RATATOUILLE WITH PESTO CHEESE

I want to focus on this pesto cheese for a minute before I go any further. You know how you end up buying a big bunch of basil, use a tiny amount in your dish and the rest just rots in your fridge? My solution to this recurring problem: pesto cheese. Having pesto in your… Read more »

GREEN BEANS WITH OLIVE-ALMOND TAPENADE

This won’t come as a surprise at all. Even if you’ve only seen a tiny glimpse of my posts these past few years, you’ll know that I’m a bit obsessed with tapenades. Especially the olive kind. A traditional tapenade (Provencal, I believe) is served as a spread to be slathered on bread, or used to… Read more »

ROASTED TOMATO & RED PEPPER SOUP

Let’s be honest. You don’t ever have a dedicated ‘soup season’ when you live in a place like Chennai. Unless they’re of the chilled variety of course. Those we can do anytime of the year. But come October, when the weather turns and the rains set in, it’s the best time as any to get… Read more »

LABNEH WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS + CHILLI BUTTER

I don’t know what category of foods this dish falls under – is it a dip? A salad of sorts? A side? None and all of the above? Who’s to say, but we ate it piled high on homemade garlic bread, so I’m leaning towards it being a dip. Making labneh at home is nothing… Read more »

LEEK, MUSHROOM & EGG QUESADILLAS

These are my go-to flour tortillas. With a ratio of 2:1 of plain flour to whole wheat, they are straightforward to make and don’t dry out and harden upon cooking. They also don’t feel like there’s even a trace of whole wheat in them. Basically we’re avoiding all the things homemade tortillas are notorious for…. Read more »

GREEK SCRAMBLED EGGS

I like my scrambled eggs just set. Holding its shape and all the watery bits cooked out, but with soft, large, barely-set curds. They cook in under a minute and you need a non-stick pan for the job (kudos if you’ve managed to do this in cast-iron; they come out like rubbery pucks in mine)…. Read more »

CHICKEN SALAD WITH TAHINI DRESSING

Caesar, but not quite Caesar. I’ll elaborate: this salad has all the makings of a typical Caesar salad—lettuce, toasted bread, Dijon, anchovies, garlic, lemon and olive oil—but with one wildcard ingredient..tahini! Sounds strange to be adding this Middle Eastern sesame paste into the mix, but its nutty creaminess really complements the punchy hit of Dijon… Read more »

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS WITH PEAR & GINGER COMPOTE

I lived in Yorkshire for a year and a half and never learned to make Yorkshire puds there (I did eat my fair share of them though). And here I am in Chennai fiddling about with ratios and proportions. I wish I’d foreseen this obsession a bit sooner. But thankfully these are ridiculously easy to… Read more »

OATMEAL CONGEE WITH MUSHROOMS

At this rate, I may as well make it official, pivot into a ‘breakfast only’ website and not worry about my lack of enthusiasm for anything else. If you’ll stick around, I promise to make it worth your while with (more!) French toast variations and nestling eggs into anything that even closely resembles a sauce…. Read more »

OVEN-ROASTED HONEY-CHILLI POTATOES

I often replace potatoes in recipes with yams, sweet potatoes and plantains. Not just for their better nutritional content, but also to get some variety in the food that we eat at home. Needless to say, I obviously wouldn’t replace them if they didn’t taste good. They do of course taste good. Dare I say,… Read more »

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Latest

  • Spaghetti with roasted red pepper & cream sauce

    Roasting peppers is something that we don’t do often enough. The tender smoky flesh inside all that charred blackness is the heart of this dish, literally and metaphorically speaking. This simple pasta dish has it all – it’s wholesome, not entirely different from what makes it comforting, and makes for a very fulfilling meal.

  • Mixed tomato salad with pesto

    This recipe (and a blog update) has been long overdue. But I think I may have found the perfect way to end this lengthy hiatus – a quick and easy tomato salad with a vibrant pesto dressing. Just wanted to subtly also point out that ALL THE TOMATOES WERE GROWN IN MY GARDEN! All organic… Read more »

  • Black bean, egg and mushroom fried rice

    Chinese black bean has been all the rage in our household for a while now. Known as Douchi in Chinese, they are essentially black soy beans that are heavily salted and fermented and used extensively to flavour everything from stir-fried vegetables and meats, eggs, to rice dishes. These little umami-laden nuggets are salty and sweet… Read more »

  • South-Indian chicken soup

    This is my great-grandmother’s recipe. I think it was passed down to her from her mother or grandmother, but this is how far back I’ve been able to trace it. When a recipe dates back almost 120 years, you know it’s special. The sense of nostalgia and comfort that this aromatic hot bowl of soup… Read more »

  • Chorizo, spinach & tomato frittata

    Anything that is meant to be set just right “with a slight wobble to it” intimidates me. Cheesecake, crème caramel, quiche, custard pies..I fear you. The first recipe that I came across for a frittata looked pretty simple to follow, ingredients accessible, but the oven timings “varying widely” bit really got to me. I chickened… Read more »

  • Moroccan spiced carrots with harissa, cumin & maple syrup

    Harissa is a North-African spice paste that blows my mind (and mouth) on many different levels. Roasted peppers, chillies, coriander, garlic and spices form its base, and this fiery blend is used extensively to flavour meats, soups, stews, and couscous, apart from being used as a condiment in dips etc. I read somewhere that it’s… Read more »

  • Balsamic-roasted Brussels sprouts

    I have kale growing in my little terrace garden. When you look up information on plants that can handle humidity and soaring temperatures in tropical climates, kale is definitely one that wouldn’t feature anywhere on that list. I wouldn’t go so far as to say my plants are in the best shape (they seem to… Read more »

  • Lotus stem with chilli and honey

    I have this really annoying habit. I like to peer into other people’s shopping baskets to see what they’ve bought, and try and figure out what they might end up doing with it. I mean, I think you really can tell a lot about a person by what’s in their grocery basket. Shopping cart psychology… Read more »

  • Sticky toffee pudding

    I agree that this may not be the prettiest looking pudding out there, but I assure you that what it lacks in aesthetic appeal is more than compensated for in taste. Now that we are on this topic, I have a question – how on earth do you make something that’s sticky and gooey look… Read more »

  • Chicken quesadillas

    While you see some simple, regular chicken quesadillas here, what I see is a Mexican – Portuguese twist on what was supposed to be just simple, regular quesadillas. I mean, I’ve been planning to make them for so long now, I even had it all planned out for dinner next week..and then this happens (I meant… Read more »

  • Cajun-roasted sweet potato fries

    This is completely different – fries, but ones with the most desirable culmination of sweet and savoury. I hope I haven’t lost you yet, ‘cause these..these are so good. I love sweet potatoes. As you might’ve guessed from my earlier posts, I go a little cuckoo in the head with food pairings. Like this for instance…. Read more »

  • Zucchini Kimchi

    A lot of Chinese restaurants in India serve Kimchi as a condiment. That tastes like Indian pickle. Tossed with chilli powder and salt (and sometimes spices. eek). Having said that though, I do always end up mindlessly munching my way down half a bowl of the stuff whilst contemplating what to eat. I mean, it’s… Read more »

  • Honeydew melon & cucumber gazpacho

    Who goes and puts honeydew melon in a soup, right? Sounds bizarre. If you feel the same way, I wouldn’t blame you. But..I like bizarre. And this gazpacho is kind of just that. I’ve tried very hard to visually capture the exact texture of this soup, but I’m not sure if I’ve done a good… Read more »

  • Yogurt syllabub

    I know it sounds like I just made this word up! Syllabub is an English dessert that’s made with milk that’s been curdled either with wine or any other form of acid before being flavoured and sweetened. I’ve used yogurt here which we know has already undergone that process, so it’s essentially just a flavoured… Read more »

  • Passion fruit cordial

    My parents lived in the outskirts of the city in our farmhouse for a few years, while I was studying in boarding school. Even though I never got to be home for long periods of time at a stretch, I clearly remember really looking forward to going back there for the holidays. Our house had… Read more »