10-minute Rasmalai
This is barely a recipe–and worse, it’s not the kind I really advocate considering all the canned stuff it’s made from. But. I will make…
2-minute Microwave Chocolate Mug Cake
If you have a food blogger for a wife, chances are she won’t ask you get her a Louis Vuitton bag or Jimmy Choo shoes…
A third set of grandparents and a recipe for fruitcake
As grandmothers go, she fit the bill perfectly. Her softly starched, block printed or sheer woven Chanderi sarees would whisper as she walked slowly around…
Apple Pie with Samosa Pattis (or Wonton wrappers)
Baking in India is a challenge. It is highly upsetting to walk into the best of markets and not find all the gorgeous bakeware and…
Avanee’s first birthday cakes
I just realized I hadn’t put up any pictures from Avanee’s first birthday. Considering I write a food blog, it’s quite a shame I don’…
Baked Karanji and Baked Namakpare
The original, Marathi version of this article appeared in Loksatta on November 10, 2012 and can be read here. I got married on Dassera, and…
Baked Lemon Cheesecake
Give me a roomful of chocolate desserts and one miniscule piece of baked lemon cheesecake, and you know what I’ll choose. That I love cheesecake…
Baklava with Samosa Pattis (or Wonton Wrappers)
No, I’m still not coming to terms with the fact that Indian stores do not carry ready rolled pastry. Surely you remember this rant? I’m…
Basic Chocolate Cake
I’m not particularly fond of chocolate. Did I ever tell you that? I don’t remember throwing tantrums for chocolate or chocolate-y things. Except once. When…
Best 1 Bowl Chocolate Cake Recipe (No butter)
If you bake a decadent chocolate cake for my birthday, I will probably be a tad bit disappointed. I know. “80% ” means little to…
Blueberry muffins
Few things go well with coffee–any form of fresh bread slathered with butter, khaari biscuits (an Indian flaky pastry), and cake–no frills cake. So when…
Brioche
One of the foods Amma offered me when I was ill or generally low, was a fruit bun and a mug of hot Bournvita. It…
Cashew and Vanilla Bean Cookies
I had been reading about the Arusuvai chain on Indian blogs for a while and watching everything like a silent passerby when I realized I…
Chinese Checker Cake
Phew. This one took a lot out of me. Two hexagon-shaped chocolate walnut cakes, one cut into triangles and glued to the other, the whole…
Chocolate and Strawberry Tart
I’m a sucker for all things seasonal–strawberries top my list because they come for only a while, and I love them. In season, there is…
Chocolate Cake Balls
Ever since this little thing came out of the oven, I have been dreaming of practicing things from this baker superwoman’s blog. One of the…
Chocolate Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting
My dear friend, Rhea Mitra-Dalal loves her coffee. It’s so easy to please her–a good cup of unpretentious coffee and loads of gupshup is usually…
Christmas Fruit Cake
A few days ago, a journalist from a popular daily called to ask if I could help her with some information for a story on…
Coconut and Pistachio Cake
I am not a big fan of dried coconut. Dessicated coconut, at least the kind we get here is probably worse—it is dry and tastes…
Coconut Fudge and Jam Tart
Every Thursday, when the family would fast for the family deity, my great grandma would make naralachi vadi or coconut fudge squares for prasad or…
Coffee and Hazelnut Biscotti
The original, Marathi version of this article appeared in Loksatta on October 6, 2012. When I was a kid, a middle-aged, tall, bearded, slightly annoyed…
Coffee and Orangette cake | Black and White Wednesday No.2
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to the Mumbai launch of Café Coffee Day’s new premium coffee, Mysore Royal. I have…
Diabetic-friendly Carrot Cake
It’s been a while since I posted a recipe for cake. The truth is, the overload of frostings, fondants, and other forms of “perfect” cakes…
Donuts
Two days ago, my nieces, Shreya and Ananya, kicked up a racket when their grandma came over to pick them up from my place. They…
Easy Chocolate Pudding (or Cheat’s Chocolate Panna Cotta)
Playing mum to a pair of newborn twin boys and a hyperactive kindergartner while working on one’s debut book is not easy; take it from…
Easy Strawberry Tart (Video)
A trip to Mahabaleshwar, a hill station in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, has become an annual tradition of sorts. Of course, it gets cool…
Easy Vegan Chocolate Almond Cake (and a lesson in tolerance)
Harini is one of the first food bloggers I met in Mumbai, and we instantly became friends. It’s not very difficult to make friends with Harini–she’s…
Easy Victoria Sandwich Cake
My local fruit vendor told me recently that he can now procure “egg-jotic” fruits for me at a day’s notice. These exotic fruits being my favourite…
Eclairs and Profiteroles
Choux pastry. I made it last when I was studying Confectionery in college. That was gods knows how many decades ago. Then, last week, I…
Eggless Microwave Raspberry Muffins
Every so often, I get the urge to bake something, and fast. Remember this? And this? Usually, this urge comes-a-calling when I am chasing the…
Eggless Vanilla Cake with Grandma’s Plum Jam
The ever-so-kind gadget guru dad has gifted me a brand new, kickass camera. The Canon 500D. Everything I wanted and more. The obsession with photography…
Eggless wholewheat pancakes
Long, long before Betty Crocker’s red boxes made their way to India, my nine-yard-saree-clad great grandmother was busy experimenting in her kitchen with a pancake…
Ginger, Lime and Meringue Tart for Asahi Kasei
If you’ve been following this blog long enough, you’d know that I don’t do too many (if at all) promotions. I’m making an exception this…
Gingerbread Cake with Jaggery and Molasses
I usually soak fruit for my fruitcake the moment we enter into the new year, just days after I make cake for Christmas. The fruit…
Gingersnaps/Ginger cookies
You know how, as children, we never liked grown-up cookies? Spiced, low sugar, bitter-ish cookies that looked so unappetizing? I mean, at least compared to…
How sugarcane jaggery is made
I have always been incredibly fond of jaggery. One of my earliest memories is of sitting with my friend Madhura on the stairs of the…
Inspirational People: Harini Prakash | Recipe: Lemon Cake with Mint Syrup
I’ve always talked about how this blog gives back to me much more than I give it–over the years, I have benefited in terms of…
Lemon and Blueberry Pound cake
Blueberries are rather rare here in Mumbai. Thanks to some exotic food stores, however, we’ve been getting an occasional supply of good blueberries without having…
Lemon and Vanilla Madeleines
I did a course in Bakery and Confectionery. Did I tell you that? Long ago. Two years. Of which, we did only breads one whole…
Lemon Curd in Vanilla Bean Cake
I don’t exactly remember when I first tasted lemon curd although it could easily have been at Radha Kaku’s Radha kaku was my great grand…
Low sugar Coffee and Cream Cake
My father is a simple man. He has few needs—three mobile phones, two laptops, and god knows how many cameras and music players; a good…
Mango phirni: Mango and Rice pudding
Ramzan evenings on Mohammad Ali Road in Mumbai are an institution. I remember going there just before the day’s fasting came to an end and…
Marmalade and Valencia Orange Cake
When we were children, WIT (Women’s India Trust) would rent our school’s prayer hall for their exhibitions. On sale were beautifully block printed aprons, bedspreads,…
Mawa and Doodh Masala Muffins (and what I did in 2014)
I am not one to write posts about a year gone by. Reflections are lessons of a personal nature, and resolutions are best kept secret,…
Mini Strawberry (and Mango) Pavlovas
Here’s the latest on the Pavlova scene! These were made this last strawberry season: Since the TV debut, a lot of people have been writing…
Mocha cake
It all started with a craving for Tiramisu. I had gathered all the ingredients the day before–went all the way to the supermarket to buy…
Mocha mini muffins
Having a 7-month-old who wants to master her standing and walking skills every second of her waking time can leave you with little time to…
My first class: A Desserts Workshop
So. I did a workshop this Saturday. It was my first real workshop (I mean I charged fees) after this dry run. 10 women, 3…
No-bake Mango Cheesecake
I have always loved cheesecake—baked or chilled, I have always loved the sharpness of this otherwise delicately flavored dessert. However, I have, at the same…
Orange and Nutella cake
Is it just me or is the weather really horrible? It makes me want to do warm, fuzzy things–things like orange cake. So that’s what…
Paakatlya purya: Indian fried breads in syrup
One of the fondest memories MK has of his paternal gran are of her “paakaatlya purya.” I had never even heard of this super traditional…
Patole: Rice and coconut dumplings in turmeric leaf
Aai’s picture, courtesy: Nirmala Purushotam My maternal gran has been one of the biggest influences to my culinary obsession. As a kid, I would…
Peach and Apricot Upside Down Cake
When AK went off to film school a few weeks ago, I cried. Well, almost. I had a lump in my throat that called upon…
Peach and Cherry Cake Squares
When I was little, and there were no supermarkets around, we would buy our stock of weekly fruit (which was usually a lot) from Amitabh…
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
One of my favorite tea-time treats is the classic pineapple upside-down cake. Place a platter containing the de-molded cake next to a steaming hot cup…
Pistachio and Cranberry Cookies
Once Diwali is over and the ingredients for your Christmas cake have been soaked in copious amounts of alcohol, you are left with huge amounts…
Piyush: Shrikhand shake
What do you do when the party’s over and there’s just one serving of Shrikhand left? You make Piyush! The Maharashtrian version of lassi, this…
Plum Jam and Vanilla Mascarpone Roulade
I share my mum’s love for Roulades. Swiss Rolls, as they are known in bakeries here. When we were kids, my mum would make a…
Plum Upside Down Cake (Eggless)
I love upside downs. I think they make for pretty tea cakes, and they look gorgeous with very little effort. I’m always on the lookout…
Quick Chocolate Strawberry Cream Tarts
I think Marathi cookery shows are a disgrace. The sets are ghastly. The props are mediocre. The photography is ridiculous. The cooks are downright untalented….
Raspberry Cream Cheese Tarts
It’s that part of the year again, when the stone fruits have gone and the berries have yet to come. There’s pears and apples galore…
Rava-khoya laddoo: Semolina and evaporated milk balls
Avanee turned four months old this 28th. The rate at which time passes by these days! A whole year has passed by since I got…
Recipe video: 1 Bowl Chocolate Orange Cake
This is a perfect cake or those sudden cake and chocolate cravings. It is a lovely moist cake with the aromas of orange coming through…
Recipe video: How to make Bebinca
When I saw this video on Nags’ blog, I knew that I had found the easiest way to convince my filmmaker brother to make a…
Recipe video: How to make Gingerbread cookies
Every year, we celebrate Christmas with as much (if not more) enthusiasm than we celebrate Diwali. We put up the tree and do gifts. I…
Recipe video: How to make Mango burfi (Fudge) and Diwali wishes
I hope you’re having a lovely Diwali–surrounded by loved ones and so drunk on happiness that the diyas and lanterns are all dimmed by the…
Recipe video: How to make Quick-fix Orange Panna Cotta
When I first started cooking, my mum introduced me to this recipe and I made it for every little party that happened. I made a…
Recipe video: How to make Zabaglione (Zabayon/Sabayon)
The sweltering Indian summer brings with it the greatest bounty of fruits–mangoes, lychees, cashews, melons, jamuns, and other juicy fruits that make the heat bearable….
Recipe video: Peach Upside Down Cake with Warm Cherry Sauce
I love this time of the year because it brings in my favorite fruits. I never mourn the end of the mango season because it…
Recipe video:How to make Nut chikki/Brittle
Lonavla. That tiny spot on Maharashtra’s map that looks like a piece of broken chikki. The entire town is perennially wafting with the aroma of…
Saffron Sondesh
Many years ago, in the bright and airy classroom of Grade 1, I was first introduced to Bengali Mishti–Bengali sweets. My classmate and bench partner…
Sesame Cookies (and memories of Sankranti)
After all these years of having grandmas scream down our ears that seasonal, local produce is good for the body, we now have bomb-charging nutritionists…
Sharing mediocrity
Over the past few days, I’ve had some not-so-successful kitchen sessions. Edible; yummy even, but not exactly blog show offs. Nevertheless, I enjoyed making them…
Shrikhand
I sometimes wonder if my in-laws think of me as the eternal “jeans-wearing,” “diet-food-eating,” “rebel feminist” soon (daughter-in-law). Which, I guess, I am (evil laughter)….
Spiced mini cookies
As a result of diligently following the chef’s recipe for the Pineapple upside-down cake, I was left with a good dollop of the butter and…
Stollen
The original, Marathi version of this article appeared in Loksatta on December 22, 2012 and can be viewed here. Mumbai has never really had a…
Sweethearts cake
Arguably the sweetest of all my bros-in-law, PDP got engaged to PAJ last weekend in an elegant ceremony with family and friends. When I first…
Top 10 Easy Cake Recipes on saeekhandekar.com
Every day, I have at least one e-mail or comment asking for a cake recipe. Turns out, I post cake pictures often enough to prompt…
Top 8 Mango recipes
Every year, when the first tart green raw mangoes make their appearance in the market, I start planning the dishes I want to make. I…
Translated Loksatta article: Iced Kaleidpscopes and a Recipe for Alphonso Mango Sorbet
This article appeared in Chaturanga, the magazine section of Loksatta on June 2, 2012. View the original article here. Iced Kaleidoscopes If you grew up…
Translated Loksatta article: The Perfect Birthday Cake
The original, Marathi version of this article appeared in Loksatta on Saturday, August 4, 2012. Click here to read the Marathi version. We never bought…
Ukdiche Modak: Steamed rice and coconut dumplings
As a child, perhaps the only reason I waited for Ganesh Chaturthi was the modak. An order would duly be placed with a Vile Parle…
Vanilla and Coconut Panna Cotta with Fresh Strawberries
My love for strawberries continues. Check out my super simple recipe for Vanilla and Coconut Panna Cotta with Fresh Strawberries on Gourmet Company’s recipe section….
Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry Curd
There are some days when you wake up in the morning thinking of cheesecake. Well, at least some days when you’re pregnant. Several hours into…