Spring has magically breathed life into the earth and little green shoots and leaves are sprouting all over my garden. Brown is giving way to green and buds are bursting open to reveal their jewel-hued personalities. It seems that life is everywhere in its most vibrant and vigorous avatar. These days I delight in exploring the corners of my garden, looking for new life, and each time I spot a…
Like Sade’s velvety voice, the luxurious creamy texture of this Roasted Butternut Squash Avocado and Feta Salad, wraps you in a soft, downy, duvet. I wanted to make a filling salad sans meat, so I chose ingredients with rich texture that would perfectly complement crisp slices of a baguette. Butternut squash gets better when roasted with a splash of olive oil, acquiring a lovely caramelly crunch that adds an extra…
If you had to give freshness a colour (or colours), what would they be? I’m guessing green would be the most natural choice and white too because it’s clean and light. In the mood for a light-as-air meal that wouldn’t induce a food coma, I came up with this noodle soup, with only green or white ingredients. The thin soup and rice noodles sit like feathery down in your tummy,…
I know this doesn’t look like a cupcake all gloriously puffed and pretty but it is…a cupcake with lots of fruit and the crunch of walnuts. So it’s actually a fruitcake masquerading as a cupcake but it’s moist and so light; almost like a cloud of fruit (not dense and heavy like many fruitcakes can be). It also has very little flour which is there only to give the fruit…
Seduced by the sight of plump, red, juicy tomatoes (maybe they even winked at me), I bought a few kilos more than I needed. But no complaints, when I was yearning for a fresh, light, al fresco lunch on a Saturday afternoon, my gorgeous, crimson, Rubenesque beauties were just ripe for the…
Roast potatoes just got bold, brassy and bodacious in the fashion of Bollywood films. Dressed up in a rich spice mix, these roast potatoes can hold their own unlike plain salted roast potatoes. The recipe, adapted from Pushpesh Pant’s India Cookbook,is a fried potato dish from the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh known for its fiery cuisine. Cooking for a party, I figured it was much easier and less…
This is one of those dishes that just happen. It began with half a head of cauliflower and half a head of broccoli. Thought I’d roast them and make a pasta salad. Then remembered that I had some lovely, tangy sundried tomatoes, which would lift the relatively blander flavours of the…
Warm, one-bowl meals are my go-to dinners in winter. Love curling up with a steaming bowl in front of the TV on chilly evening with the wind stirring the pot outdoors. Why spend time in the kitchen, cold, when you can rustle up a quick and delicious meal? Before I go on, I must confess that the Thai red curry paste is from a bottle – but no apologies because…
A special prawn and rice dish for Sundays, holidays and even dinner parties. Ever since I picked up Pratibha Karan’s Biryani, my husband and son have been waiting for a biryani to pop out of the pages onto their plate. Their patience has been wearing thin and after months of broken promises, I decided to roll up my sleeves and grant them their wish.…
Well into Friday evening, was assailed by an intense craving for something sweet but didn’t want to spend too much time making an elaborate dessert. A quick flip through my recipe collection revealed this warm and crunchy pear crisp with a twist, and what a happy coincidence that I had a kilo of fresh blushing pears just bought the day before. Chopping the pear is the only real effort ,…