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Our dinners are usually Roti with a simple sabzi or sometimes I go the South Indian way and prepare Upma/Dosai. Its June and is supposed to be the start of Summer season here in UK. But the weather has been crazily cold for the past few days. All we crave is spicy, greasy foods. Yesterday night I prepared this spicy Tawa Pulao for dinner and it turned about absolutely delicious. I served it with Yogurt and crisps. The authentic street food version is prepared directly on the hot Tawa and the addition of Pav Bhaji masala takes this Pulao to…

If I have to prepare a lunchbox recipe within just 20 minutes, I always go for Fried Rice. A simple raita or tomato sauce would go well with that rice. So you don’t have to spend much time on thinking about side dishes. Also when the rice is cooking you could cut the vegetables finely. Once the rice is done, all you need to do is heat up the wok, add the veggies, saute it and finally add rice,sauces. It is as simple as that. But balancing the flavors, getting the right texture of rice is really really important for…

Halloumi – A variety of Cheese that is believed to be originated in Cyprus. It is widely used in Middle Eastern cooking and is popular in many western countries as well. The cheese is produced from Cow’s,Sheep’s and Goat’s Milk. When compared to other cheese varieties I find this cheese a bit extra salty and hence while cooking adjust the quantity of salt accordingly. Few months back when we had our lunch at a restaurant, we tasted Halloumi Skewers for the first time. Loved it totally and since then its been on my monthly grocery list. I usually pan fry…

Couscous is one of my favorite ingredients and am incorporating it in many Indian based recipes too. This salad can be put together within few minutes and its vegan too. Instead of Tofu you could also add grilled halloumi or paneer too incase if you are not a vegan I have used only basic ingredients for preparing the marinade. The salad can be served cold as well. Hence you could prepare the Couscous mixture well in advance and can refrigerate for later use. Grill the Tofu just before serving

Gram Flour Pancakes aka Besan ka Cheela is one of the most popular breakfast recipes in India. There is no fermentation required for the batter and can be made within 20 minutes. They are gluten free, loaded with veggies and accompanied with hot Masala Chai, these pancakes are a perfect nutritious start for the day. The vegetables added to the batter can be changed according to your taste buds. To make it even healthier you could add a bunch of spinach/kale leaves too. The pancakes can be served with tangy Coriander/Mint/Tamarind chutney or with any hot sauces like Tomato Chili…

On a Friday night I was wondering what to make for dinner. Then this idea popped up. Prepared a quick tikki with Potatoes and paneer,served with a simple home made green chutney, store bought Imli(tamarind) Chutney and a salad. It was a satisfying meal and a perfect start for the weekend. Instead of Paneer you could add Tofu too. Since these tikkis are shallow fried they didn’t consume too much oil too. The following measurement yields upto 12-15 medium sized tikkis


Quinoa pronounced as ‘keen-wah’ is one of the most popular Health foods in recent days. Gluten free, rich in protein and incredibly nutritious are the reasons which makes this cereal grain the most wanted. White, Red and Black are the three main types of Quinoa and I have tried various recipes using this. However the Indo-Chinese version of Quinoa is our personal favorite. I was initially confused as what to name this dish 😉 Veg quinoa somehow sounded incomplete. Hence going by this name “Veg Quinoa Fried Rice” for the dish. The classic Chinese dish gets a makeover with quinoa….

Sambar Rice is like the ‘kichdi’ of SouthIndia. Perfect comfort food to have during elaborate weekend lunch or sometimes during dinner too. This recipe is based on Tamil Nadu style of cooking. It is prepared generally from Rice and Toor Dal. In recent days due to various health reasons people are trying to switch from White Rice to millets for day to day cooking. This sambar sadham recipe is made using Barnyard Millet(Kuthiraivali in Tamil) & Masoor Dal. Also this is the best way to sneak in the vegetables and even fuzzy eaters will love this dish.The millet version tastes…

I always have Dosai batter in stock and it comes handy while trying to make quick breakfast or dinner. But at times I do forget the bowl of batter lying in fridge and it does become a bit sour after two days. Instead of wasting the sour batter you can try making this ragi rava roast[Finger Millet flour + Semolina crepes] and am sure your family will enjoy this breakfast.I served coconut chutney and tomato chutney as side dishes. However you could serve it sambar or molagapodi [GunPowder] too The following measurement approximately yields 12 medium sized dosas. Unlike dosa batter, this ragi rava batter has to be watery like our regular rava roast. Also you need to pour batter on a hot Dosa Tawa. If the temperature is not correct then it will difficult for you to remove dosa from the pan

Rama Navami is a traditional Hindu Festival to celebrate the birth of Lord Shri Rama. Lord Rama is the sixth reincarnation of Lord Vishnu himself and in Tamil Nadu temples we celebrate “Shri Rama Navami Utsavam” for nine days. It is firmly believed that mere chanting of His name ‘Rama’ burns ignorance, passion and sin. With or without knowledge, correctly or incorrectly, when the word “Rama” is pronounced it showers a rain of good upon the devotees. My mom usually reads Samkshepa Ramayan and she performs a simple pooja by reciting Shri Rama Ashtothram and then finish the pooja with…