Radish tops kootu is a mild south Indian curry that pairs well with rice and rotis. The radish leaves are tender and an exciting way to add greens to your winter menu.   We are stuck with just kale or Swiss chard during winter months. Since I go big on the green leafy veggies, it is pretty boring to just have these around. However, there is plenty of radish, carrots, beets and cabbages. So, here we are utilizing these fresh radish tops again. When we get some fresh radish tops we make mooli ki saag or  radish tops poriyal. However my current favorite is this pepper flavoured parippu ..read more

As South Indian borns we live on podis (spice powders) . Podi with idly podi with dosa, sambhar podi, kootu podi, kalathu podi,  rasam podi, ellu podi, kollu podi, the list is endless. These save a lot of time in the kitchen and add flavour and nutrition. Hence, we sprinkle it generously on all food stuffs and rice too. Thus originated lunchbox perfect, ghee podi rice. What is ghee podi rice? Ghee podi rice is a very simple stirfry rice recipe. The cooked rice is roasted with , ghee, curry leaves and podi. Podi is an lentil and spices mix that is powdered and stored. The flavour of the ri ..read more

Quick!! hide the veggies in the comfort of the pasta and watch your picky eater plough through. Enjoy this easy weeknight dinner where you don’t have to pick your fights. It is not new that as a mum we try our best yo sneak in a bit more veggie into the food for the children. My children have long grown from this stage and are happy with veggies. However this hidden veggie pasta resurfaced after many years as my daughter is current having her braces fixed and needs some soft food ideas. We went though a whole lot of soups and smoothies and it is time for a bit of bite. So here is it, dairy fre ..read more

Celebrate a devotion filled day of colourful cavadees and hues of saffron in the name of Lord Muruga. Choose a few of these simple naivedyums and foods to make this thaipusam day a special one. One of the flights from Singapore to Penang opened my eyes to the extend of devotion to Lord Muruga. The flight was filled with devotees from all over the world. That flight packed with ‘cavadees’ and saffron and turmeric coloured ‘veshti’clad people who congregated during this festival peeked my interests. The fellow travelers who eagerly shared their experiences, vratham details and even invited us to ..read more

Having both sides of the family here with us in Sydney is such a blessing. Last week, we visited my husband’s cousin. We came back with bag full of plants and chillies. I am so glad she shared the cuttings for the Indian borage plant. Once I had planted these, I had so much of the fresh leaves at my disposal. Since this is one of my favoite herb and one that I befitted a lot with respect to health. So first up is a simple chutney recipe and will follow up with many more recipes as the plant grows. What is doddapathra? Indian borage or Mexican mint is doddapathra. This perennial plant with a fl ..read more

With under 5 ingredients and 30 minutes, fix up a family pasta night. Pair it with a salad and the creamy goat cheese pasta will be on repeats every week. As much as we love rice, we dig into a good bowl of pasta. Of late, we have been loving a creamy delicious, goat cheese pasta. That tangy flavour of the goatcheese pairs well with a basic tomato pasta sauce to create magic in every bite. So join us as we dig into our new favorite, goat cheese pasta. Ingredients to make goat cheese pasta Pasta: the pasta I choose for thick sauces like this is fusilli. This spring like twisted pasta, on the su ..read more

What is that one recipe that makes you smile when you are revamping the leftover rice? For me, it is this peanut butter fried rice. It is Quick Flavoursome Trendy Lunchbox efficient Vegan Mealprep friendly Paired with steamed veggies or a salad it makes the perfect meals under 15 minutes. This recipe idea started when the dishwasher refus3d to tackle the stubborn lumps of  peanut butter in the jars. While on one side making fried rice and trying to tackle a peanutbutter jar, on the other I happened to pour the ingredients for the fried rice sauce into the jar and shake the hell out of it ..read more

Don’t blame me if you get addicted to this paneer puff!! Put this platter with minimal effort and still wow your family and friends. It is the appetizers and the fireworks that  make newyear’s special. However, when you are hosting a big event, you certainly want to have some crowd pleasing ideas that make your life easy too. So, efforless recipe hacks like these feel equally strong when I put out this platter. The flaky pastry and then a bite of the soft succulent marinated paneer in the centre, does make you forget any of the days that was not the best in the previous year and welcome t ..read more

Ok, this is what happens when you are down under. You always run the opposite weather to practically all your counterparts. Then, you end up with a hot and sizzling Christmas and then a blazing New year’s with a total fireban. This practically throws out all the ideas of cookies, loads of cakes and replaces it with just salads, puddings, barbequed foods and just a lot of ice creams that I can think of. This time around there are a couple of  bring a plate  events. For the first one our Timtam cheese cake recipe was a huge success.  Further, I wanted to do some Indian inspired fo ..read more

This roasted rice flour snack paired with a fruit is a healthy, gluten free, nut free. It is a lovely idea to add to the Christmas snack stock. Two things that remind me of Christmas in Kerala are the spiced fruit cake with the classic icing and the avalose podi. There are plenty of these great fond memories that I collect under Kerala Christmas recipe post. The avalose podi was certainly special as this came over the wall  of memories. The large compound wall that separated our land areas was not one that bothered my mum or her neighbour Annie. The well positioned gap between the trees h ..read more