NZ And India Cement Progress As Four-Country Tour Ends
Rt Hon Winston Peters
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs
New Zealand and India have discussed their enhanced relationship across a broad range of domains, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.
'New Zealand and India have agreed that we can and should be doing more together,' Mr Peters says.
'Both countries have worked hard over the last 18 months to bring energy, focus and deeper practical cooperation to the relationship.'
While in New Delhi, Mr Peters held official talks and had a working dinner with India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
'This has been an excellent opportunity to take stock of the progress we have made over the past year-and-a-half, while also discussing the pressing regional and global challenges our countries face,' Mr Peters says.
'New Zealand and India have a shared interest in promoting a stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. My discussions with Minister Jaishankar and have been invaluable in understanding Indian perspectives on recent events and charting our course for enhanced bilateral cooperation.'
Mr Peters noted that, over the past 18 months, New Zealand and India had made concrete steps towards closer engagement across a wide range of domains, including defence and security, trade and economic cooperation, science and technology and sport.
While in New Delhi, Mr Peters also had meetings with the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, JP Nadda, and the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi; and delivered a speech about New Zealand's strengthening ties with South and South East Asia under the Foreign Policy Reset.
His visit to India concluded a four-country tour which also included trips to Australia, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
'New Zealand's strategic and economic interests are inextricably tied to the Indo-Pacific, including South Asia. It is crucial that we continue to invest in and strengthen our relationships here,' Mr Peters says.
'This week has also highlighted the quality of our relationships in South Asia, characterised by rich people-to-people connections, a common desire to do more together, and shared perspectives on the challenges facing our region.'
During the first half of this Parliamentary term (from December 2023 to May 2025), Mr Peters has visited 45 countries and spent 154 days overseas on official visits.
Mr Peters returns to New Zealand later today (31 May).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
5 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Left bloc could turf coalition out of power: poll
By Russell Palmer of RNZ After the Budget and pay equity changes the left bloc would have the support to turf the coalition out of power, the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll shows. The preferred prime minister and leadership ratings are also bad news for the government, with the exception of Winston Peters who has seen his highest result since 2017 - and ratings of the government's general performance have also continued to slide. With Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori all gaining compared to the previous poll taken in March, they would have a majority with 63 seats between them, compared to the coalition's 57 - again, New Zealand First was the only coalition party to see a boost. The poll was taken in the seven days following the release of the Budget and in the wake of the $12.8 billion pay equity changes - which RNZ's polling also shows attracting more opposition than support. National continued a downward trend from the March survey, dropping 2.2 percentage points to 30.7 percent of the party vote - and overtaken by Labour, which gained 0.9 percentage points to 33.2 percent. The Greens' 1.6 percent increase brings them back to their election-night result of 11.6 percent, while Te Pāti Māori's 0.5 percentage point boost lifts them clear of the 5 percent threshold and - presuming they held all Māori seats - nets them a list MP. ACT dropped 2.8 points to 6.6 percent - the largest shift in party polling - while New Zealand First gained 1.9 points to 9.1 percent, upending the trend facing their coalition partners. Undecided or non-voters made up 6.5 percent of those polled - up from 6.1 in the previous poll. For parties outside Parliament, TOP (The Opportunities Party) gained 0.4 points to 2.2 percent, New Conservatives fell 0.3 points to 0.8, and all others combined were at 0.3 points, a 0.1 point increase on the last survey. More New Zealanders polled say the country is going in the wrong direction (46.6 percent) than in the right direction (37.8 percent), giving a net negative result of -8.8, a substantial decrease on March's 2.9 result. Little surprise then to see National leader Christopher Luxon's net favourability ratings drop further into the negative, from -3.9 percent in March to -9.8 percent, with significantly more respondents (45.5 percent) saying he performed poorly or very poorly, than said he performed well or very well (35.7 percent). That compared to Labour's Chris Hipkins on net 5.1 percent rating (34 percent negative, 39.1 percent positive) - though Hipkins also saw a steeper fall of 7.1 percentage points. The survey shows New Zealanders' preferred prime minister as Hipkins (23.2 percent, up 2.3), taking the lead over Luxon (18.8 percent, down 3.1). NZ First leader Winston Peters at 8.9 percent (up 1 point) recorded his highest result since 2017. Chlöe Swarbrick in fourth was at 6.9 percent (up 0.8) - a personal best and just ahead of ACT's David Seymour on 6.4 percent (down 0.4). The next highest ratings were former PM Jacinda Ardern (3.7 percent, up 0.1), Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (1.7 percent, up 0.5), Finance Minister Nicola Willis (1.1, up 0.3) and Education/Immigration Minister Erica Stanford making her first appearance at 1 percent. 'I don't recognise the numbers' - Coalition plays down poll Luxon simply rejected the poll results. "Look, I mean, I don't recognise the numbers. There's lots of different polls and frankly I'm just not going to comment or focus on the polls. Frankly what we're focused on is we were elected in '23 and people get to decide again in 2026. "We've done a good job, and that's why we've got to focus on the economy, law and order, and health and education." He said New Zealanders had "responded really positively" to the government's Budget, and saw the economy turning a corner. "There's a sense of optimism that, you know, we actually have had to manage some very difficult things economically to get our books back in order. But we're doing that job, and it's all about growth, growth, growth." Seymour said the numbers would continue to "bounce around" but it was still a tough time for New Zealanders - and the numbers were not a reflection on the Budget. "Different voters will have different reasons for their choices ... so long as people are voting for the economy, it's going to be tough for parties that are tied closely to economic management," he said. It was possible the pay equity changes were changing some voters' minds, he said, "but I also think doing what is right is what is politically popular in the long term, and even if I'm wrong about that, good policy is worth it anyway". "The fact that ACT is close to where it was on election night 18 months into a government with 18 months to go is a good foundation. We have to prove ourselves on election night, and we've got lots of time to do that." Peters refused to comment on whether his coalition partners were suffering from the handling of the pay equity changes. The next 18 months leading up to the election would show the "critical need for stability", he said, and having ruled out working with Chris Hipkins he was "comfortable and confident in our prospects" because the Greens and Te Pāti Māori in government would be "a nightmare". The 80-year-old Peters said economies internationally were in trouble as a result of "unprecedented times for the last, say, 80 years", and the party was looking at New Zealand's fundamentals: asset values, and the need to increase wages and decrease business tax. "We're out there to ensure over the next few months that we can show enough improvement in the economy from what we're doing to make the prospects of an improved tomorrow possible." 'Nice to be popular' - Opposition Hipkins was also not counting his electoral chickens, but was happy to point out the effect of the Budget, saying New Zealanders were "disillusioned" with the government overall. "New Zealanders can increasingly see that this government is taking the country backwards," he said. "I don't think anyone expected the government to cancel pay equity as a way of balancing its books. Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon told New Zealanders before the election that they knew their numbers, that everything all added up. It's clear that their numbers didn't add up." He said he did not pay much attention to small shifts from the minor parties or his personal ratings in the polls. "It's nice to be popular, but I'm really focused on making sure I win as many votes as possible for Labour at the next election." Swarbrick said New Zealanders wanted a sense of hope. "Things are feeling pretty bloody bleak. You know, we've got 191 New Zealanders leaving every single day, three quarters of them between the ages of 18 to 45, it's not a recipe for a flourishing country. "We had dozens and dozens of folks turn out to talk to us about our Green budget and the sense of hope that they feel that they need - the kind of building blocks that we can have for a fairer society." She said polls did not mean the writing was on the wall, but she was hearing from people that they were exhausted and fatigued - something she suggested was a deliberate strategy from the coalition. Te Pāti Māori's co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the poll numbers showed the party's policies and rhetoric around the government's actions were appealing to new supporters. "The kind of anti-Māori, anti-wāhine, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-climate, anti-rainbow, anti-woke type agenda that this government is pushing at the moment also is not appealing to the people who are trying to find a place to put their political support and trying to support those who fiercely advocate for them." He said their internal polling showed even higher support for the party and its style of politics - but the decreased support for ACT and increase for NZ First was a zero-sum game. "You've got a hard-right type voter ... I think they think that National is a little bit weak, which I agree [with] because they're allowing ACT to kind of run the show ... they will use Te Pāti Māori as their political football to kick us in the guts the hardest to garner the support of their voters, but at the end of the day the enemy for ACT is New Zealand First, and the enemy for New Zealand First is ACT." Explore the full results with RNZ's interactive charts. This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure a representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 21-27 March 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is available here.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- RNZ News
Left bloc would have enough support to turf coalition government out of power
The preferred prime minister and leadership ratings are bad news for the government, with the exception of Winston Peters who has seen his highest result since 2017. Photo: RNZ After the Budget and pay equity changes the left bloc would have the support to turf the coalition out of power, the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll shows. The preferred prime minister and leadership ratings are also bad news for the government , with the exception of Winston Peters who has seen his highest result since 2017 - and ratings of the government's general performance have also continued to slide. With Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori all gaining compared to the previous poll taken in March, they would have a majority with 63 seats between them, compared to the coalition's 57 - again, New Zealand First was the only coalition party to see a boost. The poll was taken in the seven days following the release of the Budget and in the wake of the $12.8 billion pay equity changes - which RNZ's polling also shows attracting more opposition than support . National continued a downward trend from the March survey, dropping 2.2 percentage points to 30.7 percent of the party vote - and overtaken by Labour, which gained 0.9 percentage points to 33.2 percent. The Greens' 1.6 percent increase brings them back to their election-night result of 11.6 percent, while Te Pāti Māori's 0.5 percentage point boost lifts them clear of the 5 percent threshold and - presuming they held all Māori seats - nets them a list MP. ACT dropped 2.8 points to 6.6 percent - the largest shift in party polling - while New Zealand First gained 1.9 points to 9.1 percent, upending the trend facing their coalition partners. Undecided or non-voters made up 6.5 percent of those polled - up from 6.1 in the previous poll . For parties outside Parliament, TOP (The Opportunities Party) gained 0.4 points to 2.2 percent, New Conservatives fell 0.3 points to 0.8, and all others combined were at 0.3 points, a 0.1 point increase on the last survey. More New Zealanders polled say the country is going in the wrong direction (46.6 percent) than in the right direction (37.8 percent), giving a net negative result of -8.8, a substantial decrease on March's 2.9 result. Little surprise then to see National leader Christopher Luxon's net favourability ratings drop further into the negative, from -3.9 percent in March to -9.8 percent, with significantly more respondents (45.5 percent) saying he performed poorly or very poorly, than said he performed well or very well (35.7 percent). That compared to Labour's Chris Hipkins on net 5.1 percent rating (34 percent negative, 39.1 percent positive) - though Hipkins also saw a steeper fall of 7.1 percentage points. The survey shows New Zealanders' preferred prime minister as Labour's Chris Hipkins (23.2 percent, up 2.3), taking the lead over National's Christopher Luxon (18.8 percent, down 3.1). NZ First leader Winston Peters at 8.9 percent (up 1 point) recorded his highest result since 2017. Chlöe Swarbrick in fourth was at 6.9 percent (up 0.8) - a personal best and just ahead of ACT's David Seymour on 6.4 percent (down 0.4). The next highest ratings were former PM Jacinda Ardern (3.7 percent, up 0.1), Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke (1.7 percent, up 0.5), Finance Minister Nicola Willis (1.1, up 0.3) and Education/Immigration Minister Erica Stanford making her first appearance at 1 percent. Luxon simply rejected the poll results. "Look, I mean, I don't recognise the numbers. There's lots of different polls and frankly I'm just not going to comment or focus on the polls. Frankly what we're focused on is we were elected in '23 and people get to decide again in 2026. "We've done a good job, and that's why we've got to focus on the economy, law and order, and health and education." He said New Zealanders had "responded really positively" to the government's Budget, and saw the economy turning a corner. "There's a sense of optimism that, you know, we actually have had to manage some very difficult things economically to get our books back in order. But we're doing that job, and it's all about growth, growth, growth." Christopher Luxon (L) with David Seymour last week, after the ACT leader was sworn in as deputy prime minister. Photo: NZME/Dean Purcell Seymour said the numbers would continue to "bounce around" but it was still a tough time for New Zealanders - and the numbers were not a reflection on the Budget. "Different voters will have different reasons for their choices ... so long as people are voting for the economy, it's going to be tough for parties that are tied closely to economic management," he said. It was possible the pay equity changes were changing some voters' minds, he said, "but I also think doing what is right is what is politically popular in the long term, and even if I'm wrong about that, good policy is worth it anyway". "The fact that ACT is close to where it was on election night 18 months into a government with 18 months to go is a good foundation. We have to prove ourselves on election night, and we've got lots of time to do that." Peters refused to comment on whether his coalition partners were suffering from the handling of the pay equity changes. The next 18 months leading up to the election would show the "critical need for stability", he said, and having ruled out working with Chris Hipkins he was "comfortable and confident in our prospects" because the Greens and Te Pāti Māori in government would be "a nightmare". New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and finance minister Nicola Willis. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The 80-year-old Peters said economies internationally were in trouble as a result of "unprecedented times for the last, say, 80 years", and the party was looking at New Zealand's fundamentals: asset values, and the need to increase wages and decrease business tax. "We're out there to ensure over the next few months that we can show enough improvement in the economy from what we're doing to make the prospects of an improved tomorrow possible." Hipkins was also not counting his electoral chickens, but was happy to point out the effect of the Budget, saying New Zealanders were "disillusioned" with the government overall. "New Zealanders can increasingly see that this government is taking the country backwards," he said. "I don't think anyone expected the government to cancel pay equity as a way of balancing its books. Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon told New Zealanders before the election that they knew their numbers, that everything all added up. It's clear that their numbers didn't add up." He said he did not pay much attention to small shifts from the minor parties or his personal ratings in the polls. "It's nice to be popular, but I'm really focused on making sure I win as many votes as possible for Labour at the next election." Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Swarbrick said New Zealanders wanted a sense of hope. "Things are feeling pretty bloody bleak. You know, we've got 191 New Zealanders leaving every single day, three quarters of them between the ages of 18 to 45, it's not a recipe for a flourishing country. "We had dozens and dozens of folks turn out to talk to us about our Green budget and the sense of hope that they feel that they need - the kind of building blocks that we can have for a fairer society." She said polls did not mean the writing was on the wall, but she was hearing from people that they were exhausted and fatigued - something she suggested was a deliberate strategy from the coalition. Te Pāti Māori's co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the poll numbers showed the party's policies and rhetoric around the government's actions were appealing to new supporters. "The kind of anti-Māori, anti-wāhine, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-climate, anti-rainbow, anti-woke type agenda that this government is pushing at the moment also is not appealing to the people who are trying to find a place to put their political support and trying to support those who fiercely advocate for them." He said their internal polling showed even higher support for the party and its style of politics - but the decreased support for ACT and increase for NZ First was a zero-sum game. "You've got a hard-right type voter ... I think they think that National is a little bit weak, which I agree [with] because they're allowing ACT to kind of run the show ... they will use Te Pāti Māori as their political football to kick us in the guts the hardest to garner the support of their voters, but at the end of the day the enemy for ACT is New Zealand First, and the enemy for New Zealand First is ACT." Explore the full results with RNZ's interactive charts . This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 May 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is availabe here . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
9 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Passion for cooking came from home
When Helly Raichura entered commercial kitchens for the first time using tweezers or incorporating flower extracts into dishes was not new to her — growing up she watched her baa (mother) take melon seeds out of their shells with tweezers. "My family's cooking techniques and food philosophy were clear, and perhaps ahead of their time: source your own produce, follow seasonality, preserve and ferment skilfully, consume a balanced diet and make everything from scratch." Growing up in Mhmedabad, India, with these guiding principles fuelled Raichura's curiosity and passion for cooking. "My mummy would also experiment with cooking dishes from other regions of India for dinners. South Indian food was always our favourite as we were strictly vegetarian." While Raichura had always wanted to study culinary arts and work in kitchens, office jobs were considered more reputable so she pursued a business degree in Australia and spent the next 10 years working in the corporate world. "I had been working in corporations for too long. I wanted to do something driven not by profit but for the love of the process, passion and my values. I was drawn to the kitchen and I wanted to be surrounded by its secrecy and familiarity." So she took up a few small jobs in restaurants, that experience "woke me from my slumber" and she found a renewed energy in the adrendaline rush of restaurant service. Raichura started opening her home for supper clubs, calling it Enter Via Laundry, as guests had to do exactly that. She fed 10 guests a night while discovering her own style of cooking as she experimented with all different cuisines. "One day I made my favourite dish, Khadavi, and by the end of service I knew regional Indian cooking was going to be my focus." She wanted to cook food she was brought up eating and also cook food she had yet to discover using the native produce of her adoptive home. "I wanted to know what was in season here just as my fiya [aunt] had known what was in season in our hometown in India." Her supper clubs became hugely popular, with waiting lists of a year. When she could, Raichura began to research regional Indian cuisine. "To truly understand a cuisine it is important to first understand the country and its civilisation, history and evolution." In 2020 she started cooking at pop-ups in Melbourne, then her first restaurant Enter Via Laundry opened in Carlton in 2022 She felt an acute need to understand the evolution in Indian civilisation and how the food had grown and evolved alongside it. Raichura also wanted to restore and build on people's understanding of Indian cuisine, eliminate long-standing stereotypes and ignite a sense of pride in her children for their heritage. Her book The Food of Bharat (the oldest known name of the subcontinent known as India) is divided into five chapters beginning with the earliest known civilisation's food and continuing through different stages of the country's growth including the Mughal invasion which introduced exotic new techniques and ingredients and the British and European colonial era and finally modern Indian cuisine and recipes from her own kitchen. The book This is an edited extract from The Food of Bharat by Helly Raichura, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally. Photography by Jana Langhorst and Brett Cole. Bhatura (deep-fried leavened bread) Bhatura is a popular deep-fried sourdough bread from the Punjab region, which is eaten with savoury gravy dishes. While the traditional recipes use yoghurt as a starter, I like making bhatura with leftover whey from making shrikhand. The whey acts as a natural yeast and brings subtle acidity and moisture to the bread. When fried, bhatura is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Serve this with chutneys, Alooposto, dum aloo, or even with mango chutney with cinnamon myrtle, and it's sure to be a hit! Serves 6-8 Ingredients 600g (4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting 500ml (2 cups) whey or 250g (1 cup) yoghurt mixed with 250ml (1 cup) cold water 100g fine semolina 100g Ghee 1 litre (4 cups) vegetable oil, for deep-frying Method Place the plain flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl and mix well. Add 250ml (1 cup) of the whey and bring the mixture together into a dough. Start kneading, gradually adding the remaining whey to form a smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes. Place the dough in a deep bowl, cover with a tea towel (dish towel) and leave in a warm place for 4-5 hours. Now add the semolina and ghee to the dough and knead until fully incorporated. Return to the bowl and leave to prove for two hours. Heat the oil for deep-frying until it reaches 200°C. Remove dough and divide into 50 g balls. Roll into 1 cm thick discs with a rolling pin, dusting with flour as needed. Drop the rolled bhatura into the hot oil and, with a slotted spoon, gently hold the bhatura under the oil as it starts floating up. This will help the bhatura to puff up. Fry on one side for 30 seconds, or until light golden, then flip and cook for another 45 seconds. Take the bhatura and drain the excess oil on a paper towel. Eat while warm. Heirloom radish pickle Pickles are a quintessential Indian condiment. I love the fermented sourness that a pickle brings to the plate, acting almost like a palate cleanser. Whether it is roti, vegetables, dal, rice or meat, eating a mouthful of pickle halfway through always adds a boost of flavour. Growing up in my mother's home, asking for more pickles during a meal was considered rude, as it implied the items on the thali (a large plate containing a variety of foods) were not delicious enough on their own! For me, at times, this pickle does become a main instead of a condiment. Makes 1kg Ingredients 1kg heirloom rainbow radishes, greens removed 40g fine sea salt 10g sugar 40ml apple cider vinegar 150ml sunflower oil (see Note) 25g spice mix (see below) 20g garlic cloves, peeled 6 whole fresh green birds eye chillies Spice mix 25g red mustard seeds 25g coriander seeds 25g nigella seeds 12g fennel seeds 10g fenugreek seeds 1 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp red chilli powder Method To make the spice mix, toast the whole spices in a dry frying pan over a low heat for 5 minutes, then cool to room temperature. Blitz to an almost-fine powder in a spice grinder. Mix in the turmeric and chilli powder. Wash the radishes and pat dry with paper towel. Leave to air-dry on a clean tea towel (dish towel) for 2 hours. Slice any large radishes in half lengthways and leave the smaller ones whole. Place the radishes in a large, heatproof mixing bowl and add the salt, sugar and vinegar. Mix well. Heat the oil in a small saucepan over a low heat and add the spice mix, garlic cloves and green chillies. Heat for about 2 minutes, or until the oil is hot but not smoking, then tip the hot oil over the radishes and mix well. Transfer the radishes and oil to a sterilised glass jar. Secure a piece of cloth over the mouth of the jar and tie with kitchen string. Place the lid loosely on top. Leave for 4-5 days at room temperature to ferment the radish. Give it a good stir every day to mix the liquids and spices. Taste the pickle every day to check the flavour, too you want a pickle that's a little sour but still crunchy. Once ready, transfer it to the fridge and store for up to three weeks. I like to eat this pickle with fluffy rice and ghee with some pickle juice, radish and a green chilli. Note Generally, back home, we use cottonseed oil when we need an odourless oil, but it isn't widely available — not even in Indian grocers — so I tend to use sunflower or vegetable oil in its place. Ghee Clarified fermented butter Ghee is essential to Indian cooking technically, culturally, religiously, even emotionally! It is fatty on the tongue and has a nutty flavour. Often you will find ghee poured over a dish in excess to express love and generosity. We are obsessed with it, and for good reason. Besides being utterly delicious, ghee holds a sacred status in Ayurveda. Ayur means alive, and ved means knowledge. The ancient scripts of India make reference to Ayurveda, prescribing practices to balance the body to enable it to perform at its best. Ghee was and still is consumed as part of an Ayurvedic practice, as well as being used in religious ceremonies by offering it to fire. Many grandmothers will suggest ghee as a single solution to multiple ailments, from dry skin to sleeplessness. Back in the day, most households had cows to look after, so cream to make ghee was plentiful. They followed strict guidelines about what to feed the cows, how to milk them and how much of that milk should be fed to the calf first. Cows were sacred, and their mistreatment was prevented by religious rules designed to pay respect to the mammals who nourished us with their milk. Makes 150-200g Ingredients 500ml (2 cups) thick cream (double/heavy), or full-cream (whole) milk skin from unhomogenised milk Method This recipe is very practical for a household that uses fresh milk on a daily basis. Back home to this day, fresh milk isn't stored for more than a day, even in the fridge. Milk is boiled every morning and left to cool to be used for different applications. Once cool, a layer of cream forms on top of the milk, and this is collected every day and stored in the fridge. After a couple of weeks, you would accumulate, ideally, about 500ml of fermented cream to make ghee. Place the cream in a heavy-based pot over a medium heat. Warm gently for 30-40 minutes until the milk solids and fat separate. Try not to stir too much; just often enough to prevent the cream catching on the base of the pot. The ghee will float to the surface and the milk solids will turn from white to dark brown. Take the pot off the heat. Once the ghee has cooled to room temperature, carefully strain the ghee through a muslin (cheesecloth) or a fine-mesh sieve. Store the ghee at room temperature in a sealed container or sterilised glass jar for up to 1 month. (You can sterilise a jar by placing it in a saucepan of boiling water for 30 seconds, then leaving it to air-dry.) The milk solids that caramelise in the process of making ghee can be eaten with a little sugar sprinkled on top as a dessert. Baingan sabji Braised eggplant with spices and ginger In 2010, archaeologists Arunima Kashyap and Steve Weber used starch analysis to trace a handi (cooking vessel) made of earthenware which was excavated from Farmana in the Ghaggar-Hakra valley near modern-day Delhi. Through this analysis, they claimed they discovered the proto, or original curry, which I would really call a sabji, or braised vegetable. Braised eggplant (aubergine) is prepared in most Indian regions and each has its own unique take on the dish. The eggplants in this recipe are silky, and the spices are mild but flavourful. When I had just given birth to my son, I was given a special diet by my mother. It is believed that new mothers should eat certain foods when breastfeeding to aid a newborn's digestion. What appeared most frequently on the menu was eggplant sabji with ginger, turmeric and black pepper cooked in ghee. Serves 2-3 Ingredients 20g piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped 10g garlic cloves, peeled 30ml sesame oil, or Ghee 800g eggplant (aubergine), destemmed and cut into bite-sized cubes 1 tsp ground turmeric finely chopped coriander (cilantro) and freshly ground black pepper, to garnish (optional) Method Crush the ginger and garlic to a smooth paste with a mortar and pestle. Heat the sesame oil in a kadhai or heavy-based wok over a medium heat. Fry the crushed ginger and garlic till slightly brown, then add the eggplant. Increase the heat to high, stir to coat the eggplant in the oil, then add the turmeric and salt to taste, and mix well. Cook for one minute. Mix the eggplant one more time, scraping the bottom of the pot. Lower the heat to medium, cover the kadhai and cook for seven minutes, stirring periodically, or until the eggplant is soft. For a modern-day take, add some finely chopped coriander and some freshly ground black pepper to garnish. Serve with Bajra rotla or rice. Note Always use fresh eggplant, as older eggplant doesn't cook as well and out-of-season eggplant creates an unpleasant tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue.
