July 2016

Instagram is a platform where you discover passionate foodies everyday. Sangamithra is definitely one among them. She is a certified Nutritionist, blogs at MyEverydayKitchenRants and also for the love of fresh herbs, she has setup a beautiful balcony garden at her apartment. Her IG feed is a mix of traditional SouthIndian cuisine recipes along with other international cuisines as well. Also her food pictures gives you the essence of a typical hearty homecooked meal which we all can relate to. Also being a nutritionist herself, she never adds any fancy jargons or label her dishes like healthy, gluten free,diabetic friendly,low…

There are some moments in life that are unforgettable. Those moments will be cherished forever. Last Tuesday was very very special to me and that contented feeling after finishing my first ever cookery class cannot be explained in words. Few days back I received an email from Nerissa if I conduct cooking workshops/classes for South Indian vegetarian dishes. The reason (why she wanted to learn) she mentioned was really sweet and was more than happy to help her. For an ordinary person like me teaching someone is what I never ever imagined even in my dreams. However I decided to…

This is such a versatile healthy side dish that can be served with Rice ,Roti or even with Dosai too ☺️ The basic ‘koottu’ (கூட்டு) recipe contains 3 important components 1. Veggies – Pumpkin, Carrot,Eggplant,Drumstick, Snakegourd,Spinach,Chow Chow,Cabbage are the most commonly used vegetables. 2. Daal (lentils) – A cup of pressure cooked daal. It could be either a mix of moongdal and channa dal or just moongdal or toordal 3. Coconut Paste – This paste is essential. All you need is fresh coconut, green chilli & jeera. However if you want you can add peppercorns, ginger & garlic too Once…

‘Poriyal’ (பொரியல்) is dry stir fry of veggies that is served as a sidedish with Rice,Sambar or any southindian lunch. Its very very easy to make and the below recipe can be used with various vegetables like Beetroot, Cabbage, Spinach, Snakegourd, White Pumpkin, Any squash varieties, Raw banana,Eggplant etc. 1. Instead of boiling the veggies separately you can directly saute them in frying pan. However sprinkle water and keep an eye on the veggies. They might get charred if it lacks moisture 2. You can add sauteed onions,tomatoes too if you want along with beans & carrot I used dried…

Sambar is an integral part of Tamil cuisine. Be it breakfast or be it lunch, Sambar has to be there. Whenever I prepare tiffen items like Idli,Dosai or pongal, I usually go for this one pot sambar. Its done in pressure cooker and all you need is just 20 minutes. Tamarind is not used in this recipe and hence to give that tangyness to Sambar, I have added more tomatoes Tastes so good with even Sevai (Rice Vermicelli), Appam, Idiyappam too. Also even if you have unexpected guests, you can prepare this quickly without any hassle. The below recipe can…

Asha Shivakumar : The wonder woman behind this most amazing website www.foodfashionparty.com A mom of two, Recipe Developer, Editor at the FeedFeed Community, excellent Food Photographer with over 50k followers on Instagram & over 30k followers in Facebook. The culinary queen Nigella Lawson herself recommended Asha’s feed in instagram and the list goes on… Here is the full Q & A with Asha :

When you order mini meals in any restaurants like Saravana Bhavan , A2B the Sambar Rice will be of smooth, melt in mouth texture. Unfortunately the quantity they provide is very less and most of it is occupied by Shallots & Drumstick 😉 Thats a different story altogether We can achieve the same taste when we prepare at home as well. This is different from Karnataka’s BisiBele Bath. Sambar Sadham recipe is inspired from my mother-in-law. Our extended family is a big one and everytime during a family function or gettogether we have atleast 20-25 members gathering at her…

When we moved to London in 2014, we hardly know anyone here. The house hunt process was tedious. I had only one criteria in mind – The kitchen should have Gas Hob since am not comfortable with Induction Hob. We had to let go off certain beautiful apartments because of this criteria. When we checked this apartment for rent, the kitchen attracted me with bright sunlight, neatly furnished & they provided us these 3 appliances Refrigerator, Washing Machine & a dryer. We had absolutely no clue about the locality or any other details. Blindly we trusted our instincts & God…

If there is one memory that stays close to my heart when I think of my paati’s home (maternal grandmom’s house) is that the aroma of her kitchen. Freshly prepared Ghee, the different varieties of pickles that she stocks in ceramic jars carefully covered with white dhoti cloth (oorugai jaadi), that smell of tadka from homegrown curry leaves, the filter kaapi she makes from first decotion and the list goes on..She lived in that house for close to 55 years and she fondly refers to her place as MeenakshiAmma Chathiram in Tamizh.(‘Chathiram’ means resting place)Whoever in our family visits Trichy,…

Siri Pulipaka : The author of this popular blog Cooking With Siri and one of my absolute favorite bloggers. She is been constantly documenting her recipes for the past 9 years. This is definitely not an easy task unless and until you are truely passionate & focused on what you are doing. From her native Andhra Pradesh’s speciality dishes to homemade pasta & other baked goodies, Siri’s blog is a collection of hundreds of versatile recipes. She has hosted many blogging events that had participants all over the world, her recipes have been published in popular magazines. I guess in…