Meaty. That’s how we all like our burgers. Even the veggie burger has to have that deeply savoury, umami quality of meat to be truly satisfying. The challenge of making a flavour-packed veggie burger for my meat-loving boys made me experiment with everything from tofu to a variety of beans and whole grains. And, in the process I discovered that veggie burgers can be incredibly versatile; even more so than…
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…
What does a hummus recipe have in common with high school exams? When exam fever hits my 16-year old and he’s buried in his books all day, I need to stock up on healthy snacks that he can attack at any time morning, noon or night when he takes his refuelling breaks. And I’ve found that a couple or more bowls of different hummus in the fridge goes a long…
Consider a warm bowl of spiced breakfast quinoa on a chilly winter morning. It reaches inside you and touches your soul, warmly hugs you and makes you smile at the world. Quinoa,the “gold of the Incas” is all the rage and what they call a ‘pseudocereal’ – a non-grain masquerading as one. A chai-spiced quinoa lightly tumbled in honey is an easy enough recipe to put together in time for…
Eggplant, aubergine, brinjal, whatever the name, my boys don’t dig it. Not really. I’ve tried eggplant recipes of all kinds; fried, baked, grilled, roasted, they eat it but reluctantly. All this changed when I tried Maggie Zhu’s Chinese-style eggplant recipe from her beautiful site https://omnivorescookbook.com Her fried eggplants in a syrupy soy sauce inspired me to try my own version of the eggplant recipe. …
New Year’s Eve is one of the most celebrated occasions in the calendar year. We all want to enjoy the ushering of the new year with energy and happiness as well as wish to have special and unforgettable memories. Sweets and cakes are favourites on most dinner tables. If you are a cake lover then nothing can be more delicious than a beautiful cake. …
There are a thousand chicken thigh recipes out there to tempt you but I’ll go all out and say that my recipe for 7-Ingredient Sticky Chicken Thighs may be a lazy one but it will have you licking your fingers. I guarantee. It uses just just about 7 ingredients and you’ll hardly break a sweat cooking them and the result – moist chicken thighs coated with a delicious syrup,will be…
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…