Neo Imaginations

          Nothing can be as soothing as a platter of Hot garnished Chicken Biriyani. No matter how sad or broken you are, Chicken Biriyani can rob you off all your sorrows and pains.  For a gourmet like me it is the Ultimate salvation.  The aroma of Basmati rice with aesthetic spices like cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and saffron can help any ordinary soul to attain Nirvana. The length of steamed  Basmati rice and multiple flavours of the spices is the most magical ecstasy that a foodie has ever known. Biriyani is as delicious to see as to savour. It is a lethal combination of colour, aroma, taste and texture. The roasted chicken pieces when artistically placed over Basmati rice and garnished with Mint leaves is a luscious treat in itself. Mint and chopped onions have another secret affair with Biriyani. The squeezed lemon is the right catalyst to challenge your taste buds and draw lines of over eating. The sneeky bay leaves with whole cloves ...

   The last time my French friend Jean Jack Radi came to India, he got serious addiction to Indian food. I still remember he used to talk at length about the variety of Indian cuisines and the parallel intoxication he achieves out of it. Though we had professional relationship but a thing or two about this man, almost my father s age  tempted me to befriend him outside the professional sphere. I was a bachelor then but my love for food kept me at close affair with my kitchen. I invited him for a lunch party at home the next day. Radi warmly accepted the invitation and said he would join me with a bottle of Bordeaux Rose Wine. I smiled back at him indicating that it would be a perfect party. The next day  as we say became a history. I made him my special Hyderabadi Dum Biriyani and mint Raita. We started with the bottle of wine and never ending conversation that lasted even longer than the food and dessert.               ...