Shrikhand, from "The Chakh le India Cookbook" by Aditya Bal

Rich Hung Curd Dessert

There are many who admit to being hooked to food channels and food shows on tv. And there are almost as many who say they have no patience for them. 

In between there are those who watch, but like to say they don’t—it is kind of considered infra dig, a reflection on having a lot of time on hand, when it is better to be heard saying they are busy. 

There are people like my mother-- who have spent a life time in the kitchen, who can beat the best of master chefs when it comes to traditional home cooked food that is part of their culture—who with excitement say that between 4 and 4.30 pm daily, Podigai channel has a food show…and recommend that I try to watch an episode, when I call up to ask her how she makes a particular dish.

I love watching food shows, no less than I enjoy a few serials I follow. How seriously I follow the recipes, what I learn from each one, and how much I have enjoyed a particular episode, is something I have never cared to quantify. But often enough, I’ve recalled some little thing that A chef or B chef had done, and tried to incorporate them in my daily cooking.

And I am sure that must be the case with most of us.

 Food /cookery channels and shows , though pretty new on Indian television, have acquired a niche slot, just as they have weaned away ladies from the melodramatic family dramas. And they have acquired prime space in our lives. And people like Sanjeev Kapoor or Rakesh Sethi a household name, and Vicky Ratnani an envy of many.Even models and celebs are trying to make their entry into the food tv world.

NDTV Good Times is not one of my favorites for food programs. And even in this, I used to lose my patience with Aditya Bal’s Chakh le Academy, where he taught a few young boys and girls to make some dishes.  It seemed very childlike to say the least.But in retrospect,  I enjoyed the seriousness and passion with which he did it.

His other show, in which he hops all over the country on his motorbike, and gets people to make their local food, and then re-does that for us, was more fun. It not only showed how people cook their meal, but also how Aditya Bal has assimilated that, and transformed it for the modern urban kitchen. Like most of us learn from here and there.

When I flipped through the pages of his book based on the tv show, I was pleasantly surprised to learn what I had suspected all along: that Aditya was not a trained chef, but like many of us, passionate about it. The book shows that, and is great for those who like to admit that training can follow passion, but will never replace it.

Simple and great recipes that are part of our daily meals is what the book has. Simply written. Aditya will go a long way..given this passion and modesty. Good luck to him

**

Here goes the recipe for that delicious Shrikhand that is staple in Gujarat and Maharashtra, from the Aditya Bal book:

Shrikhand-picture from the book

“This creamy sweet-sour,gelato-like sweet, filled with the goodness of hung curd, is one of the best known desserts from Maharashtra. It has to be one of the simplest and quickest Indian sweets to make. It’s light and fluffy and a delight to eat when served chilled” says the author.

Page 148 from the book

 Amul, the  baby delivered by  the late Dr  V Kurien--the father of White Revolution in India-- many years ago, sells Shrikhand in a few flavours.