Baking a simple lemon almond cake in the midst of a crippling pandemic gave me much needed joy and feeling of gratitude for the life that I have. Forced to be frugal, with shortages of ingredients, my choices had to be based on what was in my pantry and fridge. Craving a cake and having run out of all things chocolate, I had to make do with what I had.…
This cast iron roast chicken is one of those dishes that looks like I spent hours in the kitchen slaving over it. Truth is, this recipe, based on an Ina Garten original, couldn’t be simpler. It’s a testimony to the brilliance of cast iron skillets when it comes to roasting or browning meat. No other baking / roasting dish, pan or tray comes close.When you cook a cast iron roast…
As egg curry recipes go, this one is not a traditional one since cashew-based lamb/mutton and chicken curries are de rigueur but not egg curries. I saw no reason why a rich, mughlai-style curry such as this could not be paired with eggs. So I tried it. And it turned out really well. Paired with rotis, parathas or any other Indian bread, this creamy cashew egg curry makes for a…
My walnut crumble cake could well be titled ‘yoghurt cake’ because it has a generous quantity of yoghurt. This walnut and date topped cake is plumped up by full-fat yoghurt which yields a delightfully moist and tender crumb. So you have a wholesome, buttery, yoghurt-rich cake with crunchy, sweet-salty walnut crumble in the centre and on top. A double walnut crumble cake if you like. Curd, that’s Indian for yoghurt,…
Winter is leaving. And with it, are sweet, red carrots that’ll soon be gone from the markets. So a whole wheat carrot cake is my way of bidding the season adieu.…
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. …
A gluten-free banana bread with the goodness of whole grain flours. This Gluten-Free Eggless Banana Bread is made with my very first, homemade gluten-free flour blend. I’m not gluten-free 100 per cent of the time but ever so often, I like to eat a cake, a flatbread, bread or pancake that is satisfying yet light on the tummy. Very often, I’ve found gluten-free flour blends to be merely a combination…
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…
This custard apple kulfi is a riff on custard apple ice cream made by one of my favourite ice cream brands. If imitation is the best form of flattery, then I plead guilty. My weakness for soft, creamy, and fragrant eggshell-white charms of custard apple ice cream gave me the idea of bringing these flavours to a kulfi. A velvetty, custardy frozen dessert, traditionally flavoured with saffron and and cardamom,…
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…