"Dosa"

I stumbled upon Priya’s instagram account in the beginning of 2013 I guess. From then to till date her food pictures/recipes have always been amazing. There is not much of greasy or oily food in her feed. Though she occasionally indulge in fried snacks I love the way how her food emphasis on clean eating. If you look at her feed you will realize that eating healthy doesn’t necessarily have to be monotonous or boring. I always say that “You don’t have to be a blogger to be passionate about food” , Priya is another classic example of that. Priya…

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…

Srujan – An IT professional from Gujarat who is settled now in Banglore. Her food pictures are clean,simple and delicious. More than food I just admire the way she shares her love for food through her words. She doesn’t restricts herself to native gujarati cuisine alone. You could see a wide variety of Indian and International recipes in her Instagram feed. Harry Potter fangirl, quilling addict and a voracious reader. Here is the fun Q & A with Srujan where she shares her thoughts about cooking, books,bangalore foodscenes and many more… A big time foodie. Cannot deny that anyway, my…

‘Pitlai’ (பிட்ளை) is a traditional tamil brahmin dish which is prepared using either bittergourd or brinjal along with chickpeas. Unlike sambar, consistency of pitlai is very thick and can be served as a side dish to Idli/Dosa too. The recipe given below is exactly how my maternal grandmother and my mother makes it. However you could try few variations as mentioned below : – Kabuli channa or brown chickpeas is ideally used while making pitlai – You could substitue it with white chickpeas or green peas – Generally coconut paste is only used to spice the ‘pitlai’.However we do add…

Ravi Chandran – A Software Engineer by Profession, loves Nature Photography, started cooking since the early teens, a doting father to two beautiful daughters and the author of “Nalabaagam”. Very apt name for the blog 🙂 🙂 (Nala is a Hindu Mythology character that appears in the Epic Mahabarat. His culinary repertoire was well known that the word Nalapaka became a synonym for excellence in culinary arts) Randomly I started following Ravi Anna on Instagram two years ago. His feed was full of interesting still photography, sunsets, handmade jewelry & quilling works done by his daughters and on top of…

I started following Shanti Aunty in Instagram over a year ago and am truly impressed by her instagram feed since then. A Banker by profession,loves gardening, takes great care of her family,passionate about food and in spite of her busy schedule she manages to share her day to day preparations in various social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram without fail. She doesn’t stop at just uploading the pictures but painstakingly write down the recipes then and there along with the pictures. In an era where even if someone asks a recipe for a simple coconut chutney people will redirect…

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.

 Appam is a thin pancake that is prepared from Rice batter mixed with coconut milk. It is a staple breakfast in Kerala and in Srilanka. What makes it so special is the lacy, thin outer layer and its central layer which is soft and pillowy. The consistency of the batter is really important to achieve this right texture. Normally Raw Rice (pacharisi) is used as main ingredient. I have used Brown Basmati Rice and the story behind is explained below 😉

I prepared Vegetable Puffs last week and had some leftover filling. I stuffed the filling the between two perfectly toasted breads and the sandwich tasted amazing.