All posts filed under: Curries and More

Ful Medames: Egyptian Fava Bean Stew

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“Beans have satisfied even the Pharaohs”…An Old Arabic quote   Happy New Year! This post has been long overdue, as we are well into January and apologies for wishing everyone so late. I do hope the New Year has begun on a healthier and hopeful note for everyone! It is the perfect opportunity to indeed start making those resolutions that each one of us said we would make. Eating healthier and making good lifestyle changes is one that tops most of our lists. Now doesn’t this sound familiar? Well I sat down earlier in this month and penned down a few simple goals to improve my diet this year. Being in the Culinary profession (teaching) and recipe creation is  a tough call, as it puts one’s own health on standby and very often I tend to indulge in a lot of unnecessary calories and junk food that one can very well avoid. Well here is a simple list of things I intend to follow this year.( Or Atleast Hope To) No more fads and strict …

Brinjal Pickle: Marking Achaar Din for Indian Food Observance Day

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  Pickling has several  connotations in many parts of the world. Very simply put it means preserving food in brine or a vinegar immersion. We find pickled foods almost everywhere, right from cucumbers, gherkins, kimchi, carrots to even meats and seafood. Now pickles can be quite diverse and can say a lot of one’s culture. For instance in most european countries picking could mean preserving the vegetables in a simple brine solution and hence tend these to be more acidic in flavours. Where as here in the Indian sub continent the process of pickling lends a complexity of flavours quite tart and mingled with sweet and spicy notes. Pickling is an age old tradition in India, albeit a dying one due to easy availability of ready made pickles off the market shelves.I have very fond memories of my grandmother and my aunts looking forward to the summer months when Mangoes are plenty. The green mangoes especially along with a host of spices, sugar and oil makes up a delicious pickle which serves up as an …

Travel Diaries:Bangkok Revisited & A Thai Recipe Too

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For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return… Leonardo da Vinci   Our vacations most often are pre planned with a lot of thought into the destination,food,sight-seeing etc.However, I love it when a travel plan happens just out of the blue,spontaneously,sort of an impromptu one so to speak.Well the dear husband had work related travels to Singapore and suggested that my son and I come along and we could club it with a short trip to Bangkok too he said. It’s always fun travelling to the Far East,for one the travel time is fairly short, and of course the food,night life and shopping,admittedly make it an alluring proposition,albeit revisited.We have travelled to  both cities a couple of times, Bangkok several years ago.The city has changed and modernised is what I heard from friends who travelled there recently.So yes of course, I jumped at the idea of a quick family vacay. Our time in Singapore was …

50 Great Curries of India: Cook Book Review and A Recipe

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Madras Style Lamb Curry: Recipe adapted from 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi Camellia Panjabi, cook book author of 50 Great Curries of India needs little introduction and is most certainly without a doubt one of my favourite Indian cookbooks.Fondly also know as the “Queen of Indian Cuisine”,her book is a delightful revelation of some traditional and authentic Indian recipes from various regions of India. Now I had acquired her book probably a couple of decades ago,being a newly wed and on the look out for good Indian curry recipes,all to please the dear husband then. Winning his heart through his stomach was a huge priority then as much it is now,as we both are passionate about our food and specifically a good curry.Having lived internationally for many years,looking for specific  ingredients and getting the base for the curry right may have required a bit of scouting for ingredients.All though using substitutes have always worked well for most recipes.We have recently relocated to Mumbai and have no dearth of spices,fresh meats and vegetables and it’s …

Vallonne Vineyards: There’s Always Time For A Glass of Wine

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  I’ve been contemplating a blog post on some quick getaway’s from Mumbai as Jd and I are quite the “Let’s just drive off for the weekend sort of folks”.  While I’m still in the process of  collating  the information and editing images,(as I’d like to add on a couple of good weekend destinations),I thought I may as well go ahead with the Vineyard tour that we explored recently.We decided to visit the Vallonne Vineyards on this trip.Nestled amongst the gorgeous Sahyadri slopes of Maharashtra,Vallonne Vineyard’s is a  premium boutique winery and  a great place to drive off to and unwind.The drive  is approximately 160 kms by road from Mumbai and just south of Nasik,the Wine capital of India. Yes indeed, Nasik is a premium wine growing region playing host to some well branded wineries.Indian wines have certainly evolved in the past decade or so and this region can quite easily be coined as India’s Napa Valley. Vallonne is definitely one to keep an eye on.This premium boutique winery aims at  bringing the “French Chateau” …