Home Comforts in Soho Methi Chicken, polao and a side salad I’m glad central London finally has an Indian restaurant like Darjeeling Express. I’ve been eating at various Bengali (read: Bangladeshi) restaurants in the British capital for a while, and most of what I’d recommend is in East London. While many of these places do great food, like Amar Gaon or Dhaka Biryani, they’re small and geared towards casual meals. But Darjeeling Express is a fully-fledged restaurant, and somewhere I could go if I needed a smarter dinner venue. Even better is the fact that I wouldn’t be making any ..read more

Cumin & Chive Mashed Potato Bake Fresh out of the oven, sans cheddar this time though I've never been able to roast potatoes properly, hence this dish. I needed to serve potatoes in some way alongside roast meats and fish, and so I gravitated towards a potato bake. I know there are many luxurious versions with milk, butter etc. around, but I've avoided these in favour of something that isn't too unhealthy. Chives and potato are a classic combo, and I've incorporated cumin here as it's a favourite flavour of mine. The beaten egg gives the dish a bit of lightness. Truth be to ..read more

Chicken & Naga Pickle Stir-Fry Steamed rice with chicken & naga pickle stir-fry I've relied on stir-fries for relatively healthy meals ever since university, though I've graduated from readymade sauces by now. This is a very simple stir-fry that I sometimes cook on weekdays, albeit with a slight twist - naga pickle. Usually, I stir-fry my chicken with a little garlic before adding soya and oyster sauce, followed by various veggies. I'm a big fan of naga pickle, and so one day I made the decision to marinade chicken in this before cooking. I knew I'd like it...so I'm ..read more

করলা ভাজি Stir-Fried Bitter Gourd Stir-fried bitter gourd garnished with red chilli I've moved to a neighbourhood with a Bangladeshi store around the corner! Unsurprisingly, I've been re-living all kinds of childhood food memories. I try not to buy perishables with lots of air miles, but I couldn't resist picking up a couple of fresh looking bitter gourds the other day. Bitter gourds, or korola, get their name from the very distinct bitter taste they retain even after cooking. Despite this, they are unreasonably popular back home, probably because the fruit has long been associ ..read more

গোরুর কিমা  Lime & Coriander Beef Keema Beef keema  Growing up, keema - or minced meat - was only meant for kebabs. I use it in my own recipe for beef kebab, as do the other Bangladeshis I know. But over the years, especially since moving to the UK, I've realised many Asian families, Bangladeshi or otherwise, cook their mince directly.The flavours from the various iterations I've eaten have been simple and recognisable. As such, I've always known that I could re-create the recipe myself from scratch - and indeed I have, if you've seen my Instagram feed. But I w ..read more

মুরগি মুসাল্লাম Murgi Musallam A labour of love I've had this dish a few times growing up, always at dinner parties where it would be the centrepiece at the table. Sadly it isn't something my family cooked themselves, so I didn't have a recipe I could pilfer from anyone to post on the blog. Since moving to the UK, I roast chicken in the oven often enough, but usually the recipes I use are British or fusion-y concoctions, and I've always wanted to add this traditional Bangladeshi recipe to my repertoire. Although as a side noe, I'm sure this murgi mussallam isn't uniquely Bangladeshi ..read more

Great traditional food just outside Dhaka   Our table at Matir Ghor   I feel lucky to have visited Dhaka at the end of 2019, just before the global pandemic kicked in. I've counted my blessing more than once over the last couple of years, especially as so many people haven't been able to see loved ones and family for much longer than me. My last visit home was unusually short, in between two busy periods at work, so it meant I actually stayed in Dhaka for once rather than travelling out to other places in the country.  Of course, this wasn't somethin ..read more

ডিমের জর্দা Dimer Jorda Dimer jorda, or halua This is basically how I liked my eggs done as a child. Not that my family would let me have this regularly - with good reason - just look at how much sugar the recipe calls for! But deemer jorda (or deemer halua to some) is very easy to cook, and my mom or aunts would often rustle some up when they needed a quick, fuss-free dessert. During my university years, the cheap and common ingredients meant it often featured in my diet. A healthier home cooked substitute to store bought desserts, or so I told myself. Nowadays I'm a little more ..read more

ফুলকপি ডাল   Cauliflower Daal  Cauliflower daal with brown rice What a year its been. Apart from that, I don't think I have much to say.  Like many of us, I've spent a lot of the year inside - food shopping in bulk to avoid being in busy public places for too long. That's meant a lot of cooking at home, and while for me that's been an unexpected blessing, most of what I've cooked has been the usual curries, stir-fries and simple pasta dishes.  And despite the pandemic, work has been as busy as ever. Only now at the end of the year am I taking a bit of a ..read more

Bangladeshis - if you thought we had lots of rice fields, just wait till you see Bali ************************** Before you read further, please consider donating to the Red Cross Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami Appeal. The Red Cross is supporting rehabilitation efforts from the tsunami that struck the country in December 2018. ************************** I spent a large part of my childhood in Asia, living between Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Thailand and even briefly the Philippines. This time was perfect for seeing much of the continent, but somehow I never made it to Indonesia ..read more