chili powder · chilli · coconut oil · condiments · cooking oil · curry leaves · dairy free · date · fenugreek · garlic · ginger · jaggery · kerala · Kerala Cuisine · medium · mustard seed · ovo vegetarian · pepper · Pickle · salt · seed · sugar · tamarind · turmeric · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · water

Dates Pickle Kerala Style

I think every home in Kerala stocks up a minimum of two pickles, the common varities being lemon, mango, gooseberry, garlic etc. Dates, meat and fish pickles are usualy reserved for special occassions. We are, atleast my family is, so much in love with pickles that every meal, however scrumptious it

capsicum · chili powder · chilli · coconut · coconut milk · cooking oil · coriander leaves · cumin seed · Curry · dairy free · garlic · green capsicum · groundnut · Indian · kasuri methi · medium · mustard seed · nut · onion · ovo vegetarian · Paneer · pepper · salt · seed · sesame · sesame seed · Side Dish · soya · sugar · sunflower oil · sweetener · tofu · tomato · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · water

Tofu and Capsicum Curry

My son loves paneer and demands paneer curry (or pizza, if he is feeling lucky) almost every weekend. In an attempt to make a healthy curry, I substituted paneer with tofu and paired it with whole wheat Kerala porotta instead of plain flour ones. He heard me blabber about the substitutions and pulle

bay leaves · cardamom · chili powder · cilantro · cinnamon · coriander · cornflour · cumin seed · Curry · easy · fennel seed · garlic · ginger · green pea · Indian · kasuri methi · main course · onion · Paneer · salt · sugar · sweetener · tomato · turmeric · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · water

Matar Paneer

Matar Paneer is a North Indian curry consisting of green peas and paneer cooked in a tomato and onion gravy and spiced with garam masala. You can substitute paneer with tofu for a vegan version. I must be one of those few folks who enjoys grocery shopping. I know many people keep a list when they g

capsicum · chili powder · cooking oil · cumin seed · dairy free · easy · garlic · groundnut · Indian · kasuri methi · mustard seed · nut · onion · ovo vegetarian · salt · seed · sesame · sesame seed · Side Dish · sunflower oil · tomato · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · water

Capsicum Curry

I spend my lunch time in office with a gang of girls gossiping, sampling each others’ lunch, cribbing about weight gain and swapping recipes. Because everyone else is a vegetarian and non keralite, I get to taste a lot of things that I am not familiar with, such as Akki Roti, Bisi Bele Bath, Vaangi

asafoetida · chilis · coconut oil · cooking oil · curry leaves · dairy free · ginger · Indian · legume · lentil · medium · onion · ovo vegetarian · pepper · pulses · red onion · salt · Snack · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian

Parippu Vada – Lentil Fritters, A Savory Snack from Kerala Yum

Have you ever wondered about the kind of relationship you will share with your spouse a few years down the line, when you are old? After many years of togetherness, will there be anything left to talk about, or will a perpetual silence prevail to be occasionally broken by visiting children and grand children? Will outings be as much fun as they are now, or will you be too tired and grumpy to move out of your reclining chairs? In my family, uncles and aunts seem to be enjoying retired life in luxurious homes with their pets and gardens, large flat screen plasma TVs for the latest movies and all the “mega” serials, comfortable cars to take them to marriages and engagement ceremonies, exhibitions and sales. I just can’t wait to get retired! A part of my maternal uncle’s daily routine is a game of cards in the evening at the “Elder’s Club”. Though the name suggests a unisex club, women are a big no-no here (they surely don’t want anyone telling them off when their gossip goes over the limi

chilli · Chinese · dairy free · easy · garlic · ginger · ovo vegetarian · pepper · salt · seed · sesame · sesame seed · shallot · Side Dish · soy sauce · soya · sugar · sweetener · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · vinegar · water

Schezwan Sauce

I saw some videos of the Kiss of Love and my first thought was that these people needed to refine their technique somehow. The kisses looked nothing like the Hollywood kinds that make you weak in the knees. They weren’t even as tasteful as an Emraan Hashmi kissing episode. Instead they made you avert your eyes till the voice of the news reader assured you that it was safe to look. The Kiss of Love was supposed to be a protest against moral policing, sparked by a string of violent incidents perpetrated by Kerala’s very own custodians of morality. I have no idea how saying 1, 2, 3 and springing into kissing action, in public, is supposed to safeguard your right to catch the late night movie with friends of the opposite sex, exchange teddy bears on Valentine’s Day, wait for a bus all by yourself especially if you are a woman etc without being afraid of getting beaten up by an angry mob. And my doubts grew stronger as I watched two women kiss (each other) passionately, one eye on the camer

chilli · coconut · coconut oil · cooking oil · cumin seed · curry leaves · dairy free · easy · garlic · green chilli · kerala · Kerala Cuisine · mustard seed · Onam Recipe · ovo vegetarian · pepper · pumpkin · salt · shallot · Side Dish · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · water · winter squash

Mathanga Erissery (Pumpkin Curry from Kerala)

Mathanga Erissery is pureed pumpkin curry from Kerala with fresh and roasted coconut. There are very few things I enjoy more than the elaborate Onam Sadhya that is eaten on banana leaves. Nothing beats sitting cross legged on the ground and enjoying five to six servings of rice, each accompanied by

bhindi · cooking oil · cumin seed · dairy free · fenugreek · garlic · ginger · Indian · medium · mustard seed · okra · onion · ovo vegetarian · salt · shallot · Side Dish · sunflower oil · tomato · tomato sauce · Uncategorized · Vegan · Vegetarian · vinegar · water

Bhindi Masala (Okra Curry)

In India, most women go to bed wondering what to cook for the next day’s meals. And it is also their first thought as they wake up, long before the sun looks in through their window. Meals have to be healthy and need to satisfy everyone in the family; be it the husband who needs the food to be tasty but not get in the way of his efforts to attain that six pack goal, or the kids who demand a different thing every nano second, or the mother in law who has made it her life’s ambition to find fault with everything you do. I would go as far as saying that women think about meals atleast once every six seconds unlike men who are said to think about eh, um, other stuff during this time frame.
As a woman, I can understand your pain even if I don’t experience it myself (my mom experiences it for me) and I feel duty bound to give you options when it comes to cooking. And this bhindi masala is a curry that you are going to be super happy about.
For this curry, you need to fry plenty of onions