Last Sunday my daughter suddenly got bored. Really bored. Something that doesn’t happen to her often so after the fourth time being asked “mama what can we do now?’’ I responded by saying “lets make Nutella”. Received total enthusiasm from that quarter so we got down to making the good stuff. I had bought hazelnuts a few months ago keeping this in…
Recently, I got presented with a dhokla maker by my husband’s aunt and I am beyond thrilled! Having lived in Mumbai for many years, fluffy white fermented rice cakes were things that my palate took so well to and I really missed them when I came up north. So when presented with the apparatus, I went on the internet for some ideas and…
In winter, most markets around Delhi - which already has street vendors selling aloo tikki (potato cutlets with green and tamarind chutneys) and papri chaat, golgappas and stuffed pakoras and what not - get the addition of the sweet potato (shakarkandi) vendors. They have these massive roasted and smoked sweet potatoes which they cut up and mix with a huge amount of…
This winter has been harsh in the Indian National Capital region (NCR) and the chills don't seem to go away. What the cold does to me is makes me want to eat even more than I already do and it’s not the healthy grilled vegetables kind of stuff. The cravings are for chole bhature, pooris, cakes, chocolate, fries, toast with butter and…
Peanut butter is really one of the easiest things to make. Four ingredients, whack it in the blender and you're done, right? Right. But - remember, peanuts have a very dense composition, and after grinding to a paste, becomes a big blob of clay-like consistency that can obliterate your wonderfully convenient machine if you decide to get lazy and dump a whole…
Every Monday, eight kids from the village behind my residence come to me for cooking lessons. They’re this amazingly enthusiastic, wonderful bunch of 12 to 15-year-old girls and boys whom I’ve been teaching now for more than a year. And while I do love teaching them, it’s a real struggle to come up with new stuff every week that they can make…
I first ate this at the Perch restaurant in Delhi’s Khan Market and loved it. Till a month ago, I hadn’t ever gone near any chia dishes. I somehow have this healthy disregard for all these exotic superfoods such as quinoa, goji berries, acai berries, chia and those that come from far, far away which are extremely expensive and not sustainable in…
This has now become my most popular salad at home. Somehow, I’ve gone back to the simple classic, giving weight to the phrase ‘Old is gold’. My favourite leaf is now Romaine lettuce, overthrowing the very popular rocket leaves and arugula with their peppery flavour. In fact, this is the only leafy salad my kids eat happily and actually like and has…
This is a cake I've been making for many many years now and it never fails to get polished off in a day. It’s definitely not a perfect looking cake inside but has a rustic, homemade appearance with the baking soda and yoghurt combination making the edges and corners of the cake a slightly chewy darker brown. Thats actually the most delicious…
Sitting at home today with one sick kid, a twinging back that’s stopped all my much required exercise and super high temperatures, I suddenly got the idea to make this sandwich. I had an avocado sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks so thought it’s better to use it up than let it rot. As it is, avocados are super…