Review: King's Confectionery

Finally cake, but only in little slices

Soon after my disappointing experience at Cooper's, I started to seek out a new cake place near my grandma's. King's came to mind immediately, but the problem with them used to be their Banani location. Now they seem to have expanded all over the capital, and I was happy to discover that they had a branch in nearby Wari. Wari, by the way, seems to have everything now and it’s about bloody time! I'd been to King's a few times before and generally their cakes were better than Cooper's. 

Displays like this always make me happy

Review: Cooper's Bakery Bangladesh

The quest for good cake in Bangladesh

I first discovered Cooper's when I came back to Bangladesh for college in the mid 2000s. Good cakes of the round, celebratory kind are hard to come by in Dhaka, so I went in feeling skeptical. I walked out with a small chocolate cake that I remember being impressed with. I went back a few times after that for their pasties, snacks, etc. and I remember the place fondly.  Fast forward to 2012, and I was back in Dhaka and Coopers was still around. Recalling my previous positive experiences, I went in to get a cake for my little brother. Unfortunately, it seems like everything has gone downhill since I was last here. 

I wonder where they got it?

The White Weekend Continues

Dips

There was just enough dip left for a picture!

It's still snowing in London and more parties that I was meant to go to have been cancelled, so here I am with another food post today. I'm just putting up the recipes for two very simple dips from mom that I suspect are tzatziki inspired. Only approximate amounts - this is all down to your own personal tastes.

A Traditional Bangladeshi Kabab

গরুর মাংসের কাবাব

Beef Kabab

The moment where your food is turning out just the way it should :)

I tried to have my house warming (finally!) yesterday night, but the snow conspired against me and we ended up with half the number of people we were expecting. I had still cooked though, so I thought I may was well post recipes for some of the evening's menu. My first post is the traditional Bangladeshi beef kabab, which is hugely versatile because it can be served as a main, side or snack depending on how it's sized and accompanied. I'm afraid I have no photos of the finished kababs to put up, people were already over and I forgot to take any in the mad rush of getting the food ready.

Update (03/06/2016):
I've re-written the instructions below to include some new ingredients, notably the traditional mint that I mention in the Additional Info section. I've also included notes on how to cook this in the oven, and avoid the laborious pan frying. A word of warning though - oven cooking gives this a bouncy kofta-like texture, as opposed to the cakey, meaty mouthfeel of a traditional kabab. 

A Bangladeshi Breakfast

সবজি-রুটি

Vegetables With Ruti

A healthy breakfast - a rare occurrence for me nowadays.

I don't have proper breakfasts anymore. It's not that I can't eat so early in the day like some - I just value the extra minutes of sleep I get by forgoing it. I know it's unhealthy so I'm not here to encourage anyone to do the same. I also try and make up for it during the weekends, and today I made an attempt to rustle up a traditional Bangladeshi breakfast. This was my first go at cooking all of this on my own, so it didn't go perfectly, but I've noted down tweaks to my method below to make sure the mistakes don't happen again. I should also point out that I don't have exact ingredients amounts for this recipe because it was the result of a quick phone call with mom - as is often the case!