When I announced the Lychee theme for A Fruit A Month event, not everyone was happy! Some of you actually hate these fruits (SHOCK!!!) and some of you (spoiled lot ) only like the fresh Lychees! I had a choice – pick a more popular fruit and make it easy for everyone. But what’s the fun in that? I like a tough challenge, if at least one person decided to try Lychees because of this event, and if at least one person will get inspired by this round up, …

I had completely forgotten about my leftover stash of Forbidden Rice till I saw this beautiful creation by Sra. Well, timing was perfect: Onam was here, my mom wanted to make the full blown Onasadya (a grand feast), and the only dish she wanted me to cook was Payasam. So one shot, three birds – a way to use up my purple rice, a payasam for Onam and my entry for JFI. Well, it is not a traditional Onam Payasam, but all we needed was some sweet to wrap up the …

Making up a cocktail recipe is easy; coming up with a name for it – not so! After a couple of these drinks, the best I could come up with was LycheeTangita, if you can think of a better name, let me know.

Ingredients
(Makes about 4 drinks)

Canned Lychee drink – 1.5 cups
Tangerine juice - 1/2 cup
Lime juice – 2 tbsp
Sliver Tequila – 3/4 cup
Mint leaves – ~12
Sugar  – 1 tbsp
Crushed Ice

Method
Place the torn mint leaves and sugar in a cocktail shaker. Crush with a muddler, or the back of a wooden …

Think Spice…Think Cumin! That’s what Sunita told us to do this month. Yes, I’ve been thinking about cumin for the whole month, and finally the deadline was here, without any original ideas in my head! So, I took the easy route out, and modified my easy-breezy salad dressing recipe a little bit to incorporate cumin, and I’ve to say the result was pretty good! I was a little hesitant about using cumin in salads. As much as I love cumin, a little bit extra can ruin the whole dish! But somehow, …

Sorry, I have to warn you before you get too far, this is not a food related post. Just wanted to let you all know that I didn’t fall off into the Niagara falls, thanks for the lovely comments and e-mails. After getting back home, things have been hectic at work, so didn’t get time to blog-hop, but I am slowly catching up.  Thanks for all the delicious AFAM entries, please send me an email or leave a comment on the announcement page with the link if you haven’t already done …

Meen Peera is a traditional Kerala dish popular in central Kerala where I am from. The preparation is very similar to thoran, made with fish instead of vegetables, and fish tamarind (kudampuli) added for sourness. This dish is usually made with the small varieties of whole fresh water fish available in Kerala. Since cleaning small fish is such a pain, you could always use fish filets in this recipe, which is what I’ll be doing after my mom leaves. But this time we picked up some smelt from the Asian …

A long time ago, I spent three miserable lonely months in Schaumburg, IL , friendless and car-less. The days were spent working, nights watching I love Lucy and Bewitched reruns on Nick@Night. Food was the last thing I wanted to think about those days. The only store at a walkable distance was a Foodmart at a gas station. So, my regular meal was ice cream and twinkies. But when the cravings for rice gets really bad, I’d put on my chef’s hat and make a big pan of the quickest dish I could whip …

 I’ve always wondered what two of my favorite fruits -Lychee and Mango- combined will taste like. I could just imagine the two flavors together, but never really got around to trying it. I finally got the perfect opportunity this month, when I picked Lychee as the Fruit of the Month, and to my utter shock realized that there are some Lychee haters in this world! How can anyone not love Lychees? So, in my attempt to popularize this amazing fruit, I will try to come up with a few recipes …

Cooking food wrapped in Banana leaves is an age old technique in Kerala. Our fish pollichathu is the most delicious form of fish that I’ve ever eaten! I wasn’t surprised to learn that the same technique is followed in other Asian countries too. Cooking this way keeps the food moist with all its natural juices collected inside the leaf packet. Also the banana leaf itself imparts its natural flavor and fragrance into the food.
Instead of a traditional fish Pollichathu recipe, I decided to make up my own marinade this time, …

This is the first critically acclaimed dish that I’ve ever cooked. Long time ago, when I was still an amateur cook (ahem… you start a food blog, and immediately you are known as an expert, in my circle at least ) I used to make this dish for all my parties, just because this was the only dish I knew how to cook in bulk!
The best compliment I got on this recipe was when someone asked me a long time ago…
        You’re kidding me right? You actually …

I’ve been waiting for months! And she is here, finally…. The wait is over, and boy, was she worth it or what!!! She is my fourth car, and the best one so far! I loved my Z3, it was a birthday gift from Siv, the one and only surprise he’s ever successfully pulled off! Z3 was awesome to drive, but even that doesn’t compare to this one! First of all, I got to pick out everything, the interior and exterior colors, options, gadgets etc. So she really is my baby. And …

I first had these at a local Mexican restaurant years ago, and it was love at first bite. From then on, whenever I am at a Mexican restaurant, I order these without fail if they have it on the menu; most places do. These spicy little things go so well with ice cold margaritas.
These also make a regular appearance in all my barbecue parties, being a no-fail recipe. There is no way you can go wrong with a recipe so simple! The process is simple, once you clean out those peppers, …