But, I do have a few, even if they are too few. Here’s the first one for this year - Thenkuzhal Murukku Recipe The hands behind the thenkuzhal are Amma’s, my mom-in-law. When we went to Indian in June, I requested her to teach me a couple of traditional recipes. All her cooking is fast and delicious, and this thenkuzhal is no exception. Everything comes together in less than 20 mins and you can have crispy hot murukku within 30 mins....

Cooking time: 30 mins Serves: 4 as a side dish Ingredients: 4 cups cashew nuts 1 drumstick, cut into 3" pieces 1 cup grated coconut 8-10 small onions/shallots sliced long 2 cloves garli, crushed 1 teaspoon red chilli powder (adjust if you like your food less spicy) ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder ¼ teaspoon jeera/cumin powder To temper: 2 tablespoon coconut oil ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds A few curry leaves Instructions:...

Though I collect dishes-to-cook-over-weekend all through the week, come Sunday and I am too lazy to do anything much. I hate myself for that cuz I am letting all the lovely natural light go away when I could cook something new and photograph it! Pin Anyway, on this particular Sunday that I made the peas pulao, I was too lazy to make a side-dish with the paneer I had so I added it to the pulao!...

Pazham pori recipe: pazham pori or ethakka appam is a popular and beloved Kerala snack that consists of ripe bananas ( a particular variety called Nendran bananas) sliced lengthwise, dipped in a lightly sweetened batter made of all-purpose flour ( maida ), sugar, and a pinch of turmeric for colour, then deep-fried until golden brown. The result is a crispy, sweet, and slightly chewy treat that’s perfect with a cup of tea....

So my version does not have khus khus in it, sadly. But if you have it handy, please add it in. I am sure the taste will differ considerably! So my version does not have khus khus in it, sadly. But if you have it handy, please add it in. I am sure the taste will differ considerably!

According to wikipedia, praline or pralin seems to mean different things in different places but to me, this is part of a lot of my childhood memories. Most birthday parties involved ice cream and usually had praline and chocolate sauce to top it off. When I visited the sister last, she had a small bottle of praline stored in her fridge to top off puddings. Amma and I snacked on it and it was all gone by end of the day!...

Achinga mezhukkupuratti (stir-fried long yard beans or snake beans) is a very common side dish in Kerala, often served with rice and curry. Long yard beans are called achinga in many parts of Kerala, the pronunciation of which is hard to get if you are not a Malayalam-speaker 🙂 Pin While achinga mezhukkupuratti is not a special dish for Onam or any festival, it’s so ridiculously easy to make that I had to share the recipe as soon as it was made and devoured at lunch today....

Since Malai Koftas have been on my mind for a while, I decided to take the plunge one day. It took me a long time compared to how long I usually take to make something. Those are not my favourite kind of recipes. But I had to try malai koftas and I did. Will share the complete recipe when I’ve sorted the pictures out, but for now, here are the aloo paneer koftas that I dunked in the gravy to turn these into malai koftas....

Baby potato biryani recipe, learn how to make baby potato biryani, a flavourful and easy vegetarian biryani recipe with baby potatoes. I have also used tomatoes and mint in the homemade spice paste used to prepare this biryani. Biryani to me is special-occasion food. Right from childhood, a biryani meal has always stood for something - the end of exams, a large family gathering at home, a good friend’s wedding, a birthday, lunch after a movie with close friends - you get the drift....

Banana Mango Milkshake is a delicious and filling breakfast option if you are a lazy cook in the mornings or just want something quick and healthy. I have made a vegan version with coconut milk and a regular milkshake with cow’s milk and love both. Take your pick! This mango season has been very kind to us. Usually, the mangoes we buy in Singapore are average at best and I am nostalgic about the hot Kerala summers and mango memories at this time of the year....

I love milk sweets but kalakand is probably one of my favourites. Dadu’s in Hyderabad sells a mean kalakand that’s grainy and a single bar of it will have shades of brown depending on how much the milk has cooked. It’s absolutely delicious! During Diwali every year, Google Hyderabad would give out boxes of sweets from Dadu’s and I would eat the kalakand first - no sharing! Traditionally, kalakand is made by gently adding some sort of splitting agent to milk but not letting it completely curdle....

How to make chocolate fudge cake - Sometimes, you just want a chocolate cake that’s dense and rich. Maybe because you want to warm it up a bit and serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or chocolate ice cream if you are evil! Sometimes you want to bake up something in your small ring cake mould that can only hold 1.5 cups of batter, so that you get cute pieces like these....

If it hadn’t been for Aparna and her We Knead to Bake group, I’d still be researching the easiest croissant recipe and then simply postponing the task once I read through it. Her detailed descriptions, pictures, and tips were brilliant and it always helps to bake along with fellow cooks and bakers who were mostly new to this like I was. So let me come out say first things first. Baking croissants is not easy, easy to me being mixing a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, transferring it to a baking tray and ending up with a gorgeous tasting cake....

Fish Fry Recipe and how to make it Kerala-style . This recipe for Fried fish (meen varuthathu, varutha meen) is simple, tasty, and it’s how the Malayalis do it, although I must admit that every home will have their own version and method of making fish fry. especially the recipe for marinating the fish before frying. In Kerala, a non-vegetarian home usually has some form of fish at the table every single day....

Pin OOPS! Oh wait! That’s my extremely cluttered, not-white-at-all coffee table. Pin The table is from Ikea. Its a Lack Table that I bought for 20 SGD. I tried searching the Ikea website for the link but looks like they have stopped this product, maybe temporarily. Moral of the story: grab the white table the moment you see it because by the time you consider it and decide, it may be too late....

Fried Okra with Besan Serves 2 How to Make Okra Besan Fry: Mix the besan with chilli, turmeric, hing, jeera and salt. Add enough water to make a thick batter. Cut the okra into thin discs and add to the besan batter. Heat about 2 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan and add this mixture. Keep stirring occasionally until it starts separating into small bits and the okra is cooked....

Anyway, the one time that we did eat idlis at Murugan Idli Kadai, I happened to ask for the recipe. It was cheeky, but I did it anyway. As many pointed out later, this recipe is also posted on their website. Here’s how that story went. We were eating away to glory wondering whether we should ask someone for yet another refill of chutney when the chef came out for something, smiled at us and said " chutney venuma ?...

I love having people over for a meal and spend an inordinate amount of time planning the menu, adjusting the ingredients and dishes so there’s something for everyone, and everything goes well together. Mushrooms are not a usual addition to my menu because I find that not many people love its texture and meatiness like TH and I do. If cooked right, mushrooms play really well with Indian spices and this mushroom tikka is a great example of that....