This post on Corn Handvo is my nod to snacking season. With the monsoon rains pouring down, a cup of chai and snacks are a must-do activity with family and friends. A lighter handvo Handvo, as we know is a baked, savoury cake made from a fermented batter of rice and a couple of varieties of lentils, a vegetable (like the bottle gourd or lauki) and yoghurt. Corn Handvo, as…
I cannot let the summer go by without making my Mango Kesar Kulfi. I’m sure you have your own favourite kulfi recipes, but do try this one. It’s easy and a delightful embodiment of everything that is an Indian mango – sweet, fragrant and indulgent. How to make a luxe kulfi Traditional kulfi recipes require patiently boiling milk to reduce it to a desired thickness. This is time consuming and…
Sometimes a simple Black-Eyed Pea Salad is all one needs, when it’s too hot to cook and the body craves freshness. Black-eyed peas (actually a bean), commonly known as lobia, is something most of us have in our larders. Combined with crisp vegetables and a sharp, tangy dressing, they make a satisfying summer dish. This one is as delicious as it is colourful and healthy. How to prepare the ingredients…
My obsession with nutritious summer salads continues with an Easy Carrot Salad with Tofu. This one again is a meal in itself, with a healthy portion of protein accompanied by crunchy vegetables and fat in the form of roasted peanuts. How to keep the salad fresh and crunchy This Easy Carrot Salad with Tofu like many other salads tastes best when the raw ingredients, i.e., the vegetables and herbs are…
I know my Crispy Tofu Fried Rice looks loaded with more vegetables than is the norm. That’s because it’s meant to be a one-bowl meal. I love it. It has that salty umami that we love in Asian food and the added bonus of crisp-outside, juicy-inside chunks of tofu. This Crispy Tofu Fried Rice is a texture and flavour bomb, all in one bowl. How to cook the tofu to…
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,…
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…
This spinach and corn quiche had to be made to use up some of the big batch of fresh, tender spinach from my garden. The rest went into a raw spinach salad and spinach pararthas. Whole wheat and olive oil quiche crust A quiche crust is meant to be a light and flaky shortcrust pastry made with cold butter and AP flour. Now, I love a flaky, buttery crust but…
This carrot thogayal recipe was shared by a dear friend’s mother, who has a vast repertoire of thogayals in her culinary quiver. Thogayal or thuviyal is essentially Tamil for chutney. Thick and on the drier side, it has similar versions in Kerala known as chammanthi and thokku in Andhra. This particular carrot thogayal is typical of the cuisine of the Iyer community of Palakkad; Tamil brahmins who migrated to this…
It’s both delightful and amazing how a humble dish such as this radish pachadi or radish chutney can so dramatically elevate a simple home-style meal of rice and dal. Telugu cuisine, both from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is famed for its pachadis – the word is used for both chutneys (which are generally ground or pulped) and pickles (which usually have chunks of the fruit/vegetable). In this case, the radish…