A simple, nutritious protein rich dish to be enjoyed as a meal in itself or served over a bed of rice. Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 40 mins Serves: 4 Ingredients 1.5 cups red lentils 1 red onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 1″ root ginger, minced 1 tomato, chopped 2 celery sticks, diced […]
Mattar Pulao (Peas Pilau)
Prep Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 35 mins Serves: 4 Ingredients 2 cups Basmati Rice 1/2 cup frozen peas 4 tbsp vegetable oil 1 medium onion, finely sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1″ root ginger, minced 1 bay leaf 1″ stick cinnamon 1 tsp cumin seeds 3 cups hot water salt to taste How to […]
Couscous with Roasted Bell Peppers
This is my ’15 minutes at 6 am’ recipe which I throw together and leave to cook while I indulge in my early morning yoga practice. Making the couscous is mere child’s play and preparing the peppers is equally simple. Pan roasting the peppers brings out their natural sweetness and by the time I am halfway through […]
Aloo Bhorta
Aloo Bhorta (spicy mashed potato) is a timeless comfort food which can be enjoyed equally with rice or rotis. As a Bengali, my staple meal growing up consisted of boiled rice and my mum often prepared this bharta in traditional Bengali style, either using mustard oil as a base or ghee; the latter treating one’s […]
Spiced Lentil & Carrot Soup
Following a healthy diet doesn’t have to mean missing out on a good old bit of spice. You can always add some punch to the simplest of recipes by dry roasting some basic spices to bring out the flavours without the use of oil. Here’s a very simple soup recipe which I threw together for […]
Chasing away the wintry blues
I had promised myself an early night, but instead, I found myself writing up recipes for this week’s advanced class and then landing here. Oh well, so much for catching up on sleep… With the chilly weather and uninspiring November rain settling in, we look for pleasure in creature comforts, being the forever wanting mortals […]
Spicy Fried Aubergines
Inspired by my recent trip to the beautiful city of Istanbul, I present to you this timeless vegetarian recipe, simple yet appealing as an accompaniment to pilau rice. Cooking Time: approx. 45 mins Serves: 4-6 Ingredients 1 large aubergine (eggplant) 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp ginger paste 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp coriander […]
Bombay Potatoes (Aloo)
Bombay Potatoes, likely to have originated in Southern Indian, is a dish which has been adapted more for the British palette. However, I have found the off-the-shelf, watered down version of ‘Bombay Potatoes’ far from palatable. What I have created here is a more intensely flavoursome dish which uses the Eastern Bengali blend of five […]
Wholesome Indian Rice Pudding (Kheer)
So here it is! The promised Jaggery recipe – a healthy home made recipe made with a pure and unrefined whole sugar, jaggery (a.k.a ‘goor’ or ‘gur’). Unlike sugar though, jaggery comprises longer chains of sucrose which means that it releases energy slowly over a longer period of time and therefore does not induce the […]