My red fish curry was born from my love of fish curries from the western coast of India. It’s not ‘authentic’ in the sense that it incorporates elements from Malvani, Goan and even Malabari cuisines. Although each of these regional cuisines is different in its basic flavours and in the way it combines seafood, spices and other aromatics to create unique dishes, more than a few ingredients are common to…
Today I’m sharing an Odia mutton curry with you. My mother, 72, is a gynaecologist who also works with HIV positive people and tuberculosis patients, besides dishing up a mean Odia style mutton curry. A pure vegetarian (who didn’t even eat eggs) when she joined med school, she discovered the pleasure of eating meat when she started seeing Dad, a fish and meat eating Odia classmate. From then to now…
I refuse to call coconut milk rasam mulligatawny soup with coconut milk just because the English (read British) decided to call rasam by that ridiculous if not incorrect name. Rasam or milagu (pepper) tanni (water), a literal translation from Tamil, according to me, is actually anything but that – pepper and water. Rasam or charu (in Telugu) like this coconut milk rasam has a unique aroma and flavour that comes…
I should call this post sukha chicken for bachelors because of how easy it is to cook this dish. But plenty of bachelors are great cooks so I’ll just say that this is arguably one of the easiest chicken dishes to make. Perfect for newbies, it is a go-to dish in a pinch or when time’s at a premium. Sukha chicken or dry chicken is simple and yet disproportionately chock…
This post on pineapple gojju, is about pinning a food memory from my Bengaluru school days on the blog. It’s a testimony to all the delicious gojjus – tomato, bitter gourd (bitter melon) and onion – that I ate at Kannada weddings and delicious, home-style meals. I used to visit my aunt on weekends (boarding school rules); and became great friends with her neighbour’s daughter and was lucky to share…
Lasooni tikka or lehsuni tikka is a little less famous than its cousin the murgh or chicken tikka. But in my book, it gets more points for its bold, garlicky, savouriness. This past weekend we ate fresh, homemade whole wheat pitas with meaty mounds of velvety lasooni murgh tikkas and crunchy salad nestled within with a dousing of tangy mint chutney and a creamy cashew nut sauce. What a lunch…
I was delighted by this pineapple coconut cake. It’s inspired by the Upside Down Pineapple Cake in Rose Bernbaum’s The Cake Bible with omissions, additions and some change in technique. My first attempt tasted delicious but had issues with the texture of the crumb. A couple of tweaks made all the difference and on the second attempt it tasted, looked and felt just right. Summer has segued to the monsoon…
A prawn pulao is always a crowd pleaser. Seafood and rice have a synergetic relationship and together create the most soul-satisfying dishes, paella for example. One of my favourite comfort foods is a plate of fish curry and plain steamed rice. It needs nothing else, no side dishes, relishes or accompaniments required. The prawn pulao is similar. We’re a seafood loving family and when my local fish seller had a…
In this post, I celebrate the season’s bounty of mangoes with a mango phirni – a coconut and mango rice pudding that’s 100% vegan. No dairy at all. If you’re familiar with kheer and phirni, you’ll know that they are Indian, milk-based rice puddings. Now purists may turn up their noses but this phirni is made without so much as a drop of milk. Neither does it use non-dairy milk…
Freshly baked yoghurt and honey muffins for Sunday breakfast in the midst of self-imposed quarantine brought a quiet but much-needed joy to my family’s table. Not fancy, or pretty with a plump swirl of buttercream, but they were satisfying and comforting. Their subtle, honeyed sweetness and yoghurt-enriched, pillowy crumb tasted of delicious, home-baked reassurance. These yoghurt and honey muffins are eggless. Eggs are used in muffins to aerate the batter,…