Nonchalantly sifting through the pages of Forgotten Foods: Memories and Recipes from Muslim South Asia (Pan Macmillan, R499) one evening, the first memoir by Pakistani journalist-writer Muneeza Shamsie’s A Family Culinary History had us absorbed. It  transported us to a different era, swaying between India, Britain and Pakistan, post-Partition, through the eyes of a family known for their elaborate brunches that ranged “from desi nashta such as paya, nihari and aloo puri, to an eclectic mix of Euro-Anglo-American food including paté de foie gras, waffles, scrambled eggs and several salads” made by their cook, Maqbool, who had worked in the royal kitchens of Khasbagh Palace.

Bhindi qatliya