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Recipes

Recipes/ Vegetables

Baghare Baingan

Baghare Baingan / www.quichentell.com

For a Hyderabadi, Baghare Baingan is many things. It’s the taste of home, a must at parties and celebrations and a dish so uniquely Hyderabadi that along with kachche gosht ki biryani, it has become a culinary symbol of the city. So this post on Baghare Baingan is my (long overdue) homage to the deliciously rich food culture of the city.  How to choose and prepare the eggplants The eggplant,…

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Appetisers, Soups & Salads/ Poultry & Meat/ Recipes

Lamb Barley Turnip Soup

Lamb Barley Turnip Soup / www.quichentell.com

A Lamb Barley Turnip soup is a good way to get turnip-haters to eat their share. Turnips are a winter specialty and are said to provide warmth from the season’s chill. That said, I’m sure most home cooks will agree that it is far from being a popular vegetable. A turnip soup that packs in the fibre and goodness of pearl barley and the savouriness of meat will (in my…

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Poultry & Meat/ Recipes

Hyderabadi Mutton Dalcha

Hyderabadi Mutton Dalcha / www.quichentell.com

A hearty Hyderabadi Mutton Dalcha is a beautiful thing to grace your table on a cold winter day. I sought succour in this deliciously thick mutton (goat) and chana dal dish during a recent cold front. I made it as much for its taste as its ability to soothe the soul and evoke a sense of comfort and nourishment in inclement weather. Quintessentially South Indian, the Hyderabadi Mutton Dalcha is…

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Poultry & Meat/ Recipes

Garlic Spinach Baked Chicken

Garlic and Spinach Baked Chicken / www.quichentell.com

This Garlic Spinach Baked Chicken comes after a long hiatus from posting. I will endeavour to be more regular this year (life willing). The cold has been biting down in these first few days of January, and what better than a gratin-style dish to warm up bellies on chilly evenings? Leaves et al Luscious chicken thighs and a boatload of leafy greens are at the centre of this bake. I…

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Desserts & Sweets/ Recipes

Thandai Mousse

Thandai Mousse / www.quichentell.com

Thandai mousse is such a perfect dessert for our scorching summers. It’s airy, tangy with a gentle sweetness that hints delicately at roses and saffron. Nothing about a thandai mousse should be overpowering. When you put a cloud-like spoonful in your mouth, it should dissolve on your tongue, like you’re getting a cool, butterfly kiss of  sweetness. Keep it light I’ve eaten many mousses, and a large number were too…

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Recipes/ Seafood

Meen Manga Curry

Meen Manga Curry / www.quichentell.com

A meen manga curry is mandatory on the menu several times during the mango season. Tart, green raw mangoes are wonderful with fish and prawns. The sour notes elevate the sweetness of seafood and a hot and sour fish curry with rice never fails to hit the spot. A humble, country-style curry This meen manga curry is a naadan-style curry, a rustic dish cooked by fisherfolk and farmers alike. Locally…

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Breakfast/ Desserts & Sweets/ Recipes

Banana Amaranth Muffins

Banana Amaranth Muffins / www.quichentell.com

I made the softest, moistest, amaranth muffins to kickstart 2023. The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2023 to be The International Year of Millets, and what could be more apt than getting back on my blog with a millet-based recipe. These made-for-breakfast muffins are fibre and nutrient rich from amaranth flour, whole wheat flour and rolled oats and bursting with banana. The chocolate chips are the cherry on the…

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Recipes/ Rice, Grains, Noodles & Pasta/ Vegetables

Vaangi Bhat (Spiced Eggplant Rice)

Vaangi Bhat / www.quichentell.com

Vaangi Bhat literally means eggplant/aubergine/brinjal rice. And that’s exactly what it is – a dish of eggplant and rice lightly fried with an aromatic and nutty spice mixture. Vaangi bhat belongs to the cuisine of Karnataka in South India. It is an excellent one-dish meal and one of my favourite ways of cooking small, purple eggplants. Choose your eggplant Eggplants come in so many shapes and sizes and it is…

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Desserts & Sweets/ Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis

Chocolate Cherry Clafoutis / www.quichentell.com

A chocolate cherry clafoutis eats just as elegant, luscious and sophisticated as it sounds. It’s stone fruit season and I’ve been bingeing on darkly delicious cherries, which are at the cheapest right now. Apricots, plums, nectarines are filling fruit stalls now, jostling with mangoes, watermelons, litchis and melons. The abundance of fruit is my silver lining this scorching summer. What is a clafoutis? Trust the French to make even a…

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