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Beans with Crushed Peanuts and Sesame

9 Oct

Beans with Crushed Peanuts and Sesame

Beans with crushed peanuts and sesame – one of those dishes in which you keep adding this and that, taking tentative bites to check if it tastes good, and end up liking the result enough to make note of it for repetition.

Each bite of beans with crushed peanuts and sesame gives you a variety of flavors – spicy and sweet and tangy and nutty. Yes, vegan and gluten-free CAN be adventurous!

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Methi Chutney: Fiery Chili and Fenugreek Magic!

26 Sep

Methi Chutney

I must warn you before giving you this recipe – methi chutney (that is, chutney made of fenugreek leaves) is not for everybody. It is bitter, it is really hot. If you are like me, you will love it. If you are not, I warned you, didn’t I?

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Imli Chutney: Tamarind Jaggery Chutney

2 Sep

Classic imli chutney – a sweet and sour chutney made of tamarind (imli) and jaggery. Drizzle tamarind jaggery chutney over dahi vadas and chaats, dip your samosas and kachoris into it or have it on the side with any Indian meal.

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Gujarati Dal: Yellow Lentils with Peanuts and Jaggery

2 Mar

Gujarati Dal

Peanuts and jaggery in toor dal? It sounded bizarre and it wasn’t something I had cooked or eaten before. When I saw this recipe for Gujarati dal on a food show on NDTV Good Times I decided to try it in my own kitchen that very day.

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How to Reduce the Bitterness of Bitter Gourd

17 Feb

Bitter Gourd Slices

Bitter gourd (karela in Hindi) is an acquired taste perhaps – most people don’t relish its bitterness. One friend famously likes bitter gourd only in the form of bharwa karela (stuffed bitter gourd): she eats the filling and discards the shell.

I have never disliked bitter gourd; rarely will I put it through pre-cooking treatment to reduce its bitterness. Most of these steps make the karela lose not just bitterness but also nutrients. Still, if you must, here are a few tips to reduce the bitterness of bitter gourd:

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Bittersweet Baingan: Green Eggplant with Cashews and Jaggery

25 Oct

Bittersweet Baingan

Before I moved to south India, baingan (eggplant) was strongly linked in my mind with baingani – the color purple. Imagine my surprise when I first discovered that baingan could be green. Since then, my relationship with the green baingan has gone from misgivings to experimentation to understanding. I have discovered that this variety of eggplant takes a slightly shorter time to cook than its purple sibling, and that certain ingredients complement the green eggplant better.

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