Crunchy homemade chocolate balls filled with the goodness of nuts. These chocolate and puffed rice balls are great for lunchboxes, snack time and midnight munchies (if you are like me!) I often see people complaining about the ‘sagas’ written in a recipe blog. The common point in all these complaints is that ‘a recipe blog should have only the recipe’.…
Tasty, easy to make and nutritious, these naturally sweet Toasted Coconut and Dates Balls are great as energy-boosting snacks and guilt-free desserts. Please tell me I’m not the only one whose snack cravings touch record-breaking levels in the colder months! With work from home being a permanent part of life and desk breaks equalling ‘munchie time’, the need for snacking options…
Do you know those times when you set out to make something, stumble and screw up, work around it and then come out with something nicer? Yup! That’s how this Oats Vermicelli Pudding came about. The story of this pudding is similar to that of a movie that lost its plot but manages to end on a decent note. In…
Banana are a must in our kitchen. They make for an easy snack any time of the day, are tasty and easy to eat. All you have to do is peel and chomp. And my father feels incomplete without them. Sometimes I feel they are the food version of a security blanket for Baba – I’ve seen him get agitated…
On a lighter note, have you noticed the process of essential shopping is like undertaking a short trip? Think about it. The essential shopping excursion is planned over some – if not several – days. A shopping list is made, often remade. Because the idea is to get all that you need at one go, a route is mapped. And…
Do you know what one of the best parts about winter is? It’s that special fragrance that comes from generous amounts of ghee or butter. It’s the heady aroma of paratha being roasted in ghee, the sizzle of the spices when they touch the hot makkhan (homemade butter), the hiss as a rainbow of vegetables slide into the butter for a winter-special stir fry. A mention of halva that has…
Chops or cutlets are an integral part of the Bengali’s food culture, as is evident when a Bengali lists his/her ‘favourite snacks’ or ‘popular street foods’. Every one of us has his/her favourite bhaaja (batter fried) that we want with our lunch of dal-bhaat (lentil soup-rice) or the evening chai. The classic street food, a generous appetiser, the perfect accompaniment to the evening drink,…
I’ve recently developed a craving for sweet food. This craving rears its head at the strangest of times and more often than not, behaves like that puppy determined to chew on your favourite shoe. And it’s nowhere cute because indulging this craving leads to a sugar overload, late-r nights and blurry-eyed mornings. Let’s not even mention the not-so-good effects of refined…
It was a gloomy monsoon evening, the skies overcast with thick clouds as raindrops lashed the glass panes, the howling winds a reminder of nature’s force. The parents were slumped before the television set, sipping on chai, as I sat on a sofa, struggling to concentrate on work. The sound of the doorbell jarred the gloom, the loud sound rousing us from…
Spot a festival marked on the calendar and I immediately start grilling my mother about the food. The latest conversation went something like this… Me: Maa! It’s Janmashtami on September 3. What’s special on the menu for the day?Maa: Hmmm… I could make payesh but then you are lactose intolerant so…Me: Okay. What else?Maa: Your grandmother made delicacies when we…