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 …

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 …

Third day on the hunger challenge and I am beginning to appreciate the cause more and more with each passing day. We both worked pretty late today and normally after a late night like that, we just get some take-out without thinking twice about it. Obviously that wasn’t an option today, we had to come home and make dinner. I was so worn out that I could’ve just eaten some bread and crashed. But I wanted to do this right; my whole intention for this challenge was to share some …

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 …

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything. I’ve been so lazy lately to sit down and type a post. But today I really needed a distraction. A box of candy is putting my morals and willpower to test. It is not a long story, but I do tend to ramble when I am in such predicaments, so bear with me here!
It all started this Halloween, when a real estate agent living in our building distributed candies to everyone. He left a small box of candies along with …

After almost two weeks of eating out, the cravings for homemade food got unbelievably strong today. I had some frozen spareribs in the freezer, which I cooked with Indian spices to make a spicy pork fry. I don’t mind eating dry dishes with plain rice, as long as it is spicy, but Siv usually prefers a gravy with white rice.
First inkling was to make a fried rice, but the fridge was completely empty, even the eggs had expired almost a week ago. Then I suddenly thought of saffron rice, we …

The husband is away on a business trip, the fridge is practically empty and it is pouring outside to go shopping. This was the situation at home tonight when it was time to start thinking about dinner. I raided the fridge to find some Portuguese sausage links, eggs and left over rice. First thought was to just have sausage and eggs, breakfast for dinner, why not? But then I thought of Meeta’s Monthly Mingle, and that today is the last day. An event is always a motivation for cooking, and …

Once in a while I get e-mails from readers asking for menu suggestions for a dinner party they are planning. This is my absolute favorite part of any party- coming up with the menu. Siv and I spend days planning a menu for the parties that we throw, and come up with an over-ambitious menu comparable to that of a tasting menu at a fine restaurant. But due to utter laziness and the tendency to procrastinate doing any kind of job till the absolute last minute, more often than not we end up ditching the pre-planned menu and do a d-day scrambling to buy groceries [...]

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 get back to their lives back home.  
Among all the nice …

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 …

Don’t let the name confuse you, it is not a forbidden pudding, it is a pudding made of Forbidden rice. I picked up this rice from the Asian store, just because I was intrigued by the name. Also because the packet had the following description:
Legend tells us that Forbidden rice was once grown exclusively for the Emperors of China to enrich their health and ensure their longevity.

So that’s where the name came from, it was reserved for the Emperors. Well, I had to try it of course. The packet also …