All posts filed under: Recipes

Baingan Bharta (Indian Spiced Aubergine/ Eggplant Mash)

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Baingan Bharta is something that I was introduced to seven years ago. (Basically, ever since I started working and it was de rigueur to have lunch in the office cafeteria!). The cafeteria food sucked. And day after day it was pure torture to let the undercooked, over spiced, all-round-sad food enter our mouths. I could have opted to take a lunchbox from home, but it was just too much work in the morning. (Besides, in those days I thought I was too cool for a lunch box!). So it was almost a godsend when a little Dhaba (highway or roadside restaurant; very popular in the North of India) opened up next to office. This was run by a Punjabi family who served home style meals at a modest price. (Which suited our pockets just fine!). They had a fixed menu written on a black board everyday and fixed quantities that would run out if you reached later than 1:30 pm. So we religiously moved our lunch break to 12:30pm and ensured we got the pick …

Chingri Malai Curry (Bengali Prawn and Coconut Curry)

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Bengali food resonates with me on a deeper level even though I’m a pucca Southie. Maybe it’s the rice that bonds us (Bengali’s also eat rice with every meal!), or maybe my love for rosogullas and rasamalai’s have sweetened me towards them, or maybe it’s the fact that half the employees in my ex-company were Bengali! For whatever reason, I love Bengali food. The one thing that I always order in a Bengali restaurant (apart from their gorgeous desserts) is Chingri Malai Curry. Chingri means Prawns and Coconut is used as the base in this curry to give it the quintessential creaminess. This is the mecca of what a curry should taste like for me – Rich, spicy-sweet and comforting. There is this little Bengali restaurant in Indiranagar that serves this curry in a Tender Coconut with the tail of the Prawn sticking out. Just seeing it makes my heat beat faster! The curry also has pieces of tender coconut in it that I love nibbling on. Though I don’t think that’s really the authentic …

What does Masterchef Australia and The Whitefield Baking Company have in common? – Kate Bracks!!!

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Masterchef Australia can be credited with starting a revolution that completely altered that way that anyone approaches food. It has within the span of three years turned the nation (and I mean India here) into a completely food obsessed one. Not that we were not connoisseurs of the good stuff already, but the appreciation and knowledge of a variety of cuisines and techniques definitely stems from there. The regular dal-chawal eating home was now attempting to get a perfect crust on their pie!  Dinner time (the holy thread that bonds us in an Indian family) was moved to an hour earlier, so that we could all sit down to watch Masterchef at 9:00 PM. Who ever heard of a food show being given a prime time slot? Masterchef Australia Season 3 was one of my favorite seasons.  I don’t think I missed even one episode. I knew each and every contestant by name and followed their escapades in the kitchen closely.  And Kate Bracks – Dessert Queen and  mother of three, took home the title …

Baked Pesto Chicken

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It’s already March and I still haven’t put up a pesto recipe! That’s Pesto Blasphemy in my books. You all know my heart skips a beat when I talk about Pesto. Every time I see good basil leaves in the market, I’m rushing home to make pesto. Because of my obsession with it, my friend even ribs me and asks me when I’m making pesto ice cream?! The flak I receive for my addiction, has led me restrain myself from spamming the blog with all things Pesto! BUT this recipe from Kalyn’s Kitchen is so easy and so brilliant and tastes so Ah-maze-ing that I had to share. This recipe requires no prepping or marinating and it’s ready in under 40 minutes. It’s also way healthier than a sauté/ pan fried option. The olive oil in the pesto is all you need to moisten and bake this baby. I must have made this innumerable times just because it looks so impressive when you plate up. I’ve bookmarked this one, to churn out something fabulous when …

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

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Some things in life are simple. 1+1=2, beach + margarita = holiday and cinnamon + sugar = awesomeness! When I chanced upon this recipe, I was skeptical. The ingredient list was small. The process was easy. And the final product seemed very basic. But the more I kept thinking about the muffin that’s going to be coated with cinnamon sugar, the more I wanted to make it. The story goes back a couple of years – in a mall in Bangkok. (It’s nothing like the Hangover II, so get your mind out of the gutter!). Now BKK is a shopper’s paradise. I landed and checked myself into a hotel which was bang opposite one their biggest malls – yes, I had my priorities in order! The city is hot as hell, so it’s very thoughtful of the government to connect malls to other malls via air-conditioned pathways. The end result being, you feel you are in the biggest mall on the planet! My daily routine consisted of getting up early, grabbing a quick brekkie at …

Strawberries and Banana Breakfast Smoothie

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My fridge is filled with boxes and boxes of Strawberries. Yes, tis the season to be jolly …again! I’ve raved about my strawberry love many times before so you already know I’m crazy about the little suckers. And I always stock up whenever they come around. Apart from eating them dunked in hot chocolate fudge or enjoying them with the traditional fresh cream I also like to make a mean smoothie out of it. Besides, I just bought a nice Morphy Richards blender this month … so I need to puree and blend! I call this my breakfast smoothie because it gives me the necessary kick to start the day. Yes, I need a kick… I am NOT a morning person. Come to think of it, I’m not a night owl either. I’m a nine-to-fiver! Unfortunately those kinds of jobs are hard to come by and even if they do, it will involve sucking up to someone in a government office! Now that I’m done ranting about the lack of optimal timed employment, I come …

Penne a La Vodka

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Featured on Foodgawker.com and Tastespotting.com on 24th Jan 2013 Featured on The Berry on 26th Feb 2013 I’m still detoxing after the excesses of December, but this dish needed to get made! I just got assigned an additional role at work and to add to that, we have a new boss. Changes, changes, changes – how I hate them! (Especially, when I’m not the one making them!) Since I’d sworn off alcohol atleast for a month (part of the detox plan), I needed to find an alternative. (And No, I can’t make the ‘special’ brownies). So I gave myself and my frazzled nerves some loving, in the form of Penne a la Vodka. It doesn’t count as cheating because technically, the alcohol content is supposed to burn off when you deglaze the pan with it. (It’s another story that when you’re off alcohol, even a whiff of it can send you into a happy place). Anyway, this is a classic recipe and loved the world over. It’s sophisticated enough to serve at a dinner party …

Fattoush Hummus (Lebanese Bread Salad)

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Featured in Tastespotting.com on 16th Jan 2013 The first time I ate Fattoush, I didn’t pay much attention to it. It was my accompaniment to the more interesting Shawarma. And in the Bangalore of 2000, a Shawarma with all its trimmings was very very exotic. A vertical spit roaster filled with chicken slices rotating ever so slowly, while the chef toasted and filled the strange yeasty bread with Hummus, Tahini, salad and finally the sliced chicken – was a demonstration I thought was fit to bunk classes for. But slowly, ever so slowly, the Fattoush has established a firm place in my heart and I actually forgo the shawarma for just fattoush-hummus these days! So what exactly is the Fattoush? For those of you who have seen ‘Meet the Zohan’ – it’s Zohan’s arch nemisis Phantom’s real name! And for those who have better things to do than indulge in trivial pursuits – it’s a salad. A Lebanese Bread Salad that chefs in the earlier days made as an excuse, to use up stale pita …