Murmura Upma/Puffed Rice Snack

Hope you had a good and relaxing weekend!  Remember the rant I made last about the relentless summer heat here in Texas, with the temperatures being above 100+ for the past 45 days? Guess what? The rain Gods finally answered our prayers and it rained here for a little bit providing much needed relief.  Come Saturday morning, we woke up to the smell of the earth. And not to mention the grass, yard all soaked in water provided a happy sight. As I stood there it reminded me of the old age adage, that it is the simple things in…

Cluster Beans Curry/ Guvar ki Sabzi

Cluster Beans are called Gorikayi or ChavaLikaayi in Kannada, Guvar in Hindi and Chitmitki/ Chitmitkesanga  in Konkani. They are flat and smaller compared to the regular string beans and have slight bitter taste too. They are rich in proteins, fiber and considered very nutritious. For us they are available in the Indian stores and if I am not mistaken they are present all the year around, so I cook this pretty often. They have a mild bitter taste, so I add little shredded coconut to the curry to compensate for it. If you want you can also add little bit of…

Capsicum Masala Recipe

While there are many ways of cooking capsicum, this way of cooking capsicum/bell pepper is my all time favorite. For starters the pungent capsicum is cooked in a coconut masala which has a balanced combination of the essential 4 S. The four S’s being sweet, spicy, salty and sour. So when the bell pepper gets cooked in this masala it forms an enticing combination.  I may be a little biased here, because I enjoy vegetables cooked in a spicy coconut masala/sauce. That is how I grew up eating and this dish transports me back home giving me that warm, comfortable…