Dehradun, Oct. 3 -- Culinary Chronicles

How Dal Makhni turned into Dal Makhaani -

Being married to an Army officer meant that a large part of my life had unfolded around cantonments, Messes, dinner nights and those wonderful Army tables where food somehow carried stories from every corner of India.

Tiger and I had eaten dal makhani countless times in Officers' Messes and there was one little addition that always caught my attention.

Makhana!

Those plump little fox nuts would sit happily in the rich black dal as though they had been born there.

Tiger never found this remotely unusual. To him it was familiar Mess food, something he had probably encountered so often that makhana and dal makhani belonged together rather naturally.

I, o...