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If you had told me that one day I will be posting neem begun recipe, I wouldn't have believed you. I wasn't a big fan of this recipe. I still vividly remember the big neem tree in front of our house growing up. Every spring, my mom would ask someone to cut some tender leaves of neem (margosa, Azadirachta indica) and saute them with eggplants.We would try to get out of eating them. My mother would
Why is it that I have never blogged a black eyed peas recipe before, I scratch my head thinking and yet I can come up with no answer. It's not that I don't make it. I make it often, almost every week sometimes. And somehow I have never photographed it or written down the recipe. Has it ever happened to you dear friends that you have a go-to recipe and you have never shared it before?Today, along w
Aswin makes a mean frittata. He found the recipe about a year ago and has been tweaking it since then. He has experimented with veggies, spices and even how long the frittata should cook. We've had it over weekends, taken it for brunches with friends and finally it has been given the green light to be posted.Now let me tell you how luxurious this frittata feels when you've had a chance to sleep fo
It's Holi today and I am dry, going about my daily routine. But in my mind, I am thinking about Holi I celebrated a couple of years ago at home. I was home for Holi after many years, and it was Lil A's first trip to India so it was extra special.The evening before Holi, I was sure that we would do dry colors, just a little bit here and there and we will be done. The next morning we woke up, ate br
A few days back a friend posted on her Facebook that work life balance is a myth. With two little kids and a full-time job, a sentence like this gets my attention. I agree it's hard to find even a day when I have it in balance. For me, the weight shifts every week, make it everyday, depending on what I have going. Depending on what time of day you ask me, I may be trying hard to get one or the oth
While everyone else is posting sweet stuff for Valentine's Day, I have something savory and aromatic for you. Go ahead! Woo your sweetheart with this delicious vegetable biryani stuffed squash. The recipe may take a little bit of prep time, but the result is so worth it. We first made this for our Thanksgiving dinner last year. Needless to say, everyone enjoyed it quite a bit.The presentation is b
Evenings in our house is busy. Both the kids are demanding our attention, we are prepping for dinner and also catching up on our day. And if I get a chance, sipping on some tea as well. So most of the evening dinners are quick and easy to prep and easy to put together during the week. Lil A also eats what we are eating, so that means we are eating different kinds of pasta at least a couple of time
Lil A turned 3 this month! Not so little anymore. Before I realized, he is a little boy with opinions, tastes, moods and pranks. He likes interacting with Tiny M and squishing him. It's us who keep saying "gentle, gentle". Tiny M, on the other hand, is excited to see his big brother. He shows it by waving his hands, kicking his legs and now smiling.Coming back to the birthday cake, the first two y
Happy new 2013 to all of you my dear friends, bloggers and readers! I am looking forward to a brand new year waiting to be filled with new recipes, adventures and other delicious memories. I haven't made any new resolutions for this year, other than being mindful of everything around me and knowing that life can't always be planned, but to take it with all that it has to offer. The last month
NOTE: I wrote this post a while back and didn't have the time to finish it. Then the two tragedies (one in the US and one in India) happened, that have saddened and angered me in many ways. It has been hard for me to find the right words and coherently write about it. I pray that we all have the strength to work through these horrific incidents. And over the next year, I hope to see significant c
Since we couldn't travel, we hosted the Thanksgiving's dinner for family and friend this year. I made a couple of things, but most of the menu planning and cooking for done by Aswin. It was a lovely evening spent with good food and good company in between nursing the 3-week-old. Running behind the toddler, I had forgotten, how tiny, soft and fragile little babies are and delicious they smell
It was Aswin's birthday last week and this time we made a mixed berry cake with whipped cream topping. Lil A is not so fond of cakes, but he does like to lick all the cream off the cake or cupcakes. So when he demanded a blue or green cream topping, I knew he was serious.I chose a simple mixed berry cake from Smitten Kitchen and then tweaked it. Whole wheat flour to replace all purpose flour, no l
with the addition of a new member - Manan. Unlike Lil A, Tiny M is loud. When we went to the pediatrician, she commented "he has to be heard over his brother, so he's already practicing." My MIL is here helping us as we all realign ourselves. As for this blog space, it's an important part of my life and I don't intend to neglect it completely. I will be posting as and when I get a chance.Ho
My pregnancy brain has taken over, I'm sure! I'm told that in the last month or so, "nesting" kicks in. And here I am, instead of getting stuff ready for the new arrival in my "nesting" phase, I am standing near a stove, stirring and making kalakand from scratch at night after Lil A went to bed. What else would you call it?The only advantage of the late night cooking session was I had all the time
I was so excited when I saw mocha or banana flower in the Indian store recently. (Mocha is pronounced as Mo cha as in chair). It's been many years since I had one and in my mind the process of cleaning is complicated, one I have never attempted. I do remember my mother sitting with a boti and a newspaper in the kitchen, patiently rubbing her hands with oil and cleaning the flower and chopping it f
I look at corn with new found eyes since this summer. That's because Lil A discovered corn and I found corn chaat. In one go, it satisfied both of us. Lil A likes his with lemon juice, salt and pepper. When we don't have time to grill the corn, I simply boil it and serve it with butter and salt to Lil A and he happily munches on it.I on the other hand, douse my corn with cucumber, tomatoes, onions
Fall is here for sure. Moderate temperatures, sunny days, blue skies, tempting us to spend time outside. And to do that, we combined spending time outside with cooking outside too. :)You've already heard me talk about the new grill we got over the summer. It came with a side gas burner and we decided to make inaugurate that by deep frying some Luchis or Puris. Luchis or Puris stir up strong
We finally got ourselves a grill this summer and since then have been grilling quite a bit over the last few months. But, I never get around to taking pictures of the food we have grilled so far, some delicious, juicy mushrooms, paneer, tofu, corn, and even some salmon. The salmon was a big hit with Lil A who had it right after we took it off the grill. But this time I did, and it deserves a post.
The Farmer's Market in Ann Arbor is in full swing. All kinds of vegetables, flowers, plants, fruits are available now. If you go to the market Saturday morning, it is packed with people and kids. Little kids on feet, in strollers, babies with their eyes wide open in wonderment looking at the crowd and the colorful display.Lil A loves going to the market as well. He refuses to sit in his stroller n
It inevitably happens when my parents come and go or when my MIL is visiting us, the blog reflects that shift with the recipes that are posted. After all this is a place to record our home cooked food. Sometimes I go back in history to browse (doesn't happen that frequently now what with the little one) and it's so interesting to see what was cooking in the kitchen the same month in differen
Summer is going too fast. As I type this rain is steadily falling, the temperatures have dipped to 70s, and I am warming my hands on a hot cup of tea. Lil A is sitting next to me (barely) complaining that his wagon is "all wet" and is demanding to go outside immediately.The relief from heat is much needed but I am reminiscing about the hot summer afternoon when I came home to find a big bowl of to
It has been so hot lately that every week for the last couple of months I inevitably have some bananas that become over ripe and squishy. We either end up with either a smoothie for the next day, or they go in the fridge for making banana bread over the weekend. I have experimented with a few different proportions and now I think I have a keeper.Just simple ingredients, whatever I had at home and
My sister-in-law in Naperville is an avid gardener. For the last several years, she rents a community plot every summer and grows all kinds of vegetables and fruits that last her well into the winter. I've blogged about her garden before. When we visited her a couple of weeks ago, she was having a bounty of Kale and gave us a bunch as well. I made some into Kale Chips and still had a smal
My sister-in-law in Naperville is an avid gardener. For the last several years, she rents a community plot every summer and grows all kinds of vegetables and fruits that last her well into the winter. I've blogged about her garden before. When we visited her a couple of weeks ago, she was having a bounty of Kale and gave us a bunch as well. I made some into Kale Chips and still had a small b
That's right, it's been six years! And I am still here. I wouldn't be if it weren't for you and your support, encouragement and love. I've found friend, a community and have learned and grown is so many ways. Here's hoping for more in the coming days. In the meantime, for this special occasion, I present Mango Sandesh or aamer shondesh!We just sort of came up with the recipe one evening as a
My parents have been busy since they got here. Between them, they have take care of Lil A, taught him Bengali rhymes even "Brishti pore tapur toopur...", cleaned and tended to the garden, built the vegetable patch and cooked up a storm, some familiar and some new dishes.Thanks to my dad, my vegetable patch is growing rapidly this year and the tomatoes are almost ready. Lil A has helped a lot too k
I rarely post any snack items, that's because we don't make it so often. But the luxury of having parents over is that it changes. They think of delicious snacks we can have with chai. And the sabudana vada was one of them.I am a big fan of this vada and have made it with sweet potatoes as well. So when my mom said she had soaked some extra sabudana (tapioca pearls) and suggested "How about some v
My morning rides to the office have changed forever.Nowadays Lil A is with us and we usually drop him to his preschool on the way to work. And we spend our time in the car spotting "big bus", "truck", "school bus", jeep, "police car" etc. Not even one goes unnoticed!It's become so addictive that I find when I am alone in the car, I am still counting what I have seen and it's not that interes
It was a couple of weeks ago, I asked on Ahaar's Facebook page ideas for a weekend breakfast. I got a variety of suggestions, from poha, to crepes, to cupcakes.I started with cupcakes idea but settled on muffins for breakfast because Lil A is not very fond of icing.I got the recipe from here and then tweaked it for my needs. I added almonds and colorful cheerios instead of oats and walnuts. I also
Last year when we were in Kolkata for a wedding, there was all kinds of delicious, spicy and elaborate menu planned for the days, Ilish Macher Jhal, kosha mangsho, mishti doi etc. Of course, the meal plan was executed by the cook hired for the few days.And then there was a special meal plan for my uncle who wasn't too well. And one of the things they cooked for him was this chicken stew. It was so
Aswin is allergic to shrimps and that means that I stopped getting shrimp home for cooking about 3 years ago. I used to before we found out. The last time I bought shrimp was when I was pregnant with Lil A. I went through a phase of craving for shrimp and sharshe bata chingri mach. I would get shrimp, cook it, eat it all in one go. :)Now that my parents are visiting, I have started getting shrimp
It was the end of the week. I had a couple of hours before going out for tea and meeting a friend and his 4-yr-old. I thought about buying some cupcakes on the way. But Lil A was taking his nap and I decided to use the opportunity to scan the fridge.I came up with some strawberries and a couple of eggs that I could use. The pantry had the rest of the stock for a cake. Hmm, I could bake a str
Arijit is a dear friend of ours who is working as a journalist in North East India. If you live in India, you've probably seen him and his reports on CNN-IBN. Just a couple of days ago, Arijit was getting out of work when he texted saying he was going to try making murgi-o-begun.I didn't have a recipe for him but had some ideas. Me: hote pare ittu tak diye (The recipe will need some sourness)
My parents are visiting and that means our menu has more Bengali food cooked by my parents nowadays. Whether it is regular macher jhol (fish curry) with salmon or mooger dal or special delicacies like this bitter or tetor dal and chingri macher malai kari, we have been relishing all of this and more regularly. As I try to record my parents recipes, I have been thinking for some time now about how
One of the things I've noticed about me is that when I get into a food show, the getting out is just as intense. After a while, it feels like I can predict their style, what kinds of food they will be making and the predictable starts to feel boring. But there are gems you take away from the romance phase with a show, those are a keeper.It was the same with Giada's show on Food Network. I wa
Even though the winter hasn't been bad, it still feels good to say spring is here. The temperature is in the 60s and 70s this week, Lil A is back at the park swinging to his heart's content and the tulips and daffodils are springing from the soil.And the palate is changing as well. I want something light and flavorful, but gazpacho wasn't an inspiration from that. It was from seeing a loaf of arti
What do you do when you get an extra day in February? Bake kale chips of course. I have been hearing about it, seeing it on TEDX talk and on blogs, etc. so I took the leap and baked some kale chips.Through trial and error I learned that the best temperature to bake the chips is not high, rather low and slow. I started with 350deg F and end up with 260 deg F. By the time the kale is coo
Actually leftover dal parathas ! Last week when I peeked in my fridge there were two little boxes sitting wait to be picked up for the 3rd day in a row. So this time I did! One had a little bit moong dal and the other one was masoor. I mixed it up with some flour, grated onion, cilantro and salt and it made for some yummy dinner parathas.Little A ate all his share with jam and we enjoyed ours with
You know how you've just had enough of the regular meals and want something different sometimes. It was during those moments I picked up one of my cookbooks. Nowadays, I just find recipes through blogs and haven't used my books. But it was one of those days and I pick up "Vegetable Heaven" looking for inspiration. And when I found this recipe, my eyes lit up. "Just the thing I was looking for" I t
(picture courtesy of: Nicole)Look at the beautiful table Nicole set for this meal! When I look at this picture, I can still remember all of us trying to savor the meal, talking to each other and tending to the little ones all at the same time. It felt like a busy evening, but a great one spent in the company of friends.Nicole and I had set a big goal for this evening. We were going to make a
(photo courtesy: Venky Rao)My little one recently turned 2. He is officially a toddler. How time has flown! I remember holding him, seeing him crawl, learning how to walk and now he is running around proclaiming his independence. He wants to do everything "self" and of course it takes twice as long. He recently tasted cake and has shown a preference for cake without icing.So for his birthday
Welcome 2012! The last couple of months of 2011 were busy, sick, busy, and then some more. But we got a good break, changed our pace and relaxed with family and friends. That rejuvenated and energized us. Here is a picture from our trip to Marquette in the Northern Peninsula Michigan.We also did a few dinners: for playdate #3, with some old friends and made some new. And for one of the dinners I m
Little A is going to be 2 next month and I think I made a breakthrough this month. You see, last year, I made this delicious birthday cake for him and he barely tasted it. This entire year, every time we went to a birthday party or if I baked a cake at home, I would try to get him eat a bite. Lil A would make a face, and now that he's talking say 'yucky' and walk away. So I had kind of given up on
Little N and Little A, and this time there was also Little O, got together for another playdate, or rather Nicole and I got together again for some wine and another cooking session. We made raviolis, and enjoyed it with family and friends along with some salad, and ice-cream.Wine bottles were opened, stories were exchanged, and raviolis were made under Nicole's guidance. I've never made ravi
I had big plans for Aswin's birthday this year. We invited a few friends, I had my menu ready, shopping done and then Ameya fell ill. So we ended up cancelling the dinner plans but I decided to bake a cake instead continuing the tradition of last few years. For this year I chose to make a nutella and raspberry jam cake. I had frozen some raspberries from the summer which were perfect for the jam.I
To tell you about the name, I will have to tell you a story about introducing a friend and colleague to Indian food. She is our new webmaster at work and I took her to Suvai, an Indian restaurant for lunch. As we were walking in, she said she's not a fan of spicy food. I was in two minds about the buffet. Just then the manager came in and insisted that we taste the food "It's not spicy at all".And
It's not a dagger, it's daangar a tanjore marathi delicacy with a fierce name!I had heard about it a few times, but never tasted it. This time when my MIL was visiting, I asked her to make some. It's simple and makes for a quick side dish to Tamarind rice, Ambat bhaji. We had ours with Tamarind Pohe (recipe coming). It is also had as a first course to a meal.The photos are not the best, but I want
No sweets for diwali, No! That's what my brain was telling me all through the week. So I decided to make something and use a shortcut. I've heard about rosogollar payesh and have been wanting to try it. And I can get ready made rasgullas, that's half my work done.I used one tin of rasgullas and the syrup to sweeten the milk. It took me a while to thicken the milk, about a couple of hours, but it w
The weather is changing, we're changing our wardrobe, putting things away from the summer. And in the midst of all this, I've lost my camera. There I've said it aloud! It's been a little more than a month, I kept thinking we've misplaced it somewhere, but I haven't found it. The possibilities of it being in a closet or a drawer is becoming slimmer and slimmer, unless Little A has a stash hiding in
Shubho Bijoya everyone. How was your dusshera/Navratri/Durga Pujo. Here is a picture from the pujo we went to over the weekend.For the pujo prasad, I made some saffron sandesh. The last time I made sandesh was for diwali 3 years ago. My mom was here, and I had plenty of help. This time, I was on my own.I made chana (cheese) at home by boiling milk and curdling it with lime juice. I hung it in chee
