I’ve been cooking fish since I was thirteen or fourteen. Plump, bright-eyed rohu, catla ( both varieties of South Asian carp) and other freshwater fish were staples on our table. I even recall cleaning and gutting them without feeling squeamish. Cooking fish these days normally involves sea fish, as my kitchen moves with my husband’s job from one coastal city to another. This most recent relocation has brought me back…
A little rosemary can sing. It transformed the humble flour, salt and potatoes into Whole Wheat Potato And Rosemary Flatbread. Frugal and so fundamental, the flatbread made for clean, elegant eating with a chilled glass of white and warm company. Sometimes it takes so little to feel contentment – for me it was an afternoon of rosemary-scented quiet comfort. …
Banana and coffee meld marvelously yet hold their own in this grain-free bread. It is built with ground almonds and oatmeal with cornflour acting as the cement. In this banana bread recipe, I’ve tried a riff on the classic and combined the vanilla sweetness of ripe bananas with the delicious and dark complexity of coffee. I even dropped the butter for fragrant, cold-pressed coconut oil. So obviously, I had…
Coconut palms line the sea shore, the countless lagoons and backwaters and populate the landscape of Kerala like a mammoth standing army. Is it any wonder then that the bounty they yield complements the delicious gifts that the sea bestows on this rich land. Seafood and coconuts – a match made in foodie heaven – inspired me to develop a pulao recipe that is as easy as it is…
Lately, all my online food haunts seem to be inundated with big, brown, fudgy squares, beckoning at every click. Overdosing on all the brownie porn induced a chronic craving within me. I needed an urgent brownie fix. I even dreamed of brownies – plain, marbled, glazed, layered, filled with nuts….. But waiting, shopping for ingredients, delaying was not an option. A new jar of peanut butter in my kitchen cupboard…
Your morning mug is not the only use for your coffee; you can incorporate ground coffee into many different sweet and savoury dishes. Steak rub, desserts and even stews, coffee can perk up the flavour of pretty much anything. A single roasted coffee bean has more than 800 aroma compounds and it can be matched with foods from avocado to pork. …
Sara Kayser and I must have exchanged more than 20 emails and a bunch of likes on Instagram and now she feels like an old friend. She has been generous enough to share her recipe for a Mexican-style lasagna that’s sure to feed friends and family. She blogs at theravenoushousewife.com, a blog that focuses on family-style and budget-friendly recipes. She’s partial to cooking pasta and baking cookies and is into all…
Mom makes a mean mutton keema pulao. She’s fast, unfussy and does not follow recipes. Her repertoire of pulaos (pilafs) and biryanis is extensive yet each every single one is cooked from memory backed-up by instinct. On my last visit, as I watched her put together her mutton keema pulao, I felt a strong urge to share the recipe. Busy moms everywhere could learn how to make pulao in a…
March was a month of crashing mangoes. In the short burst of spring the air was filled with the sticky scent of mango blossoms. Within a few weeks the same branches are bent low with fruit, eager to shed their weight. Temperatures climb higher every day and we yearn for cold, liquid comfort for our parched throats. Happily, the bounty of sour, raw green mangoes is perfect for making big jugs…
“Mom it tastes like Christmas”, said my 15-year-old taking his first bite of the millet cake. My experiments with millet recipes haven’t always been received with the same enthusiasm. Happily and hopefully, all that is about to change with this cake. I’m inclined more and more to bake with gluten-free flours, always seeking recipes where millet, nut and other healthier flours can replace regular flour. Many a millet recipe has…