Covering the courtyard of my ancestral home at Thalassery stands a huge old mango tree. Proud and tall, it produces baskets of delicious country papaya mangoes (also called popai ambo in Konkani and kappa manga or ko manga in Malayalam) invariably every year. During the ripening season which coincides with the summer holidays, we children used to run to the base of…
Savory
Hot and Spicy Vegan Cookies
Ever since we moved to this remote mountain village in the Western Ghats, every year on Christmas Eve, my family and I eagerly await the visit of Santa Claus and the neighborhood carol singers. The first year, a person was sent here in the morning asking us if we wouldn’t mind the children coming to…
Vegetable Macaroni (Vegan)
Whenever you think of cooking something for children, it is best if you can be a child at heart again, if only for a moment. The world of a child is magical – full of colors and lights, of attractions and fears, of greatly accentuated tastes and smells – a life of wonder and beauty….
Collard Dal – A hot and spicy curry (Gluten Free)
Collard greens is one of the perennial leafy vegetables I love most. I only need to step out of our home to gather a handful of crisp, tender collard green leaves for the kitchen. We grow a dozen or so clumps in fully organic fashion. This ensures that we get extra-tasty leaves round the year….
Spicy Collard Nuggets (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Collard greens do not grow well in the hot climate of the Kerala coast. However, in the cooler mountain districts of Wayanad and Idukki, it is an entirely different story. When we purchased our land in Wayanad around 8 years ago, we used to visit every week to supervise the construction work of our home. We…
Agati Flower Pakoda – A hot and spicy snack (Vegan)
Last week, our dear friends from Coorg, a planter couple, visited us together with a couple of their friends. My husband asked me to make some fried snacks, something new and unique, as his dear friend loved to have a spicy fried snack along with his lunch. We quickly plucked some fragrant agati blooms (Agatipoove in…
Cherry Tomato Pickle (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Three years ago, my husband was traveling through our neighboring district of Coorg. Full of lush green coffee and pepper plantations, it is one of the more enchanting places on earth. Though planters for generations, the Coorgs (Kodavas) are a cultured, hospitable, good-natured, well-educated, honest and proud people with a rich tradition and a legendary love of…
Kobba Sukke – Sugarcane Chickpea Dish (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
In our compound, by the side of the house, there is a sizeable clump of sugarcane. Three years ago, my husband got a plant as a gift from one of his friends. Since then, nourished with farmyard manure and watered regularly, the clump has yielded dozens of juicy, sweet sugarcanes. When my husband goes out…
Moog Dal Fry (Vegan + Gluten Free)
In the remote mountain village that I live in, the only dal available at local shops is masoor dal – split red lentils. Whenever we need tor dal (pigeon pea lentils) or urud dal (black gram lentils) or moog dal (split mung bean / green gram lentils), we have to go to the nearest town…
Agasthya Phulla Upkari – A stir-fry of good health (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Just outside my window is a beautiful hummingbird tree (Agati or Agasthy in Malayalam, Agasthya Rooku in Konkani, Heta in Marathi, Gaach Munga in Hindi, Sesbania Grandiflora). Every morning, I wake up hearing the happy chirps and songs of countless birds from tiny little lovebirds to bulbuls, mynas, parrots, hummingbirds, wild pigeons and several others…