The Feast For The Eyes

Sometimes, the weather inspires you to do things that are literally out of the box. A cup of Hot coffee with crisps in rain, a bucket full of soup in winters with a cozy armchair laid beside the fireplace and what not.

One of the most cognitive things is the apprehension of what has leaded us to crave for such fantasies or wild wishes. One day, it was a wintery morning like never before. The sun refused to pay us a visit and it was afternoon already. It was so cold that the moment you put your feet on the floor, you will feel like you’ve spent hours in the freezer. The thick woolen rug appeared to be my lone savior.  It was then when my angel of a mom came up with this brilliant cashmere biryani that made my day.

One thing that is worth mentioning here is that being strict vegans, we are denied anything that is meatish. And I don’t regret it, or so, the things that my mother makes prove that. So the biryani; in Japanese there s a famous saying:

Eat with your eyes before you taste the food.

Visual entrapment of food leaves a longer blueprint of what you have eaten and helps you cherish the memories till eternity. So, I prefer glass or crystal ware while devouring delicious, mouthwatering recipes. It helps you see better of what you are consuming and enjoy the strange happiness.  And when it is a glassware of extraordinary quality like Borosil wares, it is more than just a feast to the eyes.

The biryani was a vibrant mixture of yellow and white. Yellow due to the rich saffron that went into it. With chunks of dried sorrel mushrooms, juicy pineapples, apricots and figs, it was a diners’ delight. The mild essence of saffron lingered on the taste buds after a mouthful of flavored rice, fruit and dry fruits stirred in clarified butter. The sorrel mushrooms gave it an earthiness which provided a depth to the dish. The addition of seasonal dry fruits like walnuts, almonds, pine nuts and chestnuts imparted this wonderful nuttiness that they carry. The addition of coconut milk to the rice provided it with a creamy richness that was cut through the palette due to the presence of right amount of acidity from the figs and the pineapple.  The balance of flavors did the magic and brought back the nostalgia of the Kashmir trip that we had during the summers. There are no words to explain the rich visual treat of the dish through the glassware, colored rice with layers and layers of brown, yellow, red, black, pink and green ingredients with a whiff of white coconut cream spread across like a streak of the milky way.

I kept on eating both with my eyes and mouth until there was nothing left in the bowl, and once that realization hit my senses, they craved for more and more and more. But alas, such good food is seldom meant to be left untouched and by the time I went to get a second helping, there was nothing left but an empty dish.

This post is written for My beautiful food contest from Indiblogger in association with Borosil.