Pulusu aka stew is a typical Andhra preparation which is a tamarind based gravy dish that provides a tangy flavor to vegetables, lentils (pappu pulusu), meat (mamsam pulusu) or fish (chepala pulusu). Pulusu originates from the word ‘pulupu’, the tangy flavor of tamarind or lemon. In our parts of Andhra, jaggery or sugar also make [...]

Meera concludes her article on traditional Maharashtrian food with a focus on snacks and sweets, including festival delicacies. Thank you, Meera, for giving us an indepth article on every day, home cooked Maharashtrian food. ~Sailaja Sailaja invited me to write about Traditional Maharashtrian Snacks and Sweets. It sure was a very delectable invitation which instantly [...]

Vangi Bhath Brinjal is a prized possession in my kitchen. I know a few of you will wince on reading that. I love brinjal cooked in any form! This vibrant purple beauty has always been my favorite since childhood. Yesterday there was a bit of chill in the air with no sunlight, pretty dull kind [...]

Continuing on the food trail of Maharashtra, today we have Meera of Enjoy Indian Food share with us home-cooked traditional Maharastrian thalis. Meera’s blog is home to many authentic home-style recipes of Indian regional cuisines, be it Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Malvani, South Canara, Rajasthani, Punjabi or Goan. Whenever I visit her blog I always have this [...]

Kanda aka Suran Vadas Like bittergourd, I disliked yam aka ‘suran’ (kanda in Telugu) as a child. It was a chance encounter with this vegetable in the form of kebabs, from a friend’s tiffin dabba, that I had to re-think my opinion of suran. One bite into the kebab and I was sold. At first [...]

Usri Kaya pachadi, kakara kaya vepudu, pappu anapakaya with white rice As a child, just hearing the word ‘Kakarakaya’ aka ‘bittergourd’ from my mother would keep me away from the day’s meal. It was only as a young teenager that I began to start liking it ever since I tasted a bittergourd stir fry with [...]

Sunday was an Indo-Chinese inspired meal. Loaded with fresh produce from the rythu bazaar (farmer’s market), I was tempted to use as many vegetables as possible for the day’s meal. Indo Chinese it was! Vegetable noodles tossed in toasted sesame seeds and to accompany it was, vegetables and paneer cubes cooked in a sweet and [...]

Guest author Claudia Davila writes about different types of sprouts that are beneficial for individual doshas, how to make sprouts and ways in which sprouts could be used to pep up our meals. I like the tip on pureeing the sprouts along with tahini (sesame paste) to make hummus. One of my favorite way to [...]

Beans Vepudu The past few days were like hot summer. It drizzled this morning with the temperature cooling down quite a bit. I was sitting by the bedroom window after Nehal left for school, sipping hot ginger flavored tea, watching the flowers sway to the drizzle and listening to Bhim Sen Joshi’s classical music. Beautiful [...]

Usually this pachadi is prepared because there is left over bottle gourd lying in the refrigerator. Many a time its just a very small portion that is left and there is nothing much that can prepared with it except chutney. Today was one such day when there was just enough sorakaya aka lauki and a [...]