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Have you ever got excited over a vegetable or an ingredient. I have, specially over banana peppers, because it reminds me of delicious curries made with them back home. My mom used to make different kind of dishes with them. Apart from this curry, she makes a stir-fry with banana peppers and potatoes and made a filling for toasts, then the other type is a starter i.e. deep fried stuffed banana
Noodles has always been on our weekly dinner menu. But method of making noodles is evolving. My mum made it very simple, she served noodles tossed with stir fried leeks and carrot to add some color. I tasted different varieties of noodles when I lived in Southeast Asia. Some of these mouth watering varieties are mee goreng, hokkien mee, chow mein, lo mein, pad thai etc., Each of these varieti
This is a staple dish in Sri Lanka. This salad is served with most of the main meals. Sri Lankans eat lot of rice and food made with rice flour. Typical Sri Lankan main meals are rice, bread, pol roti (flat bread made with wheat flour and grated coconut), string hoppers (steamed rice noodles), pittu (steamed rice couscous with grated coconut) and hoppers (half moon shaped pancakes made with f
Best Wishes for the New Year everyone. (I know it's late, but better late than never) I've gone missing for sometime, But I'm back invigorated from my holidays back home in Sri Lanka. It's always great to be back with your loved ones, someone to pamper with all good food cooked with love and mere company of my parents. It's never enough and always feels very diffic
I'm sure all of you know by now that eggplant is my favorite vegetable. This is one of my favorite method of cooking eggplant. Its Jaffnese method i.e. northern Sri Lankan way of cooking eggplant. Typically I grew up eating this with Pittu for dinner. Pittu is made with red rice flour and steamed with grated coconut. It looks like couscous but in brown color. In North we also use Sri Lank
Its getting cooler by the day, we had our first snow last weekend. This icy cold weather is making me crave for steaming hot soups or very spicy food. I have cooked pumpkin curry many times and its one of my favorite curry to have with rice. Making soups with pumpkin is a relatively new experience. I have tried this soup few times and has been a hit in our small nest. Click to
Back then we would eagerly wait to go to our grandma's house, so that we could meet all our cousins and play endlessly. There was a big garden in front of the house with lots of flowers and fruit trees. I fondly remember eating these red pearls (pomegranate) with my cousins. Click to Read More » [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content
When my friends visited here recently we had endless stories to share. Part of our conversation also involved about our new foodie experiments. We were together in Sri Lanka and eventually we all moved into different directions. One girl came from Australia and other from UK. Never in our dreams we thought we would have our re-union here, in the most beautifully landscaped but land locke
Seeni sambol, pol sambol, hoppers, string hoppers, kottu & chinese rolls are some of the popular Ceylon (Sri Lankan) food. Sri Lankan cuisine has many similarities with Kerala cuisine. We use lot of coconut milk, grated coconut and spices which are locally available ingredients. However even within Sri Lanka, there are minor differences among Jaffnese, Sinhalese, Muslims & hill count
Bread with butter, marmite and another slice with jam is what I used have for breakfast regularly. Its definitely not the most healthy way to start your day. When we moved here, we often came across this breakfast meal named Bircher Muesli. We were curious try it out, as it was a popular Swiss breakfast sold everywhere from cafes, bakeries, super markets to office canteens. Bircher i
My relationship with baking is similar to meeting a good old friend after a long break. I have childhood memories of mom's baked goodies. She would bake buns, cookies and cakes. I still remember mom's lemon cake aroma gradually enveloping the whole house. We would just wait till the oven bell rings to grab and eat. Few years later, I started baking and became an avid baker of
My love affair with this vegetable began more than two decades ago. It was introduced to me as "katharikai Poriyal" i.e. stir fried eggplant. Since then I'm in love with this vegetable and our affair continues with many new experimentations ;) Click to Read More » [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Finally after six long months, I'm happy to have my own space. I have my own utensils and a well stocked cupboard with spices and Sri Lankan ingredients. My kitchen smells so good :) Today's recipe is a result of me trying to incorporate Omega 3 & 6 i.e. good fat into our diet. As vegetarians this is one of the nutrient we may be lacking. We all know fish is one the main s
As a foodie, I'm always excited to see markets in new countries. Be it a farmers market, a regular day market or even spice market. I'm intrigued by new vegetable or spices and I end up buying basket full of vegetables and fruits every time I visit these markets. I recently got a chance to visit Mullhouse Market which is in eastern france and an hour away from Basel. In additi
My love affair with this vegetable began more than two decades ago. It was introduced to me as "katharikai Poriyal" i.e. stir fried eggplant. Since then I'm in love with this vegetable and our affair continues with many new experimentations ;) The other authentic Sri Lankan way of cooking eggplant is to make fried chips and serve it in hot and sour spicy gravy. Eggplant's blan
As a foodie, I'm always excited to see markets in new countries. Be it a farmers market, a regular day market or even spice market. I'm intrigued by new vegetable or spices and I end up buying basket full of vegetables and fruits every time I visit these markets. I recently got a chance to visit Mullhouse Market which is in eastern france and an hour away from Basel. In ad
Finally after six long months, I'm happy to have my own space. I have my own utensils and a well stocked cupboard with spices and Sri Lankan ingredients. My kitchen smells so good :) Today's recipe is a result of me trying to incorporate Omega 3 & 6 i.e. good fat into our diet. As vegetarians this is one of the nutrient we may be lacking. We all know fish is
Even though I have to wait for another few months, before I can cook and start shooting in my own kitchen space. I have been cooking, sharing and learning different types of food here. Something that I've bookmarked to try is 'Tarte'. I learnt to make tarte dough and to make both sweet and savory tarte's. Best part is if you don't have patience (like me) to make dough at h
Whenever I make salads, I add legumes as a protein source. Nutty flavor of chick peas goes well combined with sour green apple and colored peppers. Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are a very good source of folic acid, fiber, and protein. They are also a good source of protein, as well as minerals such as iron, copper, zinc and magnesium. As a goo
Gravy curry known as Kootu or kuzhambu in tamil is one of the main curry in south Indian meals. It goes well with rice, which is the staple food of South Asians. This curry has an aromatic flavorful gravy base, which is made with coconut cream and spices such as curry powder, coriander powder, tamarind pulp, chili powder and garam masala is added to enhance flavors of this curry. Similar type of c
Everyone has their own successful weight loss formula. For me it’s taking soups for dinner, sandwich and milk for lunch combined with regular exercise. When I switched to carb meals for dinner it started showing up in the scale. So with much determination I’m trying to take more soups / stews for dinner. Idea for this soup is adapted from one of my favorite Spanish Vegetarian food blog. B
Panneer tikka masala served with vegetable biryani and raita (Indian salad) is one my favorite comfort food. Needless to say being a spice lover, I love this yum cottage cheese cubes marinated in tandoori spices and served in a tangy gravy made with full cream milk, minced onion, chili, garlic, ginger and other Indian spices. The main meal is fragrant basmati rice infused with Biryani spices. And
I grew up seeing my grandma eating fresh bitter melon salad, juice and bitter melon curry to control her diabetics. As it is in the name it is very bitter in taste. My mom would soak them overnight in coconut water and cook them with tamarind pulp and pinch of sugar to reduce bitterness. Memories of my mum’s delicious bitter melon curry is making me salivate as I’m writing about it. There
This dish reminds me of my mum’s scrumptious cooking and family lunches. My father always remind us about nutritional benefits of eating green beans. We grew up in a boarding house while schooling. So I’d wait till school holidays to indulge. I guess mom too planned to entertain us with variety of food. I still cherish those days where all four of us will sit together and enjoy scrumptious food. I
I first tasted this as a side dish served with banana leaf lunch. Typically in a banana leaf lunch they serve around 8+ side dishes. So some of them I eat alone without rice. As soon as I tasted this curry it stroked me that what a healthy curry that can be made as a soup. Spinach combined with legume – yellow split peas provides complete nutrition and protein. Spinach is ranked as one
This curry is deceptive; because you can make them (non-vegetarians) believe that it’s real meat. I always make this curry when I’m entertaining non-vegetarian guests. Some of them think that I’ve prepared a meat curry especially for them. Mock chicken, lamb, chicken breasts, prawns and fish are some of the popular fake meats available here in Southeast Asia. They are made with soy
We have been on a constant battle with our weight. We both feel if we lose couple of stones, we’ll look and feel much greater. Somehow this realization strikes in front of the scale and seem to disappear in front of food. Hence we are on a constant battle. Some time back I used to have notebook jotting down everything that went inside and calorie counting, rigorous exercise and havi
However much we master our cooking, Mom’s food is very special, and we often crave for Mom’s food. I don’t know, whether it’s her love or a secret recipe she’s yet to share with me, that makes her food so special. I attribute reasons to be her love and purity she practices. Let me give you a brief background. My mom is a converted vegetarian. All of us started practicing vegetariani
I always prefer shopping fresh vegetables on my own, but sometimes I do have to delegate it to my DH. He is ok, I would not rank him bad, compared to some other spouses I know ;) but he would sometimes buy things like 250g of long green chilies. He is one of those people who can eat raw chilies. But you can’t have them on a daily basis right? I only use green chilies to season curries or for sa
I wish I could share a seasonal cake or cookie recipe with you. There are seasonal sweets and desserts everywhere and also in food blogging world. Even though I indulge in all of them by buying from outside, I hardly make anything sweet because we are ‘weight watchers’. If I make them at home, it’ll be both of us indulging and it will not reflect well in our scale. So whenever there is cravin
You may have noticed that I have not been actively posting over the past few weeks. This is because we have moved to a new country(in the middle of Europe). I am still adjusting to my new surroundings and tied up with the post-move chores. As a foodie this means tasting new food and experimenting. Unfortunately I still have not started taking photos in new place, as we are still in a tempora
I'm glad that I got the habit of reading health related articles and books from my dearest Dad. So when my DH asked me to read this book on "Healthy for Life" by Ray D Strand, MD, I willingly accepted. I strongly believe in this quote “Prevention is better than cure”. Below are some insights I gathered from this book. The way to manage weight and maintain heal
Kottu Roti is a popular comfort cum street food in Sri Lanka. When you are strolling around in Sri Lankan streets, you cannot miss the sight, sounds and aroma of kottu. Kottu literally means “chop”. It’s made with flat bread called “Gothamba roti” mixed with meat, spicy gravy, and vegetables. Kottu is blended together in a heated iron sheet using blunt metal blades. Clashing of metal create
First of all apologies for my short period of absence. It had been very challenging and struggling few weeks. Gradually things are coming back to normal phase and I'm getting back to routine. Lotus Root is not a common vegetable. As it is in the name, this is the root of lotus flower mainly used in Asian cuisine. It is used in soups, stir fries, deep fried, braised, pickled in ho
Eggplant is my all-time favorite vegetable. There are variety of ways to cook them. You could make smoked eggplant salad, fried eggplant, eggplant gravy, mashed eggplant curry (North Indian Baigan Bartha) and this one is Chinese style. Even though I’ve tried similar style eggplant in Singapore Chinese vegetarian restaurant; I never bothered to try it at home. But once I saw it demons
Chicken tikka and paneer tikka are some of the most popular Indian dishes served in restaurants. Tikka means pieces. Specialty of this dish is paneer is marinated in tadoori spices and yoghurt and baked or barbequed in skewers. Then it’s added to tangy creamy gravy which is the base of this dish. It can be served with rice, biryani or Indian breads like naan or chapatti. I t
Spaghetti and noodles are my favorite dinner meals. However they are high in starch, hence especially if you’re taking it as dinner it has to be consumed in moderation. I picked up this spaghetti sauce idea from Jamie Oliver; however I did not want to serve them only with sauce. Because I was only going to use around 100g -150g of spaghetti for 2, so I had to make it filling by adding
This is a re-post of my previous post pumpkin curry in April this year. Ever since I started focusing on improving my food photos, I've felt I should replace all my previous posts with basic compact camera. Re-posting all of them with new improved photos will take time. One of them for which I just replaced the photos has become a great hit and now is the most popular post - Eggplant Curry.
Dal Makhani is one of my favorite dish in North Indian Restaurants. I love its nutty taste in tangy cream, flavored with pungent garlic. I never bothered to try it at home. Didn't even know what type of lentils is used to make this dish. Later on only when I checked it with one of my Indian friend, I got to know the type of lentils used to make this awesome dish. I’m glad I like
Even though I have to wait for another few months, before I can cook and start shooting in my own kitchen space. I have been cooking, sharing and learning different types of food here. Something that I've bookmarked to try is 'Tarte'. I learnt to make tarte dough and to make both sweet and savory tarte's. Best part is if you don't have patience (like me) to make
You may have noticed that I have not been actively posting over the past few weeks. This is because we have moved to a new country(in the middle of Europe). I am still adjusting to my new surroundings and tied up with the post-move chores. As a foodie this means tasting new food and experimenting. Unfortunately I still have not started taking photos in new place, as we are st
I wish I could share a seasonal cake or cookie recipe with you. There are seasonal sweets and desserts everywhere and also in food blogging world. Even though I indulge in all of them by buying from outside, I hardly make anything sweet because we are ‘weight watchers’. If I make them at home, it’ll be both of us indulging and it will not reflect well in our scale. So whenever there i
First of all apologies for my short period of absence. It had been very challenging and struggling few weeks. Gradually things are coming back to normal phase and I'm getting back to routine. Lotus Root is not a common vegetable. As it is in the name, this is the root of lotus flower mainly used in Asian cuisine. It is used in soups, stir fries, deep fried, braised, pickled
Kottu Roti is a popular comfort cum street food in Sri Lanka. When you are strolling around in Sri Lankan streets, you cannot miss the sight, sounds and aroma of kottu. Kottu literally means “chop”. It’s made with flat bread called “Gothamba roti” mixed with meat, spicy gravy, and vegetables. Kottu is blended together in a heated iron sheet using blunt metal blades. Clashing of metal
Dal Makhani is one of my favorite dish in North Indian Restaurants. I love its nutty taste in tangy cream, flavored with pungent garlic. I never bothered to try it at home. Didn't even know what type of lentils is used to make this dish. Later on only when I checked it with one of my Indian friend, I got to know the type of lentils used to make this awesome dish. I’m glad I l
I always prefer shopping fresh vegetables on my own, but sometimes I do have to delegate it to my DH. He is ok, I would not rank him bad, compared to some other spouses I know ;) but he would sometimes buy things like 250g of long green chilies. He is one of those people who can eat raw chilies. But you can’t have them on a daily basis right? I only use green chilies to season curries o
However much we master our cooking, Mom’s food is very special, and we often crave for Mom’s food. I don’t know, whether it’s her love or a secret recipe she’s yet to share with me, that makes her food so special. I attribute reasons to be her love and purity she practices. Let me give you a brief background. My mom is a converted vegetarian. All of us started practicing veget
We have been on a constant battle with our weight. We both feel if we lose couple of stones, we’ll look and feel much greater. Somehow this realization strikes in front of the scale and seem to disappear in front of food. Hence we are on a constant battle. Some time back I used to have notebook jotting down everything that went inside and calorie counting, rigorous exercise and ha
Eggplant is my all-time favorite vegetable. There are variety of ways to cook them. You could make smoked eggplant salad, fried eggplant, eggplant gravy, mashed eggplant curry (North Indian Baigan Bartha) and this one is Chinese style. Even though I’ve tried similar style eggplant in Singapore Chinese vegetarian restaurant; I never bothered to try it at home. But once I saw it de
This curry is deceptive; because you can make them (non-vegetarians) believe that it’s real meat. I always make this curry when I’m entertaining non-vegetarian guests. Some of them think that I’ve prepared a meat curry especially for them. Mock chicken, lamb, chicken breasts, prawns and fish are some of the popular fake meats available here in Southeast Asia. They are made wi
