Ask Tim (not Kim)

India being a 'dry' country - in terms of alcohol - means I am on a natural detox, no longer consuming bottles of wines from boutique wineries selected from our favourite local wine shop in London. Although I probably consumed my recommended daily intake for the year when visiting California last year, I do miss the odd glass on a Friday night.

Alcohol consumption is rising though, and many times I have been offered a glass of wine - it being the more sophisticated thing to drink over whisky (the preferred Indian tipple with a growth of 10% a year). And in Outlook Lounge, Delhi's airport magazine there was an article on India's foremost wine taster - with these (for real) wine buying tips :

• Check for pretty labels. If you like the label you may well enjoy the wine
• At the base of the bottle is a punt; the deeper it is the better and more expensive the wine is likely to be.
• Be honest, if you don't like the wines aroma, don't drink it.

But purchase of alcohol in Delhi is tightly restricted, only really available in Government shops and a couple of supermarkets at certain times. You can get wine, beer and spirits in some of the bars and restaurants in the city, however the quality of the wine on offer is dubious - Piat d'Or anyone?

When researching Indian food and drink before I left, I came across some articles in the press referring to India's flourishing new wine industry. I decided to ask the man who would surely know about this ... Tim Adkin - Master of Wine and writer of the Guardians wine column among others.

He replied to me just last week, saying the answer would be in the paper this weekend.... and it was literally!

Actually, we had a Shiraz from Sula Vineyards this weekend on a visit to Jaipur. It was a very new world style wine and would have benefited decanting - but was a perfect way to toast the Friday night in Jaipur. Maybe I will break the detox a little in the name of research...?

Introducing my friend TED

Living in India and not working, I have chosen to dedicate any free time I have to the study of food. Be it teaching myself to cook authentic Indian recipes, learning about indigenous spices, reading about Slow Food projects or discovering the weird and wonderful new vegetables on offer - I am here to learn.

Much of this takes place online - my virtual library - and recently my 'mother-in-law' introduced me to the wonders of TED. An online lecture theatre, it has 30minute talks on any conceivable subject by prominent professors, authors and speakers, all passionate people and experts in their field . And as mother in law just emailed "its taking up a lot of my time". There is a lot to watch.

With my study of food in mind, I was sent a link to a talk about humane farming of fois gras and I was so entertained and learned afterwards I wanted to share this, plus the wonders of TED with you all....

Happy watching!

Indian food provenence

Looking back to life in the UK, I have quickly realised how much importance I place on the provenance of the food I buy. In India - food shopping is a whole different kettle of fish - with small supermarkets only just making their mark in upper class areas and most food is sold by indepedent traders - fruit carts, fruit and veg market stalls, butchers, bakers and corner shop style supermarkets. However, the provenance is not really mentioned. To be honest, trying to get the vegetable seller to understand that I want to buy some coriander - hana dhania in Hindi I think - is challenging enough, let alone trying to find out where it was grown!

These eggs that I picked up in the crammed shelves of Star Bazaar demonstrate exactly this. I have no idea whether these eggs are free range or organic and I am assuming they are from India.... but there is nothing to confirm this. They're good eggs though...

So far in my research about where Indian food is grown and produced I have yielded little information, but I have come across navdanya.org/index.htm">Navdanya. This Indian organisation which has partnered with Slow Food works to preserve Indian food culture, biodiversity, seed sovereignty and farmers livelihoods. Focusing on closing the food circle - they have a farm to fork policy and have opened a a Slow Food Cafe in New Delhi and food outlets for their provenance focused food across the city.... This may be where I discover more about the origins of what I am cooking with... and maybe even free range eggs?

Gas Leak!

I was going to introduce you to the wonders of my Indian kitchen with a simple photo:

But that was before my ‘cooker’ was examined by the India Gas Co. I am still not sure if this visit was the result of an extremely comprehensive Indian paperwork system (our rental lease had been recently submitted), or just a guy trying to earn a living going door to door. But however fate brought him to our door, I am glad as he saved my life!

The cookers here run off bottled LPG connected by a hose which runs through a hole in the work surface to the counter top hob. For the first few days we didn’t get to cook, as we were unable to connect it up, waiting for the landlords help (oh how they must regret welcoming us so...). Once we were ‘cooking on gas’ lighting the hobs with a match I relished the opportunity to cook at last.

That was until the Gas Man arrived... He tested the connection by holding a lit match over the burners with the gas turned on. All ok. Then he held the still lit match over the connection between the cooker and the hose. A huge roaring flame ignited!

“Dangerous madam” says the Gas Man still feeding the gas with a naked flame.

Whilst I tried to steady my nerves and my reeling mind about the injuries I could have sustained, the Gas Man replaced the hose with an added protective cover. Repeating the match test he says...

“Safe now Madame” – these are the only words I pick up amongst the stream of Hindi.

A cool £5 later and we have the (now safe to use) hob to cook our meals on, and the soon to arrive microwave. No oven, no grill – just 2 burners. This has put my aim of achieving baking perfection on hold, however there are rumours on the expat network that you can buy counter top ones...For now, this is all I have...

Home Sweet Indian Home

Another hot, blue sky morning, but on this one we checked out of the lovely Cabana hotel and hired our most expensive cab yet, one block away to our new hoxme. With so little luggage, it only took us a few moments to unpack, just in time for lunch with our new landlord and her family. We accepted this unusual, but very welcome invitation after our meeting to sign the rental lease, over drinks to close the deal, a few days before.

I’m beginning to get used to the generosity extended to us by people here – although my natural English disposition finds it a little uncomfortable to be so warmly welcomed and waited on in someone’s home. But, as was pointed out to me by my dear “grandmother-in-law” our British or maybe London preference for meeting friends in bars and restaurants as opposed to inviting them home, could account for such inhibitions.

On the top floor of the house, amongst the trees and singing birds we chatted with our new neighbours; Mrs Sharma – who reminded me of my own late Nan, Christine and Sunil Sharma and their daughter Kara soon to be studying in Australia. Picking up tips on where to get food, good restaurants that deliver and how to deal with our new maid, I kept having to pinch myself, disbelieving the support and kindness offered – including a tour of the local market from their daughter. Mrs Sharma who spoke no English but understood most of what we said spent much of the time repeating our unfamiliar, funny sounding names then inviting me to visit her whenever I am bored!

Lunch was a feast of stunning Indian food including dhal, basmati rice for me and homemade roti – (unleavened bread also known as chapatti) for the others, aloo gobi, fried bitter gourds, raita, chopped salad and a couple of other dishes that I missed the names of but enjoyed all the same. Much of the conversation fell to food, and I was offered access to their recipe books, a collection much like my own, all the while wondering if they really meant it (my English-ness is so pronounced here!).

After lunch, we toured the market with Kara discussing the names of ingredients in the narrow, packed aisles of 'supermarket' the size of a corner shop at home. When I asked if you could get tinned tomatoes a staple ingredient for me, Kara laughed saying we can buy fresh all the time! The next stop was fruit and veg from men with carts in the street. Local bananas, apples and watermelon plus warm plum tomatoes, potatoes (aloo) and onions, all for a mere INR70! Next time Kara said to learn the word for fresh coriander as I should get a complimentary bunch...

So the past days have been spent setting up home and enjoying the space. Phone lines, broadband and cable TV were magically installed within a day of moving in, I made a start on store cupboard ingredients and utensils but I am still on the hunt for a washing up bowl...they don’t seem to use them or sink plugs here...But in a kitchen without hot water, who cares? We have 6 large rooms and a back yard of our own to lounge, cook, eat, roam and live in.


Enjoying the sun in the back yard

Show me the money...

This is what INR105,000 looks like.... its the deposit for the flat. We are go!

Introducing New Delhi

I have been living in New Delhi, albeit in a hotel room, for 10 days now and thought it was time to set the scene of daily life here. This post is an attempt to transport you to my new world. In a few days time, we should be moving into a flat, where I will begin my long anticipated indulgence of not going to work! Instead, I shall be spending my days browsing and shopping at the markets, haggling over a few Rupees as is customary, and cooking in my new rented, if somewhat basic Indian kitchen. This is still all to be confirmed mind you, but we have contracts ready to be signed and a stash of cash growing by the day ready to secure our little piece of GK1.

New Delhi really is very new. Inaugurated only in 1931 it was designed by British Architect Edwin Lutyens after the British Raj decided to move the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. Wide streets arranged around neighbourhood blocks each labelled with letters strangely out of sequence (R block is opposite C block and next to N?) it couldn’t be anything less like Old Delhi. We will be living in South Delhi, only 20minutes from India Gate and Connaught Place in the heart of the capital, complete with a community of markets and restaurants just a short, hair raising auto rickshaw ride away.

Auto rickshaws (‘autos’ as they are called locally) are the same as Thailand’s tuk tuks, similarly darting about the streets of the sub-continent, whipping between the traffic for just a few rupees. I totally love riding in them, unable to keep the grin off my face... it’s the most fun way to travel, so long as you’re prepared for the bumpy ride.

So far, I have spent much of my day travelling to ‘markets’ (which are not markets as I know them – which is a whole different post), and it’s a great way to get a glimpse of Delhi life. Trying to set the scene, whist trying to avoid the romanticised clichés of India is pretty impossible. Daily, I am presented with scenes of heart wrenching poverty, barefoot street children playing in the dirt, holy cows (or are they oxen?) wandering where they please and people taking every chance to make a living. The poverty hits me hard every time. I knew it would be tough and find myself asking what can I do? I still don’t have the answer...

Without the clichés, life here is much slower than I expected with a focus on family and friends. It’s an overwhelmingly spiritual place. Already we have been invited to a three day Sikh prayer for a new house, advised to eat vegetarian on the auspicious Holi day, not to mention the in-depth horoscope discussions.

There are of course the Western influences of global sports brands in all the markets, Italian restaurants in every neighbourhood and a stack of English bookshops. However it feels really Indian and I love it. The dominance of religion in the country has generated a long established independent coffee culture with not a single Starbucks in sight (although the Indian equivalent Cafe Coffee Day does a mean iced coffee). The bookshops are small and perfectly formed with both Indian and International authors and great Indian recipe books – all cheaper than home!

Every day, I am surprised by life in India – musical lifts in restaurants, bright blue skies whilst celebrating the end of Winter on Holi, stables for horses on the highways, and the constant contrast that is India. I look forward to the months of exploring this country and its capital. Being a resident rather than a tourist allows me to slowly drink in each experience rather than packing the maximum into a scheduled trip. The only thing is – will I ever be able to leave?

Alphonos mangoes

When I was a little girl in the 1980's, my father worked for an Israeli airline in their cargo division after leaving the Air Force. I never really knew what he did, but he was clearly a little hands on, as he would come home from his shift at Heathrow with handfuls of tropical fruit to try -kiwis, passion fruits, prickly pears, Sharon fruit and mangoes - not that I ever knew their names - except the Sharon fruit that is, as that made me chuckle (I went to school with Sharon). I remember trying these strange looking fruit not sure whether to like them, but always listening for the sound of my Dad's motorbike each night, just in case he brought more home.

Fast forward 20years and sampling the sweet, fragrant, dripping with juice mangoes from street vendors as a backpacker in Thailand, I awakened my taste buds to what tropical fruit should really taste like. I never really bother with them in the UK, as they are never as ripe or fragrant as you want them to be. But now... I am in Delhi and can't wait to be able to use them like our apples back home - in everything.

But, we are still in a hotel, and after a silly episode where I gluten-ised myself, I have not been eating that much, trying to soothe my poor stomach. This coupled with banking issues meant I couldn't go out for lunch on Thursday. This actually turned out to be good fortune as all I had in the hotel room was fruit, including Alphonso mangoes which I had bought a few days prior and once I had located the trusty Swiss army knife I proudly and expertly cut it up (see above) and then ate the whole thing.

Once we finally get a flat, - which fingers crossed should be in the next week - I can't wait to wake up to mango lassi for breakfast... Any tips on what else I should do with this fragrant and abundant(!) fruit?

Namaste from India

This is my first post from the heart of New Delhi, writing to the sounds of hooting horns, street sellers calling out their wares, and the buzz of auto-rickshaws darting about the streets. First impressions are of friendly people, keen to explore any opportunity and ask a million questions about your country, your background, your dreams and of course your star sign.

More importantly, are my first impressions of the food. Maybe niavely, it has suprisingly been a lot of western food; sandwiches, panini's, pasta, pizza and wraps. Eating out in India is reserved for special occasions, rather than an informal social occasion or a lack of inclination to cook. As a result, being in a hotel and needing to find lunch for one western lady who can't eat the many wheaty options available, I have bravely ventured into mostly Indian restaurants.

I consider this brave, as most of the restaurants we have been to so far cater for the family groups with large tables - not for lone diners. Plus, there aren't Indian women dining alone. They are eating at home with their extended family. But, when I have taken the plunge, it has been truly worth it as I was able to eat safe, gluten free food whilst observing my fellow diners and Delhi life.

We have chosen to eat mostly vegetarian so far, easing into the Delhi diet, and trying to aclimatise our stomachs, although I am particularly eager to try the tandoori chicken brought to Delhi only after the partition by the Punjabi's, the local sweets, ice cream and their mutton curries whilst sharing the ups and downs here.

For the duration of my time in India, I plan to share with you all I learn about her ingredients, restaurants, cookery courses, shopping trips and whatever foodie experiences I delve into...the adventure begins here.

Plus, if you have any recommendations for me...I will happily accept them!