Whole Red Lentils, Green Fenugreek Biryani ~ My Ode To The Ingenious Chef Sara Riaz

The Biryani love affair is growing stronger and stronger with each passing day in my family. Whether it's that special meal in the weekend, or that one symbolic dish to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or the star dish at any family get together or house parties and even for potlucks, the one dish that is chosen with total majority is Biryani. My eternal gratitude to the queen who first had Biryani cooked for her famished soldiers when she visited their barracks. This one pot dish which houses the flavour of each of the ingredient you would have used, with full vigor to reveal to you a decadent gush of aroma, the moment you remove the lid and allow the fragrant smoke to take over your senses and of those with you at the dinning table.

Vangi Bhat / Aubergine Rice With Bendekai / Okra Raita ~ Udupi Cuisine

Those frequent trips to Udupi Restaurants holding on to daddy's finger, comes flooding in my mind as I am told that the first Blog Hop theme of 2016 is South Canara cuisine. Picture of a tiny head bobbling from side to side, a pony tail held in place with a pink rubber band with a few pink and blue plastic butterflies adorning it in gaps flashes by. Happiness was abound those days and smiles galore especially on these unplanned trips to my favourite Dosa restaurant, as I would remember these overcrowded indigenous joints with their bright red chairs and unceasing chatters. Perching myself on a chair I would happily hear daddy ordering Masala Dosa and as the order would be relayed to the open counter a few steps from us, I would with the biggest possible smile turn towards the large hissing griddle which puffed up smoke furiously as the man behind it sprinkled it with water with a swift movement of his fingers. The next thing I knew would be the clank clank of his spatula as he would get the Dosa ready, place the filling, fold the dosa and place it on the plate having a few cavities which would be filled with smoking sambar and colourful chutneys. I still can feel the thrill as I would break a piece from the dosa, dip it in the sambar then the chutney and savour it. That was my understanding of Udupi cuisine for a very long time.

UlavaCharu / Horse Gram Vegetable Biryani ~ Happy Blog Hopversary

Continuing the Blog Hop Anniversary Celebrations with this post. An year of unending learning, joys which transcended from different corners of the world, a whole bunch of chatter, making the most gloomy day sunny, oh when I look back on this Blog Hopping journey, it does bring the hugest smile on my face. A year of unflinching support from miles across, a whole year where I scaled new heights , traversing through a treasure trove of recipes, ingredients unknown, new methods of cooking and also bringing back long lost dishes and many dear to the tummy recipes. All this was made possible by the lovely ladies, the most enthralling and crafted Bloggers of ~ Culinary Hoppers.

CHICKEN CHAAP PULAO/PILAF ~ DURGA PUJO SPECIAL

The celebratory mode continues in my home. Though we do not wake up to the beat of the Dhak/Drum or the sound of the conch shell/Shankh or the chanting of mantras, but I guess the fervour of DURGA Puja has our hearts filled and therefore every member of my family wakes up with a smile on their faces. Then, amidst the enthusiastic discussion of which new attire we will clad today and what all will accessorize it, the coffee mugs and morning cookies get forgotten. The brisk activity continues till we all decked in our finenary head out to the Puja Mandap. No matter how far one is from India and West Bengal, no matter if one is surrounded by a carnival atmosphere or not, the DURGA Puja days do bring in a whole lot of excitement.

MINT PUNCH BROWN BASMATI RICE WITH POMEGRANATE ARILS - HAPPY BEATS SERIES

Friends do you know if you love your HEART your heart loves you 10 folds back. How? We all know from our school Biology lessons that the HEART pumps blood throughout the body via the circulatory system and in this process supplies oxygen and vital nutrients to the tissues, removing carbon dioxide and other wastes. Wow that was a refresher to again reiterate the function of the HEART which is again a reminder to all of us to aid the HEART in its all important function rather than decreasing the efficiency of the HEART by pulling down its efficiency by harbouring an unhealthy lifestyle.

RED KIDNEY BEANS PILAF/RAJMA PULAV WITH FIERY AVOCADO RAITA - HAPPY BEATS SERIES

With prayer on my lips and a wish in my heart that all the HEARTS IN THIS WORLD should beat with HEALTH AND HAPPINESS I commence the HAPPY BEAT series. Every recipe in this series will be cooked with the aim that it keeps the heart health its priority.

Friends I am no authority on the heart as I am neither a doctor nor a dietitian. Then you may ask why this series? I have gone through the experience of a family member suffering from a near death, massive heart attack in the summers of 2014. The heart attack left his heart function at a meager 42%. These recipes and whatever information I will put down here is my journey , my experience and what I adapted to nurse his heart back to health and a heart function of 50% within a span of one year.

MA'S CHICKEN PILAF/MAYER MURGIR POLAO - RECIPE OF LOVE

Looking at me with her large doe eyes, Ma put her hand on mine and in the most reassuring tone said, " Trust me, everything will be fine". No sooner were these words uttered, would I be engulfed in her love and see magic happen. The situation would turn around in my favour, not because the things happening would change, but I would draw immense strength from her words and gain so much confidence, that the same me would see the situation in a different perspective and win over. Yes, every single time I was not sure of a life situation, this was what Ma did and continues to do. 

I think all of you will agree with me and must have experienced and are still experiencing this, in your lives. Mothers make our lives so much easier, don't they? I am sharing with you today MURGIR POLAO or CHICKEN PILAF which is again a recipe from my mother's repertoire.