Culinary Chronicles

WHO THOUGHT OF THIS?

Culinary Curiosities from India

Kaun sochta hai yeh sab?

Some foods make you hungry. Others make you stop and ask: who thought of this?
This is where curiosity meets culinary history — first with a little imagination, then with the facts.

A little curiosity. A good appetite.

10 curiosities

Soft white idlis on banana leaf, one broken open to reveal airy texture, with rice, urad dal, batter and an idli steamer

Episode 01 / Idli

Who Told the Batter to Wait Eight Hours?

Rice, urad dal, fermentation, steam — who decided all of this belonged together?

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A thin golden dosa on a dark tawa, with batter and chutneys in brass bowls

Episode 02 / Dosa

Who Decided Batter Needed Geometry?

Ferment it, spread it, crisp it — and somehow turn breakfast into architecture.

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Lace-edged appam with a soft white centre in an appachatti, with batter and vegetable stew

Episode 03 / Appam

When the Pancake Got an Engineering Upgrade

Rice batter, a curved pan, two textures — and absolutely no need to choose sides.

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Biryani in an opened dough-sealed handi, with separate rice grains and cooked bone-in meat

Episode 04 / Kacchi Gosht Biryani

The Ultimate Trust-the-Process Recipe

Raw meat below. Half-cooked rice above. Seal the pot and trust the universe.

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Vada pav with dry garlic chutney and fried green chillies, one vada broken to show its potato filling

Episode 05 / Vada Pav

Imported Ingredients, Mumbai Swagger

Potato. Pav. Chutney. Chilli. Bombay turned borrowed pieces into an icon.

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Sabudana khichdi with translucent tapioca pearls, peanuts, potato, coriander and lime

Episode 06 / Sabudana Khichdi

Who Looked at Tapioca and Saw Pearls?

A South American root somehow became one of India’s favourite fasting foods.

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Milk tea in two faceted glasses, with ginger, cardamom, saucepan and strainer

Episode 07 / Chai

When India Ignored the Tea Instructions

Steep gently? Absolutely not. Ginger, cardamom, milk — and boil the wardrobe off it.

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Golden jalebi spirals lifted from syrup on a perforated skimmer

Episode 08 / Jalebi

When Batter Became Calligraphy

Ferment batter, draw spirals in hot fat, drown them in syrup. Kaun sochta hai yeh sab?

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Layered golden parottas, one torn open to show thin flaky strands

Episode 09 / Parotta

When Restraint Left the Kitchen

Stretch. Oil. Fold. Oil. Rest. Oil. Cook. Oil. Then smash it before serving.

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A whole masala-coated fish in an opened, heat-wilted banana-leaf parcel

Episode 10 / Karimeen Pollichathu

When Kerala Invented Edible Packaging

Backwaters, pearl spot, spice and banana leaf — a parcel worth opening.

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