It was a lunch break about a year ago. It was the time when Cindy and I had our little afternoon chats. We started talking about cooking. She said she makes a pecan pie which her husband loves. That time I had no idea what a pie was. In the next few months, I tasted chocolate pecan pie . By then Cindy had taken up a new job, so I mailed her to ask if she will share her recipe with me....

Koot in Konkani is a dish with raw coconut paste. As I mentioned earlier, jackfruit dishes are very popular among Konkanis. This is one dish which has very unique taste to it. Since the coconut paste in it is not cooked, this gets spoiled very soon. So it is usually refrigerated soon after it is prepared. In a very hot weather of summer, a cold side dish like this makes the meal heavenly....

Today I cooked this wheat – ganvu (Konkani) or godhi (Kannada) paays for dinner. One of my readers had requested for this recipe and I had bought whole wheat many days ago. Somehow I could never make it. Today I made a point to make something different than my staple vermicelli paays or sabudana paays . Luckily I had a tin of coconut milk which I had picked from Indian store during my last visit....

Some time ago, I had posted a recipe for ash gourd( kuvaLe ) koddel without coconut . I had also promised to post this version which is very popular among Konkanis from South Kanara. This recipe is sent to me by my friend Aruna . This a sweetish, spicy, sour gravy. I have tried this many times now. Once I start, I can’t stop eating this. So whenever I cook this, I make a huge batch and go on for 2-3 days....

Wish you all a very happy Diwali. We are having a quiet Diwali here. I kept thinking what to make for this festival. V was traveling first few days of the week and that meant I was alone with a very active 3 and half year old. Then there was Halloween which the child was very excited about , thanks to his school. Â No one has a sweet tooth at my home, when I made few sweets for Ganesh festival and Krishnashtami this year, they sat in fridge for a long time!...

There may be many people like me who like pickles very much. During my childhood, pickle was an essential item of the meal, no meal was complete without it. It was a must with congee( pej ) of boiled rice which is usually served between breakfast and lunch at around 11AM in Konkani homes. People use many vegetables to prepare pickles e.g. mangos , lemons , bimbal , bitter gourd , bamboo shoots, cauliflower , green chillies , gooseberries etc....

Black Forest Buns The bread of the month in We Knead To Bake group were these delicious Black forest buns. I had never heard about these buns before. Since V loves Black Forest cake, I thought this would be a good fit for the Valentine’s day (I baked it on the weekend before Valentine’s day). I have realized how hard it is to concentrate on anything these days, with 2 small kids around....

I saw Kale vatane or black peas first time in Belgaum. I have not seen these in Konkani cooking. My pachi uses kale vatane a lot in her cooking. I just love these. I still remember the taste of this amti (gravy). I think she also used fresh kale vatane (not very sure though) in her cooking. I make my own version of this, but this is the way she makes it....

One of my readers asked me for this recipe few days ago. This dish is not known to people in North Kanara (like me). I ignored it for sometime, but then, I was very curious. So I asked aayi, she said it is a version of cabbage vada that is prepared in South Kanara . Some of my aayi’s relatives are from SK, so she is very familiar with all SK names and dishes....

These days the temperature has become unbearable here. Even if we go out for 5mins in the sun, we feel like almost dead by the time we reach home. So I am preparing a lot of healthy juices at home instead of drinking any artificial ones. I would like to post as many juices as possible in this summer. Medicinal values of Carrot : High in beta carotene, a powerful anticancer, artery-protecting, immune-boosting, infectionfighting,antioxidant with wide protective powers....

Last December when I was pregnant with Ayaan, I had invited few of my friends and their parents (who were visiting them) to dinner. I told aunty that I love chicken and she told me she will make something for me. She had only 1-2 weeks until she returned to India. She was very sweet to take out time in the busy schedule to cook and send a big batch of chicken curry....

Recently I tried few of the Goan recipes like Prawn Balchuan , Eggless banana cake and absolutely loved them. So when Jay requested a recipe of Chicken Xacuti, I could imagine that it would taste heavenly. Since I have stopped preparing chicken at home, I replaced it with prawns. As expected, the dish was simply superb. So here is the Xacuti recipe as followed in Goa. Ingredients: Chicken 8-10 small pieces or Prawns ¾ cup Onion(large) 1 Coconut ¾ cup Nutmeg powder ½ tea spn Tamarind ½ tea spn Coriander seeds ¾ tea spn Cumin seeds ½ tea spn Poppy seeds (khus khus) ½ tea spn Fennel seeds (Soamp or saunf) ½ tea spn Dried chillies 3-4 Star anise 3-4 Cloves 2-3 Cinnamon 1” piece Oil 1 tea spn Salt...

Aayi has a recipe diary which she had written many years ago. There are many recipes that she has tried many times and some which she just wrote down from different sources. I don’t think she writes in it anymore, but it is one of my favorite things to read. I don’t get bored to go through the same recipes again and again, sometimes I even copy the same recipes into my book....

Raw uncooked vegetables in the form of kosambaris are liked by many people. We make many different kinds of kosambaris – cabbage , carrot, moong dal to name a few. One more addition to this is cucumber kosambari. I saw this in one of the magazines and tried at home. I make this regularly now as my husband and I both liked it. This can be made with or without yogurt....

Thanks to all who gave me suggestions about different fishes at my tilapia in spices post. I will be trying them all soon. This is another dish which I have been preparing, lot many times these days. It is inspired by Kerala style fish curry . Ingredients: 1 cup tomato 1 cup yogurt(curds) 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste (freshly made) 1 tea spn coriander seeds 2-3 strands coriander leaves 3 cloves 1″ cinnamon 7-8 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn chilli powder Salt...

Usually the chutney powder with coconut is very popular among Konkanis. It can be either with or without garlic. The one without garlic has a greater shelf life compared to the one with garlic. But both have their own tastes. My brother loved the garlic one, so my mom always makes it for him. Though this goes well with idlis , dosas , rottis etc, my personal preference is garlic chutney powder with Jolad rotti and curd....

These days I am trying my best to avoid any food wastage. I used to buy a lot of beans/vegetables and had to throw some of it when I could not get to them on time. Now I make a conscious effort not to do so. We have started doing the grocery shopping once in every 2-3 weeks. We buy new vegetables only when we finish off every single vegetable from fridge....

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous Yugadi/Ugadi and Gudi Padwa. Pepper jaggery panakam Mango pachdi (not in picture) Muga dali usli Chane usli This recipe is inspired by beetroot sasam and beetroot raita . This is very mild in flavor, it has that sweetish tinge from beetroot. It can be made with little thick yogurt to be served as a sidedish/chutney or can be made with thinned down yogurt/buttermilk to be served with hot rice as tambli....

There are two versions of this dish. This is the one more popular at home. Since horsegram is very good for health, we prepare this very often. Coconut gives thickness to the gravy. It has a very strong aroma of garlic which gives a great taste. Ingredients: 1 cup kulith( Horsegram) 1/2 cup grated coconut 1 tea spn coriander seeds 2 green chillies 4-5 red chillies 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn garlic 2 inch piece (or 1/4 tea spn extract) tamarind Oil Salt...

Like bhindi (okra), ivy gourds are liked by almost all people. When I found some fresh ivy gourds in Indian store, I prepared a variety of dishes with it. I used to buy this vegetable almost every time I went to market in India. Tendli-bibbe upkari is very famous among Konkanis. During season, fresh raw cashews (called bibbe in Konkani) are available in the market. These cashews are used for ‘ tendli-bibbe upkari ‘....