I was wondering what to read after having finished the latest Charles McCarry, when I suddenly spotted this big and glossy book by the big and glossy Nigella Lawson. It’s called Nigella Christmas, and I thought since bells were jingling in the air, I would have a look at her recipes for Christmas.

I looked at the ham dishes, for pork is so much tastier than turkey. But Nigella’s recipes were a bit disappointing (though I liked her Parma ham bundles — a fig, wrapped in a bit of goat cheese and then in a piece of Parma ham). She had the usual roasts, and the sweet-savoury glazes. But what I wanted was a ham recipe that talked to me.

And so, of course, I asked my Christmas expert, chef Pradip Rozario, what he’d like to do with ham for Xmas
this year. One can always have a Christmas ham pudding with dry fruits and liquor, or a ham shank with kiwi-
strawberry compote, he says. But ham cooked with Indian spices or flavours can certainly up the festive fervour, he holds.

So the chef, who runs K.K.’s Fusion in Calcutta, presents a whole leg of roasted ham flavoured with mustard. And he suggests a grilled ham steak marinated in coriander-chilli flavoured champagne.

“I have kept local tastes in mind,” chef Rozario says.

Indeed, ham is just right for the Indian palate. Bacon and sausages have strong flavours, but ham can be cooked in various ways using all kinds of Indian herbs — with outstanding results.

For instance, Ashish Bagul, executive chef of Novotel Kolkata Hotel And Residences, likes to prepare pork vindaloo for Christmas, and then serve it with rice cooked with ham. “You let the ham pieces fry a bit, and then toss the rice into the same oil with some herbs. This gives the rice a special flavour,” he says.

I asked chef Rozario how he prepares ham paturi, which is another of his Xmas specials. This is what he says: To serve four people, take four pieces of cooked ham, each weighing about 200g, four mustard leaves, ½cup coriander leaves (no stems), five green chillies, a sprig of fresh rosemary, 4tbs mustard oil, 1tbs mustard paste, ½cup grated coconut, 1tbs sugar and banana leaves. Now wash the leaves (not the banana ones), chillies and rosemary, and then grind them well with mustard oil, coconut, mustard paste and sugar. Make a paste and mix it with the ham slices. Keep aside for half an hour. Place each ham slice on a banana leaf and wrap the leaf around it. Secure with thread. Place the wrapped ham parcels in a double boiler or a steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Serve the paturi with garlic toast, a burger or pao bun, or steamed rice.

Calcutta’s much celebrated chef Shaun Kenworthy loves ham for Christmas — and says he would prefer it any day to roast turkey. I asked him how he would give an Indian flavour to the Christmas dish of ham. He was, as you’d expect, most innovative.

“For a slow-baked whole leg of ham, a good paste, similar to the preparation of raan but with a good amount of honey or brown sugar, should do the job perfectly,” he says.

If your guests have landed up for Christmas tea, he suggests you serve them pakoras with sliced or shredded ham, with a nice Bengali mustard sauce. And if they are still there for dinner (and the leg of ham has been eaten up for lunch, but there are some leftovers), you could present a new kind of tadka dal, with chunks of ham in it, he says.

All in all, this sounds like a great meal. So, for Christmas this year, let’s all be ham-fisted!

Photographs by Subhendu Chaki;
Courtesy: K.K.’s Fusion, Calcutta