One of my favourite sweets to make at home during Durga Puja is Labongo Latika. I prepare the stuffing by slow cooking milk and sugar to make a thick kheer. This is then wrapped in maida and sealed with a clove. I love watching them turn golden in the kadai and then quickly dipping into
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Tomato Soup is a favourite recipe of mine. It inspires me because it gives the same restaurant-style feeling without adding any flour or cornflour to thicken the broth. It is my go-to option for a homemade yet less heavy alternative to the otherwise creamy tomato soup. I like the subtle blend of tomatoes and ingredients
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I love the way a handful of common spices can transform a simple fish fry. This Chettinad Fish Fry is made with a medley of aromas, including coconut, black pepper, cumin, fennel and dry red chilies. What makes this particular recipe so appealing is that the masala is made in a way that is easy,
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I had tasted Egg dosa, or muttai dosa, as they call it in Tamil Nadu, for the first time at a roadside stall. I fell in love with the uniqueness and the taste of it instantly. I wanted to make them at home myself but could not bring the same taste. It lacked the satisfying
Goan fried chicken is one of my favorite recipes as it delivers bold flavors of tanginess in every bite. The marinade made of tamarind brings out the flavor in chicken, and by the time it is fried in hot oil, the kitchen starts to fill with a wonderful aroma. Quick Facts I find this Goan
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Every time I add the capsicum to the hot mustard seeds it crackles and sizzles letting me know that my lunch is all set. This capsicum rice has saved me tons of times on lazy afternoons. It takes no special effort, only the ingredients you have in your kitchen and a single pan! Why Love
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Cabbage tikki is not something that my mother used to make. I discovered the dish from my Punjabi neighbor over an evening tea invitation. She used to make little heart-shaped patties with cabbage and mashed potatoes and one bite was enough for me to ask for the recipe. I have added paneer and cheese cubes
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Khara bath is one dish that never fails when it comes to breakfast. This semolina-based delicacy has been a staple of my Sunday meals for ages. It is a fairly simple dish that does not take a long time to prepare. Often, this steaming hot dish is ready before my coffee starts to cool down.
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Every winter, my kitchen smells like Bathua the moment each Bathua paratha hits the tawa. It is one of those recipes I look forward to all year, mostly because the season for it is so short. It is simple and I feel nothing beats it fresh off the tawa with a spoon of ghee. The
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Kala chana curry reminds me of Sunday lunches at home with the whole house filled with delicious aroma of spices. I really appreciate this type of cooking where black cardamom and Kasuri methi are the main stars as they bring the richness and smokiness to the sauce effortlessly and also without a lot of exotic
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There is something about a highway Dhaba’s mutton curry that stays with you long after the meal. The smoky mustard oil and the bold whole spices add to the rustic experience. I wanted to recreate it in my kitchen and after several attempts, I finally cracked this Dhaba Style Mutton Curry. It always brings back
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I make paneer dosa quite often for a quick but filling breakfast, especially when mornings are busy. My kids ask for it by name, and honestly it turned into one of those recipes I do not even need to think about twice, anymore. The spiced paneer filling, tucked inside a crisp dosa just disappears fast
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Chicken Mughlai in a large bowl is a bit like a party. It has something special. The first time I made this at home, I was really surprised because I thought, how can a few whole spices and some onion-cashew paste give me something so creamy and rich? When cooked, the smell fills the room
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I made this fish methi curry first on a lazy monsoon evening, when the fridge had nothing much except Katla, a small fistful of methi, and green garlic I’d forgotten about. It turned out so good that I’ve been doing it as a monthly ritual ever since. The slight bitterness of the methi, mellowed by
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There is this particular smell that takes over my kitchen whenever I am cooking this dish. The mustard oil goes into the pan and whole spices crackle right away; that fragrance tells me this batch is going to come out just right. This Punjabi egg curry recipe is the one I make more than any
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There is something really comforting about the smell of mustard oil and cumin, hitting hot oil in the pressure cooker. It reminds me of home-cooked weekday meals. That same feeling comes back every time I make this tinda curry too. Tinda, or apple gourd, doesn’t really get much attention outside of Indian kitchens, but if
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No bake mango cheesecake was not really on my plan. It just happened because I did not want to pick between two desserts I loved just the same. One weekend I was craving both mango and cheesecake, and I kept thinking, why choose at all? I went ahead and made them as one instead of
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The first hot afternoon of the season always sends me straight to the fridge for curd. Rose lassi is what I end up making; one sip and it is basically summer, cardamom and rose syrup swirling into that tang. I have made it too thin and too sweet and learned my ratios the hard way,
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Growing up, winter evenings in my house always smelt like this. The Kashmiri yakhni soup was what my grandmother reached for whenever the cold turned serious, with mutton simmered low in a pot with curd and whole spices – until the kitchen started to feel like it was filling up with cinnamon and cardamom and
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Andhra fish fry always takes me back to my grandmother’s kitchen, where the smell of frying masala meant Sunday lunch was almost ready. This is my own version, a little tangier, a lot crispier, and the recipe I turn to most when I want rice, dal, and something spicy that doesn’t take all afternoon. At
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Some evenings, I want something that doesn’t need a lot of cooking. That’s exactly where this corn and paneer salad comes in — a bowl I first threw together on a night I had paneer and no real plan. The crunch of fresh vegetables, the soft bite of paneer, and that garlicky dressing won me
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Egg 65 was born out of one of those Sunday evenings when I had leftover boiled eggs sitting in the fridge and zero patience for making an elaborate snack. A friend from Chennai once told me this dish actually started as chicken 65’s humble cousin, and after making it a dozen times in my own
Cabbage vada happened by accident in my kitchen, the way most good recipes do. There was leftover cabbage sitting around and dal already soaking for something else, and instead of making two separate things, they went into the same bowl. What came out that day stuck around as a permanent fixture on our weekend breakfast
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Mutton keema samosa is the snack you make when a regular samosa just won’t cut it for the event. There is something special about biting into that crisp golden shell and then getting spiced, juicy minced meat right there, instead of the usual potato. It makes people pause mid-conversation at a house party. I have
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I used to order garlic butter chicken bites every time we ate out, until I got tired of paying restaurant prices for something this simple. So, one weekend I just tried making it at home with whatever was in the fridge – chicken, garlic, a lemon, and some butter. The outcome was far better than
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Paneer 65 belongs to that curious family of “65” dishes whose origin nobody quite agrees on; a Hyderabad restaurant menu, a count of spices, the year 1965, and honestly, the mystery is half the fun of telling people about it. I started making this at home after one too many restaurant visits where the “65”
This fish coconut milk curry is one of those coastal recipes that somehow tastes like home, briny and warm, and a bit sharp around the edges, thanks to the chili. I keep preferring it because it is not fussy, even if it feels like there is something hidden going on. King fish pieces get a
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I almost skipped turai this week, it’s the vegetable I always forget about until it’s gone soft in the fridge. Good thing I didn’t. This turai chana dal, made with a mustard oil tempering, turned into one of those quiet, comforting dinners that disappeared faster than I expected. The dal holds its bite while the
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My mother makes a pepper chicken that doesn’t need a single spoon of cream or cashew paste, and for years I couldn’t figure out how she got that much depth into it. Turned out the trick was in the roasting she’d dry roast her whole spices separately, let them cool, then grind them coarse instead
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Some curries announce themselves right when they hit the pan—sharp red chili, thick tomato, all heat and color. Mutton malai handi does the opposite thing. There is no chili powder in sight; just that mellow warmth from whole spices and green chili paste, working its way slowly into the meat taking its own sweet time.
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