Recipes/Kadoo Ka Raita - Pumpkin with Garlic Yogurt

Kadoo Ka Raita - Pumpkin with Garlic Yogurt

The combination of pumpkin, garlic, roasted cumin seeds, and yogurt is one of my favourite combinations in a raita. The sourness of the yogurt is a great foil for the pungent garlic. Garlic is often called the destroyer of diseases, and this is a great autumnal dish to make to boost immunity before the cold winter months arrive.

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You may be surprised at the lack of spices and chillies in this dish. This is a traditional Anglo-Indian potato chop, which many of us grew up eating in Calcutta. The only seasoning used was salt and pepper. I have had versions of this dish where some chilli powder was added to the stuffing – so you could add ½ teaspoon of chilli powder while cooking the meat. In our house, aloo chop was always served with buttered toast. I would dip it into tomato ketchup, while my sister would add chilli sauce as a condiment. Leftovers were mashed and used as a sandwich filling and put into our tiffin box the next day. The oval shape of this chop seems to be an important part of its culinary heritage. Most other chops we ate in Bengal were either cylindrical croquettes or flat like a patty. Once you are confident with the recipe, feel free to experiment and add more things.

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Ammu's Chicken Biryani

Asma Khan · Ammu

Biryani was always made for big celebratory occasions. In my mother’s family, it was usually made with khasi, or goat, and cooked in a giant pot with layers of rice, meat and potatoes infused with spices and saffron. This recipe is a very personal one. This was the biryani that was made just for the five of us – my parents, my two siblings and me. On days when there was some good news, or more typically on days when something had gone wrong – from my brother losing a cricket match or me not doing so well in my exams – Ammu would get this biryani on the table and suddenly everything seemed okay! This is also usually the last dish I eat at home before I make the five-hour car journey from my parents’ home to the airport to catch my flight to London. I always felt that layered in that biryani were things my mother couldn’t say. When the biryani arrived on the table, it felt like Ammu’s secret code, telling me that she loved me.