Quick Meals

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….

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat/Salad

September 7, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Corn Salad is one of our favorite summer light lunch! This easy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad features sweet fresh corn off the cob, crisp cucumbers, shaved sweet carrots, onions, crunchy peanuts with a delicious cucumber cilantro chutney that acts as a dressing.

Spicy Crispy Corn Chaat Salad is such a delicious summer salad staple; it’s easy to make and tastes incredibly good without many ingredients or fuss of deep frying the corn to get it crispy( thanks to the air fryer)!

Summer is the best time of year to serve up fresh salads and vegetables from the garden or local CSA. While I don’t have much of a green thumb, I have friends who do, and I get the corn, cucumbers and even carrots from their garden. Or your csa will be an amazing place to get the freshet of vegetables….

Paneer Beans Stir Fry in Tamarind Chutney

August 3, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chutney. Chop. Stir and serve. This paneer beans stir fry is a great, delicious meal with some rice on the side or some noodles. Simple and splendid.

Stir-fries are a girl’s best friend when looking for an easy meal that feels fancy and loved by all. Lunch time when the boys would go to school and work was a peaceful time, all by myself soaking in the moments. Plated well, simple it might be, but always fancy-ish and healthy. The lesson — that lunch can be and should be the welcomed break in our day to recoup and recharge — changes the entire game of the day.

This is hardly work: some stirring, pouring, and a bit of fry up, and then, here’s lunch. The trifling effort yields plush, sweet and spicy paneer that snuggles up with green slightly crisp beans. I love to have it as is, it is simple and absolutely delicious….

Spicy Thai Basil Chicken

July 23, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Stir fries are fast, easy, and delicious. This Thai Basil Chicken will wow you! An incredibly flavorful recipe that truly tastes just like your favorite Thai restaurant take out, or even better. Serve over some rice and a quick impressive meal is ready in no time.

We’ve eaten our share of bad Thai and great Thai food too. One of our favorites, if not the best is Khin Khao, a Michelin star Thai restaurant in San Francisco. Their flavors are subtle and not a single ingredient is overpowering. I definitely love their approach to recipes, and I was definitely inspired when I made the sauce for this Spicy Thai Basil Chicken.

There is so much nuance to Thai food, it’s not just food that’s as hot as it can be. Anyway, the Thai food that we have here is not Thai enough. It is, in fact, in complete adherence to the spirit of approachable Thai food. No doubt, the food is called Thai cuisine, and is cooked widely, especially if you take the common majority’s favorite ‘yellow or green Thai curry.’ But, is that authentic? No, but it’s relatable and palatable for all….

Healthier Salmon Cakes (Salmon Patties)

July 16, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

These healthy Salmon Cakes are a crowd pleaser. A back pocket recipe that I’ve made so many times and is always a hit at home. Requires very few ingredients, healthy and comes together in 10 minutes plus the cooking time. I had to post the recipe when a friend of mine as me if I had a salmon cake recipe that is healthier, and here it is.

Cooking salmon was overwhelming at one point. If you’ve been intimidated by cooking fish in the past, I hear you! I spent years avoiding buying salmon because I thought it would be too complicated to make, or that worse yet, I’d mess it up and ruin a beautiful piece of fish….

Chettinad Prawn Masala

March 2, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Chettinad Prawn Masala has few spices, and big bold flavors. This is a recipe from the Southern part of India. This dish comes together quite quickly and very flavorful.

South Indian Curries are always close to my heart though. South India offers a variety of quite spicy curries. The spices are pretty similar in a lot of the curries, just vary a slight bit. But, to my amazement a simple fennel can change the whole flavor of the curry or a few curry leaves. Most of the time a chicken, mutton or even a fish curry is a slow cooked one. This one comes from a place called Chettinad. The local cuisine is simply one of the the most spiciest I’ve ever tried, Chettinad Cuisine….

Asian Jalapeno Chicken and Beans

February 23, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

This perfection of a meal comes together 20 min from start to finish. Quick and Easy Asian Jalapeno Chicken and Beans is loaded with flavor and boosts of textures. Better than take-out and so much healthier!

If you are like me and looking for quick and easy weeknight dinners, and I mean, who isn’t? Stir fry dinners are the way to go. You get your protein, your veggies, your everrrything in one skillet and less than 2o minutes later, the family is at the table eating a healthy dinner.

I am a huge fan of one skillet dinners and make them at least a few times each week.

And this Asian jalapeno chicken isn’t even breaded nor fried, so this is really more of a “skinny” dish, all smothered in a simple sauce, a sauce that you’ll clearly want to pour or dip in many things….

Quick South Indian Egg Curry

January 9, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Tender soft eggs are soaked in a super flavorful curry with a coconut base. This easy South Indian egg curry recipe shows you how to cook a tasty curry using minimal ingredients, making it a perfect dish for a busy weekday dinner and its gluten free.

Eggs are my everyday lazy protein. Egg curry is my go-to lazy dinner.

When eggs are your protein, it’s one pot, quick and hearty. On my lazy days, eggs are what’s for dinner. This South Indian egg curry is one that appears on the menu every couple of weeks. It’s also one of my favorite go-to egg recipes when I have sudden guests, because you most likely have all the ingredients on hand and not only is it easy to make, it’s also incredibly flavorful. You add hard-boiled eggs to a spiced tomato sauce and in less than 30 minutes, dinner is done. Serve this on top of rice, roti or my no–yeast quick naan.…

Honey Walnut Cauliflower

January 4, 2020 By Asha Shivakumar

Honey Walnut Cauliflower will change the way you look at cauliflower. Vegetarian version, crispy baked cauliflower tossed in a creamy, sweet sauce topped with caramelized walnuts! Tastes just like take-out, but BETTER.

We love Chinese food. I could eat it on any given night, and whenever we order take-out, the honey walnut shrimp always makes it home. It’s my little ones favorite.

While I do make shrimp for the boy at home, I prefer the vegetarian version and healthier version more. Eat it without feeling guilty and for those days you crave vegetarian or if you are a vegetarian, this is perfect.

Now this dish involves baking the cauliflower to crispy perfection tossed in a creamy, sweet sauce along with some candy-glazed walnuts….