As a chef, I often come home late. After a busy day, sustained by an adrenaline rush, I find it difficult to sleep. Typically, while I wait to drift off, I watch movies or read late into the night. At midnight, the cravings hit hard. Usually, I crave salt. Potato chips used to be my favourite during these late hours, but after I invented this snack – made delectable by its different pockets of salt – there was no going back.

  • Serves

    2

  • Cook Time

    00 h 07 m

Ingredients

  • 200 gm puffed rice
  • 50 gm bacon
  • 40 gm aged Cheddar (I use Pondicherry Cheddar, about 3 years old)
  • ½ tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 Dalle Chilli (or a sharp green chilli)

Preparation

  1. Grease a pan with a few drops of vegetable oil and fry the bacon until crisp.
  2. Cut the bacon into thin strips. Reserve the fat in the pan.
  3. Cut the cheese into tiny cubes.
  4. Chop the chilli as fine as possible.
  5. In a dry bowl, add puffed rice, fried bacon, cubed cheese, chilli and a few drops of the reserved bacon fat.
  6. Give it a thorough mix.

Written by

Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar

Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar is a professional chef, researcher and co-founder of the Edible Archives. She worked for four years with the Diva group of fine dining restaurants in New Delhi; was the owner and chef of Big Bongg Theory, a modern Bengali restaurant; and ran Bento Bong, an annual Bengali food stall in CR Park, for three consecutive years. She presented the opening dinner for the India International Centre’s annual Arts Festival in 2017, and the opening lunch for Market Place 2018 near Kolkata, an event for organic farmers, chefs and restaurateurs from all over the world to exchange ideas on how to bring indigenous ingredients to the marketplace. In early 2018, she curated ‘Smoked, Steamed and Tempered’, an event showcasing the ingredients and cooking techniques of Northeast India for the University of Chicago’s Alumni Centre in New Delhi. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Delhi. Currently, Anumitra is setting up the new Edible Archives restaurant in Anjuna, Goa.

See more by Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar