The Sassy Side of Sixty: Dolly Koghar on Moms’ Cooking Nostalgia

Our approximate 8,000 to 10,000 taste buds contribute to our sophisticated and rich perception of taste, by which we enjoy a varied diet, subtly guiding us towards energy- and essential nutrient-rich foods, crucial for our survival.

This diversity in taste sensations has created our cultural and culinary expressions, but only mom’s cooking can stir memories of our carefree childhood:

• Rajma (kidney beans curry) and rice with kadhi—a yogurt, gram flour-based thick, tangy gravy, containing vegetable fritters or pakoras. There was also lamb cooked with yoghurt and onions, which isn’t Punjabi, but one that I still make, since my son loves it too.

• She had a good hand at any and every dish, but the best was sarso-ka-sag (creamy, saucy mustard leaves) and methee aloo (fenugreek and potatoes).

• Aloo-paneer (potatoes and Indian cottage cheese curry) and paranthas (wheat flatbread shallow fried on a griddle plate).

• Mom had a very good hand at cooking, although her chicken curry was the family’s all-time favourite, as was mattar chawl (peas pilaf). Also to die for was her panjiri (wheat flour roasted in ghee, with sugar and coarse pounded almonds).

• My favourite dish of mom’s was dhansak, a Parsi dish that no Punjabi makes.

• My eternal favourite was choori (small pieces of Indian flatbread crumbled with butter and sugar), which she fed me piping hot, making her hands go red.

• Her aloo paranthas (wheat flatbread stuffed with mashed potatoes, shallow fried on a griddle plate).

• Raw-dee-kheer (sugarcane rice pudding).

• I remember helping mom bake and decorate birthday cakes, then licking the bowl and spatula; also seeing her make lasagna.

• Mooli parantha (wheat flatbread stuffed with grated radish and persimmon, shallow fried on a griddle plate); crispy and super yummy.

• Cold, refrigerated kheer made with no nuts. My brother loved her aloo gobi (dry potatoes and cauliflower).

• She was an amazing woman, full of determination, and she never failed to surprise us. She loved to cook and knew many recipes, though that reduced as she aged, like the yummy gulab jamun (deep-fried, syrup-soaked milk balls) of her early days in Japan. For Raksha Bandhan, she’d make almond-gachak (brittle candy) for her brothers. She even made us Thai sticky rice with mango. Her bhartha (roasted and mashed eggplant cooked with onions and tomatoes) was good, as well as bhindi (dry lady fingers).

• Mom was a good cook and loved company and feeding. She baked cakes and made pie, pizza, and gulab jamun.

• She made the best nan-khatais (Indian shortbread) and egg and besan ladoos (gram flour and egg sweet orbs). Thinking of them, my mouth still waters.

• Her cooking was very special, more so her chicken curry and methee-saag with aloo (mustard leaves-n-potatoes).

• I still remember grandma’s kadhi and mom’s fish kofta (round-shaped mass of vegetables) curry.

• Her yakisoba was so good, and so were her cakes.

• Most of my childhood was spent with my grandparents, but mom’s bhalle (fried lentil balls served in cold, diluted yoghurt) was quite a hit amongst our immediate family.

• Sarso-ka-sag with maki-ki-roti (cornmeal flatbread) and bhartha (roasted and mashed eggplant cooked with onions and tomatoes), just so tasty. Besides, as kids, we weren’t bothered about weight, and we didn’t get these dishes in boarding schools. Another very special dish of hers was chicken curry, but in a dry style. The cook tries to emulate it with mock meat, but there’s no comparison.