ROASTED BEETS WITH GARLICKY YOGURT

I love a good beet number. Especially a good roasted beet number. Other than a few traditional South Indian preparations where they are sautéed in a pan (poriyal), or blended into a chutney, this is actually the only way I cook them. Beets get gloriously sweet and concentrated in flavour when roasted. A far cry… Read more »

ONE-POT RASAM RICE

Rasam rice is one of my favourite things to eat, and considering how it’s always described as ‘comfort food’, I’d wager this is the case for a lot of us. (After 10+ years of eating Kimchi Jiggae—Korean kimchi soup—I think at this point it comes a close second.) Rasam rice is simple enough to make… Read more »

VIETNAMESE RICE PAPER ROLLS

As Chennai goes through another sweltering summer, dishes like these offer a brief respite from both the cooking and eating perspectives. Other than the tofu which gets a quick fry in the pan, there’s no other cooking involved. Admittedly, they’re a bit fiddly to assemble and here—do as I say, not as I do—don’t overstuff… Read more »

CARROT, TOFU & EGG FRIED RICE

Whenever I develop recipes and throw them into our weekly rotation, they have to check a couple of boxes. In no particular order but all equally important: it should take less than 45 minutes from start to finish, all the ingredients must be easily available, and it has to include a good amount of fibre… Read more »

PUNCHY CHICKPEA SALAD WITH PICKLES AND FETA

Chickpeas are versatile, inexpensive, and an excellent source of protein and fibre. We should all be eating more of them, and here’s one way to add them to your rotation when you can’t think beyond hummus. I love a salad that can be bulked up with a bean or lentil, to the point where it… Read more »

MUHAMMARA (WITH TAMARIND)

We do a Mediterranean-inspired lunch almost every week. It usually involves chapatis (predictably, with some vegetable kneaded into the dough), hummus, a vegetable-and-paneer/potato cutlet, pickled onions, and a simple salad. Hummus is my sure-shot way of getting chickpeas into our weekly rotation. It goes down a treat with my preschooler, so I try not to… Read more »

BAKED FETA WITH MUSHROOMS, TOMATOES & PESTO

Remember the time during Covid, when the internet lost its collective mind over the baked feta trend? The original recipe came from Finnish food blogger Jenni Häyrinen, whose “uunifetapasta” (oven feta pasta) went viral in 2019 and made its way into kitchens everywhere. It was a genius move: Jenni nestled a block of feta among… Read more »

CANDIED WALNUTS WITH JAGGERY

My son and I often make these as part of birthday gifts to give out. They’re quick to pull together, fun to make, and always appreciated. Pile them into a glass jar, tie on a bit of ribbon or twine, and you’ve got a simple, thoughtful gift that feels personal without any of the fuss…. Read more »

SWEET & SPICY TOFU

There are a few tofu dishes that I go back to on repeat, and this sweet and spicy version is one of them. It pretends to be complicated, but it’s really just me, a frying pan, and a couple of bottles from the fridge door. Twenty minutes and you’ve got crisp, golden cubes in a sauce… Read more »

PUMPKIN, FIG & KALE SALAD

There are salads that feel like afterthoughts – a little something green pushed to the side of the plate. And then there are salads that demand attention, the kind that get eaten first and remembered last. This one is firmly in the latter camp. Sweet roasted pumpkin, jammy figs, and salty little nuggets of feta,… Read more »

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Latest

  • GUACAMOLE

    A recipe for guacamole after a two month hiatus may seem a little underwhelming. I completely understand that. This is, in fact just a basic recipe for it. But can I just say that this guac is so good, that I seriously contemplated categorizing it as a starter rather than as a dip (I usually… Read more »

  • SAMBAL OELEK ROASTED CHICKEN

    Sambal oelek or ulek as it is sometimes known, is a Southeast Asian spice paste that mainly comprises red chillies, salt and vinegar. Sometimes you’ll also find variations that are flavoured with shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, onions and fish sauce. Traditionally made using a mortar and pestle (that’s also how it derives its name), this… Read more »

  • PICKLED BANANA PEPPERS

    Banana peppers have been all the rage at the Kumar household these past couple of months. We eat them in stir-fries, stuffed with cottage cheese, rolled in tortillas, and if that list wasn’t enough, it’s now moved onto pickling! The thing about regular peppers for me is that I just find them so drab and… Read more »

  • SPICY FRIED CALAMARI

    There are two kinds of people in the world – people who love love love fried calamari, and those who are allergic to it and thus unfortunately cannot eat it. There is no hate in the equation, sorry. Safe to say that I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it, and I’m not sure I’d… Read more »

  • BASIL AND ALMOND PESTO

    Making pesto at home might quite possibly be the simplest DIY kitchen activity like, ever. This is a late realization however, since I’d found a good, organic variant in the shops and I was happy with it. I had an abundance of basil in my garden last week, and I realized that every time this… Read more »

  • MUSK MELON & STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE

    I’m almost embarrassed by how outrageously simple this recipe is. If you can even call it a recipe, that is. I’m not much of a ‘juicer’ in the modern sense that the concept seems to have taken on; I eat too. While I don’t condone this detox/diet approach to this new fad, I do however… Read more »

  • ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE

    I recently came across a video of Nigella Lawson making a clementine cake. The first step involved boiling the fruit for two hours and then blending it to make a purée; skin and all. It just made sense. I’ve made an orange cake before using just the zest, and so good though as it is,… Read more »

  • THE CLASSIC ARNOLD PALMER

    Arnold Palmer is revered as a legend in the golfing world and has gone down as one of the greatest players in the game’s history. I had heard of the guy. Did I know that there was a drink called Arnold Palmer that is the genius combination of iced tea and lemonade? I did. Did… Read more »

  • BOURBON NECTARINE COBBLER

    The otherwise evasive stone-fruit is still making a regular appearance here on the blog as you can see. I’ve been meaning to make a peach cobbler for the longest time now, and I still haven’t gotten down to it. Here’s one that’s just as delicious though, using its non-fuzzy counterpart, the nectarine. It tastes very… Read more »

  • MANGO & CARDAMOM LASSI

    If you’re looking for a super quick, super easy drink/snack, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve been on a mango binge ever since the season started, but most often than not, I end up eating them as is – peeling the skin back and diving straight in. Back home in Coimbatore, someone always has… Read more »

  • PEACH YOGURT CAKE

    Right around this time a year ago, I got back from my amazing trip to Turkey. Thanks to the booking website that we used, I still get very prompt reminders of my itinerary in my inbox : 361 days ago, you boarded a flight from Antalya; 363 days ago, you had an upset stomach after… Read more »

  • KALE, CUCUMBER & COCONUT WATER SMOOTHIE

    “The chill of a moderate frost or light snow improves the flavour of kale” states a popular website that I follow for advice on growing and caring for plants. However, as someone living in Chennai, I don’t think I could ever say that Kale is ‘in season’. It’s the peak of summer now, and the… Read more »

  • BASIC TOMATO SAUCE

    I may have inadvertently picked the perfect time to tell you about this recipe. It’s the beginning of the week and having this sauce on hand means that you can cruise through those weekday suppers like it ain’t no thing. We go through two jars of this stuff every week between the two of us,… Read more »

  • Banana bread

    I know it’s starting to look like a blog revolving around bananas around here. Stuffed banana peppers two weeks ago, and now it’s banana bread. I seem to be going bananas with this stuff! I know, not very ap-peeling and maybe we should split from this unplanned theme, but it’s almost as if someone’s plantain… Read more »

  • Stuffed banana peppers with tomato sauce

    When I started blogging, I seriously had no idea what would come out of it. I just knew that I really liked to cook, especially for my husband who, as it turns out, solely blames me for his having gained 7 kilos within 6 months of our marriage! And if I got lost in the… Read more »