Tamatar Chawal | Easy Seasoned Tomato Rice

Rice is the easiest of foods to prepare in a rush. Today's recipe involves cooked rice, so its the prefect recipe if you have some rice ready to use in your refrigerator! This Tomato Rice is a yummy treat for adults and kids alike. I like to serve it hot with chutney and plain yogurt. Alternatively, this is a great treat to carry in your lunch box or for a day out too.

Sweet Red Onion and Cilantro Quick Bread | Eggless Baking

When I first started baking bread regularly, one of my go to recipe would be Quick Bread or Cheats Bread as I like to call it. No yeast, no kneading, no shaping by hand, and most importantly no waiting!! From start to finish an average quick bread can be ready in just over an hour. Warm, soft, super delicious with globs of butter, a good quick bread can make your day. I usually make these breads for breakfast, but you can bake them at night, cool  them, wrap them in foil and save them in the refrigerator for the next day. Planning a family get together? Quick breads are perfect - bake and freeze for up to a month and you are good to go.

Pakora Khuzambhu | Onion Fritters Curry

Kuzhambu  is a cherished curry dish in my home. Combining flavors of spicy, sweet, tart - it makes for the perfect curry. I blogged about my favorite Tomato Kuzhambhu a couple of years back. Today its a recipe for yet another delicious and tangy curry - Pakora Kuzhambu. Crispy onion pakoras, deep fried and golden, dipped in a spicy tamarind and coconut milk curry!! Could you ask for more?

Semolina Carrot Quick Bread Revisited | Healthy Snacks

Semolina Quick Breads are a tasty and healthy alternative to heavy, oily snacks. They are nutritious, filling, and if you are particular about your baked goodies - eggless! Earlier this year I posted my favorite recipe for Semolina Loaf. The recipe was loaded with vegetables and made for a delicious and dense bread. Since then I have tried many permutations of the recipe, and off late we have settled on a somewhat lighter version of the same.

Sada Namkeen Seviyan | Savoury Indian Vermicelli Noodles

I always to try to keep our refrigerator and stocked up with fresh home made meals. Yet every so often I also need to rustle up a really quick meal. Something easy yet delicious that we can enjoy hot off the pan. Seviyan or Indian noodles are my one on my favorite quick cook foods. With a pack or two in the pantry I assure you, you too can feed your family a hot meal in minutes. There are so many ways of preparing the seviyan - just go with your mood and instinct.

Oats Pohe | Oats Poha | Savoury Beaten Rice and Oats Porridge

In my last post, I mentioned the Oats Pohe we had for weekend breakfast. Pohe is a breakfast or brunch favourite at my home. Its the go to breakfast food whenever we tire of cereal and milk, or toast and spread. I usually use thick rice flakes to make pohe. I also love making it with a super thick beaten rice called Dagdi Pohe which we sometimes get in the stores here. While both do justice to the pohe by not disintegrating while cooking, the latter is a more robust flake of beaten rice and takes up the flavour of the spices in the pohe really well.

Veganising the Louisiana Po'Boy Sandwich | American Sandwich Recipes

Back in 2012. I saw a program on PBS about Sandwich favorites found across the USA. The program was  called Sandwiches That You Will Like. It was a deliciously well made program with favorites from many American stated being featured. One of the sandwiches that intrigued me both for its history and its saucy taste was the Louisiana Po'Boy!! The original Po'Boy Sandwich is a New Orleans favorite that is made with a spiced meat, chicken, or fried seafood filling of choice. This filling is stuffed into a French Baguette like loaf famous for a soft fluffy interior and crusty exterior. If you like your Po'Boy dressed, it comes with salad vegetables including lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise. Onions tend to be optional and the Po'Boys made with meat are accompanied with a coarsely ground mustard and/or gravy too.

Tamatar Kanda Pohe | Tangy Tomato Pohe

Back in the day when we were still in school, Mum made yummy tiffin every day. I still marvel at the thought that she would prepare such a variety of tiffin for us early mornings, before we all rushed to the school bus. One of my favourite packed lunches was pohe. While North Indian style pose with onions, potatoes, and cilantro was a regular on weekends, Mum would make delicious Tomato Pohe or Peas Pohe for tiffin.

Asparagus Pepper Rice | Rice Recipes

A simple recipe for a quick lunch today. Though asparagus is a seasonal vegetable, we sometime also get it around the festive period. I love asparagus and if I see it I just can't resist buying it. Usually we eat it sauteed in olive oil and butter with lots and lots of garlic. But sometimes I also make Indian style recipes with it. Asparagus Pepper Rice is one of the easiest ways to use asparagus and any left over rice. It is a great add on item for a family lunch or dinner.

Shimla Mirche ke Chawal | Spicy Green Bell Pepper Rice

Fried rice recipes are so easy to put together. A well spiced fried rice dish tastes wonderful warm or cold and makes for a simple and flavorful recipe for a packed lunch or a picnic lunch. Though fried rice recipes are often made with leftover rice, I love to make them with fresh rice too. They make a great one pot meal for lunch or dinner and then if I have any leftover I use it for the lunchbox. If you have an office microwave, you can carry this for lunch the next day too.

Phool Gobhi ki Bhaji | Cauliflower Saute

With the temperatures diving into the 70s, the weather has turned rather autumnal around here. The leaves on the trees are still green, and there is no fall. But the sunshine seems to have acquired that mellow quality that makes autumn so incredibly beautiful. The flowers are still in bloom and we are seeing a lot of bumblebees, geese, and squirrels!! Its wonderful to enjoy the great outdoors and we have been stepping out every evening to enjoy the longer daylight hours too! That often leave me with a rather short window to rustle up a hot and fresh meal for dinner.

Patta Gobhi ki Bhaji | Sauteed Cabbage | Farm Fresh Produce

Cabbage is a wonderful vegetable. Apart from belonging to the family of cruciferous vegetables, it is packed with beta-carotene, Vitamin C, and fiber! My last visit to the farm yielded some beautiful heads of cabbage, kohl rabi, beets, and cucumbers. I was also able to get some glossy banana peppers and some fragrant lemon grass.But more about those later. Today I want to share a cabbage recipe I developed for the farm fresh cabbage I got last weekend.

Chana Dal Takda | Tempered Bengal Gram Dal and a Round Up of Healthy Me and Healthy Us

Dal is a staple in Indian homes - prepared at least for one meal if not two. As I kid I remember enjoying dal for both lunch and dinner. Moong was our lunchtime favourite and for dinner Arhar or Toor Dal always won hands down. Other dals were always included in the diet and my Mum always alternated between making the wide variety of dals and beans that are available in India. Today I follow this tradition of cooking dal at home. Often I use the pressure cooker as it is perfect to get dals ready in a jiffy. But sometimes I like to soak dals for up to two hours before cooking and then slow cook them in a stock pot on the stove!

Subz Korma | North Indian Style Mixed Vegetable Korma | No Chili Peppers

There are times when I like to make subzi without any chili powder or green chilies. Just flavor with whole spices, garam masala, tomato, garlic, and cilantro, and you get the most wonderfully flavorful blend!! Today I am adding just such a recipe to my food blog - Subz Korma or North indian Style Vegetable Korma. This dish is not only delicious, but also nutritious and perfect for little ones.

Summer Avocado, Cucumber, and Olive Salad | Farmers' Market Days

Saturday mornings during the summer months are reserved for a round of the Farmer's Market!! Its fun to walk around the square, looking for fresh local produce, munching on a bakery item while sipping coffee. Farmer's Markets are truly a family affair around here. Farming families selling their wares and city families hunting for salad greens, honey, maple syrup, and cheese.

Chinese Sweet Corn Soup | Indo Chinese Kitchen

We were suddenly faced with some rather inclement weather last week - rain, thunder, storms, and high winds!! It was pouring for 2 days straight which sent the temperatures tumbling. I decided we needed some good hot soup to make up for the chill. As were not in the mood for any creamy and heavy stuff, and I was clean out of tomatoes (tomato soup is my favourite), I decided on some sweet corn soup Chinese style. It never sits on the stomach but can fill you up too. As I got the ingredients together I realized that it has been ages since I made this soup. Luckily I had saved a tin of creamed corn in my pantry just for such a moment!!

Cumin Seasoned Warm Quinoa Salad with Broccolette, Carrots, and Kale | Farmers' Market Days

Summer is here and its time to make salads. I love shopping at our local farmers' market for fresh organic produce. Starting May the market is outdoors and so the pleasure of visiting it just doubles. The sunshine and vendors with bright flowers, fresh fruits, herbs, vegetables just makes shopping such a satisfying experience. Chatting with the farmers who grow the produce and getting to know is a the best bonus that one can ask for.

Tamatar Bhaat | Tomato Rice with Edamame Beans

With the Memorial Day weekend, the week seems to be going by very fast. Holidays on a Monday always do this to me - by the middle of the week, I am looking up the calendar to check if we are at Tuesday or Wednesday!! Do you feel the same way? Our weekend was quite busy, but we were able to make our first trip of the season to one of our favourite local farms!! I had an email from them announcing that the asparagus was in and though I have been buying at our local store, I was really really keen to get a fresh batch from the farm. So off we went - and I am so glad because we were lucky enough to find some early rhubarb too!! I got a good batch of each and I will be penning down the recipes for both early next week!!

Artichoke, Ricotta, and Chickpea Calzone | Italian Kitchen

Calzones make for a hearty and filling snack in a picnic basket or an entree for a meal on a hot platter. I love making calzones as they are so easy to put together, can be refrigerated for up to three days and taste super hot or cold!! Just add a salad and a cup of milk and you are good to go.

Chow Chow Curry | North Indian Style Chayote Squash Curry

 

Chayote Squash or what is commonly known as Chow Chow is not a vegetable I was familiar with in my childhood. I don't remember seeing Chow Chow in a big vegetable markets in Delhi, though I am sure some smaller vegetable vendors might have carried it regularly to customers accustomed to using it. I remember eating a lot of Doodhi (Bottle Gourd) and Karela (Bitter Gourd) but Chow Chow was never on our platters. So it comes as a sort of irony that today I can buy Chow Chow in any supermarket or farmers market I visit, but I get to see the best quality Doodhi and Karela only in season at my local farm.