A watermelon salad was just what the doctor ordered when my stomach needed rest from rich, heavy food. Watermelon and feta salads are popular but this post is an Asian take on that classic combination. This watermelon salad has silken tofu marinated in a tangy, savoury dressing – it’s lighter with a beautiful balance of sour, sweet and salty flavours. Why you should marinate the tofu I like the soft,…
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…
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…
I refuse to call coconut milk rasam mulligatawny soup with coconut milk just because the English (read British) decided to call rasam by that ridiculous if not incorrect name. Rasam or milagu (pepper) tanni (water), a literal translation from Tamil, according to me, is actually anything but that – pepper and water. Rasam or charu (in Telugu) like this coconut milk rasam has a unique aroma and flavour that comes…
Lasooni tikka or lehsuni tikka is a little less famous than its cousin the murgh or chicken tikka. But in my book, it gets more points for its bold, garlicky, savouriness. This past weekend we ate fresh, homemade whole wheat pitas with meaty mounds of velvety lasooni murgh tikkas and crunchy salad nestled within with a dousing of tangy mint chutney and a creamy cashew nut sauce. What a lunch…
I ate the best crispy coconut prawns at The Green Turtle, a charming little restaurant on a white sand beach in Mozambique. Everything about that experience was magical – the spotless sand beside the turquoise Indian Ocean, the beautiful verandah-style restaurant, the delicious coconut water and rum cocktails and of course, golden, crispy and succulent coconut crusted prawns served in a coconut shell.. Crispy coconut prawns are a popular appetiser…
You can tell, blindfolded, when Kerala prawn masala is on the menu. First, you smell the curry leaves, then the pepper or maybe the cinnamon, cloves or fennel seed and don’t forget the prawns. …
I craved lamb rasam on a cold winter evening. Tangy, meaty and peppery, it was the warm hug I needed to keep me cosy and safe from the December chill outside. Rasam is the Jewish penicillin of South India. Every home has their favourite rasam recipe passed down from great grandmothers and grandmothers, to cure all manner of colds, coughs and sniffles. Rasams are thin, mainly vegetarian soups with either…
Warm chicken corn soup stills my soul as rain gushes in waterfalls down the woody roots of the banyan tree outside my balcony. Few things offer succour and sustenance like a bowl of homemade chicken soup, during these days of incessant downpours. This bowl, is a lemon and chilli-infused, Mexican-style chicken soup rather than the ubiquitous Chinese creamed corn version that we see dished out in melamine bowls by street…
A shrimp salad came to mind when I spotted a box of glistening green tomatoes at the vegetable store. Don’t know why, but the idea of fat, crispy shrimps nestling in a big bowl loaded with a tumble of fresh, emerald tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers and fragrant herbs set off my imagination. Then I thought, a big bowl of that doused with an Asian-style dressing, all salty and lemony would make…