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 »

POTATO NACHOS

I know what you’re thinking: those aren’t nachos. But hear me out. I’ve been leaning into potatoes a lot more lately. As a carb, they’re wildly underrated. I love the idea of using them in place of rice or wheat, which is how this slightly chaotic, very satisfying plate of potato nachos came to be…. Read more »

VEG-FORWARD JAPCHAE

This might be the first time you’re hearing the words sweet potato starch noodles, but I promise it won’t be the last. Japchae is one of those dishes that has no business being as good as it is—slippery glass noodles tangled with veg, a savoury-sweet sauce that hits every corner of your palate, and enough… Read more »

BEET & MISO HUMMUS

There’s always a beet lurking in the fridge a little longer than intended. This one had been sitting quietly in the vegetable drawer, still firm, still hopeful. I hadn’t planned to make hummus with it, but that’s how most good things start, isn’t it? Always roast your beets. Steaming or boiling just makes them flabby… Read more »

THAI-INSPIRED SQUID, PRAWN & GRAPEFRUIT SALAD

Somewhere between craving something light and realizing I had seafood to use up, this salad happened. It borrows a lot from Thai pomelo salad—fresh herbs, juicy citrus, plenty of crunch—but gets a protein upgrade because sometimes fruit and texture aren’t enough to count as a real meal. This is a salad that eats like dinner,… Read more »

BOK CHOY & SHIITAKE STIR-FRY

A quick yet satisfying lunch, brimming with vibrant greens and earthy mushrooms. True to the essence of a good stir-fry, it comes together in under 20 minutes, relying on pantry staples—save for the dried shiitakes, unless, like me, you deem them essential and keep a generous stock on hand. One of the best things about… Read more »

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 »

Latest
  • OVEN-BAKED GOBI MANCHURIAN

    My only real grief with gobi manchurian is that it’s fried. Not that I won’t eat it, it’s quite the opposite actually—I love it so much that I’ll eat it, and I’ll want to eat it every time I think about it. Oven-baking makes these a healthier option not to mention far easier and hassle-free… Read more »

  • BEETROOT RAITHA WITH COCONUT

    When I was photographing this raitha earlier today, my husband came into the room and said “I can’t believe you don’t have this one up yet.” I make this so often during the week, sometimes as a side that we eat alongside rice, and sometimes—I’m a weirdo if you didn’t get the memo—as a snack… Read more »

  • SPINACH, PANEER & TOMATO PASTA BAKE

    I called this an improv pasta bake when I posted it on Instagram a few days ago. That’s because I usually use this combination of sauces—the spinach and paneer sauce, and the tomato sauce—together but in different ways. I’ll explain that confusing statement: for example, I make these stuffed banana peppers where you roast banana… Read more »

  • OVEN-ROASTED ELEPHANT FOOT YAM

    I have recipes on here for oven-roasted sweet potato, taro, and now elephant foot yam. (Slowing inching closer to exhausting all the tuber options available to me.) Potatoes of course do very well in the oven: wedges, fries, baked potatoes, cubed and roasted, whole-roasted baby spuds – your imagination is your only limitation. And even… Read more »

  • SICHUAN-STYLE NOODLES

    By a show of hands, how many of you have looked up a recipe online that ‘serves 4’ (most recipes are written to scale to 4), cooked it, and then realized that there is nowhere close to enough food to feed the 4 people sitting at your table? I’ve been burned by this a few… Read more »

  • KADHI WITH ‘UNCONSTRUCTED’ PAKORAS

    Any recipe that has the word ‘deconstructed’ in it conjures up images of broken tart shells and food that has been meticulously and painstakingly cooked and then taken apart, or that’s been cooked as separate elements and then put together. I get it, and I’ve even tasted some dishes made in this manner that were… Read more »

  • KHICHDI WITH GREENS

    This recipe for khichdi is by no means unconventional, but I took the liberty to change things up a bit using what I found at the local market and what I had on hand. The most obvious one being the addition of greens (and local greens at that). I basically use whatever is fresh here… Read more »

  • HOW TO FREEZE SPINACH

    I live in a city where I can get my hands on fresh spinach all year round. I don’t freeze spinach because it’s seasonal or expensive (I save this for berries and mangoes!) I freeze because it’s convenient and readily available—in my fridge. Would you run down to your corner store to pick up a… Read more »

  • MEDITERRANEAN-ISH QUINOA

    If you’re someone that always has cooked quinoa lurking about in the fridge or freezer—or both (hi, we should be friends)—then this recipe is for you. Cooking quinoa is not hard work, but it definitely makes sense to do it in bigger batches than you’d immediately need, and stash the rest away for a day… Read more »

  • SUN-DRIED TOMATOES

    I have a recipe for oven-dried tomatoes on here which in hindsight seems a bit silly. When you live in a city like Chennai and have the sun at your disposal all year round, I can’t imagine why you’d need to even turn the oven on or need any form of gadgetry for this task…. Read more »

  • LOW-SUGAR MACERATED STRAWBERRY JAM

    Let’s address what sounds like that unnecessary first step: macerating strawberries. Maceration is a process by which fruits are tossed in sugar, lemon and flavourings—in the case of strawberries it’s usually rum, balsamic vinegar or vanilla. Maceration does two things: 1) Added sugar draws out the natural sugars from the strawberries, as a consequence intensifying… Read more »

  • ORANGE BIRCHER MUESLI

    Right off the bat, let me put it out there that this Bircher muesli is not traditional in any sense. I’ve taken the liberty to use what suits my convenience and palette and by all means, please feel free to do the same here with my recipe — I personally love this combination but it’s… Read more »

  • POMEGRANATE MOLASSES

    If you’ve been following along on Instagram, you will have noticed that this is my second batch of molasses in the past month. I had no complaints about the first batch except that it yielded a mere ¼ cup of molasses (I got up to a ½ cup thereabouts on the second run). I wanted… Read more »

  • ROASTED RED PEPPER AND WALNUT PESTO

    This recipe is part muhammara (roasted peppers + garlic + walnuts) and part pesto (basil + garlic + Parmesan). A few things that influenced my decision to go down this eclectic route – I wanted something that would keep for a while: seven large peppers would make a bigger batch than we would be able… Read more »

  • BLENDER BANANA OAT PANCAKES + BERRY COMPOTE

      Let’s face it, most recipes that substitute white flour with other options almost always turn out dodgy at best. At least for me they do. Processed-the-heck-out-of flour provides that aerated, light quality that its whole-wheat counterpart or other gluten-free options just cannot seem to compete with. Buckwheat tart shells, rice flour cakes, amaranth flour… Read more »