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…
Rose Zellmer wrote to me that she was keen to do a guest post on my blog. She recounts her food adventures on www.gimmetasty.com and aims to spread happiness through food.Her idea of doing a gluten-free cake sounded delicious and healthy and so here it is for all you cake lovers. She has included a small informative note on making your own gluten-free flour mix. Happy reading! Living in a…
I’m excited to announce the very first guest post on the blog. Joe Hughes, aka the Village Baker, is an expert in techniques suited to home cooking, and especially baking. His website, http://village-bakery.com provides the latest home-style cooking news, techniques, tricks, and recipes. I hope his article proves handy to all you bread bakers out there. Happy baking! A few additions of veggies and fruits can go a long way in adding additional taste…
A stash of pistachios, and a windfall of walnuts from faraway Tehran had me rubbing my hands in glee as I got ready to bake a birthday cake for my husband’s birthday. I had a rich, smooth, somewhat adult, cappuccino cheesecake in mind but I also wanted to use the newly-arrived nuts in the cake. A salted walnut praline seemed like the perfect crunchy crown for the creamy, java-infused cheesecake. …
On some days I eat for comfort and on other days I cook to provide comfort. The embrace of food is real and close. And sometimes it’s okay to walk into its arms for succour. A particularly demanding week and long hours for the family, called for a dose of dolce on the weekend. I had a brown paper bag of beautiful scarlet apples and one of the most delightful…
Happiness is a slow, serendipitous lunch of grilled chicken in the dappled shade of the guava tree on a warm Sunday afternoon. With my foot firmly on the brake till Monday, my day dawned later than usual despite the robust renditions of the koels (cuckoos) residing in the fruit trees outside my bedroom window. Sunday papers read, floating on a ribbon of blues meandering through the house (from my better…
My Christmas was gluten-free. Every year, the holiday season leaves me feeling bloated from feasting on the holiday specials (and completely giving up festive food is neither possible nor probable). So this time, I tried to retain the quintessential flavours of the season by choosing lighter (and healthier) substitutes for ingredients that leave one feeling full and sluggish. I’m not normally on a 100% gluten-free diet the rest of the year,…
Glue. That’s what a bowl of oats meant to me growing up in boarding school. At breakfast, I could turn the bowl of porridge over my head and nothing. The gloop would hold its ground, strong and tenacious. I almost always never touched it. Oat porridge re-entered my life later on when I overcame my memories to try new oats recipes – both sweet and savoury. I’m partial to a…
Goan crab curry with rice on a lazy Sunday afternoon with my family is a quiet affair. The cracking of shells and the sucking of juices the only sounds. A big bowl sits at the centre of the dining table, filling up fast with remnants of soft, chewed-up shells, and vermillion shards of hard shells; every tender crabby morsel having been patiently prised out. Crab curry, in my home, is…