After coming back home from work really late, I had two choices tonight - curl up in bed and watch American Idol or sit in front of the PC and blog.  It sure was a no-brainer after the kind of day I had. But my stupid DVR chose today to completely @#$% me over. The whole show was recorded with no sound! I have no energy to call up the Cable company and crib, and the most they can do […]

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I have a folder in my browser favorites called Recipes-to-Try and it is overflowing with all the links I have been collecting over the past year… I have tried so many recipes from other bloggers, and I normally thank them through comments or e-mail, but I have never taken the time to take a picture and write a post about it. The reason behind this is nothing but sheer laziness.
All the food bloggers out there know how much hard work […]

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If you are a food blogger keeping track of the ongoing blog events, I am sure you looked at this title and thought, Star Anise and Pomegranate - oh she is killing two birds with one stone… But  you are wrong, my friend! I am actually trying to kill four birds with one stone! Confused? Did you forget that Asparagus is an aphrodisiac?
Given it’s phallic shape, asparagus is frequently enjoyed as an aphrodisiac food. Feed your lover boiled or steamed […]

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The holidays are finally over, time to get back to real life. We had a nice break at home, got used to sleeping at 2-3 am everyday and waking up around noon. It is going to take a little while before getting back to the rhythm of the office schedule from tomorrow. I want to kick start the regular blogging schedule on the new year by posting a recipe after the long break.

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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’ve been posting a lot of meat based recipes lately, so time to post something pure vegetarian. Yep, trust me, I didn’t sneak anything in, no fish sauce, no minced meat, no shrimp paste, nothing. It is a Tamil recipe, I think. Siv gave me the recipe, but he has never made it before. He makes a great mushroom dish - a thick gravy, which is very tasty, and I know that is his mom’s recipe. When I wanted to make […]

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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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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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What makes a perfect couple? Together they bring out the best in each other…
He is bitter and not so smooth when it comes to looks.. She is smelly and shrinking with age… But put them together, it is a match made in heaven…
You suddenly start liking his bitterness, when it is perfectly paired with her oh so slightly salty crunchiness… Dress them up in some spices and the looks won’t matter anymore either…
Yes, they are truly made […]

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Regular readers here will know that I am not a big vegetable fan. But now with my parents in town, every meal must accompany a veg dish, normally in the form of thorans (a stir fry with coconut and basic seasonings) or mezhukku purattis (a simple stir fry with seasonings).  My mom goes nuts with all the new leaves and veggies she finds in the Asian grocery stores here. I never get time to click though, but this purple cabbage […]

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Chettinad cuisine is originated in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu state comprising of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Karaikudi regions. This cuisine is well known for its hot and spicy, aromatic non vegetarian dishes like Chicken Chettinad, Pepper Chicken, Fish Varuval etc. Chettinad cuisine is so different from the traditional healthy vegetarian cuisine of the Tamil Brahmins, but when I think of Tamil cuisine, the first word that comes to my mind is Chettinad - just my type of dishes! 
When I mentioned to […]

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