Salman Ramzan 
Milk peda — doodh peda — is the sweet that Indian mithai shops have sold by the kilo for as long as anyone can remember: small, pale, flattened discs of concentrated milk, soft enough to give under your teeth and rich enough that one is satisfying and two feel like a celebration. Traditionally the milk … Read more
Palkova is proof that two ingredients and a lot of patience can outdo any complicated sweet — full-cream milk stirred and stirred in a wide pan until it gives up its water and gathers into a soft, grainy, pale-gold mass, sweetened at the very end so the milk flavour stays in front. It is the … Read more
Thattai are the flat, crackling discs that Tamil homes fry up by the dozen when a festival is near — rice flour pressed thin, fried until it blisters and turns the colour of light caramel, and seasoned with cumin, sesame and curry leaves so every bite is savoury right through. The name itself comes from … Read more
An apple milkshake is the quiet achiever of the milkshake family — no ice cream needed, no cooking at all, just sweet apples blended with chilled milk, a whisper of cardamom and a pinch of cinnamon until the whole thing turns pale, frothy and creamy. The apple does double duty here: it sweetens the shake … Read more
Seviyan kheer is the sweet that appears whenever there is something to celebrate — fine vermicelli roasted in ghee until it smells nutty and turns the colour of weak tea, then simmered in milk until the strands soften and the pudding turns creamy and gently thick. It is scented with cardamom, sweetened just enough, and … Read more
A good veg pizza at home is not about fancy equipment — it is about a dough given time to rise, a sauce that tastes of tomato and garlic rather than sweetness, and vegetables cut small enough to cook in the same fierce burst of heat that blisters the crust. This recipe makes two medium … Read more
Sabudana kheer is the pudding of fasting days and festivals — tiny sago pearls soaked until plump, then simmered slowly in milk until they turn glassy and soft and the milk thickens around them into something silky and spoonable. It is gently sweet, scented with cardamom, and finished with ghee-fried cashews and raisins that swell … Read more
Dindigul, in Tamil Nadu, is a town that takes its biryani seriously, and its style is unlike the long-grained biryanis of the north. It is built on seeraga samba, the small, round, intensely fragrant local rice, cooked with the masala rather than layered over it, with coconut milk for body, mint for freshness, a firm … Read more
Crispy corn is the starter that Indian restaurants made famous and home cooks quietly adopted — sweet corn kernels boiled, dusted in flour and fried until each one wears a thin, crackling shell, then tossed hot with chilli, chaat masala and lemon. The pleasure is in the contrast: shattering crust, juicy burst, tangy spice, all … Read more
This sweet corn salad is really a chaat in salad’s clothing — warm, butter-tossed corn folded with crunchy onion, tomato and cucumber, a squeeze of lemon and a good shake of chaat masala. It takes fifteen minutes, most of it waiting for the corn to boil, and it sits just as happily next to a … Read more