Delightful Healthy Recipes

Few foods have the kind of effect saffron does:Even before the first bite of a saffron-infused preparation, there’s a synchronised assault on your visual and olfactory senses. Seated comfortably at Soma, the Indian restaurant at Mumbai’s Grand Hyatt hotel, as the waiter opens a pot of steaming saffron-infused biryani, a private battle rages in my mind — should I heed the years of conditioning, or give in to my baser instincts and devour the food in front of me? One tentative bite of the golden yellow rice preparation, and my mind is made up. I will savour this meal. Saffron is, after all, as precious as gold.
“Saffron, or kesar, is the most expensive of all spices,” says Pushpendru Sen, chef de cuisine at the Grand Hyatt, as he brings in the first course during the saffron festival at Soma. We start with a paneer ka sheekh, murgh zafrani kebab and macchi tukda. Saffron flavouring works well with the milder paneer and chicken, lending them a rich yellow colour and a distinctive sweet flavour. The taste of fish, on the other hand, overpowers the saffron. “To be able to bring out the saffron, the fish is marinated thrice. It is first washed with saffron, then marinated with it, and finally, before the fish is put into the tandoor, it has to be brushed with saffron again,” says Sen. That’s a rich meal if you ever had one.
In India, saffron grows only in Kashmir, and therefore sells at a very high price. It is allegedly a more lucrative commodity for smugglers than gold because it is more difficult to detect. Only a few cultures have adopted saffron into their cuisines. North-Indian, Iranian and Spanish cooking involves the use of saffron. Incidentally, these are also the largest saffron producing countries in the world.
The menu — dishes from the northwestern frontier — has been chosen to highlight the versatility and unique flavour of saffron. Sen says he learnt to cook most of the dishes during his stint as a chef at a hotel in Kashmir. “Saffron is used in almost every dish in Kashmiri cuisines — in the rich and spicy dishes the Muslims make, as well as vegetarian food of the Hindus,” he says.
“It is used more sparingly in the Mughal-inspired Avadhi cuisine, and even the way that saffron is used is different,” he adds. In Kashmiri preparations, the meat is cooked along with saffron. “For example, aab gosht, boneless mutton in an onion gravy, is cooked in saffron water. In Avadhi dishes, on the other hand, saffron is added after the dish is cooked, mostly for the colour it lends the gravy,” says Sen.
Besides its colour, Saffron’s distinctive flavour gels well with the flavour of meat. Instead of adding saffron only as a garnish, when it is cooked with mutton, it enhances the flavour of the meat. However, cooking with saffron requires constant monitoring. “It has to be cooked at the right temperature, and for the right amount of time. If overcooked, the saffron won’t give off its flavour. Slow cooking on low heat is the best way to bring out saffron’s flavour,” he adds. The Spanish use saffron in some preparations of paella, but usually only as a garnish.
Sen says he is inspired by the way Kashmiris cook food. “Take gustava for instance. The chef personally chooses the goat and watches it get butchered, making sure it’s done right so the muscles don’t go rigid. There’s a kitchen help whose only job is to pound and tenderise the meat for 6-8 hours. This kind of dedication is something I haven’t seen in any kitchen outside of Kashmir. I’d have liked to include gustava in the menu here, but to make sure it tastes authentic, I’d need the right kind of meat cooked at the correct temperature.”
Instead, he chose to make aab gosht. There’s a rogan josh on the menu too, but aab gosht requires fewer spices, so the flavour of both the meat and the saffron stand out. “In rogan josh, with all the other spices that go into the recipe, the flavour of saffron is much milder,” says Sen. The aab gosht arrives, along with a handi of chicken biryani. The food is only lightly flavoured, and the natural flavours of the meat stand out.
The highlight of the meal is undoubtedly the laban ke kofte, curd croquettes stuffed with figs. The sourness of the curd is offset with the sweet figs, and the ingredients blend well with a saffron-infused gravy.
That’s the thing about saffron: It could be a garnish for a dish or it could be the ingredient that holds the other ingredients together. And while it’s not an absolutely necessary ingredient, once you’ve had biryani, or meat, or even fig koftas cooked in saffron, no other version of these preparations will ever taste the same. As a substitute for saffron, cinnamon comes close, and can be used in most dishes, sweet or savoury.
We end this rather royal meal with a warm kheer. Saffron has a sort of natural affinity with desserts. It lends the otherwise bland-looking kheer a rich, pale yellow colour, and even just two pieces of the thread-like spice breaks the visual monotony of the dessert. The real clincher, however, is the taste. Just two strips of saffron can instantly transform a dessert, thus changing the way you experience food.

“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelt as good as bacon,” said Doug Larson, the American cartoonist. However, it is important to know how good green leafy vegetables are for you. Some of the most nutritious greens are swiss chard, collard greens, spinach, mustard greens, rocket or arugula, varieties of lettuce (iceberg being the least nutritious), broccoli, cabbage, native Indian greens — methi, varieties of amaranthus, bathua and other vegetables like cauliflower, beet greens, turnip greens and radish greens.
Green leafy vegetables are very low in calories. As they are rich in fibre, they fight frequent hunger pangs and help with weight loss. Fibre lowers one’s cholesterol and regulates the spikes in blood sugar post meals. Research shows that a serving of green leafy vegetables helps reduce the risk of a coronary heart disease by 23 per cent. Research published in the British Medical Journal also states that eating more green leafy vegetables can considerably reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Antioxidants found in dark green leafy vegetables protect one from certain types of breast, skin, lung and stomach cancer. Vegetables belonging to the cruciferous family (eg: cabbage, mustard, turnip)have this life-saving quality, in particular.

cooking with greens
lTossing cooked and separated brown rice with greens and garlic to make an Asian style fried rice lPasta with sautéed greens and a white sauce, baked to make a casserole lCooked greens with eggs, milk and cheese to make a quiche Mediterranean salad like Tabbouleh with lots of whole parsley and mint lUsing leaves as a wrap instead of a tortilla or roti that can be filled with a variety of ingredients.

1 tsp olive oill3 cups of roughly chopped spinach, including tender stalks

1 medium onion, slicedl1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 medium sized eggs

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup crumbled or grated cheese or paneer

1/2 tsp salt l3/4 tsp ground pepper

Handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped or 1 tbsp dried herbs (oregano and thyme)

Preheat oven at 180 °C. Grease a 6” pie dish or a baking tin lIn a pan, heat olive oil. Add the sliced onions and garlic, lightly saute for 3-4 minutes on medium flame, until onions are softlAdd the spinach and saute for a minute until just wiltedlIn a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, herbs well and add the crumbled cheese. Transfer the spinach mix from the pan into the bowl and mix with a fork.lPour into the greased pie dish. Top with bread crumbs, more freshly ground black pepper and dried herbs and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

Desserts and health are rarely mentioned in the same breath. Think dessert and one imagines fluffy cakes with layers of butter cream icing, huge sundaes, and for the Indian at heart, gulab jamuns soaked in sugary syrup. However, the divine taste only lasts so long. The regret at having indulged in calories lingers for a longer duration.
Take Divya Ranglani who has a sweet tooth. “I used to indulge in desserts, but there was always stress and guilt after eating them,” she says. Having done a course in naturopathy, Divya started thinking of alternatives to satisfy the sweet cravings. “I am against the idea of using artificial sweeteners in food. Nature has everything. We just need to explore the options,” she asserts.
Today, she makes cakes, cookies and even Indian desserts by substituting traditional ingredients like refined flour with whole wheat, oatmeal and bran flour. The basic binding ingredient in all her cakes is a mixture of these three items. She uses seasonal fruits instead of sugar, and olive/canola oil instead of butter.
While these do sound healthier than traditional desserts, how well do they measure up in taste?
Her orange and dark chocolate muffin is moist and delicious with the right hints of orange. It’s hard to tell that the cake does not contain refined flour. The date and carrot cake is crunchy because of the assorted nuts and has a steady sweetness to it, because of the dates. “There is no sugar in the date carrot cake. Soaked dates have an inherent sweetness that needs to be neutralised with wheat,” she says.
Rising incidence of lifestyle diseases and awareness about the means to deal with them is spurring people to make a conscious change in their diets. Amrita Bhoolabhai started thinking seriously about healthy alternatives to sweets when her nephew was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.
Today, her cakes are made using whole wheat, raw sugar and fresh fruits. In certain cakes, she substitutes butter with buttermilk. “Some people are allergic to gluten so I use nachni (finger millet flour). Anything can taste good if you know how to do it,” she says. The cakes available in her shop include the chocolate yoghurt cake made with whole wheat, fresh yoghurt, and brown sugar, and a date and orange cake made with wheat, crushed walnuts and orange rind.
Nutritionist Hira Mahajan is in favour of desserts made using wheat and oatmeal. Hira believes that for people who need to eat carbohydrates after a workout, a small piece of fruit cake is a good option. “Even for children engaged in physical activity, wheat cakes are great source of energy,” she says.
Dr Manoj Chawla, a diabetologist at Lina Diabetic Centre, emphasises the importance of knowing the difference between healthy and sugar-free desserts, the latter being harmful for the body.
He advises eating healthy desserts in moderation as they still add up to extra calories. “Overindulgence makes even healthy desserts an oxymoron as sometimes fresh fruits and dry fruits are high in calories,” he says. Dr Chawla recommends that people buying these desserts should know all the ingredients in detail before eating.
After all, as famed cartoonist Jim Davis pointed out, ‘Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.’

The food joints in central Kolkata, including the main commercial hub, Benoy-Badal–Dinesh Bag (erstwhile Dalhousie Square) are the symbol of city’s cosmopolitanism. Here, high-salaried executives stand in front of street food semi-kiosks alongside low-paid wage earners for one thing — the food’s mind-blowing taste.
This ‘street food city’ extends over Kolkata’s south-central region along stretches of Shakespeare Sarani, Anandilal Poddar Sarani and Abanindranath Tagore Sarani. Here, you get a four or five course meal, complete with roomali rotis or tandoori rotis, scrumptious vegetarian and meat preparations for unbelievably cheap rates that fall below Rs20.
Traditional meal hours are from 12pm to late afternoon. Almost 200 delicacies are laid out here to seduce foodies — chow mein, idli, dosa, uttapam, bhelpuri, golgappas, or pakodas, each available for Rs10 to Rs15.
It gets cheaper still. A meal of rice, dal and vegetables can come for as little as Rs7 on the gastronomic streets of Kolkata. If you happen to find yourself somewhere near the Writers’ Buildings — the seat of the Government of West Bengal — after 5pm with a growling stomach, approach a street food hawker. He will offer you a plate of chow mein for Rs5 — something that can leave any Mumbaikar or Delhiite stunned.
A few days back, I was very hungry and reluctantly (as restaurants in and around Benoy-Badal–Dinesh Bag would be crowded) ate a plate of chicken fried rice for Rs15. I casually told the hawker that people are hesitant to eat street food due to improper cleaning and the health hazards it poses. He replied, “If that’s true, could we be here for days together? There may be exceptions. But food poisoning from dishes sold by us has never been reported.”
The soft-spoken street-hawker, who declined to be named, went on to refer to a study on Kolkata’s street food, undertaken by the All India Institute of Hygiene & Public Health, Kolkata in collaboration with the Rome-based UN outfit Food and Agriculture Organisation, between 1993 and 1995. The principal supervisors of the project were Professor Indira Chankravarty, former director, AIIH & PH and Dr Colette Canet, the then nutrition officer (food contamination, monitoring and control), food quality and standards service, FAO. Dr Chakravarty maintains that “it is a cottage-industry which is surprisingly nutritious, providing nearly 1,000 calories at incredibly low rates”.
Dr Siddhartha Gupta, a physician, endorses the view. “Conclusions of the AIIH & PH-FAO survey are valid even today. The quality of street food is good on an average and incidences of illness among daily consumers are not high.”
“Usually there is not much leftover after daily sale and hence rotten foods are not sold,” he continues. “Moreover, vendors and their food stalls thrive on the quality of food and their relationship with regular customers. So they remain conscious, too”, he explained.
About 1,50,000 street food hawkers form 55 per cent of the total number of hawkers that keep the vibrant food culture of Kolkata alive.
According to the Hawker Sangram Committee (HSC), a joint front for street vendors’ unions, Kolkata’s street vendors used to generate an annual business of nearly Rs8,800 crores in 2001-02. The food-sellers had over 50 per cent share in this turnover. Over 1,20,000 street-food-vendors, mostly operating during the day in make-shift stalls, could feed 7.8 million people a day. With the number of hawkers increasing by about 25 per cent and an equal rise in the number of customers, the yearly turnover has crossed Rs 10,000 crores.
The HSC is, however, aware of the poor water quality in the hawking areas. “We have been asking the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to arrange potable water taps around the hawking areas,” explains HSC assistant secretary Murad Hussain. “We are ready to pay for that but ... cooperation from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the police are missing,” he says.

India has a coffee drinking culture that runs back several hundred years. During this period, people came up with a variety of coffee-based drinks and preparations that go beyond the standard south Indian filter coffee that you get in most Udipi restaurants.
I was introduced to a few at the recent South Indian Coffee festival at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. “We have several well-travelled guests who come to our hotel, and we wanted offer them something other than regular coffee on our menus,” says Aakanksha Rawal, restaurant manager, Atrium Lounge. “I started by asking our in-house south Indian chefs for ideas, and over three weeks we experimented with various coffees recipes.” In addition to this, the team brought in a large brass filter from Chennai. Coffee powder was sourced from a supplier in Tamil Nadu and for the Kumbakonam coffee, the powder was sourced specifically from the Kumbakonam region of Tamil Nadu.
At the festival, apart from Kumbakonam coffee, there was Iced Chukukapi, coffee-based infusion of spices, Karp Katti, coffee that’s flavoured with palm jaggery, Ingi Kapi, coffee infused with dry ginger, and Malli Coffee, which is made with sukku powder.
Chukukapi is the perfect drink to cure the most fearsome cold. Not a hot favourite, really. Hence, I was momentarily taken aback to find that the drink has worked up its way to the posh tables of Taj Lands End. “Chukukapi is made at my home to this day during winters or when somebody is down with cold,” says Chef Arathi who hails from the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu.
Preparing chukukapi is a two-step process. You first boil water, turn the flame off and add ginger, cumin seeds, peppercorns and tulsi to it. The flavours infuse overnight. The next day, you strain the spices and use the water to prepare coffee in the usual way.
For the coffee festival, the team decided to give it a twist. The chukukapi that I had was a far cry from the ones served at home. Instead, what I had was a hipper version of the drink — iced, without milk and with very little sugar. It was like having a herbal coffee infusion, though I would have preferred some more coffee for that extra kick.
Karp katti was interesting because it uses palm jaggery as a sweetner instead of sugar. The coffee had a richer flavour than the regular variant. But it was malli coffee that really stood out for me. The coffee is prepared with sukku powder, which is a combination of dry ginger, peppercorns, and coriander seeds. The spices are roasted and ground together, and mixed with the coffee decoction. Milk is then added to it, and after heating the mixture the powder is strained out. The flavours of ginger and coriander dominate the coffee aroma, with the pepper adding just that little zing to the taste.
Taste, of course, is subjective, and not everyone may like their coffee prepared in such a manner. But it certainly is revealing to know that spices that are freely available in the market, can make coffee taste so good.

When most people reach beyond the usual ‘Indianised’ version of Chinese food (served with lashings of soya sauce and scraggly bits of egg), for authentic Chinese, what they are usually enjoying is Cantonese food. Largely credited, both in and out of China, as being the best of the regional Chinese cuisines, Cantonese food tends to overshadow other, smaller variations: such as that of Xi’an, the capital of the Shaanxi province in the northwest.
“There are three aspects which really differentiate Xi’an cuisine from other regions,” explains Hui Wei, a chef originally from the Xi’an region, who now works in Beijing. “It has adapted the best of the north and south styles of cooking of the country. It also uses a variation of different cooking styles — for example, Qiang, which is to fry quickly in hot oil, then cook the meat with sauce and water; and Zheng, which is to cook a dish by prolonged steaming. It also uses vinegar, salt, capsicum and garlic in different and exciting permutations.” Xi’an cuisine is also known for its wide variety of dumplings, which are served as pan-fried, steamed, boiled, roasted or deep-fried.
Indian audiences have rarely experienced this cuisine — not many restaurants are brave enough to serve up a dumpling with a straw sticking out of it to Indian diners, as we were at the Golden Dragon restaurant at the Taj Mahal hotel last week, at their Xi’an food festival. Called the Jiaozi, this bulbous dumpling is served with a straw so that diners can slurp up its clear soup filling, right before they dive into the remains — soggy carrots, peas and corn, along with the shell of the dumpling — with a spoon. We failed abjectly at getting any soup through the straw, trying valiantly to suppress the feeling of almost certainly looking foolish, and ultimately resorted to annihilating the dumpling with a spoon and scooping the soup into our mouths. The other dumpling, a steamed chicken dumpling, was pan-seared and tasted vaguely of roti. These dumplings are Xi’an’s speciality; traditional banquets with only dumplings on the menu serve more than 20 variations of dumplings, stuffed with vegetables, meat and seafood.
Once the starting point of the Silk Route, the Xi’an province boasts of food which is a mesh of Middle Eastern and Chinese foods, and has been influenced by both ‘traditional’ — that is the Tang Dynasty cuisine — and the ‘modern’, which is food from Shaanxi. Xi’an is also known for its rich variety of seafood, so our hopes were raised when the seafood chowder soup was placed in front of us. A beautifully clear, thick soup, with crunchy prawn slices and soft crab slivers, the hearty soup was filling and delicious. The next dish, the Baozi, is the “Chinese version of the burger”, as the chef informed us — two hard buns sandwiched fried lamb and chopped capsicum. The bun was too hard and coarse, and the lamb was fried with an excess of generosity when it came to the oil. The addition of capsicum also seemed haphazard, a last-minute attempt to make the Baozi interesting. The Baozi, however, is a dish with an interesting history — it is one of the many snacks served up in Xi’an’s staggeringly prominent street food culture. Mostly based in the Muslim Quarter, the street food features dishes such as the Feng Mi Liang Gao, or Honey Cold Glutinous Rice, which is a slab of glutinous rice with a dark, sweet sauce made of dates and black sesame seeds spread over it. This dish is folded in half, after which ground nuts and white sesame seeds are pressed into the surface. Cut into dainty diamond shapes, this is then served with toothpicks.
At this point, we were wondering whether we were being served less-than-perfect food, or that Xi’an food itself wasn’t that good. Our doubts were assuaged somewhat with the delicious Biang Biang noodles flat, wide noodles served with minced lamb and chicken. The subtly-seasoned noodles were an example of what Chinese cuisine can get very right. The meal ended with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream, served in a sesame-encrusted wheat shell, a surprisingly good combination.
Xi’an cuisine might not be everyone’s favourite Chinese province: though the meal had more misses than hits, the dumplings are an adventure for the momo-crazy, and the Biang Biang noodles definitely worth a second helping. Maybe a visit to the Xi’an province — and to the great dumpling banquet — would turn out to be more gastronomically fulfilling, if not so easy on the wallet.
d_apoorva@dnaindia.net

Five celebrity chefs who globetrot as seekers of world cuisine, list their favourite places to dine:

Sanjeev Kapoor, founder, FoodFood
 I don’t eat out much in Mumbai, yet when I’m travelling abroad, I have a favourite restaurant for each city. My current favourite restaurant is a Japanese eatery in New York — Megu. With over 15,000 square feet of sheer spaciousness, it is modern in its approach to décor and food. I’m travelling to New York soon and am already thinking of sampling the assorted sushi and sashimi there that’s hard to beat. The tuna tartare with its finely chopped raw tuna manages to tantalise me every time. I also love the yellow tail carpaccio. I benchmarked it with Nobu, but found the food, service and ambience to be even more ‘wow’ here!

Hemant Oberoi, corporate grand chef, Taj Luxury Hotels

One of my favourites has been Per Se in New York. It’s the quality of the food that makes it especially appealing. Plus, the menu is different every time I have been there. The quality of cooking has been nearly perfect each time.

Nikhil Chib, chef and owner, Busaba
My all time favourite restaurant has to be Le Relais de Venise in Paris, which I stumbled upon by accident and where I’ve been at least 20 times since. It’s famous for its premium cut of beef for steak or entrecote, which is served with the most delicious sauce. Along with it, they serve a salad, French fries and house wine, which they then proceed to reinforce with a huge second helping for the most reasonable price in Paris. The only weird thing about the restaurant is that they don’t take pre-bookings and there’s always a crowd of people waiting for entry there. I went there first when I was 18 and have been taking my friends (including local Parisians) from all over the world ever since. It’s been a big hit with my friends as well.

Ananda Solomon, executive chef Vivaanta by Taj — President
I remember the first time I went to Le Cirque in New York was when I was travelling as part of the Indian Prime Minister’s delegation to the US. I discovered it accidentally while experimenting with New York’s restaurants along with friends. The food I had was cooked very close to the way it is cooked in France. The sauces, particularly, were outstanding in terms of technique. Though it’s been several years since I’ve had a meal there, I still remember the restaurant’s foie gras with apple sauce which was simply brilliant. The brick chicken was perfectly cooked and the memory of its sorbet and dessert is something that has stayed with me.

Vikas Bagul, executive pastry chef, the Oberoi hotels and resorts
Since I’m a pastry chef and chocolatier I’m usually on the lookout for exceptional pastry shops whenever I travel. I found two superb places in Paris – Pierre Marcolini and Pierre Herme – that were both high-end. Pierre Marcolini, which has all the trappings of luxury with its black and gold décor, has the best pralines that I’ve eaten. The handmade chocolates here use the finest cocoa powder that I’ve encountered. Pierre Herme, on the other hand sports a more colourful orange, white and pink décor and stocks superb macaroons. This French biscuit made with almond flour and egg-white simply melts in the mouth while the shell remains crisp.

As a boy, Naeem Surti was his grandfather’s pet and thus accorded a special privilege. Every evening, his grandfather, Hafiz Ismail Surti, would put on his special sherwani, take young Naeem’s hand and the two would head to the family’s restaurant, Surti 12 Handi in Mumbai’s Bohri Mohallah.
There, Naeem would sit next to his dada and watch him ladle out food to the hungry crowd waiting to eat Surti 12 Handi’s special bara handi, a dish made by mixing food from 12 handis. The entire lane would be filled with the aromas of different meats bubbling in the 12 handis in front of the shop, each of which were filled with meat — pichhota (the tail of an ox is used as a cow’s tail is too small), topa (hump), bada paya (trotters of cow and ox), chhota paya (trotters of goat and sheep) and sukha (beef with gravy). “People would stand in line so that Dada could serve them bhel (the bara handi mixture),” reminisces Naeem, 39, who is continuing his grandfather’s legacy. The bhel included some of the meat and gravies taken from each of the handis and mixed together in one plate. “The combination of those differently spiced gravies and meat would have people licking their hands in delight,” says Naeem.
In Hafiz Ismail’s time, the quantities prepared were so large, the gravies served with each meat would be cooked in separate handis. Two handis were reserved for dal and tari (a type of oil mixed with red chilli powder). The meat and gravy was accompanied by freshly made khamiri roti (made with wheat flour and maida), lamba pav (a triangular naan) or loaves of bread. Ramzan would see an even bigger crowd than normal and barricades would have to be put up. Decades later, Naeem’s challenges are different — decreasing customers, changing palates, the danger of redevelopment and the loss of a few handis.
The number game
Surti 12 Handi was one of the first to introduce the bara handi style of cooking to Mumbai. It’s a style that Naeem still follows, though he’s been forced to reduce the number of handis; three of them had to make way for the “more necessary fridge”.
He makes the masalas from 22 spices (used in different variations) for each of the dishes. The 12 handis are filled with meat and gravy and cooked together in a bhatti (a box-shaped oven). The upper part of the bhatti has cylindrical holes, in which covered handis are placed to cook for 10 to 12 hours. Slow cooking brings out the flavours of the meat and allows its natural juices to combine with the spices.
These days, reduced demand has forced Naeem to use only nine handis. “People do not like mixing their meats anymore and prefer ordering individual dishes,” says Naeem with a rueful smile. The handis for nalli (bone marrow), dal and tari have been discarded and these are now cooked separately. Nalli is added to all the dishes for an added layer of taste, dal is “served like ghee on top of the chhota paya” and tari is the final garnish on all the dishes.
Surti 12 Handi’s food has an artery-clogging layer of ghee and fat floating on top, but the delicately-spiced meat falls off the bone and the gravy is deliciously spicy. According to Shahid Rafi, singer Mohammed Rafi’s son and a regular at Surti 12 Handi, “The best part of the meal is that although the food is heavy, it digests easily.”
Surti 12 Handi still makes pichhota, bada paya, chhota paya, nalli and sukha, but in lesser quantities. During Ramzan, nalli nihari (beef bone marrow in milky gravy), which is delicious when combined with pichhota or topa, is added to the menu. Each dish is cooked in two batches in two separate handis, one for breakfast and one for dinner. Naeem says meat cooked in larger quantities had a distinctive flavour of its own, but he’s made his own modifications to the recipes. For example, his gravies are thicker than the earlier soup-like mixture.
In the beginning
The Surtis had two family eating joints, one in Bohri Mohallah and the other in Crawford Market but the first, Surti 12 Handi, was Naeem’s grandfather’s pride. “He was gifted the restaurant as reward for becoming a hafiz (the title bestowed on someone who has memorised the entire Quran),” says Naeem.
There is a touch of pride in Naeem’s voice when he talks about his dada.” He introduced bara handi cooking to the city,” he says. Naeem’s fight to keep his grandfather’s memory intact will take a new turn later this year when he opens a new branch of the shop in Jogeshwari. “There I am going to make sure I serve all the bara handis,” Naeem promises.

Brussels wears an alluring and decadent scent. Easy to understand, when you consider that Brussels international airport is the biggest chocolate selling point in the world. And that the meals in Flanders are famously languid and always hearty. As I walk through the city’s main eat street, the narrow Rue des Bouchers, I follow my nose into a café dishing out, what to many, is Belgium’s national dish – moules or mussels. “Use a shell to scoop them out,” says an enthusiastic waiter. “Eat them with instinct. Abandon your fork.”
In Belgium, fries accompany just about everything, including mussels. Legend has it that the treat was created here in the 1750s in the Mosane region, when the winters were extremely harsh. With conditions that were unfavourable for fishing, the region’s inhabitants decided to cut potatoes into slices resembling a small fish and fry them. The original, hand-cut Belgian fry is usually 1 cm thick, soft on the inside, crisp on the outside and does, in fact, resemble a very small fish.
Because food and drink are big parts of the lives of people, there is an elaborately developed code around it. If you’re in a crowded pub and raise your little finger, it gets you a standard glass of the house tap beer. If you want the smooth and dark-coloured Trappist beer that has been made for centuries by the Cistercian monks, you need to call the abbey at least two weeks in advance. Now because the average age of a monk is 65 years and the number of recruits to monasteries is on the decline, you can sense the worry that people have about the fate of this popular beer. The demand created by this scarcity is reflected in the fact that people buy Trappist beer at 30 euros and are able to find a buyer for it on eBay for 300 euros. But the fate of Trappist beer notwithstanding, you’ll get every variety of beer from Gueuze to Kriek. As one local put it, monks in France might have dedicated themselves to wine-making, but in Belgium, they’re devoted to beer.
A gourmet pilgrimage to Brussles is peppered with delightful dishes like a bag of speculoos — biscuits spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Or, the infamous creamy chicken-based stew called waterzooi. For the more daring and adventurous, there is bloedworst — black pudding made from pig’s blood traditionally served with applesauce. As far as food experiences go, Brussels is seductive. I could nibble off the ear of the chocolate version of the Mannekin Pis right now.