I haven’t posted any Tamil recipes in a while, not because Siv is not cooking anymore, but because he has a tendency to stick with a few tried and tested recipes whenever he does. I think I have posted all the dishes that he regularly makes. Today when he said he wanted to cook goat, I asked him to cook something new aka a bloggable dish, as I’ve been having a creative block lately. So he immediately made a call to his mom, asking for ideas and she gave him …

I’ve been trying to figure out ways of getting out of this blogging rut I am stuck in. Someone suggested creating cooking videos, but boy, that sounds like way too much work. But I can see how the videos can be helpful, especially for those who are totally unfamiliar with a particular cuisine or are novice cooks altogether. It can be pretty nerve racking to imagine how a few seemingly nondescript list of ingredients turn into something so delicious looking (if I say so myself) like this bowl of chicken …

I haven’t posted a Naadan Kerala dish here in a while; so here goes one which qualifies in terms of ingredients at least. I kind of made up the recipe as I was cooking, so I can’t claim that it is a traditional dish. It sure tasted like one to me though. We haven’t been eating carbs at home since the beginning of this year, but suddenly I was craving for some rice yesterday along with something really spicy. Yes, all that gloating about sticking to the new year resolutions …

I am one of those people who start salivating at the mere mention of the word Chettinad. It is the spiciest cuisine I have come across and you all know spice is my favorite flavor. Now, whenever I mention a region in a dish title, I know what’s going to follow next – the authenticity police will be here in no time. What I really want to tell them is – screw you! The explanation that follows is for those who are genuinely interested in the background of a dish. …

Comfort food has been discussed to death over here and in many other forums. To me, comfort food is what I won’t mind eating every single day of my life if I had to. In fact I had a post about two years ago asking the readers to share their pick if they had to chose one single meal for the rest of their lives. Hey, that gives me an idea, since I’ve met many new friends after that post, let’s play that again! 
 So tell me, If you get stuck …

I can hear the collective yawn already – No, not another Biryani recipe! Hasn’t she posted all the possible variations out there already? Well, no, I haven’t even scratched the surface yet. Every time I make Biryani it turns out a bit different, so you should really thank me for not posting the hundreds of variations that I could. In fact every chicken or lamb curry recipe I have can be converted into a biryani recipe. But don’t worry, I promise this one is different, it is not just a …

After I started blogging, I bring back quite a few Indian cookbooks every time I visit India. Due to the generous exchange rate, you get about 10 Indian cookbooks for the price you’d pay for an average cookbook here in the US. I am a total novice when it comes to the different regional cuisines of India, so when I pick up these books I make big plans for cooking my way through each one of those and dream about being an expert in all those cuisines. But after I …

In my last post I ranted about folks who don’t respond to my oh-so-very-helpful e-mails. But to be honest, I have to say that I am no saint either! I have promised many things on e-mail to readers which I never delivered. One such undelivered promise is about posting an Indian themed South Beach Diet menu plan. It is one of the most frequent queries I get after I started sharing my SBD experiments here.
Many Indians -even the non-vegetarians- are not comfortable with eating meat or seafood three times a …

This one is a rather boring looking curry, but it was really tasty for a quick fix dish made with this and that from the pantry and refrigerator. I have never really combined chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with eggs before, I wasn’t planning on it this time either. As the chickpeas were simmering in the gravy inspiration struck me and those eggs poached in the spicy coconut gravy was just so delicious.
 
Ingredients

1 can cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) washed and drained
2 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp …

I’ve been on a doctor recommended blog hiatus for the past couple of weeks. Well, he doesn’t know about the blog, but I was asked to cut down my computer time way down. As much as I wanted to cut the time I spend in front of the PC for work, unfortunately that pays the bills, so the so-called leisure activities had to suffer. I am still supposed to be staying away from here, but after a long time I took a look at the dwindling blog stats today and …

If I had to pick my favorite from the different Chinese cuisines, I would pick Szechuan without a doubt. Szechuan cuisine is all about bold and spicy flavors, you know that is right up my alley. My only issue with Szechuan is that I can’t spell it right to save my life! Spelling has always been one of my weaknesses, thank god for spell checkers!  One of our favorite take-out restaurants is called Szechuan Chef. For some reason I never bothered storing their number on my cell phone. So whenever …

Aval is the Malayalam name for flattened or beaten rice. Growing up, one of my favorite snacks used to be Aval Nanachathu (which translates to wet aval), which is just flattened rice mixed with grated coconut and jaggery or sugar. It is very easy to make, so it was a frequent tea time snack at my house. But after I left home, I never bothered to make it myself, no idea why!  When I went to India in March, I found brown rice Aval at the store, anything brown rice …

It’s been a week since I came back from India, but I’ve been ignoring this blog completely. Let me blame it on jet lag and not mention my laziness for once. As usual, I am back with big plans. Plans for a more structured life, a life where we cook every day and shop wisely and not let vegetables rot away in the fridge. I am even thinking Weekly Menu Plans!
Yep, this happens to me every time I visit India. After I watch the way my mom manages her kitchen, …

I am in the second week of my India vacation, though it feels like ages since we left Seattle! The days seem so much longer here! It’s not like I’ve been sitting at home doing nothing, we’ve already traveled to Bangalore and Chennai, finished most of the shopping too. Back in Seattle, my weekends usually go by so quickly. I remember waking up on Saturday mornings and before I blink my eyes it’s Sunday night. Laundry left undone, dirty dishes in the sink, unfinished errands; I sit and moan the …

Braising is a cooking technique where food is first browned in oil, then cooked slowly in some flavored liquid like wine or stock or vinegar in a dish with a tight fitting lid. Cooking can be done in an oven or on the stovetop. Braising is a useful technique for tough cuts of of meat like pot roast, it works well with poultry and some vegetables as well to yield the most tender results. The main difference between braising and stewing I guess is the amount of liquid used. In …

I desperately need a muse! There are six different recipes in my drafts, but I can’t think of any story or introduction to go with any of those. So I am just going to serve this one up on its own, hopefully I will get over the rut in time for the next post. Sometimes I think I should’ve started an anonymous blog. If I did, I am sure there wouldn’t be any shortage of stories. There are incidents that happen almost daily that amuse or annoy me to the …

When I started the South Beach Diet, I naturally assumed that coconut is a big no-no. Since coconut is very high in saturated fat content, nobody would consider it a diet food. As a typical true-blooded mallu, I use a lot of coconut in my cooking, especially coconut milk, so I was sad to lose one of the major ingredients from my pantry. Then a few days ago, I was browsing my South Beach Diet Quick and Easy recipe book and saw a couple of recipes using Coconut milk, that …

I love December! Everyone is in a jolly good mood all the time, not much’s happening at work, too many parties to go to, commute is pretty good most of the days and the streets are so colorful! I am avoiding the mall these days, which is where most of the ugliness of the season takes place. Just thinking about January makes me so sad! It was so hard to go back to work on Monday after the Thanksgiving week. So January will be even worse, after all the Christmas …

Before getting into the food part of the past, I want to update you all on some geeky blog stuff. I recently upgraded the blogging platform to WordPress 2.7 and one of the cool new features is Threaded comments. Now you can reply to any comment on the site, your reply will show up directly below the original comment. A great feature for the comment space hijackers, you know who you are!
Also, some of you might have noticed the small images next to your names in the comments section here …

On my eggplant theeyal post last week, Arundati commented that all gravies were known as “curry” in her house. It was pretty much the same in my house too. Theeyal, Aviyal, Pachadi and Sambar being a few exceptions I can think of! Even Kaalan and Pulisseri were known as Moru Curry in my house. Actually it was more like “kari” than “curry“. There was really not much in common between these curries – the base could be coconut, yogurt, lentils or just ground spices. If we Indians are so confused …