Leavenworth - a charming town in WA where we spent a relaxing July 4th weekend. A beautiful house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Pear orchards and the stunning Wenatchee river in the backyard; lots and lots of food, drinks and games… it was truly the perfect weekend! Inspired by the resemblance of its countryside to Bavarian Germany, Leavenworth was remodeled as a Bavarian village in the 1960s. The town center is beautiful with its quaint Bavarian architecture, but […]

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I have been blogging for an year and a half now, and for the most part I’ve kept up a steady pace. I have blogged when I was on vacation, when I had visitors and even when I was sick. Only thing that has ever kept me away from the blogging world is work, which is the main reason for my infrequent updates and blog hopping. Now, no one can fault me for being a good employee right? Someone’s gotta […]

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We just got back from an extended weekend break in Las Vegas. Yes, the 10th anniversary celebration was in our favorite city in the whole world. What, you don’t think it is a romantic city? It sure is, for us at least! As much as Siv and I love each other, we have totally different hobbies and interests, except for two major ones - food and poker. Where else can you get the best of both these?
We have been to […]

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Spicy Baby Back Ribs

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Filed Under Good with Drinks, India - Kerala, Pork | 25 Comments

In my last post, I didn’t mean to convey that I hate cooking. I just meant that it is the outcome that I enjoy more than the process. When it comes to cooking, the benefits outweigh the effort normally. That is the reason I cook certain dishes and would never even attempt certain others. I know I will never be able to bake a cake as tasty or as beautiful as our neighborhood baker. Even if I do it will […]

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I can’t believe I still haven’t blogged about one of the most famous non-vegetarian preparations from Kerala, the good old beef fry! Succulent beef pieces cooked in freshly ground spices and sauteed dry with onions and coconut slices, this is one of those famous Thattukada dishes.
Thattukada is Kerala’s version of a fast food joint. While the beef fry is not fast food, the fact that time works in favor of the flavors in this dish and it actually tastes better […]

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I’ve been real busy lately with work deadlines fast approaching, and preparing for a trip coming up in a week or so. I didn’t get time to look at my rss feeds for three days, and suddenly the number of unread posts were in three digits. I have way too many recipes and restaurant reviews waiting in my drafts. If I don’t type those up soon, the details will be forgotten for sure. The to-do pile for blogging is as […]

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Eggs n’ Potatoes Curry

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Filed Under Eggs, India - Kerala, Potato, Side Dish - Gravy | 32 Comments

It’s been raining potatoes here in the blogosphere lately. That is because 2008 is the International Year of Potato. Wow, a whole year devoted to the spuds! Recently Sra wrote that she has used up all her potato memories, but she did have enough memories to fill about a dozen posts… That got me thinking about my relationship with the spud, and I realized that sadly I may not even have enough memories to fill one post!
Growing up, potatoes were […]

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We have ongoing arguments in our household as to who the better cook is. Now we all know there is really no argument there but I have to admit that there are a few dishes - when I say few, I mean single digits - that Siv is better at. For example he makes the best fish curry in the world, and I am not exaggerating. He also makes some mean crab dishes too. With chicken, mutton etc […]

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There is nothing like the sight of a fresh green mango to bring back the nostalgic memories of a happy Indian childhood. Unfortunately after coming to the US, the only real sour variety of mangoes that I could find were the greem frozen ones from the Indian stores. It works in chutneys and such just fine. But those slices are so sad looking, with a tired texture once defrosted, I use those only in emergencies, when the cravings for the […]

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I know, I made this big announcement about eating healthier this year… Well, we are still sticking to it for the most part, especially during the weekdays. But over the last weekend, I slipped… I was in Uwajimaya (our local Asian grocery store), and I was looking for some lean chicken, when I saw this packet of pork belly sitting there. If you are familiar with different cuts of pork, you will know that most cuts you get here […]

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Wow, have I gotten lazy or what? I don’t know if it is the cold, or it is just the holiday spirit around, I have been a bad bad blogger lately. I rarely visit other foodies, I don’t reply to the comments on my blog, and even though I have a few recipes and restaurants in my drafts to write about, I just don’t feel like getting around to it. And as far as blog events are concerned, I have […]

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Is anyone else out there in the holiday mood already? My mind is already on vacation. Most people at work have taken the whole week off. I still have a bunch of stuff to finish before we leave for vacation, which I am forcing myself to get to, but this blog is really starting to suffer from my laziness.
We haven’t been cooking much lately except last Saturday night when we threw a dinner party. Siv whipped up this amazing cocktail with tamarind juice, […]

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Let me come out and say it, I am the worst packer in the world! Packing light is not a concept I am familiar with. Normally for each day of the vacation, I pack 2-3 outfits - An outfit for the day time activities, a dress for the fancy dinner, and a backup just in case I don’t feel like wearing outfit #1. Then I throw in a few extra ones at the end, in case my size goes up […]

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Thanks everyone for playing the What would you pick… game. It was comforting to know that most everyone would go for comfort food, if they had to stick with eating the same meal for the rest of their life.  There were a couple of smart alecs who wanted to take a hot guy along for dessert, I have to let them, after all it is a deserted island…
Talking about my comfort food I realized that I haven’t blogged about […]

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I am one of those people who love the bone better than the meat. I actually eat the entire bone, especially soft bones like chicken.  With tougher bones like lamb/goat, I can chew on a piece of bone for hours on end, and have been compared to a dog on many occasions. Siv loves bones too, but he knows how much I love those, so he always leaves his bones for me to work on, isn’t that romantic?  When we eat at fancy […]

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I know, I have way too many chicken recipes! I haven’t even published half of my different chicken dishes here. Most of my Indian chicken recipes call for very similar set of ingredients, but the ratio of ingredients, and the cooking method itself finally make these all unique dishes with their own unique identity. That is the beauty of Indian cooking I guess!
This chicken dish is special, because the chicken is first cooked in a gravy which is thickened down, […]

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Nags of For the Cook in Me blog is hosting a fun event this month - Show Me Your Cookbooks! You don’t even have to cook anything for it, just take a picture of yourself with your favorite cookbook and send it to Nags.
I decided to stay home this Saturday as I’ve been partying pretty hard past three nights. Since there was nothing good on TV and Siv was off to play cricket, I was pretty bored around here. The easiest way […]

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You think if you’ve seen one thoran (a traditional Kerala vegetable stir fry with coconut and spices) recipe, you’ve seen it all, right? Well, that is true to a certain extent. But this one had to be blogged about, since I normally hate carrots. Yep, I hate cooked carrots, I can have them in salads and stuff. But my mom made this delicious carrot stir fry, by shredding the ingredients in the food processor first. I loved it! Okay, most of […]

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Yep, my Kerala recipes are still coming. I want to blog these mainly for my own future reference. All these dishes are completely mom-made, just writing these down will save me some dollars in phone bills in the future.
I had written about another pork dish a while ago, which needed a cut with a little fat on it, preferably pork belly. But for this dish, you could use a lean cut of the meat. This recipe works very well for beef […]

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I can see those eyes rolling, another seafood preparation from Kerala? Enough already!!! Well, what can I say, Kerallites live on seafood, and regardless of how similar the ingredient lists look like, each dish is unique.
The common theme for most of the Kerala seafood dishes is an equal mix of spicy and sour flavors! The sourness comes from kudampuli (aka fish tamarind or malabar tamarind) or tamarind or mangoes depending on the season and the region. My guess is that this trend started to […]

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The house sure feels empty, now that my parents have gone back to India! Three months sure flew by so quickly, I hope they had a nice vacation here. It’s been almost fifteen years since I spent three months at a time with my parents. Well, during college days, I used to go home every weekend, so that doesn’t really count I guess! Even then, its been eleven years!  We had a great time, but I know they were more than eager to […]

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Purple Rice Payasam / Kheer

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

Filed Under Desserts, India - Kerala, Rice | 35 Comments

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 […]

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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 […]

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An Express Tomato Roast

Sunday, August 12th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Side Dish - Gravy, Tomato | 37 Comments

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 […]

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Oh, another childhood favorite - Nellikka or Amla or Indian Gooseberry. We used to have fresh gooseberries with all its bitterness, just to enjoy the sweet reward at the end; a drink of water after a bite of gooseberry, and voilà, the water tastes sweet! This was something magical for us kids. Coming to think of it, I still don’t know the reason behind this phenomenon! Yes, it is still magical.
I picked up some frozen gooseberries from a local Indian store […]

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