A stash of pistachios, and a windfall of walnuts from faraway Tehran had me rubbing my hands in glee as I got ready to bake a birthday cake for my husband’s birthday. I had a rich, smooth, somewhat adult, cappuccino cheesecake in mind but I also wanted to use the newly-arrived nuts in the cake. A salted walnut praline seemed like the perfect crunchy crown for the creamy, java-infused cheesecake. …
On some days I eat for comfort and on other days I cook to provide comfort. The embrace of food is real and close. And sometimes it’s okay to walk into its arms for succour. A particularly demanding week and long hours for the family, called for a dose of dolce on the weekend. I had a brown paper bag of beautiful scarlet apples and one of the most delightful…
My Christmas was gluten-free. Every year, the holiday season leaves me feeling bloated from feasting on the holiday specials (and completely giving up festive food is neither possible nor probable). So this time, I tried to retain the quintessential flavours of the season by choosing lighter (and healthier) substitutes for ingredients that leave one feeling full and sluggish. I’m not normally on a 100% gluten-free diet the rest of the year,…
Baking a healthy cake like my wholesome Gluten-Free Chocolate Beetroot Cake, gives me bone-deep satisfaction. In the last few months, I’ve struggled to perfect the recipe for a gluten-free, xanthum gum-free, light, moist, healthy and unapologetically chocolaty chocolate cake. Past experiments resulted in a few disasters when the cake crumb alternated between sawdust and sand. So, now that I have nailed that dense, intense mouthfeel of a real chocolate cake, (think…
‘Cho-co-la’, say it out loud with deliberation. Swirling in your mouth like molten velvet, the word and its very sound, coaxes you to close your eyes and retreat to a secret spot where, in complete solitude, you can lose yourself to the pleasures of the glorious thing that is chocolate. …
I can never resist the offer of a cup of chai or coffee with my closest friends. What a delightfully cosy conspiracy it is; we share news and brews happily oblivious of the world outside our circle. Far in a foreign land now, I miss that reassuring ritual. Just to kick back, feel the knots untangle almost automatically at the sound of familiar voices and comfortable chemistry. Often, we nibble…
Would you believe me if I told you that every time I use lemons, I’m more than a little reluctant to throw away the skins? The need to somehow extract the maximum from these golden globes screams borderline OCD, even to me. To tell you the truth, I literally feel like I’m throwing so much of the essence of the lemon into the bin. Maybe because they seem to still…
My generation has climbed many a mango and guava tree. Scraped knees and elbows were easily forgotten while biting into tangy, raw guavas hastily wiped on dusty tee shirts and frocks. A sprinkling of salt on the hard, sour flesh gave us puckered lips amid noisy smacking of tongues. Sometimes if we got lucky, our haul would include more ripe fruits than raw ones. White or red inside with crunchy…
There were dark smudges everywhere. Black flecked my clothes, pushed under my nails and settled on the counter like onyx dust. A dead give-away to the goings on in my kitchen. The culprit was black cocoa. The key ingredient in arguably, my best brownie recipe. And what’s great is that this is an easy chocolate brownie recipe.…
It’s been a week of indulgence and I admit that I did little to resist. The food, the wine, the conversations….I gave myself fully to it all (I don’t know any other way). I even started this week with some succulent Brazilian barbecue washed down with deliciously potent Caipirinhas at a dear friend’s poolside.…
Darkness can be illuminating. My moonless side embraces my guilty pleasures, without making me feel, well, guilty. It tells me that I am of this earth, desirous of the decadent, dark, delicious and some would even say dangerous indulgences. Occasionally, I dive into a trashy, tempestuous romance with an inky-haired pirate hero on its cover. …
There’s no way you can escape Kama’s (the Hindu God of love) arrows wreathed in mango-blossoms. Stories of his hapless, lovestruck victims, which include gods, goddesses, emperors and subjects alike litter the pages of Hindu mythology and literature. He chose his weapon wisely. The mango’s power of seduction is legendary. To us Hindus, it is a deliciously apt metaphor for knowledge, beauty, bountiful blessings, sexuality and fertility. We festoon our doorways with fragrant…