From My Kitchen

How much I love cooking for friends, lately it is growing on me with every meal. Food fills our home with treasures; laughter, stories, happiness. Truly nothing and nothing gives me the pleasure more than having friends and family over a meal. It sets the mood and lights my heart, if you know what I mean. Today I was going to have special visitors. Our friend’s twin daughters, born 10 minutes apart, they are absolutely adorable. I had to make them chocolate coated biscuits, the ones that we had on our ‘phoren’ holidays, or the more ‘desi’ version that we get at the Niligiris in Bangalore. My experiment in kitchen today worked wonders, the little ones licked into the chocolate till the entire biscuit was visible, and then munched into the biscuit oblivious of anything around. Hands, nose, mouth all decorated with chocolate, until they left traces on their pretty dresses. I want to keep them forever, cuddle them and pick and cook every mors

Celebrating siblings & more..... It is the day after, the day after Diwali, Bhai Dhooj   ! 3 Decades and pluses years ago incidentally or accidently I was born on this day, so dramatically if I may so say my brothers are my world, and what I assume is understood it is my most favorite day on the calendar. Bhaiya, Harsh Bhaiya, Saket, Ankit, Monu, Varun and Niket, each one of you mean the world to me. The chocolate brownie recipe that I am sharing today is a favorite with most of them, I served it today with my homemade Strawberry Ice cream (the recipe of which I’ll share someday later), and packed some Diwali hampers for the others. I must confess the recipe is a borrowed one from a Nigella Lawson’s show I saw on TV, it is always and always a super hit. Preheat oven at 225 degrees C Ingredients 375 g of Amul Butter 375 g of dark or medium dark cooking chocolate 350 g of castor sugar 6 eggs 250 g of all purpose flour 1 tsp of Vanilla essen

I met Priyanka on my first day in school in Bombay and for 3 decades after that we have remained soul mates. In the last five yrs her daughter and son have added so much delight to my life. I’ll have to teach myself to live again when they move to the USA the coming weekend. Most of her life my friend has survived on PCM – potatoes, chocolate and milk. It has been a project to introduce her taste buds to anything besides that and I can assure you if it was not from my kitchen Dr. Priyanka would never have tried out the falafel. She now relishes it. Over the weekend I had to cook for my friend, something she likes, so besides a chocolate pudding, we had a falafel lunch. This blog is for you my dearest friend when you miss me try making a meal for your new friends and family. When I miss you, I’ll just fly over, it will be more like move in xxxxx. I have listed and shared recipes of everything besides pita bread that is needed to make a del

Its been a long and short week and now a lazy weekend. Considering the number of dinner parties, birthdays and more dinners that we have treated ourselves through the week, I thought I’ll try out something that it is light on the tummy today. An experiments in my kitchen that went right. It is delicious, easy to make, on most days I’ll have all the ingredients at home, it is healthy and very filling. I have often made it for dinners with friends and also carried it with me for potluck, friends have loved it and always asked for the recipe. So here it goes my roasted veggies with hung curd, truly from my kitchen ! Note : Peri peri is a secret ingredient in my kitchen. I first discovered it on a routine spice garden tour in Goa. This small, dry, sharp chilli has some exotic flavor. I haven't found then in Mumbai yet, however often seen them in European supermarkets well packeted and sold for 4 - 5 Euros for 20 gms. My dear friend Venu sent me a Kilo (some Rs 800 a kg)

Like many others in India, my grandma didn’t appreciate we eating onions in the house, so getting in eggs was unthinkable. As a teenager the only interest in the kitchen was to bake a cake, I famously followed the ‘Tarla Dalal’ recipe and managed the version with condensed milk and chocolate powder. It was eggless, the batter managed to rise and plus it had chocolate, Voila !!! My gourmet tongue soon realized that it deserved much better. It was easier to buy a nice rich batch of intense chocolate cake from ‘Theobroma’ or just not eat at all then to convince my parents to bring eggs into our home, till such day my American returned brother decided that to survive in India he must eat omelette for breakfast. My kitchen never looked back and welcomed the new all important entrant. Brownies, chocolate, cookies, bread, biscotti and list goes on. I baked, friends and family alike feasted.   I tell you the discovery of the egg in my home changed it all. Proteins my sib

Bhatti ka paneer : Taj Mahal Hotel We all headed to Masala Craft/ Taj Mahal Palace Bombay for a family dinner a couple of weeks back. Chef Hemant Oberoi’s masterpiece. Happens to be my favorite fine dinning for Indian cuisine. The the langarwali dal, lasooni palak, peepaywale chole and the bhatti ka paneer, yum !! The paneer so soft it melts in your mouth, spiced up with the perfect masala. Curiously I asked the attendant if I could have a word with the chef and try my luck getting the recipe from him. True to Taj’s hospitality and warmth what I was presented in return was something I’ll cherish on my bookshelf, a collection of recipes from the Taj. The hotel by all means lives up to its founder’s values. The warmth, hospitality and generosity are impeccable and it does make a happy difference to our lives. I have tried the recipe several times at home since, shared them over my kitchen counter with friends and family and believe me its perfect!!! The pane