A simple stir fry of potatoes and cauliflower elevated by the tadka of fenugreek seeds in mustard oil. Aloo gobhi bhujiya pairs well with pooris / parathas and stacks well in the lunchbox.
Spices & Herbs
Recipes that use herbs and spices as a key ingredient.
Chayote Apple Salad with Chili Lime
Each kitchen stint with the chayote teaches me something new. When I began cooking with this gourd, peeling it was hard – till I learnt the techniques of making triangular notches around its folds and boiling it before peeling. Soon I discovered a different variety of the chayote: the “Ooty chow chow”, which has a smooth exterior that demands no fiddling with folds at all.
So I switched loyalties to the Ooty chow chow, as my observant regulars would have noticed in the post on chayote dal.
While cutting raw veggies and fruits, I sometimes pop a few chopped pieces into my mouth. A reflex action if you will, this usually leads me to grimace and move on – but when I did this with the Ooty chow chow I stopped in my tracks. This vegetable didn’t just look like a pear, it tasted startlingly like one. Do I even need to cook this, I wondered.
Carrot Cucumber Rava Cheela
Take the basic semolina pancake recipe up a level: fortify it with carrot and cucumber, flavor its base with a dash of dahi, spice it up with ginger and chilies. Carrot cucumber rava cheela works really well for brunch or in the lunchbox with tomato pickle on the side.
Aloo Tinda ki Sabzi: Potato Apple Gourd Curry
Home-style aloo tinda ki sabzi, cooked with tomatoes and spices.
If tinda is unfamiliar to you, here’s an intro:
Pudina Rice: Mint Rice (No Onion Or Garlic)
Pudina rice – fragrant basmati with the freshness of mint leaves, the zing of ginger and lime, and nutty cashew goodness to round it all off.
Sem Til ki Sabzi: Broad Beans in Black Sesame Sauce
Tender broad beans / fava beans (sem in Hindi) are cooked with an unusually colored, delicious black sesame sauce in this recipe. The dark, nutty flavor of the sauce brings out the earthiness of the broad beans.
Cucumber Pomegranate Salad
A bright side dish to perk up your mealtimes. Cucumber and pomegranate are loaded with antioxidants, and when they come together, they make a salad that’s the very definition of healthy gorgeousness.