Magazine Review - BBC GoodFood

Cooking is my passion. 


During my growing up years, there used to be a column in Mid-day called  ’Culinary Chat’ that featured 2 recipes per week in Chinese cuisine. During the week, I used to try both the recipes that were featured in the column. I learnt the basics, the correct method of cooking Chinese meal and became a Chinese pro. I learnt more cooking from another monthly magazine called ‘Cuisine’ which used to have the information about the regional dishes of India. Some cooking I have learnt from friends and family, but most of my cooking has been on experimenting and experimenting. I am grateful to my family and friends who have been very cooperative in risking my sometimes disastrous food.

Although I do have many recipe books but magazine is always better because it gives you the insight of more details in cooking. Therefore I was happy when I saw BBC ‘GoodFood’ on magazine rack at the store.

GoodFood India Magazine is published by Worldwide Media Pvt. Ltd under licence from BBC magazine.

I have regularly bought this magazine since November2011. Last month I even won one extra copy when I participated in 'Breakfast twitter contest'. I have liked this magazine so much that I have already gifted to four of my friends and they have been bright-eyed and very grateful.

Our cooking styles have changed a lot over the years, there is no more cooking just those common traditional dishes which our grandparents and aunts cooked when we were kids. Now-a-days, we have bigger supermarkets that have great variety of sauces and food stuff that we don’t even know how to use. I know a friend who bought an exotic sauce from supermarket but came home and ate with chapatti like an achar. Now this is not done. To relish the taste of the sauces and the ready packets one must know how to consume. 


I have travelled places and have developed taste for many different kinds of food and I am glad to see such bottles on supermarket shelf, which has now relieved me from over-weight luggage  that contained all food stuff, but what about those who have tasted those kind of food only in my house but want to try too?


Well here is the magazine that does just that. It educates you on use of those exotic dishes.

Good Food Magazine is the one which guides people in cooking different kind of food from different regions around the world.

The magazine is divided in 5 main sections that help you navigate exactly what you are looking for. This month features Italian Cuisine

Section one –First Bite.

This section brings out the month’s freshest food fuzz.  It spots light on local produce, some tips, and important food insights.  In ‘supermarket sweep’, they use ingredients from the supermarket shelf to create a full meal. In this month’s issue, they have combined rice, chorizo, bottle of sun-dried tomatoes and medium prawn packet to prepare rice dish for the family. In ‘Cupboard love’ they have discussed how to use the bottle of ‘Tapanade’ that you may have picked up from the shelf. The news, food trends and shopping of kitchen accessories are also discussed in this section.

Section two – Eat in

This is the largest section of the magazine covering all the recipes from simple to difficult recipes that can be tried by anybody who wishes to cook. This month’s most interesting recipe that I would like to try is ‘Tuscan bean soup’ which looks quite tempting in the photograph and has ingredients such as French beans, potatoes, pancetta ham and fresh oregano. I find this section interesting because 7 meals have been planned for Rs700, listing the grocery that needs to be bought and the stylish meals to been prepared over the seven days of the week - definitely a must-try treat.

Section three – Eat out

This section is about restaurant reviews. Whenever I get guest in my town, they are always asking me about new restaurant where they can try some new cuisine. This is the section which might help me decide where I might be able to take my guest out. In this month’s issue, there are 7 haunts for perfect Italian cuisine in different parts of India. I am happy that two Mumbai restaurants are reviewed - Vetro at Nariman point and Don Giovanni at Juhu – they seem quite interesting.

Section four – Eat away

This section covers places to eat out during our trip abroad. In this month’s issue, we go to Italy to try the local flavors, eat like locals and shop for must-buy-products that one can bring home. There is a local knowledge on the essence of olives, a postcard from Venice and local knowledge on food etiquettes while in Italy.

Section Five – Masterclass

This is the most interesting section of all. There is a cooking class directly from cooking master who shows the recipes, in step-by-step demonstrations , in such a way that one who knows to read and write, can never go wrong. In this month’s issue, there is a master class by Giovani Federico who demonstrates step-by-step cooking of Ravioli. Beside this, there is also a note on mastering the art of Risotto and the recipe of my favorite homemade pesto. There are also 5 homemade pasta sauces, 10minute wine guide on Italian wine and Indian food.

The magazine is packed with surprises and it is a perfect guide in understanding the different flavors in food kingdom.

Ladies finger! Hmmn..Okra for you, Bhindi for me…

One of the things that I missed the most on my dining table in Spain was 'Bhindis'. This veggie was available only on certain days and that too at Indian Super-market which was far away from my home. These were imported from London and the stock would finish on the day it arrived. Since we lived in the rural regions of Tenerife, (at Icod de Los Vinos) going to Indian Super-market at Puertos de la Cruz was a weekly event, if we were lucky, then we would be able to grab just a kilo of it. We counted (4-bhindis-per-person) and cooked, the rest we stored in the freezer

I wished somebody would locally plant this vegetable so that it was readily available at all times. 

 Since we lived in rural areas, our clients were mainly tourists or farmers, who would visit our shop to buy some electronics from our store. The local natives of the place were very friendly with us and sometimes sold us veggies and fruits that they grew in their farm. One day, I asked them to bring Bhindi and he looked surprised. He had never seen it. I showed him and he looked at it curiously. I asked him to plant it in his farm, but Bhindis need warm climate so he was not sure if he would be successful. Nevertheless, he did plant for me in his warm nursery and brought a big basket full of bhindis for me. But it was just an experiment for him and since Spanish don’t have this veggie on their dinner table, it was not profitable for him. I enjoyed this veggie till his passion lasted and then back to Indian supermarket, once in a while........

Believed to be originated in African regions, it is enjoyed in stews in most parts of the world. In Africa, the bhindis are normally short, thick and quite hard, they are grated and put into chicken and mutton dishes to make stew or thick gravy.

During one of the chats on BlackBerry, my cousin sent me the picture of Bhindi that grows in his garden in Texas. They were quite long, some of them longer than spoons, and they weighed heavy, bending the branch. He said that it was quite tasteless and people just chew and then throw it away.They are mainly used for medicinal purpose.

Bhindis are chopped and soaked in water overnight and drinking its solution early in the morning is good for health, it reduces cholesterol level, blood pressure and it also helps to stabilize the blood sugar by curbing the rate at which sugar is absorbed from intestinal tract. (and Oh..I tried drinking this Bhindi solution too but yucks! I could not continue this slimy stuff, I puked..sorry!)

My cousin in Malaysia says her maid uses bhindi for stuffing fish, it is a part of young ‘tau foo’ cuisine whereby it is stuffed with fish paste and boiled with a selection of vegetables and tofu, interesting recipe I must say, and sometimes they use pork too...

The few years while we lived in Surinam, mom grew many vegetables in her kitchen garden. The soil was very fertile and the weather was warm. We had Bhindis, tomatoes, coriander leaves and also chillie and avocado trees. While she cooked I would go downstairs and pluck out bhindis, tomatoes and chillies, just enough for the cooking, during those days I didn't know how to make Gaucomali, so we just cut avocado and spread it with bread like butter with just salt and pepper (it was so delicious that I can still remember the taste).

In India, Bhindis are served at every home and everybody has their own unique style..

There are so many different ways that one can cook this vegetable that every time I buy it I am set thinking. There is finely chopped deep fried bhindis, stuffed bhindis, bhindi potatoes in green masala or in onion masala or just dumped in Sindhi curry.

In some restaurant they also serve thinly sliced crispy bhindi (have you tried those?, yum..!!)

Even if you simply deep fry it and add dry masalas, it makes a nice accompaniment with dhal and rice. You could add dry powder like coriander powder, mango powder, lots of red chillies powder, jeera powder and coriander leaves.(cough! cough!

My favorite recipe is Bhindi with potatoes. Why? because its easiest to cook......and its quickie like Masterchef's fifteen minutes pressure challenge..lol

I deep fry chopped potatoes and Bindhis till tender

Make an onion masala separately by cooking onion, tomatoes, garlic, green chillies, turmeric powder and coriander leaves.(dump them in the pan and let the low flame do its work)

Mix the fried bhindi and potatoes to the onion masala and cook on slow flame for five minutes.

Lunch is ready..... I have it with chappatis and chopped cucumber….. always tastes good and I love it.

 BTW did you know that the world's most beautiful women, Cleopatra of Egypt and Yang Guifei of China loved to eat Bhinids ??

Mirror, Mirror on the wall........