Rasoi · the recipe corner
रसोई से, सीधे आपकी थाली तक।
Not a recipe database. Twelve things worth cooking properly — everything that goes in them, the blends each one actually needs, and the one detail that ruins it if you get it wrong. Every one adjusts to the number you are feeding.
Bunty
Filter by how much of an evening you have.
12 dishes
Quick · Indore
इंदौरी पोहा
The one the city argues about
Fifty-six shops, one breakfast, zero consensus. What they agree on is the jeeravan that goes over the top at the last second — never stirred in.
8 things · 4 steps
Weeknight · Everywhere
दाल तड़का
The two-second bloom
The whole dish turns on two seconds. Hot ghee, one chutki, and the oils wake up. Five seconds and you have burnt what you paid for.
7 things · 4 steps
Weekend · Delhi
राजमा चावल
Sunday, and nothing else planned
You cannot hurry rajma and you cannot fake it. The gravy thickens because you mashed a spoonful of the beans into it, not because you added anything.
7 things · 5 steps
Weekend · Old Delhi
छोले भटूरे
Dark, sour and unapologetic
The colour comes from tea, not from chilli powder. The sourness comes from amchur. Everything else is patience.
6 things · 4 steps
Weekend · Punjab
शाही पनीर
The one you make for guests
Shahi means royal, and royal here means smooth. Everything hangs on passing the gravy through a sieve, which is the step everybody skips.
6 things · 4 steps
Street · Mumbai
पाव भाजी
Chowpatty, on your tawa
A bhaji-wala seasons last, not first, and keeps mashing long after you think it is done. That is the whole technique.
7 things · 4 steps
Weeknight · Tamil Nadu
साम्बर
Sour, then hot, in that order
Sambhar is a tamarind dish that happens to contain dal, not a dal that happens to be sour. Get that the right way round and the rest follows.
7 things · 4 steps
Weeknight · Rajasthan
कढ़ी पकोड़ा
Forty minutes of not hurrying
Two things ruin kadhi: lumps, and impatience. Whisk until there is nothing left to whisk, then simmer far longer than feels reasonable.
7 things · 5 steps
Weeknight · Punjab
बैंगन भरता
Smoke you cannot fake
The whole dish is one flavour: smoke. There is no shortcut, no liquid smoke, no oven that will do it. It is the open flame or it is a different dish.
6 things · 4 steps
Quick · Everywhere
कड़क मसाला चाय
Boiled, not steeped
Chai is boiled. Crush the whole spices in your palm first — an unbruised cardamom pod gives you nothing at all.
7 things · 4 steps
Street · Delhi
आलू चाट
Eaten standing up, always
Chaat is a balance of sour, hot and salt held together by something crisp. Lose the crisp and you are eating a sad potato salad.
7 things · 4 steps
Quick · Everywhere
जीरा आलू
Four ingredients, no hiding
Nothing to hide behind. If the jeera is stale or the potato is wet, you will taste exactly that.
5 things · 4 steps
✦ Rasoi Ka Sawaal ✦
चक्र घुमाओ, थाली सजाओ।
Can't decide what to cook tonight? Spin the wheel and let the rasoi decide.
घुमाओ और देखो — आज क्या बनेगा
आज क्या बनेगा?
Spin the wheel and let the rasoi decide.
Chakhne wala
ज़रा चख के बताइए।
Pick a bowl and season it blind — he will not tell you a thing until the spoon is in his mouth. There is no undo, because there is no undo in a real kitchen. The happiest he gets is when you have used the least.
कौन सा कटोरा?
Which bowl are we doing?
Choose a bowl
कौन सा कटोरा?
Every bowl wants different things. The same pinch is right in one and ruinous in another.