SHABASH!

Met some lovely friends at The Union for a post-work drink. The setting springtime sun was beaming through the windows while we chatted and used one hand to shade our eyes from the sun and the other to hold the respective pint of ale. Pakoras go well with beer, right? Yep. These pakoras were packed [...]

Thought I’d share this recipe for Bengali chicken risala (also rezala) that my husband’s aunt shared with me (it’s her friend’s recipe). I love getting emails like this from family who assume I know what they are speaking of! My husband translated the ingredients for me. I also like the way the recipe is written [...]

It’s been a long time since I posted on Shabash as I got a great job, which keeps me busy. Now that I’m feeling more settled in my work,  I am endeavoring to revive Shabash. So, here it goes: You may all know our good friend Sreedevi, who is an essential part of my Indian culinary education. [...]

My husband cooked this recipe for brown rice peas pulao (also “pilau”). It tasted great. He used long grain brown rice and cooked it in our rice cooker. Easy pea-sy.

This review is part of the Westcoast Chai tasting series. Masala Chai @ Chutney Villa Chai profile • Nearly perfect, but too shy on the spice • About 10-oz serving, about $2.50 Chutney Villa, located at Main and Broadway, specializes in South Indian cuisine (e.g., dosas, coconut chutney, idlies, sambar, and the like). A few [...]

It was odd. Sausage served in a curry ketchup. I’d never heard about it before, but, apparently, it’s a popular street food Germany. It all started a few years after the end of WWII, when a certain Berliner named Herta Heuwer had ketchup, curry powder, and sausages in her stark kitchen and a funny idea. [...]

A little gem has emerged near the corner of Granville and Davie streets, on the heel of downtown Vancouver. Deepak Suri, the owner of another little known secret farther south and east, in Vancouver’s Little India (Tandoori Delight on East 50th, off Main Street), recently opened a new shop selling covetous wraps and chaat (Indian [...]

This review is part of the Westcoast Chai tasting series. Masala Chai @ Curry 2 U Chai profile • Even 7-Eleven would serve spicier masala chai • About 16-oz serving, about $2 I don’t get it, Curry 2 U’s tiffin lunch was a hit, but when I ordered their masala chai to go with my [...]

If you’ve watched a Mumbai travel show or India business report, you may already know of Mumbai’s dabbawallahs (dabba, also known as a tiffin, is a multi-levelled steel container for transporting food, wallah is a vendor). Every day, 5,000 dabbawallahs take to the bursting streets of Mumbai and its boroughs to deliver over 200,000 home-cooked lunches to [...]

This review is part of the Westcoast Chai tasting series. Of course, it was good! Masala Chai @ Rangoli Chai profile: Admire this chai as the new secretary would admire Don Draper, or vice versa. About 12-oz serving, $2.50 Piping hot chai at Rangoli   Sometimes I think that I might as well be the [...]