Flowers may be de rigour on Valentine’s Day but it would be best not to forget the adage that “the way to your lover’s heart is through his or her stomach”. So for this Valentine’s Day, why not roll up your sleeves and do something different? The couple of recipes we’ve lined up for Valentine’s Day are quite different from each other though they seem similar at first glance. The V-day red hot cookie is actually spicy while the strawberry shortcake is all cream and full of love.

Country Captain or East India Chicken Curry

Pongal, one of the most popular harvest festivals in India — and perhaps of the entire world given the number of people celebrating it — starts on the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi and continu

On a visit to one of the fishing communities that thrive along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, one will be amazed at the different ways of cooking fish.

More than a decade back at a speciality biryani restaurant in erstwhile Kolkata, my friends and I were in splits when a middle-aged Bengali gentleman pushed away the biryani menu and barked at the waiter: “Chilli chicken lao.” The gentleman might have been forgiven then for not knowing any better, but not in today’s day and age.

During his pre-New Year speech for the Catholic population, Archbishop of Goa, Daman and Diu, Filipe Neri Ferrao, used the Hindu Maha Upanishads extensively and drew parallels between the ancient scriptures and the teachings of Jesus Christ and said that the unity of mankind had been one of the main concerns of Christ.

When it comes to hot and fiery food, no other Indian cuisine perhaps comes close to Andhra food. While locals of a particular region will always swear that their food is the best, the popularity of Andhra delicacies in the rest of the country is evident when one visits the canteen at Andhra Bhavan in New Delhi during lunch time. This

Andy McDermott’s archaeologist heroine Nina Wilde is back. In Cult of Osiris, she, along with her ex-SAS husband Eddie Chase, goes on a roller-coaster ride trying to stop a neo-religious fanatic from world dominion.

The first book generally accredited to the time travel genre was written by none other than Charles Dickens. While he himself did not regard his 1843 book, A Christmas Carol as a book on time travel (the concept was relatively unknown), aficionados in later years declared it to be so, perhaps just to be able to get the great author on board the genre.

While rice and roti are the staple carbohydrates of India, the paratha is reserved for special occasions or weekends.

Kheema Paratha / Mughlai Paratha

Though originating in the badshahi kitchens in the 16th century in Delhi, Bengal is perhaps one of the few places one can still order the Mughlai paratha and there are century-old eateries all over Kolkata catering to the needs of Bengalis for this kheema-stuffed square paratha that’s fried with an egg.

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