Sesame (or til, in Hindi) is closely linked with Makar Sankranti (a popular winter festival in West India, during which sweets such as til ladoo, til papad and til chikki are prepared), but it is a far more versatile product – you can use it as a core ingredient, as a seasoning, to add texture, or to extract oil. And, its roots go far back in history. The earliest example of the use of sesame was found in the Indus Valley excavations, it was once an important trade commodity, and, closer home, it served many ritualistic purposes. Listen to Vikram Doctor trace the story of these tiny seeds and find out about the role sesame has played in commerce, Indian culture, and of course, cooking.

Music: Josh Woodward 
Picture: Shutterstock.com

#20 Open Sesame: The Tiny Seeds That Pack a Huge Punch

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The winter holiday season is upon us. More Indians are travelling abroad with great regularity. As a lot of these people are vegetarians and it is difficult for them to find food that is suitable for them. Many travellers come up with ingenious ways to deal with the situation and a whole industry is developing to cater to their needs. In this episode Vikram Doctor sheds light on how vegetarians manage in places that are not particularly vegetarian friendly.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#43: (Indian) Vegetarians vs. The World.

In some regions of India, bread is an important part of the local cuisine. Mumbai’s most iconic street foods are vada pao and pao bhaji. In both Goa and Kashmir, locally baked fresh bread is a daily staple. When Chef Floyd Cardoz from Mumbai, a partner at the fantastic Bombay Canteen, set up a new restaurant in New York, he called it Paowalla. But often, the bread in our homes is not traditional bread but factory-made and pumped with preservatives to make it last longer and look whiter. In this episode of The Real Food Podcast, Vikram Doctor talks about the need to return to traditional forms of baking, which produce much healthier and tastier bread. 

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#42: Pao-er to the People

Seen as old fashioned and rustic, jaggery is fast becoming a forgotten product. It survives mostly as a health food recommended by Ayurveda experts or as a nostalgic throwback to the yesteryears in middle class homes. In this episode, Vikram Doctor tells us about India’s long connection with jaggery in an attempt to revive our love for it. But the problem is not just the falling demand; even the production of jaggery has become increasingly difficult due to a lack of water and skilled labour.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#41: Gur - The Original Candy

From giant customised cakes for politicians’ birthdays to wedding cakes for not just Christian weddings, logo shaped cakes to celebrate a team’s win to heart shaped cupcakes on Valentine’s Day, cakes once seen as ‘western’ have now become a norm at Indian celebrations. With eggless cakes, cakes that don’t need an oven and even cakes made using idli batter, adapting to local conditions has played a major role in this change.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#40: Cakes - From Birthday Parties to Political Parties

Creating something new out of what is in your fridge from previous days can be a fine art. With a little creativity in the kitchen, leftovers from last night’s dinner can be magically transformed into something delicious and unrecognisable the next day. In this episode Vikram Doctor speaks to chefs who have been creating iconic dishes from leftovers and argues that neither our prejudices nor our ability to afford not to should get in the way of recycling food, a delicate art that we might lose in our hurry to throw away what we believe we don’t need any more.

Music Credit: Josh Woodward

#20 Open Sesame: The Tiny Seeds That Pack a Huge Punch

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