The Bookmark Project: Sweet Sticky Rolls

Sweet and sticky enough for ya? Wow- I'm getting better with my bookmarking behavior. I tried this recipe less than a week after bookmarking it! Bakers' Banter is one of my favorite baking blogs; written in a kind and encouraging tone and with well-tested recipes. I took one look at the excited faces of the kids making monkey bread (sweet rolls that you pull apart and gobble up) and wanted to

The Bookmark Project: Pad Thai at Last

Once in a while, I come upon a food blog post that I immediately recognize as a precious gift from the blogger to us readers. Pim's Pad Thai for beginners was one such post. It contains a level of knowledge and detail that I wanted to learn from, and I bookmarked it, of course. Two years have gone by, and thanks to my ongoing bookmark project, I finally took the time to read the post thoroughly (

The Medu Vada has Landed

In Bombay, you can't throw a rock without hitting an eating establishment, and there is a very good chance that the rock will land on a particular genre of eating establishments, the Udipi restaurant. It refers to the cuisine of a particular region of Southern India, and these restaurants represent the best of both worlds, combining certain attributes of chain restaurants while also serving tasty

What is this?

Care to guess what this contraption is?

Two Kitchen Sessions

Happiness is......reading a good book and baking a good bread, both in the same afternoon. The current stack from the libraryThe book in question is the latest installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. There are times when you are just not in the mood for hi-falutin' writing, literary flourishes or subjects that give you sleepless nights; when all you

The Bookmark Project: Creamy Basil Pasta

Shopping for produce in the summer months is a highly rewarding activity. Instead of frowning at shrink-wrapped fruits, wrinkling my nose at limp sickly veggies and sighing at the far-away places that all the stuff is shipped from, in summer I am usually squealing with delight at the fresh local produce that always results in lucky "finds". On one recent trip, we came home carrying an armload of

Creamy Spinach Soup

I spent a couple of hours this morning humming along in the kitchen, making soup and baking a cake for a friend who is recovering from surgery. Now, there are SO MANY recipes for both soup and cake that I have tried and loved. But I have this hopeless and maddening addiction to trying new recipes (searching for some hypothetical "perfect" recipe...I don't know), and sure enough, I found new ones

Novel Food: Magloubeh

To all those who played along in the guessing game- thank you! Veggie Belly, full marks to you; you are absolutely right- this is makloubeh/magloubeh. Kedar and Meera guessed correctly that this rice dish comes from the Middle East, Rainee and Manasi guessed correctly that it is upside down (the word magloubeh translates as "upside down"), and Mika guessed correctly that it involves soy "meat".

Guessing game

Can you guess the name of this dish? Recipe coming up tomorrow!

Restaurant Envy: Chile de Arbol Salsa

For many months now, I have been madly in love with a particular salsa at our local Mexican joint. There are the usual salsas and then there is this thick, fiery, tangy concoction that sets my heart tongue ablaze. It is the chile de arbol salsa that is part of their salsa bar, and I finally decided that I must make it at home so I can unlimited access to this addictive stuff. I'm too shy (hah!)

The Bookmark Project: Arroz Hits the Spot

I plodded home on Thursday evening feeling exhausted and listless; I simply was in no mood to cook dinner. There were some black beans soaking in a pot, ready for a quick dinner of rice and beans or quesadillas perhaps, but all I wanted to do was slump on the couch and dial for some take-out. But, ah, there is one potion that has a magical effect on me- something involving a small molecule called

The Bookmark Project: Cucumber Curry

My bookmark folder contains many hidden gems in the form of fantastic recipes just waiting to be tried. And I've managed to unearth one of them. I was intrigued by this cucumber curry recipe the minute I spotted it. The cookbook that the recipe comes from (Madhur Jaffrey's excellent book 'World Vegetarian') is sitting right here on my bookshelf but I completely missed this recipe until I saw it

Baking the Bookmark: Carrot Herb Rolls

The thrill of looking at new posts on the blog aggregator and the ceremonial bookmarking of recipes that catch my eye- these are my small pleasures in life, a happy way to spend some time in the wee morning hours as I sip my first cup of chai for the day. I took some time to browse through my folder of bookmarked recipes recently, and stopped counting at 550! I'm only glad this is a virtual

Kolhapuri Masala Giveaway: The Winners Are...

And the two winners of last week's spice giveaway are...1. Serendipity in the kitchen who said "My favorite meal for a hot summer day is my mother's yogurt gravy..It is very similar to the Sindhi Kadi..but much lighter...We have it with rice and it really helps cool down the system!"and2. Namita who said "My favourite meal for a hot summer day is amras with poli/chapati or shrikhand with chapati.

Addictive Green Beans

Last year, I came to love recipes that call for few ingredients. I have started to appreciate flavors more as I use fewer ingredients for each dish, but better quality ones, and ones chosen with care. What follows is another one of the "less is more" type recipes that has us consuming vast quantities of green beans these days. Again, two ingredients used here were unfamiliar to me just a few

A Pasta Salad I Actually Like

In theory, I love pasta salads. Colorful vegetables and sturdy pasta in a tasty dressing, to be served cold or at room temperature. A dish that can be made ahead of time and scaled up to feed a crowd. All of these sound like very desirable traits. But a good pasta salad is hard to find. I've had more than my share of pasta salads where you can taste nothing but the mayo, where the pasta is gummy