Baked chickpea cakes for dinner on a weeknight were exactly what I needed – a healthy, easy-to-put-together, light meal. After the indulgences of the winter, now fading fast, it’s time to shift to menus suited to warmer weather. Chickpeas are wildly popular, present in every store cupboard and are incredibly versatile. These baked chickpea cakes can be anything you want them to be – appetisers at a party, a…
Try sorghum muffins to start your day. You could also call it a banana muffin or even a whole wheat muffin. In short, a healthy, delicious low-fat breakfast. Bake it on the weekend and be rid of breakfast worries for the next few days. I’m partial to whole grain recipes and try to incorporate gut-friendly, nutrient-dense whole-grain and flours in my baking wherever I can. This sorghum muffin recipe is…
I must begin by confessing that my Konkani chicken curry is not based on some age-old recipe created by grannies, and that it may induce some lip curling among experts of Konkani cooking. And for that I apologise. This recipe is inspired by the Konkani style of dry chicken curries which have earned them legions of fans (myself included) who swear by their bright, bold and beautiful flavours. The western…
Tandoori prawns are a surefire crowd pleaser; whether you’re cooking it for just for your family or for a large party. Seafood is delicate, yet the ground spices in the marinade for these tandoori prawns builds a savoury patina of flavour that complements the intrinsic sweetness of the prawns. Now, tandoori dishes – chicken, lamb and seafood must be grilled in a tandoor as the name suggests, but in the…
An everyday fish pulao is a wonderful dish to have in one’s repertoire. It makes a nice change from fried and curried fish. Like many if not most Indian home cooks, I cook from instinct, adding flavours and seasoning without always adhering to recipes and measurements. Cooking over time, one develops a sense of which ingredients complement each other and how much needs to be added to achieve a certain…
I made jowar cookies because I wanted to try whole grain cookies using some kind of millet flour. These sweet little discs could also go by lemon cookies. Now, traditional baked goods with lemon are always made using butter and all-purpose flour because together they create tender (cakes), crisp (cookies) and light, buttery textures. By making lemon-flavored jowar (sorghum) cookies using oil, my aim was to cut a few calories…
Guava pickle. Yes you read that right. All the regional cuisines of India have such an ancient tradition of pickling and preserving all kinds of vegetables (including vegetable peels), fruits, meats and seafood but rarely do you hear of a hot guava pickle. I knew of green guava chutneys, a sweet North Indian guava pickle (flavoured with fennel, fenugreek and mustard seeds like mango chchunda) and even a Rajasthani amrud…
I’m currently obsessed with apples. And so, a buttery apple crumble cake follows the post on apple pie. The weather is pleasantly nippy and sweet, crisp apples tumble into my basket (well, almost) every time I’m out grocery shopping. Obviously,I can’t wait to cook with them and fill my home with warm, cinnamon-tinged scents of apples. The apple crumble cake is a rich, butter cake filled with squishy chunks of…
I’m always looking for easy homemade sweets for festivals like Diwali. This coconut laddu fits the bill perfectly. Diwali cleaning, shopping and other prep leaves me little time to make complicated sweets, so this recipe works beautifully for me. Also, people are up to their throats in sweets and rich snacks; and so I believe in keeping what I serve, light both in terms of sugar and fat (ghee in…
It’s apple pie season. It’s an American classic and arguably the most popular kind of dessert pie. I’ll never say no to a slice of apple pie. The pleasure I get from a forkful of flaky, buttery crust topped with soft and sweet cinnamon-scented, apples with a hint of lemon never gets old or tired. The rains finally paving the way for a tiny hint of winter and loads of…