Arachu Kalaki

Arachu Kalaki is a typical Palakkad dish. It requires minimal use of the stove. An ‘almost’ raw dish, it tastes fabulous! I can eat a whole meal of just arachu kalaki and brown rice. When my avidly non-vegetarian German friend, Robert Fuchs, came home for dinner a few years ago, I’d planned this dish. He…

Seppankizhangu Roast (Roasted Colocasia)

In South Indian cooking, several root vegetables are often roasted. This includes potatoes, elephant yam (jimmikhand, chena, senaikizhangu) and colocasia (taro root, arbi, chembu). These are fiery looking dishes, but are actually quite mild in chilli quotient. I love to pair such preparations with a bland main dish such as mulakootal, mulakooshyam or even the…

Killu Pakoda (Pinched Onion Fritters)

As I have had occasion to mention before, most Indian snacks deep fried. This recipe is no exception. The air fried version presented here is as tasty as the deep fried one, but with no guilt associated, I have grown up on this tea-time snack and was missing it sorely when I gave up oil….

Ghia Kofta (Bottlegourd Dumplings)

I love yogurt based dishes, whichever region of the country they come from. However, I avoided the North Indian ones for a couple of decades as the koftas are deep fried. It is only after I turned WFPB vegan that I began experimenting with transforming deep fried food to air fried ones. With singular success,…

Oats Upma

When I turned vegan some years ago, I was told to avoid processed oats like, for example, Quaker Oats. These very knowledgeable people told me to stick to whole oats. I did some research on whole oats and found several varieties. Steel cut, rolled oats… It all left me very confused. So, I decided to…

Potato Cutlet

Since I turned vegan a few years ago, the choices for an evening snack became really restricted. Most Indian snacks are deep fried. That is when I began experimenting how to transform the traditional snacks into whole food plant based. Hari has proved to be a godsend in this regard. No matter what recipe I…

Punjabi Bhendi Masala

One of my summer pleasures (there are several) is bhendi (okra, vendakai). Like the brinjal, this is indeed a versatile vegetable. It is abundantly available in the Indian subcontinent. But I am not sure that this super-tasty vegetable is available in many other parts of the world. Some years ago, I was having dinner with…

Mulakooshyam

Mulakooshyam is a main dish from Kerala. It is mild and fairly bland. It is also wonderfully tasty. Grated coconut is one of the ingredients in this traditional dish, but many households avoid adding coconut. Whichever way it is prepared, it is a really tasty dish. The vegetables normally used in the preparation of mulakooshyam…

Greens & Legume Curry

I served palak (spinach) with kala chana (black chickpeas) when I had guests the last time. The dish was much appreciated and there have been several requests for the recipe. The point of this recipe is to pair anything with anything. What do I mean by that? Use any green. And use any legume. It…

Drumstick Potato Curry

I love drumsticks. I buy this every week when my tree is not fruiting. The moment I bring home drumsticks, Hari promptly makes a sambar. I’ve had so much drumstick sambar that I am really sick of it. Therefore, Hari and I explored some other drumstick curries that will be a treat to the palate….