My dear friends, I apologize for not having been able to post new recipes for you, these last few weeks. It was pepper season here and I had to do my part in picking, threshing, drying and cleaning our organic black pepper. I love the work, and this is the only black pepper I use…
Indian
Dalimba Solla Khadi – Pomegranate Peel Curry (Gluten Free)
It happened many many years ago. I was a sixth-grade schoolgirl, and it was a sweltering hot summer day. I had taken some street-food the previous day. Mid-morning found me writhing in pain in my abdomen and running to the toilet, only to pass loose motions with phlegm and blood. This was repeated twice more and…
Indori – A traditional Konkani dessert (Vegan + Gluten Free)
I made indori today. My husband and my children loved it so much that I decided to share the recipe with you. As I sit down to write these words, my mind flits back to the past and I am a little girl again, making indoris with my cousin, Rekha in our backyard. Only, we…
Green Mint Chutney (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Everyone in my family loves mint chutney. So we grow organic spearmint (pudina) plants round the year. A hardy, creeping shrub, mint is easy to grow in composted, well-drained soils in full sunlight, or in the partial shade. However, they have a tendency to rot in the excessive rains of the monsoon season. so…
Rava Unniyappam – A sweet evening snack (Vegan)
Homemaking mothers often ponder on what dish to prepare for their hungry kids coming back from school at four in the evening. Rava unniyappam is an excellent treat which you can cook easily and is always loved by children and adults alike. The batter can be prepared at noon and the rava unniyappams can be fried…
Indian Mint Fritters (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Plectranthus amboinicus or Coleus aromaticus is a thick-leaved, creeping, perennial plant of immense medicinal benefits to mankind. Also known as Indian borage, Indian mint, Mexican mint, Cuban Oregano and Spanish Thyme, this wonderful plant has graced the courtyards of Indian households for centuries. While the Konkani people lovingly refer to it as sambraguli, the Malayalis call…
Indian Mint Cough Syrup (Vegan + Gluten Free)
Millions of people may share nostalgic memories of the unforgettable taste of homemade cough syrup that they were made to drink as kids and even as adults when laid up with the flu. Such is the taste and efficacy of this simple home remedy that even today, my husband asks me to make him some whenever he…
Pongal – A South-Indian Pressure Cooker Recipe (Gluten Free)
Years ago, while we were staying at Thalassery, one of our neighbors was an old couple living in their ancestral home. Adjacent to our property with a five-foot laterite wall in between, we would spend some time every day talking across the wall. As the lady was having cardiac trouble and her husband had a partial renal…
Roasted Chickpea Coconut Chutney (Vegan + Gluten Free)
In Tamil Nadu, pottu kadalai or roasted brown chickpea lentils are ground with grated coconuts to a fine paste to make a melt-in-the-mouth chutney. It is served with pongal, idli, vada and with all sorts of dosas. A breakfast dish without chutney and sambar is considered incomplete. In Kerala and Karnataka however, delicious chutney is usually…
Shallot Rasam – A simple Kerala pouring curry (Vegan + Gluten Free)
At my parents’ home at Calicut, comes a sprightly old lady named Maniyamma. She started to work as our house maid ever since I was 3 or 4 years of age. Though she is probably in her eighties now, she looks more like 50. Short and stocky, with a smiling visage, she even plays with…