Just one junk food meal can up heart attack risk

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012,09:45

   

 

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Tags: Junk food meal,  Heart attack,  Cardiovascular disease

 

London: Eating even a single junk food meal can be enough to raise the risk of suffering a heart attack, cardiovascular disease or stroke in later life, new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has warned.

Experts at the EPIC Centre of Canada’s Montreal Heart Institute, affiliated to the University of Montreal, say the key to staving off heart disease and other illnesses caused by clogged arteries is to switch to a Mediterranean-style diet, based on healthy foods like oily fish, fresh vegetables and olive oil, the Daily Express reported.


Dr Anil Nigam, director of research at EPIC and associate professor at the university’s Faculty of Medicine compared the effects of junk food and a typical Mediterranean meal on the ability of arteries to dilate after a temporary five-minute blockage.

The research looked at 28 nonsmoking men, who ate a Mediterranean-type meal first and then a junk food-type meal one week later.

After the Mediterrean-style meal the men’s arteries were found to dilate normally and maintain good blood flow.

But after eating the junk food the arteries of the study participants dilated 24 per cent less than they did when in a fasting state.

The findings were presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.

CHOCOLATE Food of the Gods

CHOCOLATE

Food of the Gods

Introduction

Chocolate has been described as being more than a food, less than a drug. This description points to the singular position this wildly popular confection plays in our lives. Popular to the tune of $74 billion annually, chocolate begins as a tiny blossom on a small tropical tree. Only three out of a thousand of these will produce the cacao pods that after a labor intensive and lengthy journey, with several chemically and technically complex steps along the way, will end up in your hand as a candy bar.
The products of this tropical tree have played many roles through the centuries. In 1753, Linnaeus designated the tree Theobroma cacao, which translates to “cacao, food of the gods.” Several hundred years later, chocolate lovers would agree with this appellation although for the Maya, who honored a cacao god, the term had a more literal and spiritual meaning. The Aztecs used cacao beans as currency and as food and drink for the privileged. Spaniards introduced the drinking of chocolate to Europe where, in the medical system of the time, those who could afford it used chocolate as a tonic and remedy. The purported health benefits of chocolate are once again creating a buzz as industry sponsored research suggests that dark chocolate might possibly lower blood pressure and provide antioxidant benefits.
Five hundred years after its adoption in liquid form by the Spanish court and nearly two hundred years after a Dutch chemist’s invention paved the way for its creamy solid form, chocolate continues to expand its role. A recent market for premium chocolate has created connoisseurs who seek out rarified confections in the form of single origin bars with a 72% cacao content infused with such back-to-the-future flavors as the aboriginal Mexican combination of ground chilies and vanilla. Today’s consumers of chocolate can have an effect on how it is grown and harvested by buying a bar with a “Fair Trade” label, insuring that the growers and workers that produced it earn a living wage under humane conditions. Those aware of the loss of biodiversity in tropical forests caused by cacao plantations can buy organically grown chocolate, which supports the more time consuming practices of ecological agriculture.
And remember, the food of the gods might, just might, be good for you.

How the Aztecs Prepared Chocolate

Although the earliest use of cacao has been traced to the Maya and Aztecs, the recipes for its preparation have come from Spanish colonizers.
One of the earliest descriptions of the native grinding and drinking of cacao comes from writings published in 1556 by a man known to scholars as the Anonymous Conquerer, apparently an adventurer connected to Hernando Cortés.

These seeds which are called… cacao are ground and made into powder, and other small seeds are ground, and this powder is put into certain basins… and then they put water on it and mix it with a spoon. And after having mixed it very well, they change it from one basin to another, so that a foam is raised which they put in a vessel made for the purpose. And when they wish to drink it, they mix it with certain small spoons of gold or silver or wood, and drink it, and drinking it one must open one’s mouth, because being foam one must give it room to subside, and go down bit by bit.

This drink is the healthiest thing, and the greatest sustenance of anything you could drink in the world, because he who drinks a cup of this liquid, no matter how far he walks, can go a whole day without eating anything else.

Cacahuatl to Chocolate

Initially, the Spanish were far more interested in cacao’s use as currency rather than its culinary use. As the Spanish colonists settled in, taking native women as wives or concubines, a kind of hybridization, or creolization, between the two cultures began to take place. This resulted in the addition of cane sugar to the unsweetened drink of the Aztecs and the replacement of indigenous seasonings such as chili and various dried flowers with spices familiar to Europeans: cinnamon, anise and black pepper.
Cultural hybridization not only changed the drink, it changed the name of the drink. By the 1570’s, the Spanish were using chocolatl, a combination of a Mayan (chocol=hot) and an Aztec (atl=water) word. One theory put forth for the name change is that the first two syllables of cacahuatl, the Aztec word for cacao, are a vulgar term for feces in most Romance languages.

Health Food of Barouque Era

Wealthy 16th and 17th century Europeans drank hot chocolate for reasons of health. When the Spanish introduced chocolate to Europe, the native Mesoamerican “food of the gods” became a drug, a treatment prescribed in the humoral medical system of the day.
In this facsimile from a 1640 English translation of an earlier work, a Spanish physician lists the many health-related effects of chocolate.

Drink of the Elite

Just as chocolate was the drink of the copper-skinned, bejeweled and feather-clad Mesoamerican elite, so it was with the white-skinned, bewigged and overdressed ruling class of Europe. Chocolate entered Europe as an expensive drug in the medical system of the day. Its soothing nature and mild stimulatory kick soon turned it into what might be loosely termed a recreational drug.
And it was a drug taken in liquid form. Until the invention of a specialized hydraulic press in 1828 paved the way for the solid chocolate we know and love, chocolate was always a drink. It was commonly mixed with water or milk, with flavorings such as vanilla, cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice and chilies.

Coenraad Van Houten

Anyone who loves chocolate owes a huge debt of gratitude to this Dutch chemist. He invented a process that created an easily prepared powdered hot chocolate, which, in turn, led to the production of creamy, solid chocolate as we know it.
The modern era of chocolate making began in 1828 when Van Houten patented his method for removing most of the cocoa butter from processed cacao, leaving a powdered chocolate. Untreated cocoa mass, or “liquor,” the end result of grinding cacao beans, contains about 53% cocoa butter. Van Houten invented a hydraulic press which reduced the amount to about 27%, leaving a cake that could be pulverized into a fine powder, which we know as cocoa. To improve this powder’s ability to mix with liquid, Van Houten treated it with alkaline salts, which came to be known as “Dutching.”
With the cocoa butter separated from the mass, chocolate makers now had a new and intriguing substance. Adding it to chocolate creates a creamier and more malleable product, making it supple enough to be molded into bars and more eleaborate filled confections.

More Than a Drink

Maya cacao god

Although no one knows exactly when the first person experimented with turning the beans from a cacao pod into an invigorating drink, there is linguistic evidence that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico prepared chocolate. By the 8th century AD, the Maya were carving images of a cacao god on ceremonial bowls. The Aztecs, later the dominant culture of Mexico, considered cacao a gift from the gods.
From archeological evidence, it is clear that the natives used cacao in a wide array of drinks, gruels, porridges, powders and probably solid substances. Ground cornmeal was often added. Flavorings such as vanilla, chili peppers, honey, annatto and allspice were often added as well as the dried flowers of various Mesoamerican trees.
Several varieties of cacao are used in making chocolate. All are believed to have originated in the Amazon and upper Orinoco River basins.

Aphrodisiac?,
Health Food??,
Addictive???

Chocolate lovers feel passionate about chocolate, but does chocolate create passion? The question of whether it is an aphrodisiac is an old one, beginning with Spanish observations that Montezuma drank copious amounts of it before a visit to his harem. Casanova preferred chocolate to champagne.
Chocolate does contain small amounts of several psychoactive substances that act as stimulants and mood elevators. There is also the pleasurable sensation caused by the fact that this luscious substance melts at mouth temperature. And isn’t a heart-shaped box of chocolates the quintessentially romantic Valentine’s gift?
All that researchers can tell us is that although eating chocolate is undeniably gratifying, there is no scientific proof that it is either an aphrodisiac or addictive. And as for the recently touted health benefits of chocolate? There have been some intriguing discoveries regarding high blood pressure and chocolate’s antioxidant properties but no doctor or nutritionist is prescribing candy bars as health food.

• Introduction
• History
• Theobroma Cacao: Food of the Gods
• More Than a Drink
• How the Aztecs Prepared Chocolate
• When Money Grew on Trees
• Cacahuatl to Chocolate
• Health Food of the Baroque Era
• Drink of the Elite
• Coenraad Van Houten
• From Blossom to Bar
• Chocolate Lands
• Pollination, and Pods
• Harvest, and Fermentation
• Drying, and Manufacturing
• Chocolate for Eating
• Cocoa Powder, Dark, Milk, and White Chocolate
• Shade Grown Cacao
• Fair Trade-Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
• Aphrodisiac? Health Food?? Addictive???

© 2007 Albert R. Mann Library, C

The magnificence of the multi-tiered tiffin-box

Santosh Desai
28 October 2012, 06:21 PM IST

2

If the thali is a bungalow, sprawling in its abundant magnificence, the triple-decker tiffin-box is its apartment version. Not the boxy kind, constructed under some government scheme, but an Antilla of sorts, with the entire building being dedicated towards the gastronomic needs of a single individual. Lunchtime at an office is a time when many grand unveilings take place as these imposing towers of food get extracted from the bags in which they lie sheathed, and reverentially unclasped. Each storey of food is laid out, and the process of gradual discovery begins to unfold. The lighter stuff  floats on the surface, bits of salad, a little katori of dahi, a piece of lime, slivers of pickle. As we move downwards, the food quotient of the box gets dialled up, and the vegetables, dals, rice and chapattis make their appearance. Once in a while, there are little postscripts of thoughtfulness that are thrown in, a laddoo here, a piece of barfi there, depending on the age and the perceived proneness to diabetes of the receiver.

The tiffin-box beams with metallic pride, three storeys of home that one carries to one's place of work. The design of the tiffin-box recognises that lunch is a serious affair, consisting of several layers of hunger, each of which need a box to itself. The three or four boxes are clasped together firmly with a reassuring click one is packed off to one's destination, secure in the knowledge that whatever might be the uncertainties in the world outside, food would not be one of them. The fulsomeness of the tiffin-box has little to do with the receiver's hierarchy- a full stomach is everyone's right, a fullness that cannot be satisfied by quantity alone but needs the decorum of completeness. The modern idea of a quick business lunch is in reality an act of making do, another one of those official affectations, like drinking black coffee, that one pretends to be comfortable with. A furtive sandwich or a slice or two of pizza eaten carefully is not lunch but a gastronomic mannerism aimed at quietening the body. The western idea of a quick working lunch sandwiches food between layers of office hours, compressing hunger into a task on a job list. The romance created around the relentlessness of work, and the sexiness of being busy is in direct contrast to the rotund and placid recognition of the centrality of food as evidenced as the tiffin-box. The tiffin-box  is a plop of resistance; a squatter's act of fat denial of the idea that work must inundate us with its pressing impatience.

Food lies in the details, and civilisation begins with the smell of pickle. The completeness of the meal is what distinguishes food from nutritional intake; It is what rescues culture from biology. By its very nature, a meal eaten out of a tiffin-box cannot be got over with in a hurry, nor can it be accompanied by power point presentations. It needs to be pondered over, chewed upon and burped after. The idea of eating lunch together takes on meaning only when people bring their tiffin-boxes, for that is when cultures collide with satisfied sounds. Your dhansak gets my gunpowder, and my bhindi is startled by your version, immersed in kadi.

Strangely, tiffin-boxes that are carried to school tend to be more circumspect creatures, restrained in plastic parsimony. Elaborate tiffin-boxes are looked down upon, even if they are freely shared from, and the feeling of being a bit of a wimp accompanies those with tiffin-boxes that are too fussy. At this stage in life, the invisible presence of the mother that hovers around the Indian child, food in hand, is one where the child is eager to escape and school gives just that opportunity. Besides, having to lug around quintals of school books in the bags they are laden with, makes the idea of heavy lunch-boxes unattractive. The school tiffin is valued most when it is an exotic affair, rather than an elaborate one. Through college of course, it is unthinkable to carry tiffins; how else could one hang around the canteen all day?  Things change when one starts working, and the pull of domesticity as well the recognition that great home cooked food has its advantages begins to sink in. The urge to experiment gradually gives way to a robust acceptance of the familiar, as we become creatures of habit and regulation, 'settling down' in life with more contented waists. The dabba becomes a part of this ritual of domestication, an acceptance of where the centre of gravity in our lives is really located.

Perhaps the most dramatic recognition of the need for this centrepiece of domesticity is the industry that has sprung up around the lunch dabba. The Bombay dabba, the world famous face of this industry, is a product of efficiency,  converting the artisanal distinctiveness of each individual tiffin into a standardised template. It compresses intent into effect, losing some flourish, but retaining the essence. It caters to ritual with its own arcane counterpart, using a mysterious set of symbols to connect familiar food with the body of a loved one. Getting a dabba delivered from home gives us the sense that we have not left at all, and that there is an invisible thread that does not snap when we defect to another world 5 days a week morning to evening.

The magnificence of the multi-tiered dabba lies in its refusal to heed the call of time or fashion. It sits with portly equanimity in the midst of any context, and claims priority over all else. Food comes first, all of it, down to the salaad, the small piece of papad, the lone barfi and a nibble at the green chilly pickle. The world may be large and it may be round but as long as it revolves around a tall, magnificent tiffin-box, it can never be entirely incomprehensible.

Cooked in 60 seconds

Serena Menon, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, October 19, 2012

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First Published: 14:45 IST(19/10/2012)
Last Updated: 17:13 IST(19/10/2012)

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Pizza

From a distance, an authentic Neapolitan pizza base resembles a chapati. But one bite of the soft thin-crust layered with basil and mozzarella changes that perception instantly. New York-based celebrity chef Giulio Adriani has just finished training the staff of a new city restaurant, Di

Napoli, in the art of making the perfect Neapolitan pizza. “Traditionally, authentic pizza is supposed to be soft. Everywhere in the world, it is crispy, which is why we are trying to make people understand otherwise. You should be able to fold a real Neapolitan pizza four times and eat it without letting it break,” says the chef, who ferments the dough for 24 hours to prepare it. “It makes the pizza fluffier,” he says. One corner of this Nariman Point venue is occupied by a massive stone furnace-oven. “The base is cooked at 400 to 420 degrees Celsius. It takes roughly 60 seconds to a minute-and-a-half or two,” he says. Hailing from Naples, the city where pizzas originated, the Italian chef takes great pride in his work. So much so that he refuses to taste any product from India’s numerous pizza chains. “As an ambassador of Neapolitan pizza, everything else is a bad evolution of the original product,” he says, smiling.
Apart from introducing the city to these thin-crust pizzas, which unlike most other specimens don’t feel as heavy on the stomach, Adriani has another trick up his sleeve for pizza fans: “I invented the fried pizza in New York,” he says. And this pizza will soon make it to the menu of Di Napoli. “The technique was generated in Naples a long time ago. It came before the regular pizza, because when people didn’t have ovens, they used to cook it on a pan with oil.”
Jai Thakur, owner of Di Napoli and trained pizza connoisseur explains how it works. “We flash fry the base, just until the colour changes. Then we take it out and dab it. We add the ingredients and put it in the oven,” he says. Starting at a price of R385 for the 12-inch pizza Margherita, Thakur hopes to cater to those interested in authentic tastes. 
Dough it yourself
Find fine flour that is high on gluten. It makes it easy to stretch.

Mix flour with water and salt. For every litre of water, add 50 grams of salt.

Add 4 to 5 grams of fresh yeast.

Work it with your hands and let it rise for some time.

Then put some oil in a pan.

Expand the dough as per the size of the pan. It should not be less than a cm of the pan’s diameter.

Put it on the stove.

Add the mozzarella.

Put it in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Read to eat!
How the pizza lost authenticity“Pizza originated in Naples in the 1600s. Then it took the form of the margherita pizza when they began adding ingredients to the base. During the First World War, a lot of immigration happened. As a result, a lot of Italians spread to various parts of the world. Construction workers and lawyers moved to America, Australia and South America. When they arrived, they tried to find a way to survive. They said, ‘Let’s open a pizza parlour!’ These were not professional pizza makers and they started making pizza with non-traditional ingredients,” says chef Giulio Adriani.

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Plato once said art is an imitation of an imitation. Sonal Ved finds a common link between crepes in France, injera in Ethopia, pancakes in America, blinis in Russia and dosas in India

October 28, 2012

Mumbai

Sonal Ved

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Food historians have credited the French for coming up with crepes. But if you look at the preparation closely, you will see how this disc-shaped dish is a worldwide phenomenon. While at home we call it dosa or dosai, abroad, its name differs from one cuisine
to another.

German reiberdatschi at the Peshwa Pavilion, ITC Maratha, Andheri (east) by Executive Chef Rajdeep Kapoor. Pic/ Omkar Gaokar

At a recent event, The Melting Pot, hosted by The Oberoi, Mumbai, we got a chance to dig into an Ethiopian Injera. The grey-coloured crepe was yeasty and punctured with tiny holes. It had a slightly sour taste and a texture that was noticeably similar to an Indian rawa dosa — only spongier.

Likewise, Italian cuisine has its version of a crêpe known as crespelles, the Russian’s binge on blinis, and a Hungarian’s favourite dessert comprises palacsintas topped with raspberries. The only thing that connects these dishes is a common cooking principle — flour-based batter, doused in butter, cooked on a griddle and topped with fillings.

American Red Millet Pan Cake at The Pantry. Pic/ Atul Kamble.

Something borrowed
According to Chef Nikhil Chib from Colaba-based Busaba, these similarities are an indirect result of foreign interrelations. He says, “The Asian crêpe, bánh xèo, is a result of French settlers in Vietnam. Since the former region is famous for its crêpes, the Vietnamese adapted it and created their own version.” Similarly, other crêpes such as Swedish platta and Finnish lettu use the same ingredients as a traditional French crêpe and look alike as well.

In addition to the fact that well-travelled diners relish international crêpes, pan-cooked food hits a spot with Indians because it is served piping hot. Baker Sabina Gupta from Not Just Desserts by Sabina, says, “Being a hot dessert, crepes and pancakes deliver a satiating eating experience.” The Wadala-based chef personally loves a hearty breakfast of banana and chocolate pancakes or nutella-smeared crêpes and feels that since diners can see pan food being cooked live, it gains reputation.

Banh Xeo at Busaba in Lower Parel.  Pic/ Neha Parekh

For Chef Paul Kinny from InterContinental, Marine Drive a good way to enjoy crêpes is to merge Indian and Western flavours together. “If you have the zeal to experiment, find a foolproof crêpe recipe and top it with a variety of Indian stuffings such as freshly-grated coconut, dates, oranges, tomato relish, onion and garlic chutney or serve Indian uttapam and appams with ratatouille and ragouts.”

For health enthusiasts, a crêpe can double up as a healthy lunch alternative too. Since any dosa is light in terms of texture and sparingly flavoured, it is ideal for those looking for a nutritious meal. “This is especially true when your batter is made using healthy flour bases such as bajra, millet, multi-grain and nachni flours, as they are high in fiber content,” says chief dietician Richa Anand from Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital. However, if you want to indulge in sweet pancakes or chocolaty crepes, stick to breakfast time, she insists. German Reiberdatschi
Reiberdatschi (pronounced rae-bur-dashi) is a potato-based pancake that is popular in colder European regions. The dish, made by grating starchy potatoes directly on a hot griddle, looks strikingly similar to the Swiss rösti, owing to its textured exterior. Though ideally a reiberdatschi is topped with turkey and chicken pieces, at Peshwa Pavillion it is available with vegetarian-friendly options such as mushrooms, artichokes, baby corn and peppers. The dish tastes essentially like baked potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper and needs to be spiced with house mustard and ketchup. The dish is available as a part of the Sunday brunch menu, but one can order it separately as well.
At: Peshwa Pavilion, ITC Maratha, Andheri (E)
For: Rs 500
Pancakes at the Pantry
There is no better way to kickstart your day than with breakfast at The Pantry. The newly-opened restaurant does a healthy version of the classic American pancake by replacing maida with nutritious ragi. The dish is ideal for vegetarians and weight-watchers since the batter contains no eggs and uses only
one-fourth of butter than what goes into making an average pancake. Their plating consists of two spongy discs that need to be drenched with generous helpings of vanilla custard and homemade apple-cinnamon compote before being savoured. A quick tip to all diners — round off the experience by
teaming your cakes with a tall glass of fig and banana milkshake and you won’t feel hungry until noon.
At: The Pantry, Fort
For: Rs 175
Vietnamese banh xeo
Due to the historical connect between French and Vietnam, the local cuisine of the latter has heavy European influences. One such development is the Bánh Xèo Crêpe. Made on the lines of a traditional French crêpe, the yellow pancake at Busaba is light and thin as paper. It has crispy edges and gets doughy as you bite your way to the centre of the preparation. Though traditionally a crêpe is made with refined flour, the Bánh Xèo batter is made by diluting rice flour in turmeric tainted coconut milk. As filling, the crêpe carries an assortment of meats and vegetables such as tofu, mushroom, shrimp and chicken flavoured with soy sauce, oyster sauce and garlic.
At: Busaba, Colaba and Lower Parel
For: Rs 395
Recipes by Chef Dhaval Ajmera, ITC Grand Central
Morroccan Msemen
ingredients:
3½ cups of flour
1 cup semolina
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp yeast
1 ½ cup warm water
1 ½ cup vegetable oil

Method:
ØActivate yeast and keep it aside
ØIn a bowl, mix flour with diluted yeast, semolina, sugar and salt
ØAdd warm water to the dry mixture and bind all the ingredients together
ØKnead the mixture into soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add one spoon of flour at a time and knead until it becomes less sticky
ØTransfer the dough on a lightly floured tabletop and knead it for about five to 10 minutes. Leave the dough aside for half an hour
ØDivide the dough into multiple small roundels. Roll the dough into thin rotis using a rolling pin or the tips of your fingers
ØFold in the circular edges of the roti on all four sides to make a square piece. You can use extra flour for dusting the dough, so it doesn’t stick too much
ØApply vegetable oil in between the folds and roll it out further
ØHeat a pan and brush it with some oil. Cook the msemens on a hot griddle on both sides until brown specks begin to appear on its surface. Serve it hot with butter, honey, almond powder and cinnamon powder
Russian Blini
ingredients:
2/3 cup refined flour
½ cup buckwheat flour (optional)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp yeast (activated)
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 egg, assortment of toppings (caviar, sour cream, cheesy dips)
Method:
ØIn a large bowl, mix flour with salt and diluted yeast
ØMake a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour milk into it. Using your fingers, swirl the flour in circles until you have mixed all the ingredients
ØOnce you obtain a thick, smooth batter, let the batter rest for an hour
ØWhen the mixture doubles-up in size, add butter and egg into it. Stir and let the mixture stand for further 20 minutes
ØHeat a non-stick pan and pour a ladle of this batter to make small dosas-like pancakes. Allow the batter to cook for one minute on each side and serve it hot with mashed potatoes, spiced cottage cheese, ground and spiced meat, chopped mushrooms, sprouts or shredded and spiced cabbage

Sweet and spicy Bengal

PRIYADERSHINI S.

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The Hindu Bengali cuisine uses mustard oil and five seasonings

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lifestyle and leisure food and dining (general)

Pulao, fish, vegetables and an array of milk-based sweets, the Bengali food festival is a cornucopia of must-haves

Think mustard oil, think Bengali food. Next, take in the sharp aroma that rises from tempering the five seasonings—mustard, cumin, fennel, bay leaf and dried red chillies—in smoking, hot mustard oil. The magic of Bengali food lies in there, says Chef Mrityunjoy Mukherjee, who is bringing to the city a Bengali food fest at Hotel Casino. It is a first for the hotel and the chef declares excitedly, tumi kemon accho Kochi, (How are you Kochi?). It is also the name of the festival.

Common factors

He is excited at the prospect of serving diners with food from a state which shares many common things with Kerala. Ideology apart, he says it is fish and rice that is common to both. An almost emotional bonding! But then there are many differences too, he adds. He is set to present fish in a totally different avatar to guests and he is enjoying every bit of the challenge.

Bengalis almost always deep fry the fish before using it in a curry. They generally do not skin the fish and savour the hide, it’s river or sweet or brackish water fish that they enjoy and the basic marinade used is turmeric and salt. Fish is a religion for Bengalis; it is considered auspicious and is offered and served as ‘prasad’ during Puja. It is had at all meals, everyday, on special occasions and that buying fish is a ritual for a Bengali, informs the chef.

Varieties of fish

Rohu, hilsa, bekti, rawas, jhinga are some of the varieties that are mainly used in cooking. Some of the absolute musts, the specialities, at the fest are the dohi mach—fish cooked in curd, dab chingri—prawns baked in tender coconut.

But then it is not all fish.

Mutton too is cooked with as much passion. The chef says that the liver pulao is a speciality. Another little nugget of information the chef imparts is that there is no biriyani in Bengali cuisine, but rice is cooked as pulao, meaning without dum.

Vegetarian specials

The vegetarian platter too is special and big. One of the famous Bengali vegetarian dishes is the aloo-posto or potatoes with poppy seeds. Poppy seeds must always be ground with a little ginger and green chillies to remove the bitterness, says the chef, sharing a tip. Jackfruit is another common love and its curry version is on the menu. We do use coconut, says the chef, but sparingly. For the Bengalis the garam masala is a spice roasted and ground mix of just three spices—cloves, cardamom and cinnamon.

Bengali cuisine is all about fish and sweets is the general notion. “Yes, mithai is a weakness for Bengalis, says the chef, who, by now has warmed up and is all smiles, after taking one through the elaborate menu he has planned with love and care. He is almost showing off the goodness of a menu that he feels so far has not got its due, worldwide.

“Yes, yes there are fresh rosogullas,” he says, but this time the chef has innovated. There is masala rosogulla. I have dunked rosogulla in beaten, spiced curd; he says nodding at the disbelief on my face. It is a must try, a must try.

And the sweets

Bengali sweets are milk based so there are the regular sandesh, kalakand and lenghcha, the long black gulab jamuns. There is jalebi and malpua, the two hot favourites. But it is the misthi dohi, the sweetened curd that is the chef’s recommendation. It is a speciality and a Bengali signature dish.

The festival is on till October 28, at Tharavadu, Hotel Casino, for dinner.

Keywords: Bengali food festival, Hotel Casino, masala rosogulla, fish specialities, Bengali food

Fact of the batter

Osama Jalali

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The Hindu Tea time: Goodies at Muffin Break.

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lifestyle and leisure baking and confectionery
food and dining (general)

Muffin Break offers a delicious variety of baked goods

Since childhood I have loved eating cakes. I still remember when I was a kid and got my report card my father used to treat me to small cupcakes, and I loved finishing each one alone. Basically they were muffins which were sold at Diamond Bakery in Old Delhi. Now after years my search for really authentic muffins met success as I dropped in at a store recently opened in M-Block Market of New Delhi’s Greater Kailash II. It is called Muffin Break. Finally this well established Australian brand has forayed into India with its first flagship café. It’s a unique bakery café with an interesting range of freshly baked products claimed to be prepared on site every day.

As I was hungry I started with a sandwich and a cappuccino. The sandwich was light and, since the Navratris are on, only vegetarian varieties were on offer. The cappuccino was wonderful and had the aroma of finely blended coffee beans. It was accompanied by in-house cookies, fresh and delicious, with the perfect crispiness and sweetness. Size-wise, they were among the biggest cookies I have come across in recent times.

Now it was time to try out the muffins. Muffin Break serves over 200 varieties of muffins. I tried a couple of variants available on the day. Double Chocó Chip is a treat for any chocolate lover, with granules of chocolate. The banana muffin was tasty too, with subtle flavours of banana. The good thing about these muffins was that they were not at all dry, but perfectly moist to the core.

For health freaks there is quite a variety too. There are the high-fibre low-fat bran muffins or the gluten-free ones for diabetics. Almost every conceivable flavour is to be found: coconut, lemon, banana, peach or blueberry to name a few. The fresh quiches, croissants, scones, wraps and cakes are also worth trying.

To down these baked goodies, try out some cool smoothies or thick shakes.

Good food triumphs

Rahul Verma

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• 
  The Hindu Divine food. Photos: Shanker Chakravarty
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  Delhi's pandals have a lot to offer.

TOPICS

festivals Durga Pooja
lifestyle and leisure food and dining (general)

There’s more to pandal hopping than dhunuchi nritya and dhaks

When I was growing up in a village in Muzaffarnagar, I don’t really think the Pujas touched me in any way. But in recent years, I have really taken to Durga puja. And there’s mainly one reason—before the start of the Pujas, many localities in the city spring up all kinds of food. This is called Ananda Mela, and I must say it gives me a lot of ananda (joy).

The neighbourhood’s mashimas and boudis— and some dadas, too— prepare all kinds of delicious food and sell it for a nominal amount at the mela. For the last three or four years, I have been diligently going to one of the Ananda Melas in I.P. Extension. I take a lot of empty boxes— and come back with all kinds of goodies such as mutton chops, biryani, ghugni (chickpeas, sometimes cooked with coconut, and sometimes with minced meat), payesh, pithey (a family of sweets) and so on.

This time, my job was a bit more onerous — I had to not just eat, but judge the food too. I was asked by the Aram Bagh Puja Samiti to judge their Ananda Mela. So I went there, resplendent in my new red kurta, accompanied by two able assistants. I sat demurely at a table while a bevy of women lined up with their home-cooked delicacies. I tried out some 15 kinds of dishes (thankfully some 5 or 10 contestants had by then packed up and gone home). I took a bite out of each dish— and was again struck by the variety of snacks that we have.

Let me tell you about some of them. The most popular is the ghugni. This time, I ate some ghugni with bits of paneer (cottage cheese) in it and another with keema (minced meat). Two of the dishes consisted of chicken biryani. There were two kinds of payesh – one regular (with rice) and the other a delightful concoction of nuts and thickened milk. I had some nice momos dribbled with chilli sauce and, dimer devil— a kind of chop with a boiled egg in it. Then there were two kinds of fried chicken, one served with home-cooked chilli and green chutney. I had some spicy chatpata aloo and also ate a special paneer cutlet— which was made memorable by the presence of grated coconut in the filling. Then I had malpua. Somebody else had cooked chicken noodles— and I was most impressed to see that the noodles had been prepared fresh at home with kneaded flour.

I know some of you are grinding your teeth because this year’s Ananda Mela is already over. But do not fret. One, the delicious food that I have listed out will prompt you to keep this important date in mind next year (in most places, it’s held on the fifth day of the navratras— that is one day before the Pujas begin). And two, the food fest is not yet over. In almost every big Puja pandal, you’ll find one or two— if not more— stalls selling food. Chittaranjan Park’s Mughlai paratha— a deep fried paratha with keema and egg — is a huge draw, as are the chops and the cutlets. People queue up for the biryani in Kashmiri Gate. And Kali Bari has a line of people selling everything from jhal muri and lal chhola to gola (flavoured ice popsicles).

So this Puja, as good conquers evil, let good food prevail too.

Flavours of a new food world

Anusha Parthasarathy

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• 
  THE HINDU Ice cream displayed at Bellaria at Chamiers Road in Chennai. Photo: R. Ravindran
• 
  The Hindu Bellaria ice cream palour on Chamiers Road Photo: R. Ravindran
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  TerraEarth cake made with organic brown rice
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  TerraEarth vegan mixture
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  Bread from wholemeal flour
• 
  Meghana of Fresh Baked Goodness
• 
• 
  Fresh Baked Goodness Cupcakes
• 
  Theobroma, a multi-layered eggless chocolate cake
• 
  Meera Maran

TOPICS

food and dining (general) vegetarian
lifestyle and leisure food and dining (general)

Banana walnut cakes made out of wholemeal flour; cheese straws made out of vegetarian Cheddar cheese and unbleached white flour; ice creams made from soy milk or coconut milk; vegetarian cakes made with bananas and apple sauce, instead of eggs; vegan ladoos and mixture… there are organic, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free substitutes for everything. ANUSHA PARTHASARATHY meets the people behind a few start-ups who have taken the preparation of such foods to an all-new level.

Terra Earthfood:

Brown rice murukku, gluten-free cakes, buckwheat pancake mix, thinai ribbon pakoda and vegan cinnamon cookies are just the beginning of a wide range of confectioneries and Indian snacks that Meera Maran makes.

“The fundamental principle is to take things from the earth as it gives them to you,” she says, “unprocessed, unrefined, unpolished.” An architect by profession, Meera began experimenting with gluten-free products after she discovered that her daughter had an allergy.

“We went gluten-free, sugar-free and milk-free. Once you remove this, you remove all the junk from your body,” she explains. “When my daughter wanted snacks, I began making ‘wholesome junk food’. And after years of making gluten-free cookies and pizzas for her, and studying at a culinary institute in the U.S., we came back and became a one-point source for allergen-free food for our neighbours, family and friends.”

They expanded from cupcakes, cakes and cookies to Indian snacks, making use of organic millets instead of rice. Terra foods uses Himalayan salt, cold-pressed oils, organic ghee, real fruit pulp and extract, and does not compromise on the ingredients. “We make everything as organic as possible. This way, we not only create awareness about healthy food but also make it attractive. We also make idli and dosa batter with millets and have a range of vegan ice creams. Since we use actual fruit in some of our products, we are seasonal as well,” she adds.

Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TerraEarthFood.

Wholistic Breads

Software professional Vanaja Arvind found that the preservatives used in white bread led to conditions like diabetes. So, she began her tryst with baking and it has been four years since she started Wholistic Breads.

“I wanted others to benefit from what I make. Even the brown bread you get outside is nothing but white bread with caramelised sugar. I experimented quite a bit with bread because quite a lot of preservatives go into it to keep it fresh. Otherwise, the bread gets mouldy within a day or two in our climate,” she says.

Muffins, cupcakes, chocolate brownies, oats and wheat flour soup are part of her product range. “Many people want gluten-free products, and we’re working on it. People who are weight and health conscious also prefer these products. But, it’s an acquired taste; not everyone adapts quickly. However, a couple of slices of oat bread will keep you full for long; its glycemic index is low as well,” says Vanaja.

Vanaja feels the response to these products depends on how open an individual is. “We use only olive oil or rice bran oil, besides ragi, oats and wholemeal in our cooking. People who travel look out for such food. Elderly people like our products because they’re egg-free and diabetics return regularly because we don’t use white sugar. It’s important for people to be aware of what goes into their food.”

Visit them online at www.wholisticbreads.com.

Bellaria:

Ice creams at Avanti Vissa’s Bellaria in Alwarpet are made right in front of your eyes. The good thing about this is you get to choose what goes into your ice cream, not just the flavour.

“I’ve been in the food industry for long and am a food scientist by profession. I chose ice cream to experiment with. We now have about 60 flavours and work on new ones every month. Whatever we make can be customised to suit individual tastes,” says Avanti.

At Bellaria, you can choose the kind of milk (they offer regular, fat-free, soy and coconut), sugar (white, brown or diabetic) and flavour. “People always tell you what to eat and what not to. Here, you have no such restriction. You can eat whatever you want and however you want it. When we started, we were thinking of people who are lactose-intolerant and found that soy milk and coconut milk are vegan options as well,” she adds.

Since the ice creams are made fresh, there’s no concern even with the power situation in the city. “There’s no concern about bacteria as we use packaged milk, which is always in refrigerated. We don’t open the fridge during a power cut. Our ice creams have no overrun, which means that its 100 per cent ice cream (overrun is the percentage of air in the ice cream),” she says.

Bellaria also has a range of cupcakes, tarts, muffins, cheese cakes and mousses, with some vegan options. For details, visit www.bellaria.in.

Fresh Baked Goodness:

Meghana Karthik is an assistant director who studied Yogic Science, but plunged head-long into baking. Eggless, vegan and vegetarian confectioneries and ice creams are her forte. A Facebook page and blog later, Fresh Baked Goodness became a business.

“I’ve been doing this for five months now. I started with weekend baking. I announced online that a particular product would be available over the weekend and could be picked up fresh from the oven. My first few bake-offs were a sell-out,” she says.

Meghana doesn’t stick to eggless recipes but also uses bananas, condensed milk and applesauce as substitutes for egg. “Theobroma, a six-layered chocolate cake, has been the most successful so far. It’s now being sold at Fresca Pizza in Nungambakkam. I sold almost 100 pieces of this cake in an hour at a recent event. Apart from this, I make cakes, cupcakes, loaves, breads, cold desserts and more.”

More people are opting for vegetarian and vegan options, she feels. “The trend is definitely growing. Vegan baking can also be challenging, given that we have to produce the same texture and taste as the usual cakes and bread. But honestly, it's not drastically different. I love baking quick breads and fresh breads. I recently added the 'Baklava Bread' to my menu. Apart from baking eggless, another aspect being, I don't use colours or artificial agents in the food,” says Meghana.

Visit Fresh Baked Goodness at www.facebook.com/FreshBakedGoodness