Thai Soup (Tom Yum)

As far as soups go, this is my favourite.

You are probably familiar with the Thai soup that incorporates coconut milk and lemon-grass. It's commonly known as Tom Kha Gai soup and blasphemous as it may sound, I don't like it because I am allergic to coconut.

You have probably have noticed by now, lemony flavours are special to me. Therefore the other, slightly lesser famous variant, Tom Yum, appeals to my taste-buds.

I had this soup when I was six years old and there has been nothing to beat this delicious, steaming concoction, specially on a rainy and/or chilly winter night. I male this frequently (though never end up noting it down, thanks to my horrific busy schedule) and last time when I made it, I had a sore throat. Interestingly (although predictably), it helped soothe my throat.

There are a number of great versions available online but I wanted something that reminded me of the first time I tasted this soup in my hometown. It's Indianised, no doubt, but it's gorgeous! This is my version through repeated trials (based on the varieties I've tasted in Kolkata, India) and it comes really, really close to those.

PS: It's also a good way to get mushroom haters (like my brother) eat mushrooms.

Non-vegetarian Momo with Chicken, Pork or Beef Filling

This is a Tibetan recipe as you most probably know and is taking the city by storm for a past few years; a fad so popular that it has replaced the age old favourites of noodles and rolls the city was so proud of! A health conscious yet fast food addict generation has switched to the wonderful, wonderful world of – momos!

I personally have been having momos before this momo addiction broke out, at a time when I would know the very few momo joints by heart and could tell from one shop to another just by taste. In fact, without sounding too conceited, I somewhat reckoned myself a Kolkata-momo connoisseur. Not for long though, as innumerable other joints cropped up and road-side vendors took it up, making it a household name. Everyone has their own secret recipe and eventually, ways to Indianising the dish, making it more fast food oriented, inevitably crept in.