Non Vegetarian

Indo-Thai Mixed Vegetable/Squash Red Curry with lentils and Pearl Couscous

August 17, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

You’ve heard it many times, read many experiences and you will hear it many more times.

When I stepped out into the cold chilly San Francisco airport as a new bride, I really had no clue what I was getting into….

I walked into a blank canvas in every sense. A large apartment with not a chair to sit on. No pots and pans, no spoons, I felt almost helpless. Really helpless and very thankful because for the name God, I could not make a decent coffee. Eating out was the only option until I got really bored of it….

Spicy Mango Masala Chicken

July 3, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

There are many words to describe food. Three words to describe this chicken, no cliché here, are “FINGER LICKING GOOD.”

This recipe was definitely an accident, a happy and yummy accident.

This is a re-post from few years ago. I’ve made it a number of times. Yesterday I made a huge batch of the mango barbecue sauce and decided to click some better quality pictures, if you know what I mean. I haven’t deleted the old post. If you’d like to see the old pictures and how this recipe came to be, here’s the link for the original Mango Chicken.

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Chettinad Spicy Chicken Curry

March 17, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

I don’t experiment a lot with family recipes. I pretty much follow a step-by-step written formula. Recreating childhood memories is an experience quite special to me. Especially when being this far away, food makes me feel at home and close to family back home.

I come from a family of great cooks. They made some delicious food and some cringe-worthy exotic food too. Curries were almost non-experimental; they cooked what the family liked and that was that. As a result, a couple of next generation home cooks ventured and branched out into different methods of cooking and different cuisines, although the food made on Sundays were some of the best. We learnt the art of making Dum Aloo(potatoes in creamy sauce), chicken tikka masala(needs no intro), hariyali chicken(green curry chicken), aloo posto(Potato dry-bengali cuisne)and many more.

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Tandoori Fish and Yucca Chips

March 1, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Happy March!!

I’d like to believe a lot of us are creatures of habit. In my mind, there are very few things better than a nibble here and a sip there around a table with nodding heads and bouts of laughter. Conversations start and flow, taking us around a whole lot of subjects with a lot of food consumed.

The only drawback to this is you get used to this, a bit too much. A simple ritual but a fond one.

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3 Bean Carrot-Spinach Soup (Spicy Indian Style)

January 22, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

While in many places it’s snowing and freezing, late winter brings bright sunny weather in Northern California. I had to remind myself that it is winter as I drove around in 65 degree weather today. The excitement of winter is only when we drive up for a few hours to see the snow. After a few rash rains, the doldrums of January bring foggy mornings and warm yet cozy afternoons. The sun stays awake for as long as it can, as the fog gives us the perfect picturesque view on early morning walks. Living in the Bay Area sure has its beautiful moments….

HARISSA-MANGO PANEER AND PEARL BARLEY-DILL SALAD

January 17, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

This month was my whole grain month. As I measured out the barley to cook that morning, I did not realize that I had to be creative about how I made use of it for the next three days.

Little did I know that after you have a decent portion of this grain, you won’t be hungry for hours. But isn’t that a good thing? Oh well, maybe. For me, it was ok. So, long story short, I cooked 4 cups of barley which turned out to be around 8 cups of cooked barley. The kids were very apprehensive at the sound of the grain but it turned out they enjoyed it especially when I paired it with something they love….

MIXED CHAAT/Salad

January 12, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Taste a good chaat, and you will soon know why it is not forgotten. Chaat is a jumble of flavors and textures. It’s sweet, spicy, tangy, crunchy, and quite wild in flavors. Ask an Indian about chaat, and you will see their face light up. It just does that. Chaat is traditionally eaten in between meals in India. It is just not like back home. There is something amiss in the authenticity of chaat we get here. I guess it’s because it has to be catered to people of different cultures.

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Wasabi Broccolini with Saffron Quinoa Pilaf

January 6, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

I have a great rewarding audience to cook for. We all share a common passion, food. Although hubs is not much of a kitchen person, his appreciation and knowledge of his food are admirably impressive.

I don’t have a strategy or agenda when cooking on most days. It’s even more experimentative when clearing the fridge and when I have nothing much going on. Sometimes, a meal comes from a place of annoyance and “Hey, I’m going to cook whatever…”

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INDO THAI – SPICY CHICKEN CURRY with VEGETABLES

December 17, 2013 By Asha Shivakumar

If I had to summarize my weekend into one word, it would be: congested. Isn’t it annoying when you feel feverish but the temperature couldn’t be more normal. The whole weekend almost flew by resting and take out food. Not sure how you feel about NyQuil, but I can sleep 2 days straight with just 2 tbsp of it. I actually did(not literally), it did feel good.

What I did miss was home made comfort food, like some rice and spicy curry. I’m pretty exhausted from all the take out.

So after couple of days of take out food, I got up on Sunday and made my Indian Thai Curry(spicy). We enjoyed it with some coconut rice. Yum.

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PEPPER CHICKEN On Rice Cracker( PAPAD)

December 8, 2013 By Asha Shivakumar

It’s 3.30 p.m.; the front door opens to two hungry boys. The perfume of pepper, warmth from the spices, and the sizzling sounds are just inviting. If I was in my parent’s home, I would ask the same thing, “Mom, it smells so good, what are we eating?”

I have to put my foot down on some things.”Go change, wash up, put on your home clothes, and I will tell you what I cooked,” I say.

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