Following on from my previous post on South Indian food and Beetroot Thoran, I present Yogurt Rice or Thayir Choru which is the perfect accompaniment to the thoran and really delicious just on its own with a little pickle. Ammini Ramachandran, author of Grains Greens and Grated Coconuts, a fabulous book on the vegetarian food of Kerala, describes it as a taste of More →
This is my first foray into South Indian food on the blog, Kerala to be more specific. My first introduction to South Indian food was the marvelous masala dosa while on holiday in Delhi as a child. There was a travelling dosa-walla who would wheel his cart down the street behind my maasi’s house most evenings, calling out to us and tempting us all with the More →
A few weeks ago I made fluffy American pancakes for Sunday brunch. They got me thinking about savoury pancakes, which then got me thinking about Indian spiced pancakes for the blog…and here we are. It’s a wonderful thing when an idea materialises into something delicious on your plate…and on your Facebook wall with your friends telling you how hungry you More →
I first really noticed butternut squash when I was living in the UK. It is enormously popular in soups and sometimes in curries although I had never eaten it or cooked with it due to a lifelong aversion to any vegetable in the squash family. Feeling that I should act like a grown-up and give it another chance, I made one of Ottolenghi’s More →
The cookbook has gone to the publishers! A few weeks ago I had a final read through of the manuscript which Shalini brought in person when she came to Kenya and did her first ever Just Jhoom! class on African soil to rave reviews (you can read about it here). The food photos had been completed months ago; the photo of me More →
I love a substantial, moist, and bursting-with-flavour vegetable/bean patty, topped with a zingy sauce or two, sandwiched in a soft wholegrain burger bun, and nestled on fresh, crispy salad greens, tomatoes and red onions. Veggie burgers have really grown in popularity and it’s wonderful to see how creative home and professional cooks have become in their efforts to craft a tasty veggie burger. The More →
If you were celebrating, I hope you had a lovely Diwali this year. I love Diwali; it’s full of colour, lights, friends, family, parties, presents and sweet treats. And treats they should be! This is the time of year when our kitchen counters and refrigerators fill up with mithai (Indian sweets – cloyingly sweet, creamy, nutty and buttery), cakes, dried More →
Growing up, Friday evenings were joyous, not only because they throbbed with the promise of 2 whole days of carefree fun in the sun, but also because it was barbecue night with friends and family at the Mombasa Sports Club. We rarely missed a night. There was a veritable smorgasbord of finger food and barbecued meat, including samosas, several types More →