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…
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…
When down, eat rice. I always go by that. Nothing can comfort you like a good serving of carbohydrates. This Bisi Bele Bhath (BBB) or…
My mum and I are salad freaks—we love a good salad any time of the day. This is a salad that she’d make back when…
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…
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…
When we were kids, the only kind of corn we got in the markets was the white corn. Like a string of the best pearls,…
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…
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…
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…
Come spring, Radha kaku would try and find out if her sister, Auntie Evie had any plans of coming down to Mumbai. Radha kaku had…
If you’ve been reading my blog (ahem), you will remember this mango curry recipe. I make it every season, by the kilos, and it gets…
I have been resisting mangoes for a while. Actually, since Dada passed away, nobody in the family has been enthusiastic enough. The picture of a…
The Khanapur house had three mango trees. Against the red brick exterior of the house, the mature green trees offered a majestic and warm welcome…
Rice is globally loved—one, because it’s versatile enough to accommodate almost every flavor; and two, because it cooks fast. I think a traditional masale bhaat…
I first saw them in 1989, I think. The year my brother got lost in the crowds at Venna Lake. Amma was frantic and I…
Apart from the fact that Naarali Poornima is the day Coastal Maharashtra celebrates the coconut and that fisherfolk offer coconuts to the sea on this…
No story this time. Just the simple desire to bake a good home-style bread. Ingredients: 225 gms. all purpose flour 2 tsp. dried yeast 1…
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…
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…
Summers in Khanapur were redolent with the heady fragrance (or stench, if you didn’t like them) of ripe jackfruit among other aromas such as mango…
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…
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….
I generally prefer local fruits over imported ones. I cannot tell you how much juicier and tastier our Indian plums are over the “Chinese” ones…
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…
It’s October, and the air conditioners and fans are working overtime here in Mumbai. With the change in weather, there have been a few changes…
The Japanese have their cherry blossom parties; Maharashtrians and Gujjus have their Hurda or Ponk parties. Unfortunately, most urban dwellers have no clue what this…
The last time I wrote about Undhiyu (albeit with a different spelling), I promised you better pictures. This season, I am back with something even…
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….
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…
Many, many years ago, on a trip to Mahabaleshwar, I ate baby carrots for the first time. Slender little things with their greens still on….
If you’re from Bombay, you’re probably also up right now, wondering what happened to the city. Wondering why, out of the blue, our beloved city…
On Ranade Road in Dadar, there once sat a man who sold lemonade. Limbu Sarbat, actually—the Maharashtrian version of lemonade. On a crowded corner of…
*Dedicated to the long line of Tabebuia Rosea trees along the Eastern Express…
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…
One of my earliest memories of eating pickle is from way back when I was in primary school. Because we lived in a company township…
The Internet has been carrying a lot of buzz about Sun Tea. It seemed like something I would like to do (if and when I…
The market is flooded with color (who needed Holi and its painful issues with water and chemical color?). There are greens in a zillion shades,…
Early summer is when the cashew trees bear fruit. And nut. All along the rich, fertile coastline of India, cashew trees are laden with a…
As a foodie, any excuse for cooking is welcome–one goes all out of the way to cook the best recipes, confident of the oohing and…
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…
As I watch the rain crashing down from my little suburban window and sip on lemongrass tea (freshly picked lemongrass from a rain washed window),…
I’m just back from a quick weekend getaway in Jodhpur, where I was invited to the launch of a book on the Temple Food of…
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…
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…
The original Marathi version of this article appeared in Loksatta on July 7, 2012. Click here to read the Marathi version. It takes just a…
On the drive back home from the Trikaya farm in Talegaon, I felt deprived. Of fruit and vegetables. Not that I live in a desert….
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…
One Sunday winter morning, year after year, my grandfather would leave his Cooperage apartment and catch a cab to a dusty by-lane in Girgaum, the…
You heard that right. It’s a soup, not a juice, not a smoothie. It’s a liquid that you ladle into a soup bowl, garnish, and…
Since I started writing My Jhola in 2008, it went through several avatars, progressing in appearance, content (intent, even) through the years. Early this year,…