Green Peas Curry (Vatana Rassa)

Behind the generic yet convenient word "curry" lurks an almost unimaginable diversity of dishes in the cuisines of India. Take just one region- Maharashtra, on the West coast of India- and just one vegetable- green peas. (I cook with green peas often because they are available to me year-round in their frozen avatar.)

We make many curried dishes with green peas (hirva vatana or mataar in

Pinto Bean Mini Burgers

Another Sunday afternoon, and I found myself wondering what I'm going to post on the blog this week. You know how it goes- when life is busy, you cook familiar things instead of trying anything new. And hundreds of recipes later, all my dinner rotation classics are already here on the blog. 

Well, this month MLLA is being hosted here on One Hot Stove, so in honor of that, I tried to think of

Announcing My Legume Love Affair, the 60th Edition!

I have an ongoing love affair with legumes and I know most of you share this not-so-secret-passion. Well, this month, we're making it official! My Legume Love Affair, known simply as MLLA to its fans, is being hosted here on One Hot Stove this month, June 2013. It is the 60th edition (the diamond anniversary!) of this long-running blog event, started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and now

Sign Up for Round Two of The Spice and Something Nice Swap

The first round of the Spice and Something Swap was quite successful, and today we're kicking off the second round. The idea is that you will be paired up with another person, and then you send each other two small gifts: a "spice" and "something nice".






The Spice can be homemade or store-bought. It can be a powder or a paste or indeed a bottled sauce. It can come from any cuisine. It

The Week in Books and Food

What I have today is a series of brief blurbs on interesting eats and reads from the past several days.



The success of the quinoa pinto bean salad that I posted last week means that many more hearty salads are going to be put together. I cooked a big batch of short pasta (bows and corkscrews) and had some left over. Somewhere, I had seen an idea for an avocado pasta sauce and that's how this

Quinoa Pinto Bean Salad

Once every three or four months, I launch an eat-down in my kitchen. This is when I stop buying more and more food and instead focus on consuming and enjoying all the wonderful food that is jammed into my fridge, freezer and pantry. Eat-down weeks are my favorite because this is when I'm using my creativity rather than strict recipes to come up with meals. You never know what you will find.

A Rainy Day Luncheon

One of the greatest pleasures of traveling to a new place is the chance to sample the local cuisine. This past month was my parents' first visit to the Southern US. They have explored both coasts and the Midwest in past trips but the South is a region that is justifiably proud of its food traditions, which was all new to them. During their visit, my parents enjoyed cuisines that they don't have

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Since my parents' arrival, our trips to the library are more frequent than ever. We're sampling genres as varied as crafts, physics, nutrition, aviation and classic mysteries, and books are being borrowed by the bagful. Here are some highlights from my reading list over the last few weeks:



Image: Goodreads

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters (fiction, mystery): This is the first

In My Kitchen: April 2013

This morning I spotted Johanna's In My Kitchen post while sipping my chai and thought it was a fun idea for a post- and so timely because, ahem, it was Monday and I had no clue what I was going to write about today. In My Kitchen is a monthly meme hosted over on the blog Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Read their post here and look at other posts on their side-bar. and maybe you'll be inspired to

Make the Ghee, Buy the Paneer

Once in a while, there comes along a book that is downright entertaining. I've been reading one such book lately, and it happens to be a cookbook: Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook from Scratch by Jennifer Reese. The book contains plenty of practical information and recipes for the home cook, and the author's voice is genuine and funny, which made this book an

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I've read a half dozen very interesting books in recent weeks. I'm sure you're dying to hear about them ;) and even if you're not, here goes...



Image: Goodreads

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (Non-fiction, graphic). This book was recommended by two people- Gretchen of The Happiness Project included it in her book club picks and Radhika recommended it in a comment.

The Swap Round-Up: Spices and Nice Things

44 swappers all over the U.S. signed up to send a "Spice and Something Nice" package to each other. During the course of the swap, I heard from several people that they reveled in the delight of having a pen pal, that they had fun thinking of all the special things they could send, they felt a child-like excitement while waiting for their surprise, and that they ended up making a new friend.

Blogger's Day Off

A seasonal virus has me achy and tired so I'm taking a sick day, folks. Have a good week!

A Tale of Many Quilts

It is funny how I got interested in quilting only last month and suddenly, I see quilts everywhere. So here's a picture-heavy post with notes on my quilt-sightings.

On Friday, I played hooky from work and spent the day at a fabulous quilt show where dozens of local quilters displayed their best work. The morning started with the baking of a large batch of muffins, a little something to take to

As Time Goes By

Earlier this month, I remembered that it has already been a year since our blogger friend Raji (Miri) of Peppermill passed away. Manisha also mentioned it in her last post and added that she would cook and post something from Raji's blog. That's a fitting tribute for a food blogger and I wanted to join Manisha in remembering this beautiful person who gave us a glimpse into her kitchen and her

The January Dinner Diary

Almost every night for several weeks now, I've been scribbling a few words in a little notebook at the side of my counter. It is my dinner diary, an idea I read about in a cookbook and discussed in this post last month.

Today, I looked back on my entries to get a big picture view of my family dinner, and I thought I would share it with you. January was not an ordinary month for us. We lost a

Reader Request: Breakfast Suggestions

It is Monday night- blogging night at the One Hot Stove headquarters- and I have a bit of a weekend hangover, blinking and wondering how it got to be Monday already. Because this was an exceptionally fun and memorable weekend. Back in high school, I had a close knit group of friends and three of us were particularly close. Happily, when I moved to GA, I moved within 90 minutes of one of them.

Green Peas Pulao

Do you ever get the feeling that everything you make tastes the same? I occasionally feel that way for some of the dishes I make that are of the no-recipe variety- where I'm cooking on auto-pilot and toss in the spices and seasonings most familiar to me. Which is fine, but then the dal fry and the veg pulao kind of end up tasting similar.

Last week I decided to flip open a cookbook and look for

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It has been two weeks since my last post on books and as usual, the comments and book suggestions in that post added several interesting titles to my to-be-read list- so thank you for sharing your reading life with me! Meanwhile, I found a few interesting reads to tell you about.



Image: Goodreads

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr was a gentle and enjoyable read. It is an

Mexican Breakfast Casserole

There is a proverb attributed to Buddhism that goes something like this: When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Recently, I was reminded about how true this is. You see, ever since I moved to North America, I've been wanting to learn how to quilt. The US has an incredible quilting tradition, so I wanted to learn at least the basics of this beautiful craft. Well, quilting was yet

Sign Up for the "Spice and Something Nice" Swap!

I was looking through my spice shelf yesterday and realized that most of my favorite spices are gifts. Like the amazing sambar powder that I won in a raffle last year from another blogger's kitchen, or the garam masala that my mother gave me that gives even the most ordinary dal fry a little something something. Getting small gifts (and sending them) in the mail is such a fun surprise and you

It's Monday! What are you reading?

Aren't books amazing? I mean, they're nothing but squiggles on paper but somehow as your eyes gaze on the squiggles, they make a whole new world come alive inside your head. And with a good book, you come away a better person, with a tad more empathy and a little more wisdom than you did before you started . Well, here are some hits and misses from the last few months.

Sometime in 2012, I

Soup for Comfort

I can't thank you all enough. For the condolence messages for Dale from all over the world, for the e-mails and virtual hugs and words of comfort. They all helped immensely and we are so grateful for it. Last week went by in a blur of sadness and sickness as all three of us one by one came down with seasonal coughs and colds.

A couple of weeks ago, we had made plans with friends to get together

Dale

I am so sorry to tell you that our beloved Dale passed away yesterday. He lived for about 14 years, which is a grand old age for a dog his size; we were fortunate to share 12+ of those years with him. Now we're left with a gaping Dale-sized hole in our hearts.

There's so much I want to say about Dale but I can't bring myself to type anything right now. But I do want to thank and hug each of you

The Evolution of Family Dinner

2013 started out in the best way possible, with a big pile of books patiently waiting to be devoured. For the past few days, I've been reading Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach.



Image: Goodreads

Part cookbook and part memoir, this book chronicles the evolution of family dinner for one American family- from life as a young professional couple to the time of young parenthood and