With parents hailing from Punjab and Rajasthan, growing up, our Head of Research and Development-walla, Chef Rishi Anand had access to the flavourful foods from both states. “One of the reasons I am a chef today is because of my mum’s food and my dad’s love for food. Both of them loved to cook and, importantly, they loved to feed mouth-watering dishes to those around them”, he says.
Although a vast array of food came out of his family kitchen every day, he recounts his all-time favourite as his mother’s Rajasthani-style Chicken Stew. “When you hear Chicken Stew, you instantly think about South India and coconut milk and curry leaves. However, my mother’s stew is different. It’s a reflection of how people from parts of North India make this dish.” It’s rustic, homely, simple and pot-full of flavour.
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4–5 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves
1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
½ tsp whole cumin
5 black peppercorn
2 bay leaf
1 black cardamom
Small stick of cinnamon
3–4 whole dry red chillies
350g red onion, roughly chopped
10 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
50g ginger, julienned
½ –1 tsp deggi mirch chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp garam masala powder
450g tomatoes, roughly chopped
1kg bone-in chicken, cut into small pieces (can use boneless chicken thighs, if preferred)
100g natural yoghurt
3–5 fresh green chillies (add depending on level of spice)
TO FINISH
Coriander leaves, roughly chopped
For other Dishoom recipes, please see Dishoom: from Bombay with love, our cookery book and highly subjective guide to Bombay.
The sun is momentarily out again. Calendars are fast filling up. There’s many a thing to do and many a friend to meet. And if we may kindly add to the excitement and the plan-making, here’s our list of what we’re looking forward to in September.
While we were at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we caught Evening Conversations, an engaging show by Sudha Bhuchar. We caught up with her after the show to talk about her journey and her views on South Asian representation on screen, which you can read below. And for those who didn’t walk down the cobbled streets of the city or stumble into an impromptu performance this year, we highly recommend it for 2024.
Each year as August dawns, the streets and rooms and corners of Edinburgh fill with music, art, laughter and song. Wander into grand halls and pokey pubs, as the morning sun rises or in the dark of night, to see creations of every kind as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In honour of this wonderful celebration of the performing arts (and as a little treat), here’s a special edition Dishoom Loves, covering all the acts we’ve circled on our festival programme.
For anyone looking to learn or read more on Partition, this page holds a series of resources, for all ages, created by people knowledgeable and knowing about such matters. It is by no means definitive – we have simply found them to be useful, inspiring and accessible.