Best Kept Secrets: Regional Food from India

When cooking, how often have you wished that you could learn more about the story behind the recipe? Not just the practical bits like where to source the best chicken or how to wash the dal correctly but the juicy Best Kept Secrets on why a certain dish was made the way it was or why it is special for a particular person or family. Like, the secret ingredient in my Mamaiji’s Red Curry or why Kalyan Karmakar makes Kaatla Bhaaja the way he does.

It is our curiosity for these secrets that have made food walks and cooking classes so popular in recent times - not only do you come back with a more enriched tummy as well as a more enriched mind. It is these Best Kept Secrets that have the power to change our foodie lives and make our meals more memorable. However, there is no one single person that holds the worlds’ Best Kept Secrets. The only way to learn these is by opening your soul and sharing because as my Mamaiji always taught me, the more you share, the more you learn!

So, in the new year I started on a new project, to uncover the world’s #BestKeptSecrets.

Best Kept Secrets is a series of e-books that are published quarterly. It is the first cook-book in India that is crowdsourced online and includes recipes as well as stories about why these dishes are so special. This first edition includes 10 recipes crowdsourced from kitchens across India along with stories about what makes these dishes so special. All these recipes have been tested countless times at the author's homes and are sure to make you 'MasterChef' at home.

Some of the recipes featured in this edition include Pork Sorpotel, Batata Saung, Gur da Halwa and Macher Kalia.