I use packaged jackfruit in this recipe (the vacuum-sealed stuff), but I’m already plotting buying a whole jackfruit and hacking into it the next time I want to make something. We are a household of three (where one is a 6-month old), so what I’ll do with all that meat I don’t know. But that… Read more »

If you’re someone that enjoys a good risotto but could do without all that one-ladle-at-a-time fuss, orzo is just the ticket. Whoever thought up the idea to make pasta that resembles rice?! (albeit a large grain of rice). Ingenious! What’s also great about this short-cut pasta is that it cooks in half the time because… Read more »

Keeping with the theme of salads for breakfast, here’s my charred broccoli with (dried) cranberries and a spicy tahini dressing. I had a general idea of the flavours I wanted to use here: the slight bitterness from charred broccoli, with pops of sour and sweet from the dried fruit. The tahini gives this dish a… Read more »

It’s been a minute since I’ve been on here, and in a move that will surprise absolutely no one, I’ve resurfaced with a recipe that features aubergine, tomato and red peppers. And chilli butter. And garlic yogurt. I’m nothing if not a one trick pony. BUT, in my defence though, I can’t think of a… Read more »

We eat all kinds of things for breakfast. Pancakes, waffles and French toasts—in all their various forms—make an appearance at least every other weekend, as do savoury porridges, quesadillas, honey chilli potatoes (brilliant alongside Turkish eggs), fritters, ratatouille and grilled vegetables. Salads too – both fruit and veg. Given this, classifying something under the breakfast… Read more »

Colcannon—a St.Patrick’s day staple—is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes cooked with cabbage or kale. I usually make fritters or potato pancakes if I have leftover mash knocking about the fridge. (Not that boiling potatoes is hard work; please just cook some if you don’t have leftovers.) And in my quest to jam vegetables… Read more »

I’m all about savoury oats these days. The inclination to savourize (?) crept in with mushroom congee a few months ago and we’ve been eating it every fortnight since. It might also possibly be one of the nicest things I’ve made this year (along with a mushroom orzo which will make an appearance here shortly)…. Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »