Avarekalu Usli

Avarekalu or Hyacinth beans is not very often found in Andhra Pradesh, but is almost a staple during its season in Karnataka.

Tumkur is the home to Avarekalu, Hyacinth beans or so am told. Growing up, we used to spend a couple of days in Tumkur, and gorge on this curry and other dishes made especially when these beans are in season. Such delight those deep-fried snacks made with these beans were...

Healthy & Skinny Lasagna

What has melted, almost-roasted cheese on top and makes your heart skip a beat and your mouth drool a bit? Yes, that's right, Sherlock! Its a Lasagna. :-D And vegan one, if you want it to be!

Are you one of those who doesn't try out a lasagna because of all the fatty ingredients in it? Do you think putting up a lasagna is a lengthy process and the result is often something that sits on your hips?

Spinach & Roasted Garlic Pesto

Internet is great. Yes, I know you all know that and that its random, but the awesomeness of the world wide web keeps hitting on my head at all random times. How else would I have learnt the existence of the various types of pesto and ideas for all those different pastas that I crave for?

When I got into this wide world of pasta-making, I thought pesto was made with basil. That’s all. I know that it’s the traditional pesto, and purist Italian food-lovers will even go ahead and say that Basil pesto is the only pesto that exists. Rest of them are all just mixes or silly dips, but not a pesto.

But then, no matter what you call it with, a rose always smells good. No matter what the ingredient of a pesto is, it always renders a beautiful taste to the pasta. Especially if it has garlic in it, no? :)

More so, if it’s a healthy ingredient. There… my words of wisdom for the day is done! :)

Instant Korivi Karam

Its raining pickles in our house these days. The husband is grinning ear to ear as he eats his meals and am a happy person. And like I mentioned before, I feel like I've arrived.

Now, this pickle is a house and a personal favorite, and coming from someone for whom pickle existence in the world doesn't matter at all (Dear Pickles, I was just saying this, you know I love you and how much you mean to me!), this is big. Even as a vegetable-hating kid whose staple meal was curd rice, I never ate any pickle. Pickles have arrived into my life only recently, say 5-10 yrs ago. But Korivi Karam always had a special place in my heart.

Tales of pickles…

I've arrived. Yes, with this pickle! :-D

 

Am not a pickle person. Not at all. Its strange considering I grew up in Andhra, the pickle and red-chilli-capital of India. Its stranger considering I spent my entire childhood in Kurnool in Rayalaseema, a region considered to eat the spiciest of pickles. Yes, Guntur produces the hottest of chillies but all of it is consumed by the simple folk of Rayalaseema, I bet.

And some more pasta…

I love a good pasta, and its not secret to the readers of this blog, right? In spite of this undying love for pasta, I rarely order pasta when I eat out in Hyderabad, they try to pass off some soggy pasta in tomato sauce for Arrabbiata ... and I always feel I can do much better than those pastas.

The only pasta I relish is Masala Mafia in Little Italy. That one, I love, totally.
Now, not eating pasta anywhere out but loving it is a tough combination, which is why am always on a lookout for a good pasta sauce recipe, or spent a lot of time thinking them up. This one is from one such thought processes, and of course that awesome Red Chilli Pesto pasta I had in Chillies.

Veggies, Stirred & Fried

They say, never shop when you are hungry. Whoever this 'they' is, they are damn right! I feel this every time I see my pantry full of stuff that I cook rarely and tch-tched with regret... and this feeling is generally followed after a frantic gobbling up of whatever it is that I picked up during the shopping trip.

As usual, during my regular trip to Godrej Nature's Basket this weekend, I picked up tons of stuff, and only when I came home did I realize that I was starving, which indirectly was the reason for the pantry to overflow with stuff like Whole Wheat Noodles, Organic Mustard Paste, Balsamic Vinegar etc. Instead of waiting till all these live through their expiry period without even as much as being opened, I decided to make a meal out of all these and respond to the angry roars my stomach was giving me!

Gasi Laddu, from Mom’s kitchen

How apt that I should start this year with a dessert recipe, that too, something straight off Mom's kitchen. With absolutely no updates/modifications/replacements to her recipe! :) This recipe was born out of one of the zillion techniques adopted by yesteryears' housewives to use every part of a commodity in their kitchen.

As I mentioned before, ever since I started getting full cream milk at home, cream-butter management has become an activity in itself. Once we collect enough cream, I churn out butter from it. So far, I've been giving away the butter to friends and family, but this one time, I wanted to do what Mom does... make ghee out of butter. A first for me, I guess this might be because of that little girl in me who wants to be like Mommy :-)