1 onion chopped
3 chillis
1tbs ginger garlic paste
4 small brinjal quartered
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
One tiny bunch coriander chopped
2 tsp curd
1/2 lime squeezed

150g rice
210ml water

Oil & salt

Soak rice for 20 mins drain. Do the prep meanwhile

Use cooker

Saute onions and green chillies in oil still onion becomes translucent.
Add gg paste, stir and leave till the raw smell goes off
Add turmeric and masala. Stir.
Add brinjal, curd, coriander, lime juice. Stir. Do not cook brinjal further 

Add rice and stir. Top with water. Adjust Salt

Cover the cooker without the whistle till steam comes out. Place whistle turn off heat and let it cook in the steam inside about 10 mins or till steam goes off.

Earlier today, I walked into my mother's kitchen to see freshly washed tomatoes, peeled shallots and a bunch of curry leaves. What else would I do but take a picture and share it on Facebook? And that my dear friends, was the beginning. When questions were asked as to what I was making, I said tomato tart cos I had this French Tomato Tart by David Lebovitz at the back of my mind. But I was wondering how to explain the curry leaves in the pic in a 'french' tomato tart when my cousin came up with a wonderful idea. It involved all the things in the picture plus some coconut cream, mustard and cheese. Now which self respecting person can ignore such an interesting combination of flavours? And thus 'The not so French Tomato Tart' was born.

Are you like me? Did you hear Pico de Gallo and think it was something really fancy? I'd read a lot and a lot and a lot about this and thought it was something really fancy. When I finally got to the ingredients and actually made it once, I realised its certainly YUM, TANGY, DELICIOUS.. all of it in capitals. But...it's a salad or what we call "Challas" in Kerala. Something most North Indians would have with their roti-sabji if they weren't munching through those god-awful, malodorous, thick, onion slices. Yes, I detest those onion slices...

For reasons unknown, my mother has decided to give up chocolate. It happened a year ago. Don't ask me why. But she says she was eating too much chocolate and she got tired of it. Well.. actually that could be true. There hasn't been a time in my life when Mum's fridge hasn't had chocolates and we weren't having it a bit at a time after lunch. It's a little surprising though when someone like that ups and gives chocolate all of a sudden.
Anyway, one day she and I were watching Donna Hay on TLC and suddenly she went.. "that looks gooood!" Mum never goes like that for anything chocolatey now. So I made my folks the 'Ultimate One Bowl Chocolate Dessert Cake' for their anniversary.

The recipe calls for almonds. I like almonds. But let's be honest - they're a little too expensive for me at the moment. Besides I've always been one for using whatevers around the house. Unless of course I'm making something where I absolutely need that 'Special' ingredient. Cashews were my choice of nuts for this one. This cake is incredibly easy to make... and like she says just one bowl! How lucky are we bakers! Use your best chocolate for this one, because obviously the main ingredient is chocolate and its taste will shine through

This one was for my little baby Efrem who's allergic to ALL meat protein and dairy products. Being allergic to things most people take for granted is not easy. Luckily for us, he's not really known life another way. He probably thinks all milk everyone drinks tastes like Soy milk (ugghh!!) and he's never actually enjoyed an egg in his life (Sigh :( ). So this aunt went to work trying to make something which wasn't just sugared soy biscuits, but something a little more interesting. I wanted him to have a taste of home, a taste of our roots, land and country. What's more 'home' than Plantains, Coconut and Cardamom to anyone from Kerala?