I haven’t cooked much with bamboo shoot although I’ve eaten it quite a few times in curries, salads and pickles. Since both fresh and fermented bamboo shoots are available fairly easily, I decided to make a simple Bamboo Shoot Mutton Curry. This delicate curry with rice and papads was made for languid summer lunches with a cold drink on the side. Difference between fresh and fermented bamboo shoot If you’re…
I’m always looking for easy homemade sweets for festivals like Diwali. This coconut laddu fits the bill perfectly. Diwali cleaning, shopping and other prep leaves me little time to make complicated sweets, so this recipe works beautifully for me. Also, people are up to their gills in sweets and rich snacks; and so I believe in keeping what I serve, light, both in terms of sugar and fat (ghee in…
I was excited when the folks at BeeTee’s asked me to try Melt, their range of artisanal chocolates in my recipes. I received 3 of their chocolates and used one in the recipe I’m sharing with you today. They paid for this post but the opinions expressed here regarding the product are completely my own. Coconut milk chocolate anyone? When you get a delivery of free chocolates, you make chocolate…
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…
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…
I ate the best crispy coconut prawns at The Green Turtle, a charming little restaurant on a white sand beach in Mozambique. Everything about that experience was magical – the spotless sand beside the turquoise Indian Ocean, the beautiful verandah-style restaurant, the delicious coconut water and rum cocktails and of course, golden, crispy and succulent coconut crusted prawns served in a coconut shell.. Crispy coconut prawns are a popular appetiser…
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…
Coconut palms line the sea shore, the countless lagoons and backwaters and populate the landscape of Kerala like a mammoth standing army. Is it any wonder then that the bounty they yield complements the delicious gifts that the sea bestows on this rich land. Seafood and coconuts – a match made in foodie heaven – inspired me to develop a pulao recipe that is as easy as it is…
Big fish are overrated if you ask me. The giant tuna, sea bass and kingfish filets and steaks may be meatier but it’s the small fry that score big on taste, nutrition and sustainability. Fish recipes must focus on everyday catch that have traditionally been a vital part of our diet but are largely ignored these days for more expensive, imported, boneless, supermarket fare. This post on Fresh Anchovies With Coconut…
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…