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 »

Latest
  • BLUE CHEESE-YOGURT DRESSING

    I’ve never been a fan of mayonnaise. In fact it’s only more recently that I’ve been able to tolerate it in small doses and in certain dishes. It’s entirely possible that my bias stems from this background, but as expected, the popular mayo-blue cheese combination is not for me. I sub it with yogurt instead,… Read more »

  • ROASTED BEET PASTA WITH FETA

    I saw Nadiya Hussain make her version of what she calls ‘blender beetroot pasta’ on her new show on Netflix, and I was immediately taken by its simplicity, accessibility of ingredients, and if you know me—this gorgeous colour! She uses cooked beetroot, garlic, chilli, lemon juice and dill in her recipe, and I realize now… Read more »

  • MEXICAN-STYLE POTATOES + BEAN CHILI

    Okay so here’s the deal with this. I could eat beef chili for meals on end (and often do), so I’ve been on the lookout for a vegetarian-friendly version to make this dish work in our house. (Comparing a bean chili to a beef version does not add up in my head. This is clearly… Read more »

  • COCONUT THAI CURRY FRIED RICE

    When you look up ‘Thai curry fried rice’ online, the only method you’ll find follows this basic outline: cook the curry paste in the wok with the veg and meat, add cooked rice and toss it all up. Basically a regular fried rice but with Thai curry paste stirred into it. Not that there’s anything… Read more »

  • CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI STIR-FRY

    I should probably preface this recipe by saying that I’ve used chilli oil in this dish and I’m afraid it might be an integral component here. Since there are so few ingredients that go into it—oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, soy and chilli oil—I’m not sure it’ll taste the same without it. I’ve made this dish… Read more »

  • CHILLI OIL

    Chilli oil. Third batch in less than a month questions why I don’t have this up here yet. I’ve been meaning to make my own chilli oil for so long now, that when my friend posted her recipe a few weeks ago I took it as a sign and went for it. So easy to… Read more »

  • 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 »