From the Degchi kitchen

besan storagegram flour storage

Besan Storage: Why Gram Flour Turns Bitter

Your pakoray batter looks perfect and tastes faintly like old paint. Besan is a high-protein, oil-bearing flour, and it goes off quietly. A smell test and the right jar fix it.

Usama Alam · 15 November 2026 · 5 min read

sahlabsahlab at home

Sahlab at Home: Thick, Smooth and Lump-Free

Sahlab should coat a spoon and slide off slowly, closer to a drinkable pudding than a hot milk. The usual failure is lumps or a skin, and both are avoidable.

Usama Alam · 15 November 2026 · 5 min read

mango lassimango lassi recipe

Mango Lassi at Home: Fresh, Frozen or Tinned Pulp

Mango lassi is easy until the mango is sour, stringy or out of season. Here is how to adjust for each kind of mango, with amounts that match our recipe page.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

filter coffee at homesouth indian filter coffee

Filter Coffee at Home: Decoction, Ratio and Froth

The glass arrives with a foam cap and tastes of roasted coffee and hot milk, not of bitterness. The work is in a slow decoction and a few pours between two steel vessels.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

baingan bhartaeggplant recipe

Baingan Bharta Smoky on an Electric Stove or Oven

The smoke is the whole point of baingan bharta, and it comes from charring the skin. How to get close with an electric hob, a broiler or a barbecue.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

vegetable kurmasouth indian curry

Vegetable Kurma: South Indian Coconut Gravy at Home

A mild coconut and cashew gravy for idli, parotta or rice. The paste, the par-boil and the one timing mistake that turns the vegetables to mush.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

chingri malai currybengali prawn curry

Chingri Malai Curry With Frozen Shrimp, No Splitting

Bengali prawn curry in coconut milk, adapted for frozen supermarket shrimp. What to buy, how to thaw, and the gentle heat that keeps the gravy smooth.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

curd ricelemon rice

Curd Rice vs Lemon Rice: Two Opposite Rice Rules

One dish wants rice mushy and warm, the other wants it cool and loose. Get that wrong and curd rice turns sour or lemon rice turns to paste.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

medu vadaurad dal

Medu Vada Oily, Flat or Won't Hold a Hole? Fixes

Medu vada fails in three ways: it soaks up oil, it spreads flat, or it will not keep its hole. Each one traces back to the batter.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read

payeshkheer

Payesh vs Kheer: Bengali Rice Pudding Explained

Both are rice cooked in milk, yet payesh is a different pudding. The rice, the bay leaf, the order of sugar and the jaggery rule that stops curdling.

Usama Alam · 14 November 2026 · 5 min read