When Shri Subodh Mathur of DadiNani Foundation requested me to write a recipe for DadiNani cooking I agreed without hesitation. Call it a strange co-incidence, but that request came just a day before my maternal grandmother’s 4th year death anniversary. So I thought that this was a wonderful way to cherish her memory by sharing some of her recipes. “Aaji” as we called her was an expert cook and her cooking skill was well known and appreciated among our families, friends and the neighborhood she grew up in. She spared no expense in showering us grand kids with…
Crispy Masala Vada
This past Thanks Giving weekend we got a much needed break of 4 days from the usual grind. With the temperatures continually dropping down it was a welcome break of not having to wake up during the wee hours of morning. We did not have any plans of going out of town, so we pretty much stayed at home and relaxed. (Click on the picture to see enarged view) One of those days, we also took up the arduous task of cleaning up the closet, sorting out old papers, putting some things to recycle and throwing away of junk things.…
Kadai Paneer Recipe
On our recent trip to the Farmer’s market, I went nuts over the varieties of the bell peppers they had on sale. The colors were vibrant and the prices were pretty decent too. Usually the ones in the regular grocery are pretty expensive but also not as fresh and vibrant as these. Suffice to say I went overboard and ended up with load full of those gorgeous beauties. These are referred to as Capsicum in India and at least while I was growing up, I had not seen any other color other than green. The shapes and sizes…
Black Beans and Methi Stir Fry (Usal)
When I saw her event for FIC Black or Purple I was intrigued to say the least. She wants us to send her food that has hues either of black or purple. I am not sure about purple, but to prepare food that has hues of black in my opinion is challenging. I walked around with my head shaking and wondered if she was kidding. I looked at the event detail again to confirm and well, I guess not and it is not even April. In all these years of cooking and experimenting in kitchen I have managed to burn…
Lemon Rice Recipe(Chitranna)
Lemon Rice also called Chitranna in Kannada is an easy to prepare yet flavorful rice dish. This is also a good way to use the left over rice or maybe a quick dish idea when unexpected guests arrive. The flavor of this depends on the strong seasoning (Tadka) that is prepared before the cooked rice is added. Even though the seasoning is prepared using simple and readily available ingredients like curry leaves, asafetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, daals they combine together to form an aromatic, sapid base to accommodate the rice. Peanuts add a nice crunch while the coconut balances…
Garlic Chips
I think I have not met a person who enjoys and loves garlic as much as my husband. There is this sense of delight and element of joy whenever he sees it or savors something that has garlic in it. In fact he goes on to say that garlic and olive oil are two things in this world that are straight from heaven. Frankly I love garlic too, but on select things like when it is seasoned in a coconut curry or garlic chutney or garlic naan etc but then that’s about it. Many a time this passion…
Malai Kofta Curry
Malai Kofta classic dish of Moghul origin is a rich, decadent dish usually prepared during special occasions. Deep fried vegetable balls are prepared and simmered in a special creamy sauce/curry and served along with rice and rotis/Naans (Indian flat bread). Whenever we go to a new Indian Restaurant we order this along with Rice and Naans. It is one of our family favorite and one that everybody agrees on without any heated discussions. It is usually a safe choice when having to choose amongst 25 other entrée choices from the Menu card. Fair or not, we also base our judgment…