You've heard me speak of Nannie Davis before. I think of her every time I eat southern food, hear a southern accent, shuck corn, string beans and see vine ripened tomatoes. In short I think of her a lot. Nannie Davis was 91 years old when she passed away. I knew her a sum total of 1-1/2 years and she completely and irrevocably touched my life. Because family are relations by blood but sometimes if you get very lucky, family are relations by bond. People who adopt you into their fold. The most unlikely of people who at the most... Continue reading

Meet Maharashtra's favorite brunch - Batata Poha. Batata Poha is a quick saute of flattened rice a.k.a beaten rice and potatoes scented and flavored with curry leaves & chillies and tempered with cumin & mustard seeds in hot oil. Beaten rice is de-husked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. Poha or flattened rice can be purchased at any Indian or Pakistani store and is ready to use straight out of the bag. It is important to purchase the right kind of poha for the right dish though. This one requires the fat variety as the thin variety... Continue reading

Cucumber is used all throughout Asia as a side to spicy dishes. And for good reason. It's delicious. And it's cooling. That in in itself is a good enough reason as any to treat yourself to this lovely salad that takes only minutes to prepare. Chances are, you have just about everything already sitting in your pantry. It does need a mandolin for evenly cut slices. The rest is easy - some finely sliced red onion, a scatter of edamame seeds, rice wine vinegar (Mirin), honey, sesame oil, a touch of garlic and salt. A sprinkle of cayenne to finish... Continue reading

I can't imagine weekends without something special and made-from-scratch come Sunday morning. And what a great way to treat Mum! French toast, scrambled eggs, sausage & egg muffin sandwiches, you name it, we love it! But pancakes will always be on the top of the most requested breakfast by the younglings. So the race is always on to out do the last batch, spruce up my basic recipe or create something different altogether. These pancakes take fundamentally salt-of-the-earth flavors and turn them into the fluffiest, cakiest pancakes ever. I must thank my stars for the creative juices that were flowing... Continue reading

Chicken 65 is a popular chicken snack to come out of Madras in Southern India and is now popular all over the world with its tantalizing fiery hot flavors. Boneless chicken is first marinated in ground spices, flour and ginger-garlic paste. It is then deep fried and finished when it is sauteed with curry leaves, 'as many chillies as your stomach lining can handle' and yogurt. The result is a fun and what I like to call toothpick-party-snack. The spicy flavors as you can imagine does justice to tall glass of cold beer. How the name chicken 65 came along... Continue reading

This fabulous Giveaway is thanks to the generosity of Wüsthof Wüsthof's Classic Vegetable Knife Giveaway ENDS ON Mother's Day Sunday ~ May 12, 2013 at 11:59 PM (EST) The Wüsthof Classic Vegetable Knife is an ideal tool for cutting vegetables like potatoes and other firm vegetables. An incredible design both in terms of aesthetics and purpose, this knife epitomizes 'form follows function'. The holes along the cutting length of the knife aids in reducing friction while the ridge helps pushing food away. What that does for us in the kitchen is that vegetables no longer 'stick' to the blade and... Continue reading

It was serendipitous that the same week, my blogging friends Hegui & Stevie from Weird Combinations and Saveur Magazine both featured recipes for Sichuanese fried eggplant. If you've ever ordered this form the a la carte menu at a restaurant or even helped yourself to a plateful off the dim sum cart, you know that this is one Chinese vegetarian offering that is doggone delicious! It can however present some challenges in cooking and that is - oil. We all know just how much of a sponge eggplant can be when it comes to oil and cupfuls can disappear in... Continue reading

World, meet one of my favorite tarts. Tart, meet world. Ever since I came across this recipe a couple of years ago in Real Simple Magazine, I have made this numerous times and taken such artistic freedoms with it in terms of ingredients and quantities that what remains is but a semblance of the original. For one, I like my tarts at least 3/4" deep so I've increased quantities to suit and one can never ever have enough almonds, I always say. The fact that this is my 'go-to-carb-aware-treat', makes this sweet offering all the more, well - sweet. I... Continue reading

One of the things I miss most about my years in Singapore is the food. At times so different from traditional Chinese cuisine, the blend of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures if anything have made the food richer and so much more diverse than it's traditional roots. The sum my friends is indeed greater than it's parts. I also love the ease of preparation with which some dishes would be put together - simple steamed fish or chicken, stir fries not to mention noodle soups and even eggy creations. Of all the weeknight quick meals I've been taking away from... Continue reading

Some things in life are worth the risk of a thickening waist line. And some mornings deserve a steaming hot cuppa, a good book, risk be damned! Fortunately for me, there aren't that many things I would gorge on willy nilly, though mind you I do believe I could eat my body weight in bread. But home made biscotti is one of them. Coffee's true mate, it is the sure and definative 15th century hottie that beckons again and again. I've made the traditional Almond and Orange biscotti out of Prato, earlier on. This twist on the traditional is simply... Continue reading

Though the name of this dish means pickled eggplant and if sour vegetable slivers come to mind, remove it from your mind immediately! tthere is nothing sour-pickle-like about this dish and it's best to think of it as marinated eggplant. Marinated, much better. Traditionally, glossy eggplants are cut into chunks and fried in copious amounts of olive oil to soften. Onions are sauteed and plump, ripe tomatoes are added along with celery, capers, pine nuts, olives and parsley. I for one, forego the frying in oil business and opt for the much more healthier option of roasting the eggplant. What... Continue reading

Once in a while I pull out all stops and cook for the boys. I mean really cook for the boys. The kind of food that deserves a cold beer (for the dad) and a cold glass of milk for the munchkins. The kind of food that involves stringy cheese and thick bread and loaded with meat & cheese. No sign of a green leaf anywhere in sight. All hail food from the Manverse! For a family that loves it's Reubens, this comes as no surprise. Now, a quintessential American sandwich, this country's love for the Reuben sandwiches began in... Continue reading

Laksa is synonymous with Malaysian cuisine. Few dishes are more popular in both Malaysia and Singapore and you'd be hardpressed finding a menu restaurants or hawker centers (similar to neighbourhood food courts) that don't specialise in Laksa. Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup from Peranakan culture, which is a merger of Chinese and Malay elements found in Malaysia and Singapore. There are two types of laksa: curry laksa (curry mee) and assam laksa. The curry laksa has coconut milk in it's soup base while Assam laksa is a hot and sour soup base akin to Tom Yum in Thai... Continue reading

I am thrilled to bring your attention to this remarkable culinary adventure put together by foodie friend and James Beard Award 2012 nominated fellow blogger, Gwen Pratesi of bunkycooks. In this series of On The Road culinary adventures, travel with Gwen to Jefferson’s Virginia. Gwen is a person of impeccable taste and a commitment to culinary excellence that comes through in everything she does. From exquisite accommodations in Richmond, VA at my favorite Jefferson Hotel to a tour and lunch at Jefferson's Monticello, Gwen has managed to put together an itinerary that is un-parallel in bringing forth the finest of... Continue reading

Khoya is thickened milk is used widely in North Indian cooking usually in all kinds of desserts. It's texture can be similar to ricotta cheese but here in the US it is available in a 'batti' i.e. hardened brick form which contains only 50% moisture and can therefore be grated like cheese. It also keeps longer in the refrigerator than the soft cheese variety. Which begs the question, what does it do for chicken? In all it's deliciousness, the chicken is cooked in a onion and tomato gravy and finished with grated khoya for the last few minutes as a... Continue reading

I don't make cookies too often. There are too many things on my must-make list and life is simply just too short to keep up. But when I do it's usually because I'm jonesing a sweet morsel or the snack box is empty with the boys tummies rrrumbling. Either way, it's always when time is in short supply so I turn to my usual stash of in-a-jiffy cookie recipes that never fail me. This one definitely falls in my fave top 10. So good with just enough flour to hold the oatmeal together, redolent with the scent of orange zest... Continue reading

Sophisticated & refreshing, this classic dish incorporates all the things we love about a really good pasta. Unlike the traditional pesto with basil, pine nuts and parmesan that is so classically Genoa, this instead omits the cheese completely! Garlic and loads of pistachios along with a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil combines with fresh basil and parsley to create a delicious medley of fresh flavors. And like all good things, once you begin with a good foundation, the rest comes easy. Excellent jumbo prawns and sweet plump cherry tomatoes continue in the happy path already set by the... Continue reading

It's the season of budding flowers, fruit trees and asparagus. Though Father Winter hasn't made quite an impactful appearance this season for us, much to the disappointment of the kids and the lack of snow days thereof, he seems to want to give us a last hoorah with sleet, low temps and the occasional dusting of snow - all this the week that spring kicks off here! Fortunately, none of this has stopped lovely asparagus bunches overflowing from market bushels. A type of grass, spring is the season when Asparagus is at it's tender and succulent best. So in the... Continue reading

What's a girl to do when the clock strikes the one o'clock hour on a Sunday afternoon and there is nada fixed for lunch and the kids will be back form the pool any minute now, more ravenous than ever? Raid the refrigerator of course and pray for inspiration! And since the empty shelves of my refrigerator are staring me in the face, talk about budget food at it's best! My gray cells are obviously firing away as I try to assimilate some remnants of a meal as my eyes were furiously scanning the meagre contents inside, the door perched... Continue reading

Who doesn't love a good meat sauce! The fact that this ragu is made not with beef but with pork, has wonderful dollops of Italian sausage and simmered for hours in red wine and crushed tomatoes, should be reason enough to get your blood pumping at the prospect of this ragu for Sunday dinner. There's a reason this is Sunday dinner and not Monday dinner, per se. And that is because the meat needs to simmer for a solid two hours, till the meat is falling off the bone and the sauce thickens into this incredibly rich amalgamation of meat... Continue reading