Our family-owned a big coconut groove back in my place which used to be bountiful. I remember the days my mom used to take me there every weekend promising to get me tender coconuts. While my mother watered and fertilized the groove with helpers, I will be lying down under a tree, and counting how many coconuts are there in each tree. She also had some planted around our house when I and my brother were born. She used to age them along with us as we grow. So we always had plenty of coconuts. My mother's dishes had coconut in them in some form. (grated, pasted, etc. ). Those are all distant dream now. Chickpea curry( Channa masala as we call it ) is one of the protein-rich curries which is loved by most. This is not only healthy but also tastes good and hence very popular amongst vegan dieters. Now wherever you go, be it the roadside truck or a fancy restaurant, the chickpea curry they serve is with onion, tomato, and masalas. However, my mom used to make a light version of the ...

Bottle Gourd is a summer vegetable. As we are getting close to summer, I see that the bottle gourd is stocked up in all Asian stores.  This versatile vegetable is full of water and minerals and considered one of the healthiest vegetables. This is well suited for diabetics and regulates blood pressure. Not only that, but there is also a multitude of recipes you can make with this gourd.  This gourd has a very bland taste and hence it goes well with other vegetables or sometimes, we add this in chicken or lamb curry. Here is one of the recipes using bottle gourd. Bottle gourd lentil curry (sorakkai/lauki channa dal curry) is a wholesome vegan dish high in protein and low in carbs preferred by dieters.  You can pair this with absolutely anything.  I prefer this lentil curry with rice. To the south Indian in me,  nothing may sound as heart-filling as rice and the lentil curry. I made rice and lentil curry together in my insta pot together and it took 20 minut...

My dear mother visited me in the West. She had brought a lot of goodies for me. And one of which is black gram lentil from my hometown. All the time we were planning her trip and packing, she instilled this desire in me for this black gram sweet called "ulundhu kazhi". And finally, when she was here, she promised me that she would teach me how to do it.  And it never happened. We spent our precious days catching up and gossipping, that in the blink of an eye, she had to leave back. The black gram was just sitting there in my pantry untouched.  She described the dish over the phone in such a way, that it painted a complex process in my mind.  I was so shameless, that I asked a friend for the dish and she dearly made it for me twice. She was so nice that she offered to do it no matter how many times I ask.  But one fine day, I mustered the courage to try this dish and to my surprise, it was not complex. It was pretty simple to make and it was DELICIOUSNESS. I later...

Here is a short story of Popeye and Pasta.  One day, I was narrating the popeye's story to a Lil one, a niece of mine.  About Popeye the sailor and how he always carried a handy can of spinach which gave him the superhuman strength. I added my own version of the story here, as to how popeye turned into a superhero and conquered the world.   The Lil one was so intrigued by the idea of becoming a superhuman and I was close to succeeding in including green in her diet. Becoming a superhero is the supercool wannabe of the new age children when they adult. I have heard this from a handful of kids, that they want to be superman, spiderman, iron man, and all the marvel characters they know.  The topic drifted away from Popeye and spinach towards Captain America. After talking about the marvels for 10 mins (what seemed to be like hours for me ), the Lil one was hungry and wanted Pasta for dinner. Period. And I dare not open up any Popeye story unless I am ready to ...

Pesto is just a fancy name for green sauce/chutney. Now the actual pesto recipe is made from pine nuts, basil leaves( a type of tulsi ), garlic, and cheese.  It tastes divine with pasta, bread, veggies, etc. Hey, I even make dosa with basil pesto sometimes. Throughout the summer, I grow basil in my patio to make fresh pesto. The store-bought ones can never beat the taste of the fresh ones homemade. But the thing is basil grows only in summer. So what do I do for the rest of the seasons? So I make pesto with the other green which is widely available throughout the year,m which is spinach.(Named Palak in India). A variety of recipes can be made with this palak pesto sauce. Palak paneer, aloo palak, palak pasta, and the list goes on. This can be had a side/chutney with south Indian delicacies like Idli and Dosa too. (Edited to add- I had the spinach chutney with hot idlis and it tasted so heaven 😋😇. It is a must-try combination) Read further for the spinach chutney/pesto reci...

@thespiceland It's been a long time I blogged. I think it's been a long time I actually did anything(or anything human :D)  as I was busy procrastinating and basically doing nothing.  Well, I took a break. A break from blogging, jogging, etc.. And with the pandemic around, nowadays I tend to take a break even from mundane activities, you know like bathing, brushing or for eg. counting days until Sunday. 😏 God, can someone tell me what day it is....  😉  (pun intended) Enough is enough. I finally decided to blog again and pick up where I left. Oh wait,  did I just say, I am going to blog again? That means I have to plan, do groceries, and worse I have to cook.  I am so lazy to move.  (pun intended) Oh hello, magic box, what do you have inside? The box spit out beets and peas      Can you already guess what I am going to make today? Ain't anything fancy.  I am basically going to dump them together and call it a...