Nargis Dutt Road (1)

This time, the kick-off was fittingly enough made at home. The recipe came from Hooked on Heat, Indibloggies' Newcomer of the Year. Though its instructions weren't followed to the letter, it did embolden me to toss in 6 pinches of whole dhania seeds — "Bihari-eshtyle." Lalita and Rachel took over the kadai, for which I'm grateful. For some reason, I'm still not at ease around cauldrons of boiling oil. (Brings to mind a Dalrymple anecdote about the siege of some gurudwara and the "special jalebis.") I laid out a fresh coriander chutney along with the dried-garlic and tamarind, but to my delight a more popular garnish was stuffing the pav with my drippy Greek salad — "Tommy-eshtyle." After it all, we kicked back with a frosted glass of tinto de verano. Charmed life.

[A technical appeal: I'd like to start pinpointing my entries. Is there anything out there like the Google Maps API that works in Bombay?]