ORANGE CHICKEN SALAD

This is exactly what you think it is: Asian-style orange chicken, but served without the rice and instead fashioned into a scrummy salad. I air fried the chicken here, but you could just as easily get similar results (albeit with a bit more oil) with baking or pan-frying them.  Coat the chicken pieces (I like… Read more »

KIMCHI, TOFU & NORI FRIED RICE

I’ve been writing on here for more than 9 years now. Many things have changed and evolved along the way—priorities, methodologies, ideas—but one thing remains intact: I still forget to cook my rice. Just thought I’d point out that some things are still familiar around here. (A nifty trick – once the rice is cooked… Read more »

CHICKEN OATMEAL CONGEE

Eating a hot breakfast is a rarity in my world. It’s usually a cup of coffee and a banana (with a protein shake in hand) before I rush out the door with my toddler in tow. We do find time to make it a family affair on the weekends though, and for that I’m grateful…. Read more »

DATE BARK

Date barks are all the rage right now. It first made an appearance in a viral tiktok video (I think?) and soon started making its rounds on every food platform known to humankind. I saw it and instantly knew I had to try it. Some recipes are like that; you just know they’re going to… Read more »

CARAMELISED APPLE SALAD

Have some salad leaves wilting in the fridge? Here’s a good recipe to use it for. Don’t have salad leaves wilting in the fridge? Maybe buy some to try this recipe then? My solidly convincing arguments aside, this salad is so delicious and takes 15 mins from start (washing your lettuce) to finish (forking it… Read more »

PUMPKIN HUMMUS + SPICED BUTTER

  Pumpkin hummus. The usual crew: chickpeas, sesame (I use seeds; not store-bought tahini), lemon juice.  To dial up the natural sweetness of the pumpkin, we roast it in the oven until soft and yielding. Halve a whole head of garlic, wrap in foil, and add to the roasting tray along with the pumpkin. Once… Read more »

AIR FRYER PANKO FISH + MANGO SALSA

And as if on cue, I’m back with another seasonal mango recipe at the tail-end of mango season, when all you see on grocery shelves are varieties that are too sour to eat or popular ones past their prime. Which admittedly, is kind of the whole point of this dish. In an effort to prolong… Read more »

CHILLI OIL BROCCOLI & GREEN BEANS

When things are quiet around here it’s usually one of two things: I’m eating the same thing on repeat, or my 35-year-old body is giving out with toddler sleep regressions. Thankfully it’s the former this time around.  This is an easy side to make and it features heavily in our meal rotations. Even easier if… Read more »

PUMPKIN & FETA ORZO

I’m a creature of habit when it comes to pastas. I don’t do many meat versions either. (A vegetarian husband requires that my meat component is always on the side, and never in the pasta itself.) To make it into our regular meal rotations I make sure my pasta dishes follow these general rules. 1)… Read more »

BLUEBERRY & CHIA FILLED CHOCOLATES

I can count with one hand the number of times I’ve made a baked dessert this year. I don’t particularly enjoy tasks that involve precise measurements and temps (I find it counterintuitive to go down this path when I use cooking as a de-stress mechanism). Bunging things into a pan is my jam. This recipe… Read more »

Latest
  • Aubergine Parmigiana (Melanzane alla Parmigiana)

    Remember that time I made this aubergine and broccoli pasta bake? So this is a slight variation from that, with regard to inspiration (and photo clarity. Thank goodness!) I’m slowly trying to get my head around exploring the plethora of options and features on my DSLR, so please bear with me as I share the developments… Read more »

  • DIY : Thai yellow curry paste

    There are precisely 2 things that make cooking Thai food from scratch hard for me. One, you don’t get the necessary ingredients very easily here; lemon grass, whenever I get my hands on I bulk buy and freeze, and kaffir lime leaves are almost never available (replacing it with lime rind I’ve found to be… Read more »

  • Cinnamon French toast with stewed apples

    I think this is my first breakfast dish on here. Which when I think about, doesn’t make any sense since I’m that person that loves to eat breakfast foods at any time of the day. No strict time restrictions in my head. A full English breakfast for lunch? Oh yes, please. Dosa for dinner? Hell… Read more »

  • Lime & Basil Iced tea

    I have an affinity for iced teas. Living in a city with soaring temperatures and oppressive humidity all year round, that doesn’t come as much of a surprise. My favourite would have to be the plain lemon iced tea closely followed by this peach version, but of late I’ve been trying a few other variations… Read more »

  • FULLY LOADED BEEF TACOS (with re-fried beans, purple cabbage yogurt-slaw, guacamole, and salsa)

    Sitting amidst the chaos that is moving houses is not the perfect setting I’d envisioned to share this recipe with you. But if you think about it, it is fitting in a way : all the separate components coming together in the end in perfect harmony (which will hopefully be the case with the home… Read more »

  • BRUSCHETTA PLATTER (with tomato & basil, mushroom & thyme, olive-caper tapenade, and oven-dried tomatoes)

    I never realized this until now, but food blogging brings together a few of my favourite things..cooking (of course), food styling & food photography (which have been a more recent discovery) and my penchant for mindless writing. Don’t get me wrong, I make sure that the recipes that I post on here are my absolute… Read more »

  • Apple tarte tatin & an anniversary

    I know I’m treading on the territory of culinary arrogance when I say this, but I don’t understand why the Tarte Tatin has been regarded as an insurmountable feat for an amateur cook. Sure, the caramel is a blink-and-it’s burnt kind of ordeal but other than that, it’s literally just some minor pastry action (shop-bought one at… Read more »

  • Chicken laksa

    I’m so excited to tell you about this recipe. I’ve made this laksa a few times now, tweaking it here and there and adding/omitting ingredients along the way, and I think what I’ve landed up with now pretty much hits the spot, if I do say so myself. If you’ve already taken a quick glance… Read more »

  • Couscous with roasted vegetables

    Is it just me, or did you also think that Couscous was a grain? I remember reading somewhere a while ago that it was actually a pasta in a minuscule granular form, but it must’ve completely skipped my mind when I made it alongside some Spaghetti arrabiata for dinner last night. How very un-savvy of… Read more »

  • Baked eggs with purple Amaranth

    Confession – I bought this without knowing what the hell it was, because it was purple. Didn’t have a name, and didn’t know what I was going to do with it. But I had to have it. A quick Google search along the lines of “purple spinach like plant” threw up a ton of options… Read more »

  • Roasted pumpkin & garlic soup

    I’ve been mildly obsessed with oven-roasting vegetables. In the last two weeks, I’ve made two huge batches of heirloom tomatoes (much to my family’s profound bliss), and now, this roasted pumpkin and garlic soup. I knew that the tomatoes would shrink in size upon roasting, but little did I know that all those 12 plump… Read more »

  • Spiced baked figs with Vanilla mascarpone

    I’ve recently discovered a part of myself that I never knew existed..an inherent need, a kind of maternal instinct if you will, to feed my family with an extra dose of fruit and vegetables. I’m not getting ahead of myself here, I’m still talking mascarpone, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be the kind of mum… Read more »

  • CHICKEN AND SOBA NOODLE SOUP

    I recently discovered the joys of Japanese Soba (buckwheat) noodles. I’d eaten it several times at restaurants, but only recently found out that a speciality store I frequent stocked them. If there was one term that I could use to describe this dish, I think ‘restorative’ would be it. The noodles, made from buckwheat flour… Read more »

  • Nectarine crumble

    Brace yourself for this. I may just have the simplest, quickest recipe for you which actually looks like you put in a whole load of effort (says the same person who layered lemon curd over fresh fruit and made it a dessert), so you know I’m onto something here. This crumble can be used as… Read more »

  • Peach iced tea

    We know that iced tea is synonymous with summer. It’s not often that I find peaches in my market, and the mere sight of these plump beauties had me so excited! For something that doesn’t grow locally, I expected them to be tart and almost inedible, leaving me with the only option of cooking them…. Read more »