Amazing dal         Visits to India means eating out. While I still have to acquire a taste for most of the fusion food, like chinese dosa, served with sweet and sour sauce and all that, I do love eating the more traditional food and street food. My daughter’s friend suggested we go to Nagarjuna, an Andhra restaurant in Bangalore. Kobe, a sizzler place directly opposite sounded a better option. However, I am so glad we went to Nagarjuna. The food was so delicious and its the first time I had a meal on a banana leaf. I’ve had food on the dried leaf plates and bowls but not on a fresh green banana leaf. I went for the traditional south indian thali.…

kunde na nazi    Besides red kidney beans(maragwe), red cowpeas (kunde) are cooked often by the local people of Kenya. In the coastal region it is usually cooked in coconut milk (nazi). I love the nutty flavour of cow peas or what Gujaratis commonly call it.. chora. I wanted to make a different curry a few days ago. Rachael suggested coconut. However, I did add my own flavours to it as the one made by local people here is not spicy. They use onion, ginger and green chillis only. If they can afford then a bit of garlic is added. However, garlic is pretty pricey! Just a coconut base may make the curry a bit watery so to thicken it up a bit I added…

I am getting there  My eldest son had been asking for rajma since he got here. Basically, I was avoiding making them as usually the way I cook them, it does not turn out nice. I remember I made some rajma for Nami’s friends(mostly from North India) in Bangalore and I hardly got any reviews, comments or praises. Here I was trying to compete with North Indian mums for whom making rajma is not a big deal. Nami’s friend’s mum makes yummy rajma and whenever I would ask her how she made them… she would say arre Mayuri, there is nothing special about making them, stir fry onions,garlic, ginger etc etc etc and there your rajma is ready.   So this time, since my son was…

getting high on protein     Finally the rains have decided to pay us a visit and the temperatures have dropped, it’s cool but a bit humid and the evenings are very pleasant. A rainy day calls for pakoras, soup or some delicious hot dal (lentil curry). I decided to make mixed dal with rice. I love making mixed dal because it does taste different from the other dals. This dal is also known as panchmel, panchratna or panchkuti dal. This simply means a mixture of five different dals or lentils. Don’t need to soak any of the lentils overnight. Different regions of India make mixed dal in different ways. Some add more onions or more tomatoes. Some make it really spicy. Some make it…

A bowl full of protein    It is unbelievable how many varieties of lentils exist and in how many variations the Indian sub continent can prepare these lentils. I guess people had to be innovative as dal or lentils is a part of the staple diet for most people of the sub continent. This humble moong dal is a staple diet in every home. Quick and easy to make and perhaps not too expensive. Ajay and I love to have this dal or curry with hot  chappatis. Oh well he gets the hot  chappatis and I get warm ones, but not complaining at all. Goes well with rice too. The secret ingredient for this recipe is kokum or cocum or aamsul, biran. It belongs to…