I told the guy that I needed some counselling after I was done with reading this book. It was difficult to digest; difficult to imagine that such things could happen to a human being. Every sentence that I read, every page that I flipped, I had to halt for a mental pause to convince myself that this wasn’t a fictional novel I was reading.
Our first ever roasted chicken was cooked in Durham. Back then, the oven was humongous; the need to roast food in it was hence compulsive and irresistible. That was how we celebrated Christmas in a snow-capped land. This has since become a lingering memory that will always bring back the sweet yearning for life abroad.
Enough of European bakes – time for some Asian bread! Finally had some time and decided to dig out the bread recipe book ‘Don Yong Celebrity Chef’s Cookbooks: Bread Winners’ that my good friends gave to me as present…. probably more than 4 years ago. I have been rather resistant about trying out any of the recipes in this book because the chef employed professional dough mixers to do the work for him. Nevertheless, this attempt has shown me that my own hands can do the job as well as the kitchen machines.
Which is the vegetarian version, made from scratch without the addition of any preservatives. I believe there is a variety of chilli bean dips around, mostly Spanish in origin. My non-vegetarian version of this is ‘Chilli con Carne’, rightly cooked with minced meat and which is less of a paste than the one I am making here.
It was an addiction – a love at first attempt. I had a month’s time to spare in Germany in January, with nothing better to do than to visit museums and eat at Wochenmärkte. He offered me this book to occupy my time. I’ve never looked back since.