There are some ingredients that you only know how to prep in one or two ways, because that’s how you have always seen it done. For me, bhindi is one such ingredient. I know it either as a tangy,slightly spicy masala or as a simple fry.
I recently tried a bhindi dish which tasted really different! It had tamarind in it!
One of K’s favourite things to eat is Chole. The Tamilian boy has found at least one north indian dish he truly loves 🙂 We cook it at least twice a month and if I’m not at home, he has been known to either cook chole for himself or order in the dish. He can eat this pretty much everyday!
With something we eat so often, just one go-to recipe won’t work, right? So I have been trying different ways to cook chickpeas to give us some variety and to help me learn more. One such experiment led me to this dish – Khatte Chole. Sour, tangy, spicy and super delicious!
I first discovered the joy of butter and garlic as a combo in Goa. With prawns. Such a simple but flavourful idea. The first vegetarian version I made of that was with mushrooms (will share that recipe soon). So buttery, meaty and delicious!
One day while making grilled chicken, I was thinking of what an easy side dish would be. Ran through going through my recipes my head and thought about using this flavour combo with the whole bunch of veggies I had at home. Such a simple idea. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?
For the first 10-12 years of my life, South indian food meant dosa, idli, sambar, chutney and rasam. Pretty much the basics. There was this restaurant called Naivedyam near our house (it still exists there) where we used to go fairly often and usually ordered the same standard food. The variations were limited pretty much to masala or plain dosa, paper dosa or smaller size dosa, rasam to start the meal or go straight to idli. Important decisions! 🙂 But we loved the food and these dishes became part of what we used to eat at home too.
Slowly as we started trying more things, at restaurants or friend’s houses, I got to know more about the beautiful food from the four south Indian states. I am still learning new things, new flavours, new names, new combinations and continue to fall in love with the cuisines even more. Helps that I am married to a Tamilian 🙂
One of the earliest things I tried, outside of the standard fare, was Lemon Rice. It was an easy thing to start with, given how much I love rice and lemon (Bengali-ness :)). It is light, delicious, textural and punchy. What’s not to love?
My love affair with aloo continues. One more favourite recipe for you 🙂
Aloo methi is such a brilliant example of a balanced dish – flavour wise. The methi (fenugreek) leaves are slightly bitter, the spices bring some heat, the potato is mild and overall the dish is delicious and all these varied flavours balance out so well. It is also a great way to get some greens into my potato-loving diet 🙂
