Pic by Rashbehari Das

Dean and Jane Thompson (US Consul General in Calcutta, and his wife)

Christmas is an extra-special time for the Thompsons because their children, two daughters and a son who are all studying abroad, come to India to celebrate the festival with them. Jane, daughter of a dairy farmer from Ohio, remembers celebrating Christmas with her three sisters and

a brother back in the US. “Our Christmas dinner table would be laden with ham, turkey, potatoes, stuffing (the leftover filling remaining after the bird’s been stuffed) and salads. But my mom’s

special oysters and cookies stole the show,” Jane recalls. For Dean, who grew up in Washington DC, turkey and stuffing as well as pumpkin pie were the high points of the Christmas table.

The Thompsons’ Christmas table — meticulously and lovingly laid out by Jane — is incomplete without home-made cookies and Jane’s special cinnamon bread. And what’s the consul general’s contribution to it? Says Dean: “Jane’s the menu planner — I’m consumer-in-chief!”

Jane shares a Christmas memory of her mother-in-law: “As a new bride I wanted to impress my ma-in-law with an awesome Christmas spread made by me from scratch. Dean’s mom asked what she could bring. I asked her to make the stuffing for the turkey and everyone raved about it. When I asked her for the recipe, she led me into the kitchen and sheepishly whispered that it was a box mix. She gave me a gift that day — the permission to relax, and enjoy Christmas rather than make it about perfection.”

Jane shares the recipe for shortbread — Dean’s favourite Xmas goodie.

Scottish Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter ½ cup very fine granulated sugar 2 cups flour

Method:

Cream or whisk the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour. Beat for about five minutes until smooth. Spread evenly in an un-greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 300° Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and prick all over with a fork. Cut into squares/ rectangles while hot. Sprinkle with coloured sugar. Cool before taking them out of the pan.

Joey Matthew (model and chef on Love Bites With Joey on NDTV Good Times)

For Joey Matthew there can be no Christmas without turkey and a good leg of ham. As a little girl, Joey’s Christmas in Kerala’s Kanjirappally was all about mum’s cooking — gooseberry and mulberry wines, cakes, cookies and more.

Today, she recreates the same spread for a lavish Christmas dinner at home in Delhi. “There was 11 kilos of meat on my table last year along with roast turkey and potatoes, red cabbage gravy, Christmas pudding, strawberry crumble and rocky road for dessert. My friends just loved it!” she chuckles.

Pork Ribs

Ingredients:

A rack of pork ribs 1 bulb of garlic 3 squeezes BBQ sauce 2 splashes Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp chilli powder 2 tsp maple syrup 1 tbs Thai sauce salt and pepper to taste 250ml Coca Cola

Method:

Clean and pat dry the ribs and place them on a baking tray. In a bowl mix all ingredients together apart from the garlic and cola. Pound the garlic with the back of a spatula and add to it the marinade. Add the Coca Cola at this stage. Mix all the ingredients together and rub it over ribs. Marinate for six hours. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cover the ribs with foil and cook for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another two hours at 180°C. Serve with sautéed asparagus and lemon oyster mushrooms.

Pic by Rashbehari Das

Shaun Kenworthy (Chef, restaurant consultant, food and travel columnist)

Shaun Kenworthy, who grew up in Staleybridge, near Manchester, UK, remembers Christmas lunch back home as a simple affair. The day started with the unwrapping of gifts and family arrived for lunch around noon.

Now Shaun — with wife, artist Shubha aka Pinky (in picture) — frequents friends for Christmas lunch. “Usually, I cook traditional turkey and suckling pig with the trimmings and a smidgeon of Christmas pud and rum sauce for afters,” says Kenworthy.

Eggnog Pudding

Ingredients:

90ml rum/ whiskey or brandy 5 egg yolks 200ml cream 500ml milk 2 tsp cornflour a pinch of nutmeg 4 tsp soft brown sugar 1 cinnamon stick zest of half an orange 1 sponge finger (broken into two halves) or 2 ginger nut biscuits per glass for layering

Method:

In a saucepan bring the milk and cream to a simmer with the cinnamon stick, orange zest, nutmeg and 2 tbs of brown sugar. In a bowl whisk egg yolks, 2 tbs of brown sugar and cornflour. Pour over the boiling milk mixture, whisk well and return to a slow flame. Bring to the consistency of thick cream. Remove from the heat and strain into a bowl with either rum, whiskey or brandy and continue to whisk for another minute. Ladle this into glasses, inter-layered with sponge fingers or ginger nut biscuits and leave in the refrigerator overnight. Garnish with grated chocolate.