Food

We often stop at one of the beautifully designed cane "stalls", which can be packed up and carried around, and equally quickly set up somewhere on the roadside.  Little puffed, fried balls of semolina, in a large bag; a large pot containing "paani" which is tamarind juice, flavoured with spices, and several potatoes, lentils and sometimes boiled peas,which are mashed together, with or without onions as the customer prefers.   I've been talking to a few of the young men who sell the "pani puri" from their stalls, and I realize that most of them seem to come from Bihar,…

George Varghese writes:   From: George Varghese <grgvrghs@gmail.com>Date: 27 November 2015 at 14:14Subject: The sweetest investment you can ever make....To: Here's a chance to make a social, ethical, environment-friendly investment and get the sweetest returns you can ever imagine and also at the same time support a rural entrepreneur make a livelihood. Interested? Read on..... What this is about: A local farmer Nagaraj living near Bisilkoppa village, Sirsi Taluk is also an experienced bee keeper. He is interested in expanding his bee keeping enterprise by getting 100 new bee boxes. At a cost of Rs.4000 per box (box with bee…

George Varghese writes:   From: George Varghese <grgvrghs@gmail.com>Date: 27 November 2015 at 14:14Subject: The sweetest investment you can ever make....To: Here's a chance to make a social, ethical, environment-friendly investment and get the sweetest returns you can ever imagine and also at the same time support a rural entrepreneur make a livelihood. Interested? Read on..... What this is about: A local farmer Nagaraj living near Bisilkoppa village, Sirsi Taluk is also an experienced bee keeper. He is interested in expanding his bee keeping enterprise by getting 100 new bee boxes. At a cost of Rs.4000 per box (box with bee…

It's fun spotting the various signs that surround me as I walk around my city, and tryto understand what they might mean!  Here's one on a pushcart that was passing my front gate. Can you guess what it could be? My subject title gives a clue! Yes... indeed, it's 'Cutlets'!   Bangalore, October 24th 2015

It's fun spotting the various signs that surround me as I walk around my city, and tryto understand what they might mean!  Here's one on a pushcart that was passing my front gate. Can you guess what it could be? My subject title gives a clue! Yes... indeed, it's 'Cutlets'!   Bangalore, October 24th 2015

Recently I went on a food walk with Bengaluru’s Unhurried walk and tour company. The three-hour walk led me through the charming streets of Basavanagudi and into some fabulous eateries. At the handful of small restaurants, shops and bakeries, I tried everything from piping hot kaapi (coffee) to heavenly neer dosa with sweet coconut chutney to idli in a savoury sambar. Plus some pomegranate ice cream, banana chips and a “Japanese cake” along the way (the latter of which is neither Japanese nor really a cake, but is delicious.) It was a deeply satisfying and very educational evening. Holly trying…

Recently I went on a food walk with Bengaluru’s Unhurried walk and tour company. The three-hour walk led me through the charming streets of Basavanagudi and into some fabulous eateries. At the handful of small restaurants, shops and bakeries, I tried everything from piping hot kaapi (coffee) to heavenly neer dosa with sweet coconut chutney to idli in a savoury sambar. Plus some pomegranate ice cream, banana chips and a “Japanese cake” along the way (the latter of which is neither Japanese nor really a cake, but is delicious.) It was a deeply satisfying and very educational evening. Holly trying…

It's been two months now since my husband and I started using jaggery (bella in Kannada) in our tea and coffee. This traditional sweetener, known by different terms in different languages, from gud in many parts of North India to chakkara or sarkkara in Malayalam and vellam in Tamil, lends a subtle and deeply flavourful taste to everyday beverages. Coffee sweetened with bella for instance, has a lovely aroma and tastes wonderful, especially in this chilly weather! Many friends of ours have also made the switch. Of course, some of them only use organic powdered jaggery (available in speciality stores…

It's been two months now since my husband and I started using jaggery (bella in Kannada) in our tea and coffee. This traditional sweetener, known by different terms in different languages, from gud in many parts of North India to chakkara or sarkkara in Malayalam and vellam in Tamil, lends a subtle and deeply flavourful taste to everyday beverages. Coffee sweetened with bella for instance, has a lovely aroma and tastes wonderful, especially in this chilly weather! Many friends of ours have also made the switch. Of course, some of them only use organic powdered jaggery (available in speciality stores…

Think of sugar and it brings sweet memories to everyone’s mind. Sweet memories of chocolates, payasams, laddus, cakes, milkshakes and all the lovely treats that are ‘oh so sweet’! Can you imagine a day without eating sugar? Not unless you are a diabetic. A day without sugar is something unimaginable for most of us. Imagine drinking that cherished cup of tea or coffee without sugar! Well, thankfully most of us don’t have to eliminate sugar all together, but what we need to do is keep a watch on the amount we consume every day. Back in 2009 the American Heart…