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Sungta Ambat Shrimp/Prawns are some of the very popular seafood available anywhere in the world. While growing up, we got very fresh ones, since we lived on coast. The fresh ones are so tasty. The big shrimp were a delicacy that we only got once in a while. Now we mostly get big ones, which are not comparable to the big shrimp we get here in supermarkets. So when we visit my parents, my parents get these fresh ones for us and one of the dishes we love the most is this Sungta ambat – a spicy coconut based gravy with shrimp....

I have always been a big fan of stir fried noodles. I remember during college days, my roommate and I used to go to different restaurants to try out different types of noodles. Even though I like to get a take-out from Asian restaurants here, I do not remember when was the last time I had any of these dishes. I don’t use any ready made sauces these days, so I could not try it at home too....

According to Hindu calender, today is Karthika Shuddha Dwadashi or Uthan Dwadashi . This day is celebrated as “Tulsi pooja” or “Tulsi Vivah(Tulsi wedding)” . Almost all the Konkanis have a structure called as “Tulsi katte” in front of home which has a Tulsi (Holy basil) plant in it. A lamp is lit in front of this daily and worshiped. The “Tulsi katte” at my native looks like follows. On “Tulsi pooja” , this structure is decorated with sugar canes and flowers....

We have been trying to make fish a regular ingredient in our food, primarily due to it’s health-related benefits like rich protein, Omega-3 etc. So far, I have tried tilapia, catfish and salmon. (Those who don’t know about these fishes, please don’t ask for translation as I don’t know). For the first 2 years in US, I din’t have any courage to try any fish here. Whenever we tried any fish dishes in restaurants here, we didn’t get to like them....

I found this very interesting recipe in a Kannada magazine. It had both avrekayi ( surti papdi – the beans with skin on) and avrekaLu (the peeled beans). Melogara (in Kannada) means a gravy used to pour over rice. I had both in my freezer and wanted to make this immediately. AvrekaLu is fried and then ground which gives thickness and taste to the gravy. We simply loved it....

During my childhood, aayi was always there for us when we returned home from school. She had a set of dishes that she made for breakfast and another set of dishes that were evening snacks. My brother and I threw a big tantrum if she switched between the two. Vermicelli dishes like upma , idli were mainly prepared for evening snacks. We demanded different snacks every evening. Now for Ishaan, I try to make something fresh for breakfast, lunch and dinner....

Lately, I have been very busy. Busy work days, busy evenings trying to keep a toddler entertained and then if I still have any energy left, I work from home. I have missed updating this place. Today I realized that it has been more than 2 weeks since I posted here. So I thought I have to post something, before I totally lost the touch. This dosa is inspired by my aayi’s ganva polo (wheat flour dosa)....

Few days ago , I promised to post more of my pachi’s recipes. This is one that I have come to love very much. I have never cooked any Indian savory dish with almonds before. So when I read the recipe, I was very much interested to try it. Instead of red chillies, this recipe calls for only the red chilli seeds. This helps to retain the beautiful white color....

We visited California during Christmas vacation. The main focus of our trip this time was meeting our friends. Apart from enjoying a lot in their company, I also learnt many things from each one of them. Everyone treated us with such delicious homemade food. This particular dish was served to us at our friends Mehnaz and Hardeep’s home. They made this delicious baked fish with salmon. When I tasted this first,I immediately noticed a very pleasant spice which I never use in fish dishes....

Konkani food is usually based around coconut. We make a variety of dishes with it. Though the masala which we use is almost same, there is a remarkable difference in taste from one dish to the other. I usually prepare two-three stapled side dishes like Mooga randayi (also called as Mooga ambat), dudde randayi and few others which I would be posting in coming days. I had forgotten about the others, but thanks to “aayisrecipes”, I am learning most of them now....

Few of my friends want me to post some non vegetarian dishes here. Its been a long time I tasted any non veg except for shrimps. So I was wondering when I would post this classic dish. Few days back, my dear friend Deepa reminded me of this. So when my brother went for a short trip to my native, Aayi prepared this and my brother took pictures. For vagetarian version, click cabbage vada ....

Today is my wedding anniversary. It has been 10 years since we got married. It has been a significant year for me, first Ayaan was born in March, then my parent’s 40th anniversary in May(although I could not celebrate with them since they were in India, I was still very excited), our 10th anniversary and a milestone birthday for aayi in August!. Before kids were born, we used to celebrate this day, but now it has become another normal day....

I am trying to switch to a healthy diet these days. After discussing with some of my friends, I tried couple of healthy replacements to white rice like quinoa, brown rice etc. But the thing we all liked the most is cracked wheat. So instead of using white rice/basmati rice, I use cracked wheat for our daily meals. It goes very well with all the gravies/dals, in pulavs, pongals/ khichdis etc....

I do not eat chicken or mutton dishes. But since my husband and children like chicken, I cook it at home occasionally. My sister gave me this recipe. She makes this dish with mutton, but as we don’t cook or eat mutton at home, I prepared it with chicken. It came out really well and all liked it. Since then am making this everytime I cook chicken at home. This goes well as a side dish with chapati/rice....

Few days back, I was talking to one of my friends, who has just learnt cooking. He asked me – why I have not posted very basic recipes like Omelet, Burji, Bullseye (egg half fry). I said those are very basic things and everybody knows about them. Then I gave it a thought, I still remember when I was studying in high school, I didn’t know how to make a cup of tea....

I love eggs in any dish. I have a book named “Egg recipes” by Mrs S. Malika Badrinath. It is a treasure of egg recipes. I tried many recipes from this book and loved them all. The name of this dish is given as “Andhra egg curry”. I am not sure if it is an authentic Andhra recipe or something prepared on the similar lines of any other Andhra curries....

I donno why this dish is called french toast. I saw one of my friend, Uma, using milk and sugar for this. But I like french toast a little spicy. Ingredients: Bread 6-7 pieces Eggs 4 Pepper powder Half tea spn Butter 1 tbl spn Salt Method: Break the eggs into a bowl. Add Salt and pepper. Beat well. Dip the bread into this mixture(there should be a egg coating on both sides of the bread)....

During the Christmas holidays last year, we were at a friend’s place in CA. My friend Roopa pampered us with some awesome North Karnataka food (V loves North Karnataka dishes). I noted down some of the recipes, but never got to post them. This is one of those recipes. She served this with wheat flour dosas. It was such a great combination. Check out another version of coriander chutney here ....

In the next few days, I will post some traditional side-dishes prepared by my mother. I absolutely love these sides. Let me start with my favourite dish. This is prepared with raw papayas grown at home. The second main ingredient is ‘vali bhajji’, which is also called as Indian Spinach, Malabar Spinach or Vietnamese Spinach . These are available in all american grocery stores (it is called as ‘spinach’, it is a bit different than ‘palak’)....

Gas gase or khus khus or poppy seeds are supposed to have a cooling effect on the body. Until recently, I had not seen any recipes which had this spice as the main ingredient. I heard about these for the first time from my Kannada colleagues. I found this recipe in a Kannada book, since I love tamblis (they are fast, easy and tasty), I prepared this. It tasted great, a very nice change to everyday gravies....