Life As I Know It

In my family, my parents, brother, Fenny (25.02.2002 – 15.06.2010) and I all LOVE bitter gourd. My mom makes karele ki sabzi at least once a month and the sabzi disappears in no time. When I met Marley, I knew I had met a fellow foodie but you have no idea about the deep sigh of relief I let out when he said he hates Karela! All I could think was, “The entire kadai of sabzi is MINE!” My dad of course can’t imagine people not liking Karela. So, he introduced Marley to Karela chips (Coated with besan-chilli batter and deep fried.) Marley loved them. We now have to share our Karela chips. Then my mom made a typical Mangalorean Karela dish – Karathe Nonche, where you deep fry finely chopped karela and just before serving pour it into coconut gravy. Marley loved that too. A part of me is really glad that he has developed a liking for karela but somewhere deep down I feel a little possessive of my dear Karela. Now that you have read this tiny tribute to this dear green curl...

I have a slight obsession with Japan and all things Japanese. This fascination of mine has lead me to some very exclusive websites where I can read and watch mangas and animes to my heart’s content. It was on the comment section of one particular anime called ‘Food wars’ that we all got discussing how intricate the Japanese are with their desserts. It was from there that I learnt to get the smoothest slices of cheese cake. This person told me that if I follow the recipe I will not be eating a heavy dense cheesecake but a soft fluffy piece of cloud. The recipe might look intimidating but if you have a good playlist you shouldn’t feel too daunted. I will now pass on this wisdom to you. Litchee/Lytchee/Litchi – Are all the same. Ingredients: 100 gms litchi flesh finely chopped/minced (room temperature) 180 gms cream cheese (room temperature) 200 ml Fresh Cream (Frozen in the freezer for 3 hours then moved to the refrigerator 1 hour before...

I love mushrooms and it’s my next favourite thing after paneer. I like using spongy ingredients to soak the flavours and give the curry the zing. Usually when we add a whole bunch of things in a pot it is very difficult to single out every single spice. I like working with an ingredient that sponges up the flavours and each ingredient is easily discernible, which is why I like working with mushrooms and paneer. Of the many mushroom recipes that I have tried this one by far is the easiest and goes well with rotis and rice. Plus the fact that there is a bit of coconut in it gives it that coastal flavor. Ingredients: 1 pack mushroom 1 tsp fennel seeds 2 onions 1 sprig of curry leaves Grated coconut 1 tbsp oil Salt To marinate the mushrooms:                    ½ cup thick curd 1tsp ginger-garlic paste ½ tsp chilli powder 1tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin pow...