It was the fabulous Kylie Kwong – food hero, community champion, exquisite cook and all-round wonderful human – who brought Helly Raichura’s The Food of Bharat (as yet, published in Australia only) to my attention, and I’m grateful to both for bringing it into my life. It is a very special book: a history lesson with heart. More, it conveys not only the journey of food through time and peoples, but brings alive its beauty, its meaning and why it matters; on top of which, her gorgeous recipes just make me want to scuttle off into the kitchen immediately.
I thought long and hard before choosing which recipe to bring you today. Would it be the glistening Malpua/fried reduced milk in sugar syrup? The Vada/lentil fritters? The Murg Musullam/whole stuffed chicken? The Bharwa Gucchi Pulao/rice cooked with Kashmiri spices, wild garlic and morels? But in the end, it just had to be the Tharavu Roast/roast duck with gravy! And if you can get your duck from a butcher rather than supermarket, you can ask them to portion it for you.
Food of Bharat by Helly Raichura (Hardie Grant, £30).
Photo by Jana Langhorst.
