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

  • MUSHROOM MISO SOUP

    I can’t stop buying mushrooms. No seriously, it’s a bit of a problem. I’ll have two punnets in the fridge, go shopping with a clear meal plan and a concise list, and end up driving back with two more punnets stashed in the bag. 800 grams to use up in 3 days before they go… Read more »

  • LIGHTER ETON MESS

    Eton mess – the quintessential summer dessert. (Not in Chennai though; strawberries usually make an appearance here in Jan.) Either way, it’s almost the end of season now and I wanted to quickly pop by and show you this easy way to gorge on them whilst they’re still around. Having said that, I’ve preemptively devised… Read more »

  • OVEN-ROASTED PATATAS BRAVAS

    Patatas bravas or ‘spicy potatoes’ is a dish native to Spain, and served typically as a part of tapas: small plates of shared food. Like most tapas dishes go, they’re pretty straight-forward and simple to make but without compromising on flavour. Full disclosure: I’ve never been to Spain. Everything I know about their food only… Read more »

  • CAPONATA & GARLIC BREAD CASSEROLE

    Given that a major chunk of my life’s mission is to French toast and ‘casserole’ everything, I’m making a case for this caponata version today. Both French toasts and casseroles are ideal candidates to use up leftover bread. A stale/dried up loaf is actually a good thing in both cases. In French toasts, a dry… Read more »

  • BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH PARMESAN AND ORANGE

    I’ve found that the best way to crisp up Brussels sprouts is in the oven. First halve them lengthways, toss in olive oil and salt, and lay them hump side up on a baking tray. Roast in a hot oven until the tops are crackly and look like they’re on the verge of being burnt…. Read more »

  • AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA SUB

    This recipe is long overdue, especially considering the sheer number of times I’ve made it over the last couple weeks. I saw it on the MOB kitchen website and knew I had to try it. Some recipes are like that – I’ll see it and I know we’ll love it. This was one such. Not… Read more »

  • BREAKFAST CAESAR SALAD WITH PEPPERONI

    I call this a breakfast salad cos, well, you know, it has bread and eggs. And I eat it for breakfast. (Food names and classifications are so arbitrary though – this could just as easily be eaten as a part of another meal too of course). Caesar salad – a classic. I didn’t mean to… Read more »

  • QUINOA PORRIDGE WITH STRAWBERRIES

    If you’re looking to switch up your breakfast porridge and give oatmeal a break, this one’s for you. The problem with quinoa for breakfast (or at any time, to be honest), is that it takes an age to cook. To get around this, I soak it the previous night (in the fridge). Soaking softens the… Read more »

  • JACKFRUIT GYROS

    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 »

  • MUSHROOM AND SPINACH ORZO

    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 »

  • CHARRED BROCCOLI WITH CRANBERRIES & TAHINI

    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 »

  • ROASTED AUBERGINE AND RED PEPPERS + GARLIC YOGURT + CHILLI BUTTER

    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 »

  • BEANS WITH ZUCCHINI, KALE & BOILED EGGS

    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 FRITTERS + BURST CHERRY TOMATOES

    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 »

  • SPINACH OATMEAL

    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 »