Julia Child’s Delhi – Emily Dickinson’s Black Cake, Central Delhi City Poetry Food Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 10, 2025December 10, 20250 From a poetry lover's kitchen. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] In the 1800s, when our Mirza Ghalib was still alive, there lived another poet. She didn’t share her writing with the world. After her death, the hundreds and hundreds of poems she had written were discovered hidden under her bed. Today, she is considered one of the greatest literary figures of her time. Dear reader, you of course know that we are referring to poet Emily Dickinson, who lived thousands of miles away from Ghalib’s Dilli, in the American town of Amherst. Today is ED’s 195th birthday. Each year, her fans across the world celebrate by baking a cake that she would often make for family and friends. This weekend, an
Julia Child in Delhi – Leena’s Pink Soup, Vasant Vihar Food Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 30, 20250 An extraordinary life. [Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi] The world is her home, so to speak. Leena Lemoine is intimate with scores of cultures—through their cuisines. A cook in the Vasant Vihar residence of Lithuanian ambassador Diana Mickevičienė, she has a friendly disposition and an infectious laughter (see her photo with the ambassador). One evening, after preparing a dinner of Lithuanian dishes—Bulviniai blynai and cheese donuts—Leena sits down with ambassador Mickevičienė on the latter’s living room sofa and graciously agrees to give a sense of her remarkable career. She started working years ago at the Delhi home of two Spanish ladies. Initially, she explains, she was mostly skilled in Indian khana, but her kind employers taught her about their country’s
Julia Child in Delhi – Reuma Mantzur’s Lockdown-Era Hummus, South Delhi Food Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - September 3, 2023September 3, 20230 Delhi’s best hummus perhaps. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] It is tough to find a tastier hummus in the entire Delhi region than hers. But that’s the limit of her kitchen expertise. She guiltlessly admits she’s otherwise a “terrible cook.” Despite being an embassy-wali expat, Reuma Mantzur has chosen to live outside the bubble. She is almost like us next-door desis—commuting in the auto, playing Coke Studio qawwalis on YouTube, and buying baingan-aloo from her colony’s Mangalwar market. Plus, she calls Louis, her billi, reverently as Louis ji. Her coffee table, here at this south Delhi flat, is topped with Mahatma Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth. An Israeli, Reuma describes hummus as a staple in west Asia. Everyone there—from Damascus to Tel Aviv
Julia Child in Delhi – Colleagues wali Curry, Hazrat Nizamuddin East Food Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 25, 2023September 3, 20230 Experiment with fish. [Text and picture by Mayank Austen Soofi] Rotis are ready, as well as the rice. Dinnertime is nearing. Eggs have been boiled and shelled. The small portion of yellow arhar dal is only for the two vegetarians. Meanwhile, the karahi containing the main dish of fish curry is still on the fire. It is around 8.30pm in the city’s affluent Hazrat Nizamuddin East. The men are preparing their night meal under the dim light of a solitary lamp. Labourers by profession, they are staying temporarily at this address as part of an assignment to lay the foundation of a new building. Their living quarter is right next to their work site. At this moment, the men are inside
Julia Child in Delhi – Dharmender’s and Vinod’s Karhi without Dahi, Green Park Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - August 2, 20210 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] A dish as beloved as only comfort food can be, kadhi’s primary ingredient is dahi (yoghurt) and besan (chickpea flour). But that’s not true for Dharmender and Vinod. In their mid-30s, the two labourers are making kadhi without dahi. “Each of us earns 400 rupees everyday,” explains Dharmender. “Half of that is spent on the daily expenses… so we are skipping dahi.” Both, however, concede the central role of dahi. That’s how kadhi is made in their family homes in Raebareli, UP. “Kadhi tastes good when dahi is khatti (soury)... we use lemon instead.” This evening, the two men are preparing kadhi in their home. Having no fixed address, their living
Julia Child in Delhi – Siddharth Kapila’s “Modern Healthy-ish” Dal Makhani, Bengali Market & Leeds Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 10, 20210 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] This lawyer-cum-writer has challenged tradition. A resident of Delhi’s Bengali Market, Siddharth Kapila has appended a “modern healthy-ish take” to dal makhanni, the dish whose joy lies in its rich makhan, or butter. Tweaking the soul of a beloved dish is a risky undertaking. Good for him he did it in faraway England, where he is currently stranded. The 30-something Mr Kapila had gone to visit friends there in March, and couldn’t return as planned due to the second surge of coronavirus in Delhi. Speaking on a WhatsApp video call from Leeds town, he confesses “I like combining elements of different cuisines, without taking away what the original is
Julia Child in Delhi – Susanna Di Cosimo’s Sarson da Pizza, Gurgaon Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - February 3, 20210 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] She has married thrice—to the same man. Susanna Di Cosimo, 42, came to visit our motherland from her Italy in 2011, and two years later settled in Lajpat Nagar. In 2016 she got hitched to her Indian sweetheart (at a court, Hindu, and Christian wedding), and now enjoys a happy existence in a 13th floor apartment in Gurugram’s Sector 49, with husband, Gaurav, mother-in-law, Indira, daughter, Anaaya, and housekeeper, Masudha. With a cheeriness that’s infectious over this Whatsapp video chat, Ms Di Cosimo says she started baking Italian breads during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown last year when she found herself idle as a tour operator. “I would exchange my breads for
Julia Child in Delhi – Jolly Sabherwal’s X-Mas Cake, Vasant Kunj Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - December 24, 20200 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] One way to salvage this cursed year (boo boo 2020!) from becoming a complete annus horribilis is to make Jolly Sabherwal’s super-yummy Christmas cake for Christmas Eve today. “I have already made it four-five times since last week for friends,” she says, beaming, on the WhatsApp video from her first-floor flat in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj. At 70, the Kerala native is a familiar figure in the city for having been a longtime manager of a much-loved bookstore. She would be always sighted in one of her gorgeous saris (she has 100 saris!). This year, too, Ms Sabherwal is determined to dress in one of her “christmassy saris” for the midnight
Julia Child in Delhi – Nafisa Adiraju’s Kutchi Dabeli, Sohna Road, Gurgaon Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - July 3, 2020July 3, 20200 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Her Instagram handle (@spicestori), that she launched in the beginning of the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, is nothing but emotional atyachar (torture). It is filled with pictures of yummy dishes that seem particularly unattainable in these times of the pandemic, when eating out is a dream. If only it were possible to feed our poor stomach on Nafisa Adiraju’s Insta feed! It is a dizzying exhibit of regional delicacies from across the country—Kothimbir Vadi, Koki, Amritsari Chhole, Kutchi Biryani, Vada Sambhar... Bharta with Ghee Roti. “I’m completely cosmo,” declares Ms Adiraju, 36. The lady’s a practicing Muslim married to a practicing Hindu. She’s from Gujarat, he’s from Andhra Pradesh. They both live
Julia Child in Delhi – Italian Woman’s Lockdown Paneer, South Delhi Julia Child's Delhi by The Delhi Walla - May 3, 20200 The great chef’s life in Delhi. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] She’s a garlic-loving Italian woman, living in Delhi, and she makes Indian dishes better than many Indians. Her dal makhani is as buttery as in any respectable Punjabi household. And her (dry) aloo palak is so tasty that you might as well pester her to start her home catering service. A designer in her 50s, she is however painfully modest and has urged her identity to remain secret for this dispatch. “Kyunki mein Bharat mein bahut salon se hoon,” she says in fluent Hindi, explaining that her familiarity with desi cuisine comes from the fact that she has been living in the country for long. “I first came to India as