Today’s post on whole wheat flatbread is inspired by the ‘green lady’. I see her almost every Saturday at our local food market. She’s often brushing away truant grains of soil dusting the table under bunches of beetroot; their darkly glistening, purple-veined leaves nudging fat cucumbers jostling for space with fire engine-red peppadews, jars of fresh horseradish, chilli oil and trays of speckled quail eggs. A ready smile rounds off…
I can never resist the offer of a cup of chai or coffee with my closest friends. What a delightfully cosy conspiracy it is; we share news and brews happily oblivious of the world outside our circle. Far in a foreign land now, I miss that reassuring ritual. Just to kick back, feel the knots untangle almost automatically at the sound of familiar voices and comfortable chemistry. Often, we nibble…
It has been a month now of baking my own bread and it’s time for a healthy but festive cinnamon raisin bread No more store-bought stuff if I can help it. This means that I have to get myself organised before the day of the baking. I find that early morning is a good time to start because it allows the dough 2 or 3 unhurried proofings, goes into the…
My husband was never interested in cooking. In food, yes but not in how it got on his plate. But he would compensate by making countless cups of tea, an occasional fried egg, doing the dishes and trips to the grocery store, on demand, sometimes for just one or two things. For many years, it continued like this, till he had to live for close to a year in a…
Baking a good loaf of bread, much less a baguette is a challenge at which I’ve failed more than I have succeeded. It is a science, an art and an instinct (I think) that has to be cultivated patiently with hours of practice. It is actually just simple chemistry between flour and yeast but the weather, the quality and consistency of the flour (which varies across brands and countries), the…
Would you believe me if I told you that every time I use lemons, I’m more than a little reluctant to throw away the skins? The need to somehow extract the maximum from these golden globes screams borderline OCD, even to me. To tell you the truth, I literally feel like I’m throwing so much of the essence of the lemon into the bin. Maybe because they seem to still…
Finally, a rain-spattered Sunday. The perfect kind of day for hot chicken wings. Clouds like floating African elephants hang low over my windows, threatening to crash down any moment. Think of a water filled plastic bag, ready to burst. Love it. All summer, burning eyes peeled on the dry blue skies, we waited for the faintest sign of moisture. Exhausted by bright, hot sunshine, spirits withering, we endured the blistering…
On a beach somewhere, sand between my toes, salt on my lips and the sea breeze teasing my hair, I’m lulled into a gentle somnolence by the blue rhythm of the waves. A tall, cold glass, a meaty slider and a book keep me company and I don’t know what time it is. Truth is, I’m in the middle of a heatwave, bored by chores, plotting an imaginary escape plan.…
My generation has climbed many a mango and guava tree. Scraped knees and elbows were easily forgotten while biting into tangy, raw guavas hastily wiped on dusty tee shirts and frocks. A sprinkling of salt on the hard, sour flesh gave us puckered lips amid noisy smacking of tongues. Sometimes if we got lucky, our haul would include more ripe fruits than raw ones. White or red inside with crunchy…
There were dark smudges everywhere. Black flecked my clothes, pushed under my nails and settled on the counter like onyx dust. A dead give-away to the goings on in my kitchen. The culprit was black cocoa. The key ingredient in arguably, my best brownie recipe. And what’s great is that this is an easy chocolate brownie recipe.…