Growing up, thosai and idli with chutney, thuvaiyals (thick stoneground chutneys) or sambhar was a breakfast staple. I’d never seen a cereal box until I was a school-going, 7 year old girl! In the 80s, my maternal grandparents sold thosais and chutneys. So, everything was made-from-scratch because it was cost effective and practical as the…
Tag: recipes
Spiced Skillet Roast Chicken
It was our second holiday as a couple. We’d intended to celebrate Christmas away from the crowds and so we decided to have a simple meal in our serviced apartment. I’d never cooked for him before and had no idea what we were going to cook together. A short walk to a supermarket in Bukit…
Ayam Kalio (Lazy Man’s Chicken Rendang)
A quick internet search for ‘rendang’ will yield several thousands of recipes for rendang as this is a much loved dish in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Ancient maritime trade and shared histories have ensured that this dish crossed over from its West Sumatran origins to Malaysia and Singapore. It is not known when this dish…
Ultimate Seafood Pilaf
Aromatic basmati rice infused with a rich prawn stock and a vivacious scent of ceylon cinnamon, cloves and green cardamom all swaddle this luxurious take on a simple, mildly spiced pilaf. A pilaf is completely different from a biryani. The pilaf is a lightly spiced rice dish that is usually accompanied by gravy and other side…
Making Sabudana Khichdi with Aunty Meena Newaskar (Melting Pot #2)
For the second feature of my blog series ‘Melting Pot’ , I’ve interviewed my childhood friends’ mother, Mrs Meena Newaskar, who was kind enough to share the recipe for her daughter’s (my friend Neeti) favourite – Sabudana Khichdi and how she learnt to create this popular breakfast and snack originating from Maharashtra. Sabudana, also known…
Rice cooker Mushroom Biryani
Mushrooms are one of my favourite ingredients to cook with and eat. They come in an astounding array of colours, shapes and textures. Just look at my mushroom ‘garden’-slender enoki, meaty shiitake, gorgeous maitake (hen of the woods) and king oyster mushrooms and the cutest of them all – bunashimeji mushrooms. When we were in…
Making Mullu Murukku
Hello Everyone! Thank you for sticking around despite the long absence. As you may know from Instagram, quite a few things have been brewing in my kitchen since I last checked in here. For a few years now, I’ve been thinking about working on a blog project. I’ve finally decided to just take the plunge and…
Spiced Banana Cake with Salted Gula Melaka Frosting and Caramel Peanut Popcorn
The idea for this layered decadence came when I read about a cake version of a banoffee pie. But it quickly got out of hand when I thought to put a south-east asian twist to it. So in came the spices, gula melaka and peanuts. Can too much of a good thing really be…
Chicken with Rich Scarlet Gravy (Murg Roganjosh) with Tomato and Kale Rice Pilaf
Indian food sometimes has a bad reputation as being complicated and I know of many who are perplexed by its list of ingredients and strong, complex flavours. Despite growing up eating traditional South Indian food, I could not tell the difference between cumin or fennel and the gazillion types of lentils and pulses when I…
Nigella’s Nutella Cake (Torta Alla Gianduia)
I owe you a massive apology for being away for so long. Since August, I’ve been busy studying for my TESOL exams and preparing for a move…We’re temporarily moving to Auckland, New Zealand for the whole of 2015 ! It’s been a longtime coming as we’ve been preparing for this for years but it’s crunch…
Monsoon Table 