Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup

In our family we love soup not just in winter but anytime of the year. A few months ago, we had been to a restaurant and had their Red Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup along with warm crusted bread and I remember it being so good that we had licked the bowl clean. Ever since I wanted to try making it at home and searched for good recipes over the net. There is no dearth of Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup on the net, but the tough part is narrowing down the search to fit our needs.   After some…

South Indian Tomato Rasam Recipe

Although I grew up in Bangalore, the hometown of the renowned restaurant MTR, I was unfamiliar with MTR masalas, powders, and spices. The primary reason for this was my mom’s good culinary skills—she made all the powders for sambhar, rasam, vaangi bhaat, and pulliyogere from scratch at home. And we didn’t feel the need to buy the store-bought powders. Fast forward a few years, when I got married and moved to the United States, I found myself as a novice cook, suddenly responsible for preparing meals. I craved comfort foods like rasam and sambhar—the flavors I grew up with. That’s…

Pan Pole/ Neer Dosa and Batata Song (Spicy Potato in Tamarind Curry)

When Sia announced the RCI event as Udupi Mangalore, I was delighted. Being a Konkani and with family associations to South Kanara I can relate to that cuisine and the style of cooking. I did not want to miss the opportunity to cook and contribute to the event.   After thinking of so many different options I finally decided to make our family favorite “Pan Pole” and “Batata Song”. Also when I saw this on Arch’s blog, the craving for this became even stronger. If you are hearing the words for the first time, it may appear strange, but in…