Comfort Food

• A rich, steaming cup of hot chocolate to chase away the blues and beat the winter chill
• A spicy, peppery bowl of rasam, or its Anglo-Indian equivalent—the mulligatawny soup—is the perfect prelude to a simple but satisfying south Indian thaali
• Crisp desi ghee paranthas, hot off the tawa, stuffed with gobhi, aloo or even chicken or fish. Make sure you eat this with spicy achaar and yoghurt.
• A piping hot gourmet wood-fired pizza, topped with olives, mushroom, parma ham and oodles of mozzarella cheese
• Fresh spongy dhoklas garnished with roasted sesame seeds, freshly chopped coriander and grated coconut
• Appam and stew. These soft, fluffy Kerala pancakes are comfort food at its best. The stew can be made with mutton or chicken, or easily tweaked forvegetarians by making it with carrots, potatoes and cauliflower.
• Machher Jhol. Every Bengali worth his salt—and many other Indians besides—find this fish curry, made with pungent mustard and eaten with rice, a never-fail mood elevator
• Eggs, sunny side up. Buttered toast. Bacon. Sausages. Freshly squeezed orange juice—the classic all-American all-day breakfast endures as an all-time favourite.
• Hot carrot halwa dripping in ghee, liberally sprinkled with roasted cashewnuts and raisins. If you aren’t battling the bulge, add a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Marut Sikka is a restaurateur and food consultant