Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

Was invited by Twitter celeb Anaggh Desai for a special Undhiyu and Ponkh lunch.Anaggh is called "God" on Twitter.When you meet him,you feel it more so....towering in height,warm in disposition,here is a man who is well versed in many subjects,is straight forward and gets along with people of all ages and goes about connecting them. Ponkh is tender jowar.Winter food.In farms,the stalks are roasted with their cobs and then beaten to separate each grain.I have had it before but nowhere as tender as at the Desai residence.The Ponkh was  from their hometown Surat.It was served with sweet and savory accompaniments. His wife Nippa made the most delicious Undhiyu ever.24 kilos of it for all their friends and family.Not much oil used.The beans were small and tender...Surti Papdi.It also had raw banana,sweet potato,yam,brinjals and fenugreek dumplings (muthiya).This had been simmered on a low flame for two hours and the end result was heavenly.In the North of Gujarat,it ...

Make it a point to go to the Upper Crust Food and Wine show every year.A great place to learn what's new in town...food concepts,gadgets and products.Stretched over three days,convenient as it includes the weekend.However this time there were far too many weddings to attend. I went on a Saturday and Chef Devwrat Jategaonkar of Radisson Blu,Alibag was demonstrating Maharashtrian cuisine.He seemed quite popular as many of the women attending said they watched his program on Marathi channel ETV.I watched him make Pudachi Sambhar Wadi (which reminded me of Bhakarwadi)  and Varadhi Kombdi Rassa.He's won the Silver Medal at the 2012 Culinary Olympics  in Germany for a Butter Sculpture.Do watch the video by clicking on the link to see the sculpture.There were 1800 chefs contesting.You do us proud,Chef! He has also designed a carving set and his cookbook will soon be available. Farzana Contractor,the dynamic spirit behind the Upper Crust Food and Wine show,Dog ...

This Diwali was extra special....one of the funniest food writers Simon Majumdar came to Mumbai.It was only after Kalyan and I became friends that we discovered that we both loved his book  " Eat My Globe" ....his real life story based on adventures all around the world in hole in the wall and fine dining places,in search of the best food.His mum always told him to go everywhere and eat everything...and he did! Now Simon Majumdar is iconic in USA...judge of Iron Chef America and The Next Iron Chef.The former is a show based on a Japanese version where top chefs battle Iron Chefs like Morimoto  and Bobby Flay.The latter is a show wherein chefs compete to become the Iron Chef. Inspite of that he remains down to earth and unassuming.He has the most disarming smile but it's a rarity.Kalyan and Kainaz invited us over for a Bengali meal. Met Simon's vivacious wife Sybil..Was also introduced to Sue and Nathan Cope who knew more about Indian food than ...

Me,I have a thing for seafood.Just crazy about it.Might have lived on an island in my last birth.What can be better than loving something so much and knowing that it's also great for your health thanks to its content of omega 3 fat (that's good for the arteries)? When I saw that Rushina had announced a Seafood Market Tour,I was game.I do know a little about buying fish thanks to market trips with my parents.This time it was Sandeep Shreedaran,a marketing professional with a great interest in cooking who was teaching us. He spoke of white pomfrets and black pomfrets,prawns (three varieties),bombay duck and mackerels.He also gave us ideas to cook them In an inimitable style,he went about bargaining and ultimately bought the fish.Just when I thought we'll get whacked for the price quoted.Quite a performer,hahaha! We bought some prawns,squid and rawas. He quickly showed us how to clean squid and suggested we buy the smaller size one.Squid req...