The sweet and sour pachadi is a recipe I have seen my mother-in-law make during the New Year festival ( like (Vishu or Pongal) or the annual remembrance festival ( thevasam). Usually made with raw mangoes this pachadi, which resembles a jam-like consistency is a house favourite, especially for my brother-in-law. Living further away from India, where the seasons work upside-down, it is impossible to get fresh mangoes in autumn. Raking my brain for a workaround, came up with an easy solution. Sour green apples. These apples have always been my favourite substitute for everything a raw mango doe ..read more

Curry leaf chutney is a delightful side dish for rice, dosa or idli. made with dals and plenty of fresh curry leaves. Slightly spicy the karuvepelai thogayal is a perfect use of the fresh curry leaves. It is a blessing that I have a bit of family around here in Sydney. Whenever we meet up, we often huddle around the table or the kitchen corner to have a conversation. To me, this is the most productive part of the conversation. This is where the experienced nuances of a cuisine are shared. These are becoming my favourite moments too. A recent visit to our cousin’s place got us talking over cur ..read more

Moringa leaf thoran is an easy stirfry recipe made in Kerala style. The recipe is a valued postpartum Indian vegetarian cuisine. Check out the step-by-step here. When I became a mum for the first time, my parents were more excited than me. They were the solid support to raise my kids and played a humongous part in my postpartum care. The one thing that my parents made sure I had daily was moringa leaves. Even if it meant I felt like a cud-chewing cow with the amount of leaves they fed me, it did do me good. We had this moringa leaf thoran irrespective of what else went on the lunch plate and ..read more

  Thandai ladoos are a mix of oats, coconut and chickpea flour laddus flavoured with thandai spice mix. These are perfect treats for your Holi gathering, doubling up as snacks for the week. the mix of oats, coconut and chickpea flour that comes together with jaggery and ghee. Hand-rolled laddus are a treat! It talks about all the love and effort from simple ingredients that make it as a treat. In our house laddus predominantly becomes our snack box treat or an afterschool snack. Since there is plenty of variety to choose from, one or the other type gets in the meal prep and is ready for ..read more

Thandai custard fruit cups are a delicious fusion of fruit custard and thandai masala. The smooth creamy custard-coated seasonal fruits are a perfect match for the colourful Holi festival. Gosh! Holi is fast approaching and we have already reached the bottom of our bottle of thandai masala That instant thandai mix we made last week has been going pretty well. A couple of rainy days were well treated with Thandai milk and now we are near the end of the batch. Just a couple of spoons left not enough to make a batch of thandai milk. Since we were chopping up fruit to make fruit custard, why not ..read more

Spend 10 minutes to get a jarful of instant thandai masala ready. Keep this thandai mix for festivals like Holi and Mahashivrathri or for a protein addition to the busy mornings. Are you ready to try it? During India visits, my sis in law finds unique edible gifts for us. Last time around when my husband came back, there was a small jar of thandai mix. the ingredients were, no preservatives or additives and a lovely flavour. Throughout winter we loved stirring this in warm milk. The mix caught on to us well. Now that the bottle has been finished,  we made a batch at home. Honestly, I tho ..read more

The first time I had Guyanese vamazelli cake, it engulfed me with a sense of nostalgia for eating the thick semiya payasam. This prompted me to read more and try it by myself. It is really interesting to read about food cultures that transform due to migration. The different cultures bring various influences of food that slowly become a part of everyday life. Guyanese cuisine for instance draws richly from African and Indian migrations during British colonisation years. Brought in as workers, they slowly introduced elements of their cooking with whatever was available in the circumstances. Th ..read more

Have you had a special bean salad recipe to take to every gathering? Here is my crunchy, easy, fuss-free, Mediterranean black-eyed bean salad.   Do you have that one Salad you always take to a gathering knowing fully well that it will be completely devoured though it is not completely a looker? Mine is this Mediterranean black-eyed bean salad. I have lost count of how many times I made it and believed I shared it with you all, till one of my friends pointed out that I missed it. Sorry, so here it is, the Mediterranean black-eyed bean salad. Why would you like this recipe? You can’t go w ..read more

Dive into the nuances of Indian cuisine through this mango highlight platter, the poori aamras thali. Being an Indian summer meal, this platter features the best of Indian mangoes and a fulfilling meal that shows you care. I am a hundred per cent sure that my love language is food. Not all the kinds of fancy foods feature in my vision of happiness.  just the rustic good old types that are sumptuous and no fuss ones. So when my family gets a Valentine’s Day lunch, it summarises as an aamras thali. Here is how I envision my thali. What is a poori aamras thali? If you have been an indian ..read more

Once January, most of us start the prep for Pongal or Makar sankranthi.The prep work for Pongal starts differently in different houses. Mine starts with shining the pot. It is time for that vengala panai (bronze pot to come out of hiding and shine. Next comes the search for the right colour of jaggery or sharkarai and so on. Without much thought needed these are the prep for the upcoming Pongal festival. The show-stopper dish of the season is the sharkarai pongal. Sharing my treasured recipe with you for this season. What is sharkarai pongal? Prepared for festive occasions, sharkarai pongal o ..read more