Ridge gourd or Dodka in Marathi, was never my favourite. But since I moved away from my homeland and saw less of it, the more I missed its mild flavour and subtle sweetness. So recently I decided to make it slightly more interesting by adapting my Mum’s recipe a bit. It’s not the most visually […]
There are some jobs in the kitchen that still need to be done the hard way. The labour-saving gadget that my husband craves the most is the auto-methi-leaf-picker™. Alas, modern science has yet to fulfil his needs. So I know that I’m going to get a few moans whenever I bring 3 or 4 bunches […]
Many ingredients that I grew up with are hard to come by in the UK. So it’s always exciting to see a tray of cluster beans at my local Indian grocer. And this is how I love to cook them. It has to be simple and rustic. I want straightforward flavours that don’t overpower the […]
The most popular usal (उसळ) dish in Maharashtra, the state in India I hail from, is undoubtedly the classic – matkichi usal. If that name sounds unfamiliar to you, then you just need to know what matki and usal are. Matki means moth beans (pronounced ‘moath’ or ‘mote’) and usal (pronounced ‘oo-sul’ or ‘oo-sal’) is […]
I am not one for compromising on taste to keep the waistline in check. Neither am I prone to shortcuts in my cooking technique just to save time if I know that flavour will be compromised. I have always been known amongst my peers for taking a rather long-winded painful path to achieve the desired […]
Kothimbir vadi is to Maharashtrians what pakoras are to the rest of the world. Not that we don’t enjoy pakoras too – both have their own charm, but kothimbir vadi is the classic. It even has its own designated spot on a Maharashtrian thali served at weddings or festivals. The mere sound of a thunderstorm […]
Dum ka murgh is the legendary Hyderabadi chicken curry, slow cooked in a richly spiced creamy sauce. I cooked it today for Gatari Amavasya (गटारी अमावस्या), the new moon night when Maharashtrians indulge in meaty feasts and binge on booze before the onset of the holy month of ‘Shravan’ when they’re required to abstain from […]
I have almost zero recollection of the time as a kid when I enjoyed red amaranth stir fry in India. Lal math, as it’s called in my native language, Marathi, never enticed me as a kid. But last summer when I decided to grow red amaranth from seed purely as an experiment, I was astonished […]
Bottle gourd, also known as dudhi in India, is a very versatile vegetable. Although it’s classed as exotic produce in the UK, it has become a common find in Indian grocery stores across the UK. A long pale green bottle gourd with delicate white flesh inside dotted with soft edible seeds is rather delicious (and […]
Chutneys and pickles are, in my opinion, a much-neglected aspect of Indian cooking. That is especially true in so-called Indian restaurants in the UK where you might find a bland mango chutney served with ‘poppadoms’ as a kind of appetiser, or perhaps a bowl of runny mint chutney. The truth is that Indian condiments have […]
Puran poli and katachi amti go hand in hand and quite rightly so, given the process of making the former. You could say that this amti is a by-product of the puran poli making process scoring well on its zero-waste credentials. But more than that, it’s the dish that completes the puran poli. What is […]
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Hi, I’m Rieethaa, a food photographer and recipe developer but most of all I just love cooking simple flavourful food that wakes up the sleepiest tastebuds, and I want to share some with you here. So come in and help me chop some onions, will you?
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