Indian

sweet bonda -Vada in Coconut Milk

October 20, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Sweet Bonda- soft spongy Urad Dal Vada soaked in sweetened coconut milk. It’s a heirloom recipe of a very culturally rich small community of a district in Tanjore/Thanjavur. Perfect Navratri Sweet.

The memories of this sweet bonda traces back to when I was about 14-15 yrs. Back road drives, our yearly trips with aunts, uncles and cousins.

That year we visited Tanjore, South India. Tanjore is known for many things: It’s paintings, the very popular temples that were build during the Chola empire, and their hospitality. How can I forget the food?! To this day, Thanjavur and it’s food has stuck with me. We stayed at my mom friend’s home. A traditional home with thatched roofs, inviting thinnai and beams that were intricately carved out of teak wood. There are not enough synonyms to describe how varied their food is and how very delicious it is.

Reaching Tanjore past midnight, we went straight to bed after a few minutes of obligatory talk….

Authentic Garam Masala

October 6, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

The most popular Indian spice blend is the garam masala. This fresh, fragrant, authentic and simple recipe is made from slow roasting the whole spices and grinding them.

Garam Masala is a common Indian spice blend, that’s perfumed and pungent, a combination of warming spices used to season many Indian dishes. Every household in India has a different recipe for this masala spice powder. It varies greatly across India, depending on the region, household and personal preference. And that’s why Garam Masalais so special and nuanced.

Garam masala is darker in color, spicy and not hot, and nothing in comparison to the other blends. A completely different flavor profile.https://youtu.be/v8uESTv1SMw

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Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani – Best and Easiest Dum Biryani EVER

October 3, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

If you love biryani, this hyderabadi chicken biryani will WOW you. This layered biryani is so flavorful and will become your go to biryani recipes. You will love this easy and delicious recipe!

Can anything be more marvelous than a big pot of Biryani? Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani.

Woke up bright and early ready to embark on the art of making biryani.

We sit down to a mountainous task of peeling those tight headed mini garlic. Turmeric washed chicken gets a soak in a home made slightly sour but sweet yogurt, fresh ginger-garlic-green chili paste, red chili powder and the freshest garam masala. A squeeze of lemon splashes into an eye while I mix with my bare clean hand.

Precision cut onions get piled up on a steel plate just to be dumped in a kadai of hot oil, to get golden fried and caramalized( NO STORE BOUGHT fried onions). The marinated chicken gets cooked in an abundance of oil mixed with ghee, to a perfect 80% percent. On the side, the pleasant fragrance of basmati can be whiffed in the second floor as she starts dancing around in a large pot with spices. A steam rises to the face as I carefully drain the water separating the rice that look like glistening pearls not wanting to stick to each other. The rice is not fully cooked, because she needs to soak in the juices of the flavorful chicken when layered, later.

I line up everything like an organized morning assembly at school.

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Pumpkin Dal with Beet Greens

September 27, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Cozy and comforting Pumpkin Dal or Poosanikai Kootu is perfect for autumn and cooler months. It’s easy to make and with the addition of beet greens adds so much more flavor.

Happy Autumn!!

It’s that time of the year when pumpkin and butternut squash is in abundance, and I’m all about pumpkin recipes, be it sweet or savory. I’ve been eating this pumpkin kootu or pumpkin dal from when I was a baby. I’ve always liked the slight sweetness in my curries and this one with chapathi or just plain rice is phenomenal.

Authentic South Indian everyday food/recipes uses very less spices, simple local ingredients and never over the top hot. It’s always fresh and few ingredients. This recipe uses channa daal for it’s bite and texture, creamy which also holds it’s shape. This pumpkin dal works best with channa dal/split yellow chickpeas or even split yellow moong daal.

Flavorful Indian food is so much faster and you can get the most authentic taste with just a few ingredients.Thanks to my mom for yet another healthy and delicious recipe that is a staple at home….

One Pot Saffron Chicken Rice

September 22, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Saffron Chicken Rice is a one pot meal that is flavorful, comforting and weeknight recipe made easy! It’s robust, soulful and well balanced, the best recipe you’ll need. This post is sponsored by Spice Tribe.

Biryani, Pulao, Fried rice of any kind is our special meal and brings out the nostalgia in me. Our Sunday meals had biryani as the star, and mom made one of the best biryani ever.

Now, my boys are big fans of biryani or pulao of any kind, always with chicken. This recipe Saffron Chicken Rice is inspired by Turkish pulao, and it’s something I make few times a month, especially during a weeknight….

Adigas Sambhar/Karnataka Style Hotel Sambhar

September 20, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Idli-sambhar is an emotion. This Adigas or Karnataka style hotel sambhar is spicy and slightly sweetish just like how the people of Karnataka love. Simple spices, daal, are all boiled together, to form the perfect fiery red, hot watery sambhar, which is perfect for fluffy idlis and vada. It sure will make your day a great one.

From joyful mornings, to painful waking moments to successful takeaway lessons / happy endings. To propitious experiences, and to new norms.

I land at 1.30 am, the security line is longer than I expected. I look around and see excited faces, emotions that are swelling to see their loved ones. Nervous and jittery hand movements and the phone rings. “Are you here, Ash?”, to which I excitedly scream “YESS”. I know two people are very eagerly waiting to see me, it’s almost been two years. In the blink of an eye — or it felt like that — I was done with security and at the carousel for the luggage. “URGHHH, why are my bags this delayed?” I ask myself, but I find myself surprisingly calm too. And there comes this brown baggage with a yellow tie that dad strung the last time I was in India, and oh, how I teased him when he tied that ugly looking thread. To that, he said: “At least it will stand out” ;). His face flashes in front of me. All the four bags come looking as eager for their owner as the owner itself….

Peanut Butter Ginger Chicken

September 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Marinate and Cook: It’s as easy as that. This Peanut Butter Chicken is an impressive and delicious dish. With gingery tones, warm spices and the sweetness from the peanut butter and honey, it will WOW you. Enjoy with pilaf, quinoa, naan or roti, SO GOOD!

Every time I post a recipe for chicken, I say it’s a new favorite of my boys. It is;). When a recipe turns out well and it’s the most requested, I jump to share it with you. Like many of your favorite chicken recipes on the blog, I hope you love this one too.

This Peanut Butter Chicken is such an impressive meal, the kids loved! I say impressive because of how easy it is to put together and how flexible this recipe can be. Adding peanut butter to this recipe adds richness and a robust flavor. When a dish tastes like it’s been slow cooked or seems fancier than it is, I think it’s a winner. …

Modak/Kozhukkatai/Sweet dumplings with sesame and coconut

August 18, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Modak/Kozhukkatai, a sweet dumpling served on the auspicious day of the birth of Ganesha, the elephant GOD. It’s nutty, sweet and with a drizzle of ghee, it’s irresistible.

You are what you eat, so eat something sweet!

He sits majestically, adorned with flowers and a spread of Modak, laddos, corn, puffed rice and vada is abundantly piled on a silver platter and placed in front of him. The moment we dread, with tears: mom dad and myself have to bid him goodbye for a year. Dad does the aarti, and we take him to do visarjan( leave him in water}. Sighs. It’s a sad few moments.

Morning starts off real early, 5.00 a.m to be exact. A bath and new clothes, a brass plate in hand, dad and I get ready to go bring Ganesha from commercial street. A place where my grandfather and his father got the custom made Lord that’s made out of a mould, and liberally sprinkled with gold dust….

Chicken Chaap / Kolkata Style Roast Chicken

August 13, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chicken Chaap. Large pieces of meat are marinated in an assortment of spices and a cashew & poppy seed paste, and they then sit to soak. Slow roasted in fresh ghee, this is one of my favorite chicken dishes from the East of India, Kolkata to be precise. Juicy, tasty, and oh so flavorful.

There are priceless gems I’ve collected over the years. And we are talking about recipes that have been eagerly written down, cooked, and devoured. When I get back and marvel at how good something has turned out, I always get a hug or big huge proud smile from the owner of the recipe. It requires a great love of food to share a recipe, precisely. It requires precision to get the recipe right, and a big heart to compliment the owner of the recipes. Thanks to my friend Surabi, who shared her mom in law’s famous chicken chaap recipe with me almost 18 years ago.

Chicken chaap is a Mughlai inspired dish. You can find this dish in most restaurants in Kolkata served in an oval platter with a light pulao or biryani. It’s without a doubt my second favorite dish of Kolkata, first being aloo posto. …

Chayote Spinach Kootu with Kootu Podi

August 5, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chayote kootu with spinach, made with a special kootu podi is simple, yet overflows with flavors and leaves you questioning what spice is added in it. It embodies the way I like to cook — that is to say, in a way that lets each ingredient shine.

A soothing bowl was needed because everything is getting overwhelming.

Don’t you prefer every day very much like another? I know, who likes it… Especially since we are going through that. With everything that’s going on, housework has doubled (don’t know why, or maybe I do), office work seems slow, I’ve been in my PJs a bit more than I’d want to, haven’t seen any of my friends in a while, and, to top all that, stress takes over with more reasons than one. You call a friend and everyone talks about the same situation, the same work, the same chores… I don’t blame them. It’s hard on everyone….