Preparation Time: 45 min

Cooking Time: 1 hr

Serves: 6

Ingredients

for the patties

500 g finely ground beef

10 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Tabasco sauce
1 tbsp preserved sundried tomatoes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 large red onion, finely grated
1 sprig fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp chives
red chilli flakes, to taste
peri peri salt, to taste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

to serve

2- 3 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 small red onion, finely sliced
6 slices cheddar cheese
ketchup
Dijon mustard
mayonnaise
Nando’s peri peri sauce (hotness as you prefer)

6 burger buns

Method

Note: Preparation is key. Ready as many of the ingredients as possible before starting to cook the actual burgers.

1. Mix all vegetables, seasonings and sauces along with the egg, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and cornflour in a large bowl. The egg and cornflour act as binding agents. Add thawed beef little by little, mixing well with hands to even.

2. Divide the mixture into six roughly even parts. Take each part and roll into a ball the size of a tennis ball. Flatten into a patty on the palm, about 1cm in diameter and 1.5cm thick.

3. When all six patties are ready, place on a baking sheet on a tray in the fridge for 30min. The longer the patties stay in the fridge, the longer the cooking time.

4. After 30min, pour 5 tbsp of olive oil in a non-stick saucepan and add three burger patties using a spatula. Turn on the stove at medium-low flame. Do not allow the oil to heat before adding the patties, add the patties first; otherwise, the oil will cook the outside of the patties faster and the insides will remain raw.

5. Cook for 5min or until brown. Turn over and gently press the patties with the spatula to even out the surface. Cook for 5min on other side as well. Make sure the inside is not left raw or light pink. Avoid moving the patties around on the pan, otherwise they will break. Remove carefully onto butter paper and dab both sides so that they are oil-free.  Drain the oil, clean the pan and add the rest of the oil and patties and cook similarly.

Serving

1. Slice the burger buns till the end but without separating the two halves. Heat a tawa or flat pan on medium and place the buns open side down onto the pan until lightly toasted. Turn over and add a slice of cheese and remove when cheese begins to melt.

2. Add sliced tomatoes and/or onions on the non-cheesy side and the burger patty over the cheese.

3. Garnish the burger with sauce. As desired, choose from ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise, or equal parts blend of ketchup and mayonnaise, or ketchup and mustard. Homemade thick French fries, baked potatoes or coleslaw make a great side serving.

Note: If servings lesser people, the rest of the patties can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for about two weeks. Thaw for two hours in the refrigerator before cooking, and follow the same procedure above.

Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm’d and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

When I remember all
The friends, so link’d together,
I’ve seen around me fall
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.

~Thomas Moore

Aksar shab-e-tanhai main ‘ kuch dair pehlay neend say
Guzri hui dil-chuspian ‘ Beetay huay din aish kay
Buntay hain shama-e-zindagi ‘ Aur daaltay hain roshni
Meray dil-e-sud chaak per

Woh bachpan aur wo saadgi ‘ Woh rona woh hansna kabhi
Phir woh jawani kay mazay ‘ Woh dil lagi woh qehqahay
Woh ishq woh ehd-e-wafa ‘ Woh wada or woh shukriya
Woh lazzat-e-bazm-e-tarb ‘ Yaad aati hain ik aik sab
Dil ka kanwal jo roz-o-shab ‘ rehta shagufta tha so ab
Us ka yeh abtar haal hai ‘ Ik sabza-e-pamaal hai
Ik phool kumhlaya hua ‘ sookha hua bikhra hua
Ronda para hai khak per

Yun hi shab-e-tanhai main ‘ Kuch dair pehlay neend say
Guzri hui na-kaamiyan ‘ Beetay huay din ranj kay
Bantay hain shama-e-baykasi ‘ Or daltay hain roshni
Un hasraton ki qabr per

Jo aarzooain pehlay theen ‘ Phir gham say hasrat ban gaein
Gham doston kay faut ka ‘ Un ki jawan mot ka
Lay daikh sheeshay main meray ‘ Un hasraton ka khoon hai
Jo gardish-e-ayyam say ‘ Jo qismat-e-nakaam say
Ya aish-e-ghum anjaam say ‘ Merg-e-But-e-gulfaam say
Khud meray ghum main mer gaein ‘ Kis tarha paaon main hazeen
Qaboo dil-e-baysabr per

Translated in Urdu by the Hindustani poet, Nadir Kakorvi (1857-1912)

Cooking Time: 1 hr

Serves: 4

Ingredients

for the white sauce

1 tbsp butter
4 big cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp cornflour
2 cups milk
1 cube of parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
red chilli flakes
salt, black pepper to taste
2 small green bell peppers

for the tomato sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 small tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
a bunch of coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tsp red chili pepper powder
1 tsp basil
salt to taste

250 g cappelletti tricolore

Method

1. White Sauce:

Grate garlic. Mix cornflour with some water to make a thick paste. Grate cheese. Heat butter in a wok on medium flame. Add the grated garlic and garlic paste, and saute for a minute. Add the cornflour paste and saute for one second, without letting it turn brown. Add milk and stir it continuously to avoid lumps, slightly increasing the flame. Once the mixture starts thickening, add oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, and red chilli flakes. Add grated cheese and allow it to melt into the
sauce. Do not delay, or the milk may boil over. Turn off the stove and keep this sauce aside.

2. Tomato Sauce:
Heat olive oil in a small deep pan. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, coriander, basil, red pepper power and salt. Sautee for 10 min over medium flame. Cover and leave for another 15 min over low flame. Check to see if paste is smooth; mix and keep cooking until the sauce is reduced and rich.

3. The Sauce:
Put the white sauce back on the flame and mix until the coagulated layer of cream is mixed smoothly into the sauce. Spoon in tomato sauce until smooth and creamy.

4. Pasta:
Boil water in a large pot. Add pasta to the bubbling water and boil until the pasta is softened but not pasty (al dente). Do not overcook. Strain the pasta and spoon it into the sauce using a slotted spoon. In case the sauce is too thick, add some of the leftover water from the pasta pot until the desired consistency is achieved. Mix in chopped bell peppers.

Alternative serving:
Serve pasta onto plate and spoon the sauce over the pasta. Garnish with coriander leaves. Mix and eat.

http://www.geometryofpasta.co.uk/shape-detail.php?shape=18&from=1

Cooking Time: 30 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

2-3 dried red chillies, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

10 large tomatoes, chopped

10-12 green chillies, roughly chopped

salt, red pepper power (peri-peri salt) or dried red chilli flakes

to serve

a few coriander leaves

Preparation Method

1 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok, add the garlic, fennel seeds and mustard seeds, fry for a minute until garlic turns slightly golden.

2 Add the tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, salt and peri-peri salt or chilli flakes (or both!) and cook on high heat for about 10 min. Cover the wok and cook on low heat for about 30min.

3 When the sauce is thick without lumps, add coriander and serve. Best served with white basmati rice.

Cooking Time: 10 min

Serves: many

Ingredients

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced, or 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

250g boneless chicken, cubed

10-12 green chillies, finely chopped

100g mayonnaise

salt, black pepper

Preparation Method

1 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Drain and shred the chicken when done.

2 Add the mayo to a large bowl and mix in the chicken. Add more salt or pepper if needed. Add the green chillies and mix.

3 Serve cold on lightly toasted whole wheat bread.

4 Refrigerate the rest of the filling and store. Can be stored for up to a week. This is an easy one-time recipe for a week of lunches.

Cooking Time: 30 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

10 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

tomato puree

anchovy filets 100g, drained

pitted and stuffed green olives, sliced

2 tsp dried red chilli flakes

200g spaghetti

1 tbsp dried parsley leaves

Preparation Method

1 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Tip in the tomatoes, tomato puree, capers, anchovies, olives and chilli. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened slightly.

2 Heat water in a deep dish with a pinch of salt and a drop of oil. Cook the spaghetti al dente.

3 Drain spaghetti, toss with the sauce and the parsley and serve.

Note: Regular spaghetti has a fantastically low Gi rating. The tangy capers provide acid, which further lowers the Gi.

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

Ingredients

250g dried mushrooms

2 tbsp olive oil

3 small shallots, chopped

350g arborio rice

1L hot chicken stock

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

3 tbsps unsalted butter

salt, freshly ground black pepper

to serve

freshly grated parmesan

Preparation Method

1 Soak the mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the shallots and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned.

2 Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender.

3 Roughly chop the soaked mushrooms and stir into the risotto, along with the parsley, butter and salt and pepper. Transfer the rice into a pressure cooker if needed, cook.

4 Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

Cooking Time: 1-2 hours

Serves: 4

Ingredients

for the rendang

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 tbsp chopper fresh ginger, I tbsp chopper garlic (or 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste)

1 tsp turmeric

6 long red chilies, soaked in water and roughly chopped

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods

½ kg boneless chicken, cut into 2cm cubes

zest of lime

1 tbsp juice of a lime or 1 tbsp tamarind (strained)

400 ml coconut milk

coriander sprigs to garnish

for the herb rice

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 cinnamon stick

4 cardamom pods

250 g basmati rice

600 ml water

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

salt

to serve

1 deep-fried red chili

Preparation Method

for the rendang paste

1 Place the onion, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric and chilies into a food processor. Blend to form a smooth purée.

2 Heat a wok and add the oil. Fry the paste over a high heat until the paste turns darker and is highly aromatic.

3 Add the cardamom pods (crush the cardamom pods gently with the back of a spoon before frying) and the cinnamon stick broken in half and cook for another minute then add the meat.

4 Fry chicken in the paste stirring all the time, until it is well-browned.

5 Pour over the coconut milk and tamarind purée/ lime juice and bring to a gentle simmer, add the lime zest.

6 Season with salt, stir well then reduce to a simmer.

7 Cook for between 1 and 1 ½ hour, stirring frequently during this time. The meat should be really tender and the sauce reduced and rich.

for the herb rice

1 Wash the rice really well under cold water, allow to drip dry.

2 Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the spices and fry for 1 minute.

3 Add the rice and fry until the grains begin to turn an opaque white.

4 Add water and a pinch of salt. At this point, the mixture can be transferred into a rice cooker and allowed to cook.

5 To serve, mix the herbs into the rice and divide between four warmed serving dishes. Next spoon on the rendang, finish with a few sprigs of coriander . Serve immediately, garnished with red chili.

As a child, you knew how best to use your body: to jump up to reach a box of cookies on a high shelf, to slide down a banister, to leap over a rain puddle, to contort to fit into the smallest of gaps, to run towards a moving ice-cream van, to run away from a chaser in the game of tag. You knew how much effort it would take to outrun a bully or to thrust a see-saw down when seated opposite the same bully, or, if you have grown up in the city, how long it would take to run across a street unattended through a green light before a speeding car reaches you. You knew how best to get across a crowded playground by taking shortcuts through broken walls and climbing over fences.

            You never hesitated to try fitting into a tiny crevice. You did somersaults and spun around till you dropped from dizziness. You didn’t calculate the distance to the ground from atop a tree. You could beat an elevator going up the stairs to your sixth floor apartment. Your body was your vehicle; it was constantly taking you places, and it was the only vehicle you needed to master. You trusted your body blindly, and you were not afraid to push it as far as it could go.

            As you grow older, you discover better vehicles outside your body: faster vehicles, more convenient ones, that do not require physical exertion to control. You ride a bicycle, glide over the street in a pair of skates. You take escalators and elevators instead of the stairs. You begin to take a rickshaw, the bus, ride in a car. You begin to rely on these modes of navigation, and you begin to think it necessary to own one, to learn to drive, to never travel on foot again. Once you have learned to drive, and have access to a car, you never look back. Any conveyance that is less convenient, slower, less comfortable, is not a valid option.

            Little do you realize that, over the years, you have lost all trust in your own body. You do not test your physical strength, you don’t take risks with your body, you cannot even climb two floors or walk a kilometer without losing your breath. When you do exert yourself, every muscle in your body seems to exact revenge.

            Most new metropolitan cities are not designed for the pedestrian vehicle. They are designed for automated vehicles, that are made of steel and leather, are air-conditioned and run on fuel. That is why the most important infrastructure in city planning is the roads. Roads are forever being mended and maintained, widened and connected. Larger roads and flyovers are constantly constructed and inaugurated with great pomp. No attention is given to the upkeep of existing footpaths, or to the incorporation of new ones. No streets are vehicle-free or pedestrianized, as it is difficult for people even to park in a faraway space and walk across the lot to the mall. Because everyone aspires to be the anti-pedestrian.

            When you have grown up in such a city, knowing how fast to run across a street is an inherent skill. But as an adult, you are only left with the skill of manipulating through traffic. When I moved from one such city (Hyderabad) to a city that was truly pedestrian (London), I realized just how dependent we are on transport, and how dependent we can be on our bodies. Even on the main roads of London, there are very few individual cars; people prefer to walk instead. This preference for walking is because London, especially Central London, is designed around the pedestrian. There are more traffic signs for pedestrians than there are for vehicles, and all architecture, no matter how imposing, from tube stations to museums, maintains a connection to the ground. Even as the built surface of the British Library is massive, its entry is reduced to human scale, just as all the other buildings around the city. Tube stations are located at close quarters. Everything is at walking distance. This makes the city permeable and navigable by pedestrians.

            Living in London, I relearned the ways of my physical vehicle. It was difficult at first to digest that my body was my only vehicle, and my feet were all I could control to regulate my speed. I began to understand how far I could travel before I could walk no more, how much load I could carry, on my back or over my shoulder. I learned to gauge whether it was worth walking a certain distance to a cafe instead of eating at the deli down the street, in terms of time and energy versus taste and price. It became easier to know the length of five minutes in terms of walking distance. I learned again how fast I must walk to reach a traffic light before it turned red, and how much faster I would need to walk on days I was late to school. Sometimes, I feel trapped. It is only my body that can carry me a certain distance, and I am limited by its ability. I cannot rest in between (whereas while driving I never needed to rest; driving itself was a relaxing act), neither can I afford to carry too much luggage. I can’t read on the way to someplace, and am resigned to bumping into people, dodging pets and shopping trolleys, stepping over cracks and around light poles.

            Back in Hyderabad, I don’t underestimate my ability to walk a certain distance in the city. It maybe more difficult, as there are no footpaths or pedestrian crossings, and weaving through traffic of all sorts (cycles, motorbikes, rickshaws, carts, cars, buses) on foot is necessary. But it is doable. Where I once chose to take a U-turn and be engulfed in the traffic standstill for fifteen minutes rather than parking across the street from my favorite cafe, I now choose to park my car and walk, instead spending that fifteen minutes sipping a frappe. Walking down to the neighborhood ATM seems more rewarding than reversing my car, taking it out of the parking lot, gliding over the slope and out the gate, waiting each time an obstacle crosses my path, slowing down for others. Instead, I hop, skip, jump, jog. Sure, there is dust and pollution and smell. But there are also children hopping across the street in hoards after school, women weaving through traffic in an eternal race, old men gathering at the tea stall in the evening, music blasting from small shops, auto-rickshaws and scooters fighting for turf. When you walk, there are a million possibilities of chance encounters. There are a million different routes to take to and fro. There are a million stories to tell.

            As I walk, I feel my feet plant and unplant themselves on the ground, I feel their weight and the feel of my shoes, which are worn down and rough around the edges for the first time in my life. There is so much to take in, the sounds, the smells, the sights. Walking makes me long for a certain street to be purely pedestrian, and realize the want of a footpath or an awning or a more accessible entrance to a building, and judge the comfort of a slope. Before, my only concern was parking. If anything, walking has not only made me more responsible, alert and physically fit, but also a conscientious designer.