Tea would arrive, the cakes squatting on cushions of cream, toast in a melting shawl of butter, cups agleam and a faint wisp of steam rising from the teapot shawl.
Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals (Corfu Trilogy, #1)
cushions of cream
Tag: Food
memories like desserts!
Remember our culinary series? ‘Culinary Experiences’ is a series of visual stories that we started on our website for journaling some of our best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen. We are trying to scribe it humbly here. This is not intended to be a recipe archive or a cookery show in case if you wondered. We’re only sharing the experience of trying and some of the art behind it.
The dessert below is called Chaina Ram Wala Ghewar. It’s a traditional Rajasthan style Ghevar (a Rajasthani cuisine ) served with berry rabdi on the top. (Rabdi or Rabri is a sweet, condensed-milk-based dish, originating from the Indian subcontinent ). We tried it from The Yellow Chilli by Sanjeev Kapoor.
“I am starting to think that maybe memories are like this dessert. I eat it, and it becomes a part of me, whether I remember it later or not.” ― Erica Bauermeister, The School of Essential Ingredients
mango choc – Ep6
Yes, that’s right. A weird combo of fresh mango juice sprinkled with white chocolate. Let’s file this into ‘Culinary Experiences’ , a series of visual stories that we started on our website for journaling some of our best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen. We are trying to scribe it humbly here. This is not intended to be a recipe archive or a cookery show in case if you wondered. We’re only sharing the experience of trying.
Ep 5 – Dum Biriyani
Ep 4 – 32 – Netta’s First Cake
Ep 3 – Armenian Herbal Tea
Ep 2 – Nthree – Kuwaiti delicacies
Ep 1 – A Piece of Happiness
Dum Biriyani – Ep 5
I’ve been thinking of resurrecting our series on Culinary Experiences, in case you remember the existence of such a series : ) Since there are a lot of new readers reading me, let me put here once more. ‘Culinary Experiences’ is a series of visual stories that we started on our website for journaling some of our best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen. We are trying to scribe it humbly here. This is not intended to be a recipe archive or a cookery show in case if you wondered. We’re only sharing the experience. Recently, we prepared a dum biriyani at home for the first time.
For my non-Indian readers, Dum is a loose translation of a Persian word for breathing. Dum Biriyani is basically blending aromatic spices, flavors, and herbs into a one-dish pot and slowly cooking the ingredients in a sealed heavy bottomed vessel usually for hours. In some culinary cultures, they are sometimes mildly heated overnight as well.
For a slice of history, from what I’ve read, the ancient dum cooking tradition is generally identified with Mughlai cuisine and is also assumed to have derived from Persian or Central Asian cuisine. There are many stories about its origin but the most popular one connects it with Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah, who was Oudh / Awadh’s wazir or ruler in the late 1700s. In 1784, during a huge famine, the Nawab presented a beneficent activity for his kin with a nourishment for-work program. He needed to develop a Moghul design wonder – the Bara Imambara, which was one among the numerous structures that the Nawab wanted to work in the city. Many individuals chipped in for the activity, and to take care of the majority through day and night, the cooks utilized the technique for dum pukht, wherein meat, vegetables, rice, and flavors were assembled in enormous vessels or handis, fixed with batter and left to slow cook for a considerable length of time.
This arrangement of cooking ended up being the most advantageous strategy to give dinners to the huge number of laborers just as to make for them a flavorsome feast without utilizing excessive flavors, which were hard to come by at that point due to the famine situation.
It was on one such day when a pot was left to slow cook that the delighting aroma and flavor from the dish found the Nawab’s attention and he immediately requested his shahi cooks to make a similar dish in the royal kitchen. The ace gourmet specialists utilized a similar procedure of dum pukht alongside royal artfulness and accordingly began an entirely different sort of readiness, which before long turned out to be monstrously famous in the courts and among the high society as more refinements were presented. It was later embraced by imperial kitchens in Hyderabad, Kashmir, Bhopal, and different districts also back in India at that time.
Other Episodes from the series:
Ep 4 – 32 – Netta’s First Cake
Ep 3 – Armenian Herbal Tea
Ep 2 – Nthree – Kuwaiti delicacies
Ep 1 – A Piece of Happiness
32
Armenian herbal tea
This would be chapter 3 of our series – ‘Culinary Experiences’ for journaling some of the best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef, cultural intricacies discovered in a bowl of an exquisite delicacy or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen, we are trying to scribe it here.
In July 2019, we tried a variant of Armenian tea. Herbal tea is very popular in Armenian culture. Mkhitar Heratsi, the founder of Armenian Classical medicine is known to have proposed different herbs for several common ailments. In some of his works highly revered in Armenian history, he has outlined recommendations on using rose, violet, lily, nunufar, sorrel, watercress, basil, asparagus, among wild plants capers and thyme to cure infectious-allergic diseases.
The tea we tasted was very subtle and had a herbal feel to it. We had it after a heavy meal and it felt very luscious on the taste buds. There’s a famous saying in Armenia – “The higher is the mountain the better the herbs are”. Armenia is known for its mountainous terrains and these herbs predominantly grow on hillsides and they are used extensively for tea. I could find lot of variants in Armenian markets with some of them being thyme, chamomile, pomegranate flower, and rosehip teas. They have a rich and profuse tea tradition rooting back to thousands of years.
Nthree
This is Ep 2 of our new series – ‘Culinary Experiences’ crafted with an unpresuming intention for journaling some of the best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen, we are trying to scribe it here.
Although I had tried a takeaway before, this was my first experience visiting Nthree , a cozy cafe at University city, Sharjah. It’s a Kuwaiti restaurant managed by Chef Khaled Al-Saad.
They mostly serve Arabic food and have some Kuwaiti delicacies such as Al-Majabis, Mmoush, Educators, Mutabeed Zabeedi, and Al-Hamsat in their culinary arsenal, which we didn’t experiment with. We tried chicken machboos which has a slow-cooked chicken with sweet lentils and aromatic rice. We tasted Bechamel as well which is basically cheese with pasta, minced meat, and Béchamel sauce. A béchamel or white sauce is one of the classic French “mother sauces” that form the basis of much French cuisine. It’s used since the seventeenth century in French delicacies.
[ Location ]
Previous Eps.
A piece of happiness
a piece of happiness
Thank you Molten Chocolate Cafe for crafting this elegant piece of happiness!
Here we kick off Ep 1 of our new series – ‘Culinary Experiences’ for journaling some of the best ambrosial culinary experiences, be it the finest cordon bleu delights of a master chef or a cheesy experimental simmer at our little kitchen, we are trying to scribe it here.
Molten Chocolate Cafe is an elegant dessert eatery situated at the heart of Al Majaz Waterfront in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. We visited it on a fine winter evening and boy it was true happiness experience as they say it. They have a plethora of good European confectionaries. They’re born to satisfy your tiniest sweet tooth through their delectable and rich indulgences. Their culinary dessert assortments range from French crepes to Belgian pastries and waffles tailored to cure the cravings for all things chocolate, a cocoa experience that anyone with the tiniest sweet tooth would remember! We tried Cheetos Chicken which has Focaccia bread, red cabbage slaw, crispy chicken, sriracha sauce and Cheetos crumbs. The dessert we savoured is their molten lava cake which is their signature chocolate cake dusted with icing snow, topped with a scoop of ice cream with a slice of strawberry.
Tastes of home
I had written previously about a beautiful ad titled “bucket”.
As modern life becomes so convenient and advanced in China, local specialties treasured by China’s rural communities are often under-appreciated and even sometimes considered a hassle by the younger generation who have migrated to bigger cities. Hoping to inspire this generation to rediscover and celebrate their parent’s love; “The Bucket” shows that underneath these local specialists lies the unique love from their parents, which serves to connect them to their families while away from home.
I highly encourage you to take a look at this video if you haven’t yet as it’s so heartwarming. I’m attempting to conceive a humble photo narrative version of the same concept. Hope you enjoy skimming thru and leave with watered tongues! ; – )
Chapter 130119
