Press release

Monsoon Collection at Kay Kraft It is that special time of the year again and the monsoon mania can be seen everywhere including the leading fashion houses of the country such as Kay Kraft that have launched their monsoon collections in full force. They have included in their range outfits to cater for all tastes: saris, salwar kameez, skirts and fatuas for the ladies; panjabi, fatuas and shirts for the gents and an impressive collection of children's wear. Emphasis has been placed on print, embroidery and handiwork with different shades of magenta, white, blue, green and orange being in vogue. Saris range from Tk 350-2250, salwar kameez from Tk 850 to Tk 4000 and panjabis from Tk 425 to Tk 1650. To grab hold these monsoon fashion rage, visit any of the Kay Kraft outlets including Rifles Square and Kemal Ataturk Avenue.

New threads for dudes to get decked-up in The latest apparel brand for guys 'Tanjim' was launched by Fashion Resort at a press conference held in the city last month. The brand's offering cotton tees having appliqué, print, and embroidery and yarn-dyed polo shirts which will surely be a hit with the youth of today. Fashion Resort not only plans to release 'Tanjim' jeans in the market before Eid-ul-Fitr but also to launch Xerxein, a women's apparel line. Tanjim's t-shirts and polo shirts are now available at discounted prices at the Dhaka and country-based showrooms of Ecstasy, Style Zone, Fusion and Diesel. There are future plans to widen distribution across markets.

Sunsilk & Jawed in Dhaka The stunning events of “Style it Up With Sunsilk and Jawed” & “Sunsilk Hair Stylist Workshop by Jawed Habib” held at the Spectra Convention Centre on 10th and 11th July respectively presented by Sunsilk, with the special magnetism of the very famous celebrity hair stylist, Jawed Habib. In the first event, Jawed conducted a presentation on hair care, hair styling, and hair colour tips. He styled 60 participant's hair the winners from four thousand contestants from the consumer promotion named “Style it Up with Sunsilk and Jawed. At the end of the event Jawed announced five lucky girls who performed at the dazzling stage of Sunsilk hair show on the 13th of July. In “Sunsilk Hair Stylist Workshop by Jawed Habib, 50 participants from the leading Beauty Parlours took part to learn the latest tricks in hair styling. He showed how hairstyle can change one's outlook and the different hair style regarding different occasion. Among the participants were Persona, Habibs @ Persona, Biotic, Total Care, Figurina, Femina etc. The event concluded with Jawed's handing over the certificates to the participants. From the organizer”s part Ms Hosne-Ara Loma, Product Group Manager, and Mr. Shahnewaz, Activation Manager, of UNILEVER were present in the two events. - LS Desk

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Cookbook clips

Baked Chutney Fish
Ingredients:
1 fish about 1kg, in two fillets skin and centre bone removed.
Clean fish and dust with 1 tablespoon corn flour seasoned with ¼ teaspoon each of salt, black pepper and red chilli powder. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil on a fry pan and fry fish until golden-brown. Make 2 to 3 big gashes on each piece and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lime juice.

Chutney
Ingredients:
1 medium sized onion
2 to 3 green chillies
3 tablespoons coriander leaves
3 cloves garlic, ground
½ tablespoon butter
¼ teaspoon salt.
Make a sandwich out of the 2 pieces of fish with generous applications of chutney filling and dot with butter. Place in a baking dish.

Sauce
Ingredients:
345 grams tomatoes, pureed
1 teaspoon vinegar
1½ teaspoons sugar
1½ teaspoons salt,
A pinch of black pepper,
1 teaspoon corn flour mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water and 1 cup normal water.
2 tablespoons parboiled diced carrots
1 tablespoon melted butter.
Mix tomato puree, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and water. Bring to boil and mix in corn flour paste. Cook until the sauce thickens then set aside. Arrange carrots all over fish, and add the sauce and butter. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.

For the love of food

Chennai beckons

By Kaniska Chakraborty

We are moving to Chennai. Not that it matters in the larger scheme of things. Just another piece of useless information that either gets filed or deleted.

Point is food. One wonders how the food is going to be in Chennai? Being spoiled for choices in Dhaka, it is natural to be skeptic. It will take quite some act to match the standards set by the various Japanese, Korean, Greek, Vietnamese, Indian, Italian, Chinese and Thai places, just to mention a few. Will Chennai match up to it?

One of my colleagues had recently been to Chennai. The food there definitely did not appeal to his tastes, going by the text messages he kept sending.

When you think of Chennai, dosas come to mind. And idlis. And upma. And uththappam. And Appam. And so on and so forth.

But we do not think of, let's say, chicken. Or for that matter, anything non-vegetarian.

Well, here is a surprise. Chennai, and by extension, Tamil Nadu, is a veritable treasure trove of non vegetarian food. Sea food aplenty. Chicken galore. Of course, along with the ubiquitous dosas and idli and the like.

My last visit to Chennai has been quite a while back. In 1998- my formative years of food appreciation. I was still unable to resist the temptation of going local. My work was in Mylapore. After work, I would insist that I be taken to local restaurants and up to a point had very good but usual food. Until one evening.

One of the guys in the office offered to take me out to some real Tamil food. Obviously, I was game, even though, secretly, I winced at the thought of one more thali dinner. What followed was of epic proportions.

Off we went in one of the auto rickshaws to a place called Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai. It was around eight thirty at night and the street lights were in full bloom. Suddenly, I saw this tastefully done door where our auto stopped. We got out and were face to face with my first Chettinad restaurant. The term Chettinad needs a bit of explanation. It is actually the name of a region in Tamil Nadu with rich culinary traditions. And the food that originates from that tradition is called Chettinad cuisine.

The meal was ethereal. Spicy chicken curry, crisp fried fish, succulent eggplants and pristine white rice. All came together in a perfect mélange of taste and texture. It was spicy and rich and filling. Started out with rasam, the meal ended with cool yogurt.

Ever since then, Tamil food has a much venerated status with me. I have learned to go beyond idli dosa. And it has not failed me yet. Adding fuel to fire is the wonderful restaurant that has come up in Kolkata serving authentic Tamil food, including Chettinad cuisine. Now that I have a stopover of fifteen days in Kolkata on my way to Chennai, I might just pay them a visit or two.

You know what? I think my colleague did not try hard enough to find great food in Chennai. I do not share his sentiments expressed so vividly in his texts.

And now that I will be staying there, I promise to bore you with my encounters with food in the land of Chettinad regularly.
Till then, goodbye.