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This is an instant biryani version. With less spices & ingredients the biryani can be prepared within 25 minutes. Mushrooms need very less time to get cooked and hence this recipe comes handy on busy weekdays. I used button mushrooms. Also I added only onion,tomato along with mushrooms. Didn’t want to add too much of veggies. I truely wanted mushroom to be the hero of this dish. You can serve this biryani with raita or any other gravy of your choice. I prepared strawberry raita. It tasted delicious. The tangy,sour raita with spicy biryani made an awesome combo. Do try…

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…

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

Pulikuzhambu, Kara Kuzhambu, Poondu Kuzhambu these are all various varieties of thick tamarind based curries that are most popular in Tamilnadu apart from the usual Sambar & Rasam. The consistency is the key to make a perfect poondu kuzhambu. Recently I brought around 1/4 kg of fresh garlic from farmer’s market nearby and was waiting for weekend to make the gravy. After painstakingly peeling 2 whole bulbs of garlic I looked around the pantry and realized there was no Tamarind. Tamarind pulp is an essential ingredient to this curry because it gives the right tanginess to the gravy. I blindly…

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…

Sandwiches are our go-to Breakfast. Its easy, less complicated and there is no chance of messing it up. I use different types of fillings for my sandwich. Avocados,leftover paneer or mushroom masala, sometimes I even use tomato gojju (southindian style onion+tomato based side dish) as a base for the sandwich. However this green chutney sandwich is our personal favorite. It takes just 10 minutes to prepare and then 5 minutes on the griller. Within 15 minutes you can make a filling breakfast. The sandwiches can be paired with a glass of fresh orange juice,smoothies or Tea to make it a wholesome meal. Sandwiches are perfect for kids lunch box and during travels too.

Manchurian is one of the most popular Indo Chinese starter recipes. It has the right blend of Indian spices & Chinese sauces.Cauliflower,Babycorn,Paneer,Mushroom etc are widely used in preparing this starter. I tried recreating the recipe using Idli. Idli being the staple breakfast of many household