My mom makes this spicy,tangy ‘Milagu kuzhambu’ whenever we come back home from a trip or vacation. The reason behind this is that we used to be tired from travel & from all those restaurant foods, this ‘kuzhambu’ is considered as a cleansing food. There are no vegetables involved, no onion/garlic , no extra spices. A very simple south indian style ‘pachadi’ (similar to yogurt based Raita with a Tadka) & a pappad (preferrably sutta appalam) are served as side dishes. This kuzhambu is a very common recipe in Tamil Brahmin community. Especially for nursing mothers we serve this kuzhambu…

Radhika Subramanian : She is the one behind this fantastic vegetarian blog www.ticklingpalates.com. I had gazed upon her website several times, referred to her recipes but never got an opportunity to interact with her. Somewhere in mid 2014 I started following her on Instagram and got to know more about her personality. Apart from being a highly talented blogger, she is such a positive,warm & friendly person too. If you see her food pics you will be definitely tempted to lick that “sambar vadai” from your mobile screen Here is the fun Q&A with the dearest Rads (thats how…

This is an instant biryani version. With less spices & ingredients the biryani can be prepared within 25 minutes. Mushrooms need very less time to get cooked and hence this recipe comes handy on busy weekdays. I used button mushrooms. Also I added only onion,tomato along with mushrooms. Didn’t want to add too much of veggies. I truely wanted mushroom to be the hero of this dish. You can serve this biryani with raita or any other gravy of your choice. I prepared strawberry raita. It tasted delicious. The tangy,sour raita with spicy biryani made an awesome combo. Do try…

“Paruppusili” in Tamil is nothing but a stir fry of vegetables that are spiced with lentils & dried redchillies. In Tamil Brahmin households paruppusili is a traditional dish that is mandatory in Kalyana Sapadu & in any type of feast during special occasions. The ideal combination of Paruppusili is either vathakuzhambu (spicy tangy onion curry) or morkuzhambu (buttermilk based gravy). French Beans,Banana Flower,Cluster beans are the common vegetables that are used in preparing Paruppusili. However in recent years I have made it with other veggies like Cabbage,Tindora and even with spinach. Brussel sprouts is similar to cabbage and has a…

Our dinners are usually Roti with a simple sabzi or sometimes I go the South Indian way and prepare Upma/Dosai. Its June and is supposed to be the start of Summer season here in UK. But the weather has been crazily cold for the past few days. All we crave is spicy, greasy foods. Yesterday night I prepared this spicy Tawa Pulao for dinner and it turned about absolutely delicious. I served it with Yogurt and crisps. The authentic street food version is prepared directly on the hot Tawa and the addition of Pav Bhaji masala takes this Pulao to…

Srujan – An IT professional from Gujarat who is settled now in Banglore. Her food pictures are clean,simple and delicious. More than food I just admire the way she shares her love for food through her words. She doesn’t restricts herself to native gujarati cuisine alone. You could see a wide variety of Indian and International recipes in her Instagram feed. Harry Potter fangirl, quilling addict and a voracious reader. Here is the fun Q & A with Srujan where she shares her thoughts about cooking, books,bangalore foodscenes and many more… A big time foodie. Cannot deny that anyway, my…

‘Pitlai’ (பிட்ளை) is a traditional tamil brahmin dish which is prepared using either bittergourd or brinjal along with chickpeas. Unlike sambar, consistency of pitlai is very thick and can be served as a side dish to Idli/Dosa too. The recipe given below is exactly how my maternal grandmother and my mother makes it. However you could try few variations as mentioned below : – Kabuli channa or brown chickpeas is ideally used while making pitlai – You could substitue it with white chickpeas or green peas – Generally coconut paste is only used to spice the ‘pitlai’.However we do add…

If I have to prepare a lunchbox recipe within just 20 minutes, I always go for Fried Rice. A simple raita or tomato sauce would go well with that rice. So you don’t have to spend much time on thinking about side dishes. Also when the rice is cooking you could cut the vegetables finely. Once the rice is done, all you need to do is heat up the wok, add the veggies, saute it and finally add rice,sauces. It is as simple as that. But balancing the flavors, getting the right texture of rice is really really important for…

Halloumi – A variety of Cheese that is believed to be originated in Cyprus. It is widely used in Middle Eastern cooking and is popular in many western countries as well. The cheese is produced from Cow’s,Sheep’s and Goat’s Milk. When compared to other cheese varieties I find this cheese a bit extra salty and hence while cooking adjust the quantity of salt accordingly. Few months back when we had our lunch at a restaurant, we tasted Halloumi Skewers for the first time. Loved it totally and since then its been on my monthly grocery list. I usually pan fry…

Few years ago if someone had asked me to describe Madhumitha in just one sentence then it would have been this… From an ‘enthu potato’ 😉 to how she has transformed now is truely amazing. In this social media era most of the people think that being mean and negative is so cool. But Madhu proved them all wrong. That is what inspired me the most. She spreads only happiness through her words,food pics, baby’s pics. A very positive person and her parenting skills makes her a role model to new age mums. She is documenting her experiences on Baby led weaning, cloth diapering, breast feeding, baby friendly recipes and much more informative posts here. Do check it out. True to the saying “புலிக்கு பிறந்தது பூனை ஆகுமா” .. Madhu is definitely as talented as her Mom (Read about her mom Mrs.Shanti Ramachandran here) She is one her vacation right now and irrespective of that busy schedule, she managed to respond to my queries. Thank you M 🙂 🙂