Cultural Adaptation

ক্রাম্পেট দিয়ে দুধের পিঠা
Crumpets with Jaggery Laced Milk

This is our New Year meal!

Most of us who travel have things that we miss and can't have from the place(s) we consider home. In Bangladesh, we have various types of 'cakes' called 'pithas'. One of these is the chitoi pitha, made by frying a gelatinous dough of rice flour in oil. This is then soaked in jaggery laced milk to transform it into dudher pitha, or milk pitha. The right kind of rice flour is hard to come by in Europe, and many Asian families have adapted by substituting chitoi pitha with crumpets. This is probably because chitoi has a similar feel to a crumpet - imagine something a little tougher with smaller holes. 

My mom first made this dish with crumpets in Hong Kong, and it has been one of my favourites since. I personally don't miss the traditional dudher pitha, simply because it wasn't what made my childhood memories. Instead, I give you here the very simple crumpet version I grew up with, and also wish you a very Happy New Year.

Review: Lasan

Consistency is Key

Our poppadum dips. At the top, a unique gourd based dip I've never had before.

I've been to Lasan twice now, once in late 2012 and again now in late 2013. It came highly recommended by word of mouth. They'd won a prize on some food show by Gordon Ramsay, and apparently their approach to Indian food was incomparable to the run-of-the-mill curry house. The skeptic in me was convinced by none of this, but I decided a restaurant with so many accolades was still worth visiting. Don't be mislead by their website - the Ramsay hysteria has died down and bookings no longer need to be made very far in advance, unless you're looking for a weekend evening. 

Family Breakfast

ফুলকপি ভাজি 

Fried Cauliflower

Fried cauliflower in the bottom right corner - part of this year's Eid breakfast

When my parents visited me in London earlier this year, they demanded and insisted on many things. One of those things was a properly cooked breakfast every morning, eschewing my suggestion of visiting a different Richmond café every day. I will admit that I made said suggestion because I didn’t want to cook everything morning - after all, the local cafés are nothing to write home about. However, my parents are stubborn and eventually my mom decided she would make simple vegetarian dishes over a couple of days, and we'd go out for the others.

I felt a bit guilty that mom was cooking while she was on holiday, and annoyed that dad was being lazy and not helping out in the kitchen. The usual row about sexism ensued and the traditional family fight followed. Queue wildly dramatic emotional blackmail and comical threats of severing ties. Once in the kitchen, mom assured me she had just wanted cook me breakfast while she was here, and reminded me she didn't usually have to do this when she was at home. And besides, the ruti was supermarket-bought anyway! Thus the morning segment of our family show ended, and I give you my mom's recipe for cauliflower below. 

This is a common Bangladeshi breakfast dish, and has honestly been pretty much the same wherever I've eaten it. It's part of a suite of vegetarian dishes all cooked similarly by frying in oil, with different vegetables thrown in based on people’s tastes and the local yield. The use of cauliflower leaves so far is unique to my mom, and the addition of herbs is no doubt the influence of many years in Europe.

Texas Done!

রসগোল্লা 

Roshogolla

Roshogolla served in syrup

I'm currently holidaying in Texas. I've flown across the pond because: 

(a) I really needed a break from work and 

(b) I haven't seen my younger aunt in four years, and I've never actually met my baby cousins!

Now that I'm here, I have to say Texas feels very strange. They don't seem to believe in pavements, and even the shops in my aunt's "small" town feel like European hypermarkets. 

Not that I'd let a little oddity distract me from food, however. Everyone in my family seems to have a certain specialty, a fact that I fully take advantage of. My youngest aunt does amazing roshogolla - a traditional Bangladeshi dessert based on curdled milk or chhana. Desserts like these are rarely made at home in Bangladesh because of the complexity of the recipes versus their easily availability in sweet shops. Luckily, my aunt does a relatively simplified version. It relies on double cream, which (unlike in Bangladesh) is readily available from supermarkets in the US or the UK. I enthusiastically took up her offer to teach me how to make these, and the results are what you see here.

Ingredients (for the roshogolla)

• 1.00 l of whole milk
• 125.00 ml of double cream
• 436.00 ml of buttermilk
• 1.50 teaspoons of sugar
• 2.00 teaspoons of flour

Ingredients (for the syrup)

• 4.00 cups of water
• 2.50 cups of sugar

Method

• Heat the milk and double cream in a saucepan on medium high, bringing it to a gentle boil
• Turn the heat low and add the buttermilk, stirring to mix
• Take the mixture off the heat once it starts to curdle as in the picture below

Curdled milk/cream/buttermilk, aka chhana

• Leave the mixture to strain in muslin or other finely meshed cloth to extract all the water. Do this for a minimum of 3 hours, but overnight works best

 

The mixture being strained...in a Bangladeshi
towel because we didn't have Muslin!

• Once the mixture is strained, transfer to a bowl and add the sugar and flour
• Knead thoroughly as if forming a dough, as in the picture below

The "dough",
ready to be turned into roshogolla

• Divide this dough into little balls - this is what will form the actual sweets

On the left, newly formed roshogollas. This recipe should make just under two dozen

On the right, a close up. Make sure each ball has no cracks, otherwise the roshogolla will crack on cooking

• In a different saucepan, add the 4 cups of water and 2.5 cups of sugar, heating to dissolve
• Once the sugar is dissolved, bring to boil 
• Add the balls of dough one by one, and bring back to boil and leave for 25 minutes

The beginning!

• At the 25 minutes mark, add another cup of water and bring back to boil, and again leave for 15 minutes. The balls should have expanded quite a bit now by absorbing water

Boiling and growing!

• At this 15 minute mark, add another cup of water and bring back to boil, leaving it on the stove for a final 15 minutes. The balls should have lost some of their girth now and are done
• Serve hot or at room temperature as dessert at the end of a meal

And done!

Additional Information

The sweets should keep up to a week in the fridge. However, they will go stiff and lose their soft and spongy texture once refrigerated. Zap them in the microwave for 20 seconds to bring some of the softness back before serving. These can also be used for roshomalai - simply thicken full fat milk with sugar and cardamom to a desired consistency, then scoop the roshogolla out of the syrup and into the malai to soak. 

Review: Nobu London

Finally a Michelin

Black cod with miso. Apparently Nobu's signature dish, but mixed feelings round our table.

I've wanted to eat at a Michelin starred restaurant for while. There's a lot of talk about starred restaurants in the culinary world, and I've always wondered if these establishments are worth that discussion. I finally got the chance to investigate a few weeks ago when I booked a table at the one starred Nobu in London for a family meal. My parents and little brother were visiting me for Eid, and I wanted to take them somewhere nice. We'd already planned the Red Fort for Indian and Gaucho for steak. I was thus tasked with finding something different, and was guided by my parents who made helpful noises about Japanese. 

It's Ramadan and the Blog Died

ডিম-বেগুন

Egged Aubergine

Seheri tonight/tomorrow morning. Whatever.

As usual, all the things happen at once. It's Ramadan, so I haven't really been highly functional. 18 hours of fasting, full time work and social commitments kind of leave me drained. Even so, I've been meaning to put up some Ramadan related Bangladeshi recipes. Then, the blog decided to break, and the dynamic view version of it stopped working. 

I've been tinkering with things since to try and fix it, but I'm probably going to permanently swap to the traditional view to avoid any further issues. Expect perhaps a few more changes in the coming weeks. Also, no Ramadan recipe yet either since there was a dying aubergine in my fridge. This egg and aubergine recipe, which could possibly be classified as twist on scrambled eggs, was something that I was quite a fan of growing up. Shocking, because I didn't really like egg or aubergine individually at that time. This is usually served for breakfast with bread, and would make a great addition to any brunch menu. I've boiled the aubergine below to save time, but I have a few more suggestions on what to do with it in the additional info section. 

Review: Rustico

Travelling for Work

Rustico - tucked away just off the main high street in Aberdeen

I've been fortunate enough to have travelled quite a bit for work since I started this new job. I've found myself in many different cities in the UK and beyond, living in hotels and looking for nice restaurants to eat at. Unfortunately, I've mostly looked in vain, and restaurants that have made a lasting impression are few and far in between. Rustico, however, is an exception. This fantastic Italian in Aberdeen is one of the best I have ever been to, although I will admit to not being an expert on this particular cuisine.

Discovering the Oven

Lemon, Garlic and Rosemary Roast Chicken

Roast chicken with vegetables and gravy. No potatoes though,
I've never been any good at potatoes.

The oven doesn't feature in the the usual Bangladeshi kitchen. We have our tandoori ovens of course, but those are completely different beasts. They're usually only found in restaurants or road side food huts. The average urban Bangladeshi household uses a simple gas stove, and if you travel to more rural areas you may even encounter cooking pits.

A bare earth cooking pit at my paternal grandma's
in Salop, Bangladesh

The oven, therefore, was quite new to us when we first moved to Hong Kong; and I don't recall mom actually using it while we were there. It wasn't until we later moved to Paris that the oven really took off in our kitchen and even then our use of it was limited to pizza and cake. This is why when I first moved into my flat in Birmingham the oven in the kitchen was so full of potential - it represented a whole new subset of foods that I could learn to cook. 

Review: Bank Bar and Restaurant

Conspiracy Theories Abound

Bank on a beautiful summer's day

Summer was attempting a comeback yesterday in Birmingham, so my cousin and I decided to make the most of it by having lunch outdoors. If you've seen my wishlist, you'll know I've wanted to do a Birmingham-Michelin for a while. Unfortunately, yesterday was not meant to be that day as it seems they coordinate opening times, all choosing to be shut on Sundays.

Disheartened, I had to look for alternatives as I contemplated this conspiracy against me. My mind went initially to the Opus Cafe at the Ikon gallery, but their brunch menu was too lightweight for what we needed. Considering options in the area, I thought of Bank and the positive reviews I had read during my university years of poverty and procrastination.

Some More for the Party Menu

গাজরের হালুয়া 

Carrot Halua

Toffee infused carrot halua 

The word halua applies to a whole group of desserts, similar to how the word cake works in English. Just like you can have different types of cake, you can have different types of halua. In Bangladesh, halua is commonly made from lentils, bread, carrots etc., amongst other things. I'm a fan of most variations, but the carrot halua holds a special place in my heart for its quirkiness - after all, this is dessert made from a vegetable. The idea of carrot halua didn't initially appeal to me, but once I tried it I was hooked. 

The recipe below is a short and simple, substituting condensed milk for the traditional whole milk. This makes it easier to follow than a lot of other recipes but beware - it's hugely unhealthy and full of sugar. However, it works great served in small portions, making it an ideal bite-size party dish. It's usually served with a crushed pistachio or raisin garnish back home, and in British restaurants I've had it warm served with vanilla ice cream. 

Back to Basics

ঝাল করে মুরগীর মাংস
Spicy Chicken Curry

I hope from now on all my photos look this good!

I haven't blogged about food in a while, instead opting to regurgitate old reviews saved on my hard drive. There is a reason for this though: it's hard to blog about food you've been cooking if, well, you haven't been cooking. For the past couple of months I've been travelling quite a bit, living out of hotels, eating out and such. The brief periods I have been home have been spent doing chores or catching up with friends - both of which have pushed cooking out of the way.

Looking at the months ahead in my calendar however, I've realised that the intermittent travelling isn't going to stop any time soon. So if I still want to keep this going (as well as eat healthy, home cooked food as opposed to supermarket takeaways!), I'm just going to have to make time for both cooking and the blog no matter what my schedule.

With that in mind, I decided to attempt a very basic Bangladeshi chicken curry today to get back in the swing of things. This is the kind of simple, everyday dish that's cooked in many households. The recipes are probably slightly different depending on who you ask - but this one is my own, based on memory from what mom used to cook at home and experimentation. It's basic flavour is derived from the cumin. Enjoy.

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.