Kaalan - Yogurt Curry with Ground Coconut

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Filed Under Coconut, India - Kerala, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 43 Comments

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 […]

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 […]

Mambazha Pulissery - Mango in a Yogurt Gravy

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Mango, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 35 Comments

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, […]

Egg Roast Recipe from My Favorite Cookbook

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

Filed Under Eggs, India - Kerala, Side Dish - Gravy | 49 Comments

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 […]

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 […]

Yam - Drumstick Curry

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Recipes, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 39 Comments

A few weeks ago, I was alone at home on a Thursday night, watching TV in my pajamas when I got a call from my friend M that she and my other friend M were in front of Cascadia restaurant across my house, and wanted me to go down and join them for a drink. Cascadia is kind of a dressy place, especially on Thursday nights. I was in no mood to dress up to go down, so I invited them up […]

P is for Pavakka Pachadi

Saturday, May 12th, 2007

Filed Under Bitter Gourd, India - Kerala, Recipes, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 29 Comments

It is time for the weekly dose of that authentic Kerala recipe. Pavakka aka bitter gourd aka bitter melon has been my favorite vegetable for as long as I can remember. I know there is a big group of people who absolutely hate this vegetable, it is really an acquired taste. But cooked the right way, most of the bitterness of pavakka can be masked, or it can elevate other flavors in a dish. My all time favorite pavakka dish is […]

O is for Olan!

Friday, May 4th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Lentils and Legumes, Recipes, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 26 Comments

If you are a regular visitor here, you’d know I am not big into Vegetarian cooking. Growing up I used to like very few vegetables, my mom used to include at least one vegetable dish into every meal. Some of those I truly hated, but we were supposed to eat everything that was on the table, something about building character! Among those dishes that I disliked were anything with eggplants or snake gourd, sambar, rasam, and most types of dry legumes and daals except for […]

Erissery - Butternut Squash Curry

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Filed Under India - Kerala, Recipes, Side Dish - Gravy, Squash, Vegetarian | 15 Comments

This dish is one of my childhood favorites. Mine is a hardcore non-veg family; when we were growing up we used to have fish almost every day and some kind of meat in the weekends. But on those rare days when there was no non-veg at all, there were 2 or 3 dishes that would get me by. Pumpkin Erissery with rice and papadam is one combination I could forget my carnivore self for. I still make it once in a […]