Loving right now

A list of Indian Link’s current favourites

Read

Meera Sodha serves a master class in her new vibrant plant-based cookbook, East. With veggies as the focus, Sodha presents here a fresh serving of novel recipes inspired by a range of Asian cuisines, from India, Indonesia, China, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Easy to make, these eccentric recipes run the entire gamut from noodles to salads, curries to bakes, laksa to Kimchi pancakes and silken tofu. It’s modern, vibrant, fuss-free food for any foodie. A must-have whether you're vegan, vegetarian, or simply want to eat fresh, delicious plant-based dishes.

Eat

“Indian…ish, Modern…ish”. ISH at Fitzroy presents Indian flavours re-interpreted with Australian sensibilities. Owner Ganeev Bains, drawing inspiration from the vibrant dining scene of Chandigarh, gets together with Head Chef Michael Stolley to present a menu that pays homage to the culinary traditions of Indian food yet showcases the quality and variety of Australian produce. Indian origin whiskies sit proudly alongside Australian boutique wines, even as a Sambar Arancini shares space with Tandoori Australian king prawns and Tandoori Malai Broccoli. Other favourites: Victorian lamb cutlets, black garlic naan, King mushroom moilee and a special ISH butter chicken.

Listen

The ghazal is back. Ask Indian Link Radio presenter Samay, and he’ll probably say, but it had never gone away! On his nightly show Mehfil-e-Ghazal, Samay rekindles your love for this gentle artform with his inimitable andaz, dulcet tones and tenderness of manner. The playlist of loss and love, pleasure and pain, with interweaving sher-o-shayari, is carefully handpicked, and updated on listeners’ requests too. It puts you in a gentle frame of mind as you finish your chores for the day, and all’s well in your world as you end with a little hum yourself.

Watch

In Aisi Taisi Democracy Rahul Ram (Indian Ocean band), angry satirist Sanjay Rajoura and popular lyricist/comedian Varun Grover illustrate a refreshing political-musical act full of satire, nitpicking all that’s wrong with the current system. As stand-up comedy, it’s a part-musical part-biting-diatribe on socio-political issues. It tackles a range of bold issues including sarhad (border) relations, chunav (election) analyses and social codes and mores, daring to pose some uncomfortable questions while keeping you in splits all along with its clever rehash of popular Bollywood tunes. Definitely not for those who get easily offended.

With contributions by Tejas Vaidya, Dhanya Samuel and Ekta Sharma