Updates + Sticky Vanilla and Coconut Rice

It’s been a crazy week ten days. Totally crazy. Jennie and I are working hard on our dream project, and we’ve been off to a good start. Working on your dream project means you do everything: the fun things like tasting 4 different strawberries, eating at different places in the name of “research” as well [...]

Rocky Road Recipe

This post is published in association with Thorntons Chocolate There aren’t many no-bake recipes on this blog, and this rocky road recipe helps fill that little void. This one’s easy: melt chocolate with butter, fold in a bunch of ingredients and pour it all into a mould to set for a few hours and cut [...]

Chocolate, Olive Oil and Sea Salt Toast

This morning while I was emailing Arjun some shops to go to in Barcelona to bring back olive oil and chorizo, I got distracted by blogs filled with photos of padrón peppers and patatas bravas. But what really stuck in my head was something I hadn’t tried in Barcelona before: chocolate with salt and olive [...]

Crusty Hazelnut Cake

I’ve got to admit, I’m not one of those people who always picks a corner piece of a brownie or the first slice of a freshly-cut pound cake. I’ll let others have it. I much prefer the soft, gooey or buttery (as the case may be) interior. Inadvertently, one fine afternoon, I came across a hazelnut [...]

Eating Alone

I’m a lazy cook when it comes to cooking for one. I’ll go to great lengths to cook a meal when I have company, and even take a three hour drive to break bread with friends – but when it comes to fixing myself a meal, I’ll look for as easy way out. I usually [...]

Of Copper Pots and Making Memories

For as long as I’ve know the value of cooking in a copper pot, I’ve yearned for one. Every time we’d pass by a shop window at Dehillerin or catch a glimpse of them in kitchens, I’d sigh at the sight of them, hoping that I’ll save up a little money and own a copper [...]

Chocolate Chocolate Cake

Everybody must have a good chocolate cake recipe. Everybody. The kind that you scribble down in your notebook, the kind you memorise, the kind your friends keep asking you to make over and over again. And I think, that with this recipe, I’ve found one I love and can see myself going back to, time [...]

Video! Blood Orange and Olive Oil Cake

[If you are reading this as an email or in your RSS reader, view the video on the blog] I’m so excited to share with you my first little film! Here’s what Arjun and I usually do on Sunday mornings: visit the Place des Fetes market and come home and make a meal together with [...]

Things I’m Loving

I’ve been enjoying a few new things lately that I thought were worth a share. Japanese Ginger Grater Even if I just spoke about this ginger grater alone, I’d consider this a very worthy post. This Japanese grater is absolutely brilliant. I used to use my Microplane for grating fresh ginger, but was invariably stuck [...]

My Bookshelf

Great news! I’ve finally put together a page with a list of all my favourite cookbooks after all the emails I keep getting for book recommendations. I’ve also added my notes and comments about the books and I hope that this proves useful to you. Have a look, let me know what you think!

Appelflappen

It’s safe to say that Appelflappen, or apple fritters, are my newest obsession. I’ve been making them everyday for the past three day, and sometimes more than just once a day. I’ve made so many different versions of them, I’m pretty sure I can fend any questions about them. Even about how it might be [...]

Strawberry-Raspberry Swiss Roll Cake

I made a Swiss Roll Cake today and I’m happy to report that with this cake ends my spate of kitchen mishaps that were a part and parcel of getting acquainted with my new gas oven. I have made over-baked cookies and under-baked cakes that I tried to salvage them in whatever way I could [...]

Pistachio, Almond and Chocolate Chunk Cake

I’ve been baking a lot lately: mostly making up for the times I couldn’t bake being stuck with a rickety oven and also in celebration of the fact that I can actually spread my arms out in the kitchen and not hit the wall. I think it’s the cold that’s making me bake loaf cakes [...]

Chocolate Chestnut Loaf Cake, TV Appearance and My Orange Kitchen

Seems like whenever I make anything with chestnuts, a post on updates is in order. Here’s an update about a few recent and somewhat unrelated things. ** When I was back home in Bombay in January, I conducted a bunch of baking workshops. Readers from all over the country came over (yes, country! Delhi, Pune, [...]

Meringues, Lots and Lots of Meringues

Just when I shot this photo of the little meringue babies, I knew this photo will end up being the opening shot of my feature in this month’s BBC Good Food Magazine. And it was. Here’s the recipe for the versatile vanilla bean meringues. Grab a copy of the Feb ’13 issue to get all [...]

New batches! The Purple Foodie Baking Workshops (Jan 25-27), Mumbai

You guys are just the very best, aren’t you? I thought I’d take a weekend of classes during my holiday in Bombay, but the previous batches were sold out in a few hours with people travelling to Bombay from all over the country! Thank you so much for being so enthusiastic about the classes. Because there are still [...]

Special Event: The Purple Foodie Baking Workshops (Jan 19-20), Mumbai.

I’m back home in Bombay for a short trip and I’m going to be conducting a few baking workshops! My suitcase from Paris was weighed down with all the cooling racks, tart pans, madeleine moulds, Fleur de Sel and whatnot because I was determined to share with you the tricks I learned while studying at [...]

Ajiaco + Patacon

It’s holiday season and all of our friend’s are heading back home to celebrate Christmas and this means there are dinner parties and potlucks every other evening. A few days ago we were invited to a dinner party where our friend Luis, made two Colombian specialties called Ajiaco, a  dark yellow creamy potato soup and [...]

Market Lunch: Pear and Beetroot Salad

Every time I go to the market, I try and buy something entirely new to me, or a different variety of a known fruit or vegetable. This time, I bought candy beets (they don’t taste very different from regular beets, just prettier) and pears from a farm stand at my quartier market where patient Parisians were queing [...]

My First Thanksgiving

Mon Quartier

My neighbourhood in the 15ème is pretty darn amazing. Butchers, boulangeries, fromageries, cafés, patisseries, a fantastic outdoor market that open thrice a week and a gorgeous little park (with wifi!). When I first moved here a couple of months ago I went into a tizzy taking photos of the neighbourhood. Every time I’d take a [...]

Three Days In Dublin

Last week I tagged along with Arjun for a short trip to Dublin. I did what I usually do: research the city for a few hours, pin all the prospective places I want to visit on a Google Maps, print out the notes I’ve made on Google Docs corresponding to these places, and then familiarise [...]

Recent Favourites

I’ve come across a bunch of interesting things lately that I thought were worth a share. * Food blogs like this and this. * I’ve never really played with my hair but attending a Chignon class with Rubi has got me hooked on to her blog. And while we’re taking about hair, fancy these rabbit ear [...]

Double Chocolate Cookies

Rich, dark, a little soft and intensely chocolatey – you might as well call them cookie brownies. I was to take a nicer photo, but you’re stuck with the Instagram rendition because like every rushed Friday Lunches morning (where things start as early as 4AM), these cookies were baked, packed up and and on their [...]

The Best Peanut Pancake, Imbi Market, Kuala Lumpur

I was sorting through my photos from over the past year and I came upon one of my favourite sets – one that was photographed at Imbi Market in Kuala Lumpur last year. A separate blog post is needed to justify the glorious market, but what I want to share right now is a series [...]

London Favourites

I was in London over the summer to study at Le Cordon Bleu, and during my time there I explored quite a bit of the city. I’ve put together all my favourite spots and things to do while in London. I’ve been to London a few times before, but this trip made me love the [...]

Carrot Salad + New App!

Some of the best meals I eat are those shared with Jennie. And most of the time, they are things we rustle up while preparing for the pop-up lunches that we do every week or so under the Friday Lunches* banner. Last week when we were out and about putting ingredients together for the sandwiches [...]

Market Lunch: Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Salad

I’m back in Paris after a lovely summer in London and I’m loving my new neighbourood in the 15ème. It’s dotted with boulangeries, cute cafés at every corner, a lovely park (with free city wifi!) with a spot for beekeeping, a couple of fromageries (with one right downstairs from my apartment) and butchers who look [...]

London Street Eats

When I was in London over the summer, the street food scene took me by surprise. In Paris, I’m used to just two street food vans – one that sells burgers and another that sells Mexican fast food. On an average day, both these vans have people queuing up for at least 20 minutes before [...]

Town Mill Bakery, Lyme Regis

View the slideshow As pastry students we take our studies very seriously. So seriously, that last week we drove 4 hours to eat at a bakery in Lyme Regis (SW coast of England). Never mind the fact that it’s a gorgeous little town right by the sea. One of my closest friends at Cordon Bleu, [...]

Broadway Market, London

On a Saturday, Arjun and I headed out to explore yet another market in London, Broadway Market. A mishmash of cultures convene at the half century old Broadway Market to sell and consume some fantastic food and vintage fashion. With over 80 stalls at the Broadway Market that include street food, cheese, fresh produce, jewelry stands, [...]

Avocado Toast

I find that my flavour preferences are changing. This happens to me from time to time and I am surprised at myself for wanting to eat things I didn’t much care for. Like pistachios. I never liked them as a kid. I was so finicky, I’d pick them out of desserts that my grandma made [...]

The Little Bread Pedlar, London

One morning when I was walking to school, I saw a black bicycle pass by that had a trunk attached to the back and a large wicker basket for bread in the front. It passed by so quickly that I could hardly pull out my phone to snap a picture. But I made a mental [...]

Strawberry + Raspberry Eton Mess

One of the best things about summer in Europe is without a doubt the berries and stone fruits. I can alternate berries and stone fruits all summer long and not feel the need to eat anything else. From my visit to the farm over the weekend, I got a punnet of strawberries and raspberries each. The [...]

Create

So apt. I need one of these prints. (via Marc Johns)

Paris Favourites: Cookware and Ingredient Shopping

When I was in Paris just for a day to pick up my Carte Sejour (residence permit, wohoo!), I made sure I stopped at my three favourite shops. Because no cook’s pantry is ever full, and because you just need that Eiffel tower cookie cutter as a souvenir to remember the trip by, you ought [...]

Wild Rice Salad

In my last few days in Paris before moving to London to study the patisserie program at Le Cordon Bleu, I wanted to do a whole lot of things. I wanted to to cook with Jennie for Friday Lunches – our weekly lunch pop-up where she cooks and I bake and we feed lots of [...]

Linguine with Tomatoes, Arugula and Pecorino Cheese

The one thing I realise while studying French cuisine is that I love tomatoes. That’s because they never really use tomatoes to flavour food – it’s always carrots, celery, onions and shallots acting as the main aromatics. In the rare event that the tomatoes do get used, they are cut up into petals or brunoise [...]

La fin

I can’t believe it’s the end of my first term at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. Yesterday, was our last demonstration at school that was made memorable with a fire drill and some champagne in plastic cups. From cutting four fingers all at once while slicing fennel  and learning the perfect soufflé with my favourite chef  [...]

Recent favourites

Lately,  I’ve been enjoying most of the food I’ve been making way too quickly to photograph it. Like an entire Lebanese spread with falafels and pita made from scratch. Or a BBQ with with friends the moment we saw a little sunshine. Or chocolate brownies and caramel sauce I made for a friend’s party that earned [...]

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

Need a ultra simple dessert that comes together in a matter of minutes and also doubles up as comfort food? This throw-it-together dessert might help: creamy bread pudding with chocolate chips. [Uh, sorry, those don’t look like chocolate chips because in my enthusiasm of getting my hands on a sack of chocolate after over a [...]

Life, right now

According to my phone, my life is a mishmash of new market finds, school life, Paris, what I’m eating for Sunday morning breakfast, psychedelic beets, Friday Lunches, Dutch cheese, stoopwafels and other random things. If you’re using Instagram, leave your username in the comments section, or follow me if you like what you see. Bonne soirée!

San Lorenzo Market, Florence

View the slideshow

10 fun things I did in Florence.

We spent a few days in Florence before heading north to Venice. Florence was gorgeous but somehow very crowed at the time we went. Here are ten random things we did in Florence. Other things included the mandatory gelato tour, a visit to the Galileo museum to satiate the geek in Arjun, a different sandwich everyday at [...]

School Updates + Green Bean and Fennel Salad

Ever since Day 1 at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, I’ve finished 6 lessons. Each lesson entails a demo by the chef followed by practicals where we have to make what we seen in the demo. The school is pretty strict about being in class on time. For a 8:30AM class I make sure to be [...]

Day One

4:38… Not yet. 5:28. A little while longer. And then, finally, the alarm went off at 6:15, and I jumped out of bed for my first day of school… The school of my dreams. The school for which I was awarded the James Beard Scholarship. First. Day. Today. So excited was I, I kept taking photos [...]

Florence Gelato Tour

  We clearly hadn’t had enough gelato in Rome, so we did it all over again in Florence. Here’s a list of all the gelateria we went to in one afternoon that was made up of walking, eating gelato and then some more gelato. I’ve listed the gelateria such that you end the grand gelato [...]

My Favourite Lemonade

Freshly made lemonade, with raspberries added in. I make the lemonade to taste, so I can’t give you exact proportions of the ingredients. But what I can give you is this tip: let the raspberries sit in the lemonade overnight for a gorgeous pink hue and a pronounced raspberry flavour. Today, I made these with [...]

Zucchini and Thyme Pizza

One of my favourite things to eat is a simple zucchini pizza with a sprinkling of thyme, doused in really good olive oil. Add a few slivers of marinated artichokes, and that’s even better. I’d invariably buy pizza at La Renella that would have these two ingredients as toppings in abundant quantities. Back home, I [...]

Sienna, Italy

We stopped in a little town called Sienna on our way to Florence from Rome. We ate some very good food at L’Osteria Enoteca Sotto le Fonti (the local Senese vegetable speciality, ribollita) and Osteria della Chiacchiera. Here is where I discovered gianduja hot chocolate at Grom. Life made more sense with toasted hazelnuts thrown into the thick, creamy [...]