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 […]

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Tomato Thokku (Chutney, Pachadi)

It was one of those rare days when Dear Husband volunteered to cook in the kitchen and whip out one of his specialty dish “Tomato Thokku”. Tomato Tokku is the equivalent of Tomato Chutney or Tomato Pachadi. He had tasted this Tokku in Bangalore at his friend’s place and apparently the friend’s mother was an expert in making this. He […]

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Crispy Urad Daal Vada Medu Vada(Uddina Vade)

Deep frying is becoming a rarity at our house now. Gone are those days when we would have deep fried stuff every week or so and yet managed to keep a tab on weight. OK, OK …..we were young then and we had our fair share of running and playing around and that helped to keep up balance. But then, […]

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Pineapple in Spicy Sweet Coconut Curry (Ananas Sasam)

We have been married for quite a few years now, long enough to understand and predict each others tastes, likes and dislikes. Or so I thought, until a routine trip to the grocery proved that I had concluded a bit too soon. I have a penchant for the sweet taste; he on the other hand steers away from it and […]

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Healthy Breakfast: Pumpkin Idli (Dudhi Idli)

I was introduced to the new concept of Pumpkin Idli only after my wedding. My mother-in-law had prepared it early in the morning for breakfast and I had it with some ghee. Suffice to say that the taste was totally out of this world and I became a big fan of it ever since. This is an instant idly/idlies and […]

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Aloo Palak (Spinach Potato Curry)

Don’t we all have one of those days? Days on which there is nothing new to say, the words don’t seem to flow, the thoughts don’t catch up and there is no connection between the two. You don’t feel like writing about the recipe. No matter how much you look around and tax your brain you don’t find anything appropriate […]

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Bitter Gourd Curry/ Karate Ghashi

  Bitter Gourd I feel is a funky vegetable, so different in its taste and texture as compared to any other vegetable. The bitter taste is what sets it apart and you either love it or hate it. Luckily everybody in my family loves it and we cannot have enough of it. This is a favorite dish of mine and […]

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