@RupaPublication
This is the official Swellcast of Rupa Publications. For more info, please visit: rupapublications.co.in
What's Cooking with Roopali Mohanti - Author of 'Servings - Simple yet Exotic'
Having worked with a leading hotel chain in the initial years of her career, Roopali brings in years of experience and culinary skills in this collection of delightful food stories and handpicked recipes. Hi Roopali, welcome to Swell. It's a delight to have you join us in this conversation!
Roopali Mohanti
@Servings · 1:37
Just followed a recipe book. And there was no whipped cream in tetrapacs available those days, so the go to would be malai or cream taken off freshly boiled milk stored in the refrigerator, allowed to chill, add it to powdered sugar and that, we thought, was the best possible frosting. Wanting to compile a recipe book is probably a 20 year old thought. However, servings has been a two year journey. The First Lockdown was the beginning of the process, with recipe exchanges amongst friends
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
I think intuitively, we recognize that the dining experience, of course, involves eating. But there's also something significantly more difficult, more ambiguous to define about the very act of eating food. For example, when we are unhappy, we crave comfort food. We have special dishes, are celebrations. There are specific dishes that bring back memories of a person or a place. So according to you, Rupali, when and how does food become an experience?
Roopali Mohanti
@Servings · 0:57
Food almost always brings forth a reaction or evokes a memory. But when you eventually cut out all the noise in the background, the experience is finally limited to what is on your table, or rather, on your plate. I don't remember what the cabins selling momos on Elgin Street or Elgin Road in Calcutta looked like or felt like. What I do remember, however, is how juicy the momos were. But yes, food always connects us to places and people
Roopali Mohanti
@Servings · 1:49
Travel brings a whole new world to our table. One gets to savor varied flavors, experience different cooking techniques, and come across various new ingredients. It also shows us how communities constantly bond over food around the world. There is absolutely no celebration without food. I have constantly tried to learn from locals or chefs or cooks while we have traveled. Sometimes I have come back home and realized that I want to cook a particular dish from a particular country
Roopali Mohanti
@Servings · 0:30
You. The quickest meal for me to throw together would be a rocket and mango salad. Or a rocket and strawberry salad with an aliolio pasta, a creamy mushroom and spinach, some shrimps and garlic and parsley on the side, possibly baked chicken with mascarponi and lime. And my quick fix lemon pound cake. That is my go to celebration dinner