Khara Kaddi or Spicy Sev Recipe | How to Make Kharada Kaddi

Learn how to make Khara Kaddi or Spicy Sev ~ Deep fried spicy chickpea or gram flour sticks flavoured with cumin, carom seeds and asafoetida

It’s been over a fortnight since Lil Dumpling started his big school and finally, I feel I can pen down the whole experience without my heart shattering into thousand pieces or shedding truck load of tears. There was no surprise when LD started school it wasn't him who cried. It was me! The sight of that small person vanishing with unfamiliar faces into an unknown classroom was terribly painful. I couldn't understand the pain I was feeling.

Spicy Sev or Kharada Kaddi

For weeks, I had prepared LD to start his new school in a new town. I was so immersed in preparing LD for his first day in school, making the school sound like a fun place, I completely forgot to prepare myself for the day when I had to let go of him and place his small hands into the capable hands of his class teacher. I kept my mind busy making sure that the transition will be as smooth and as painless as possible. By doing so, I kept pushing every worry and thoughts of my own feelings in the back-burner. It was a lethal combination, LD’s pride, joy and excitement mixed with my whole range of worries, apprehensions and anxieties! I never imagined in million years that it would be one of the most painful experiences of my life.

Nimbu Ka Achaar | Simple Spicy Indian Lemon Pickle Recipe

Learn how to make Nimbu Ka Achaar or Spicy Indian Lemon Pickle ~ Spicy lemon pickle with garlic and aromatic pickling spices

To Indians ‘Pickle’ is not just a word, it is a sacred word that injects the feeling of happiness and joy! Imagine yourself wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night, your feet tucked under the blanket while you sip a cup of hot chocolate made by someone you love. You feel warm, relaxed, happy and content… To me when a jar of homemade pickle gifted by my loved ones invokes the same feeling!

Herbs and spices used in Nimbu Ka Achaar/Spicy Indian Lemon Pickle

My country India is diverse country and that diversity doesn’t confine to regions, languages and people. Indian cuisine is as diverse and colourful as the country and the people living there and the varieties of pickle that we make and consume will blow your mind if you are just used the idea of few vegetables immersed in a jar or vinegar! Hundreds of these extraordinary varieties of pickles are the pride of our country and we can’t imagine ending our meals without a smidgen of tongue tickling pickles adorning our plates. Whichever part of the India we might come from, pickle is mostly likely to be part of our earliest food memories that has ingrained into our culture, life and memories. Pickling techniques and the finished products vary from one region to another and even differ from one house to another, but the joy it brings and the bond it creates is same all around the country!

Instant Andhra Tomato Pickle Recipe | Simple Andhra Style Tomato Pickle Recipe with Nirlep Cookware Product Review and A Giveaway!

Learn how to make Instant Andhra Tomato Pickle ~ Instant Andhra style tomato pickle flavoured with spices, tamarind and garlic tempering

It is always hard to come back to England after a fun filled trip to India! The colours, weather, buzz, noise, and the sense of never being alone are just other things you miss apart from family and friends. The holiday is always too short when one visits home!!!

Juicy, firm, red Tomatoes for Instant Andhra Style Tomato Pickle

This holiday with our family was one that finally helped us in taking one of the big and most important decisions of our life. I will talk about it in one of my next posts in coming days. For now all I want to talk about is food... The food cooked by our loved ones and the few I cooked for them, like this Instant Andhra Tomato Pickle!

Bhutta or Butta Recipe | Indian Styled Roasted Corn on the Cob

Learn how to make Bhutta or Butta ~ Indian styled roasted corn on the cob flavoured with lime, salt and chilli powder

It was the same spot he chose to park his push cart, the corner road that faced the school gate. His push cart was plain wooden one with its pale blue paint that once must have been a bright and happy shade of blue, now peeling at the edges and exposing the dark wood underneath. There was nothing fancy about his shop that earned his livelihood and there was no colourful board bearing his name or his humble shop’s name. It was a plain and boring looking little shop selling things that was far from being labelled boring things!

Kodubale Recipe | Step by Step Recipe for Kodubale

Learn how to make Kodubale ~ Deep fried rice and roasted gram savoury rings from Karnataka

As I stand here in my kitchen mixing the ingredients, beating the dough, stirring the kadai full thick rice paste to make Kadubu that is surely going to give me sore arms after mixing for hours, I can’t help but slowly walk down the memory lane... Ganesha Habba is one big festival of my childhood and life that spells magic and inundates me with nostalgia...

Spicy Tomato and Garlic Thokku Recipe | How to Make Spicy Tomato and Garlic Chutney/Relish

Learn how to make Tomato and Garlic Thokku ~ Spicy tomato and garlic chutney/relish for Dosa and Idli

One thing I never thought of becoming when I donned motherhood hat among other very colourful and interesting hats I wear day to day life was getting absent minded and forgetful! Someone who could remember couple of dozens of 10-12 digit phone numbers or every family and friends’ birthdays or anniversary dates was starting to find it difficult to even remember her own cell phone number.

Spicy Tomato and Bell Pepper (Capsicum) Chutney Recipe | How to Make Spicy Tomato & Pepper Relish

Learn how to make Spicy Tomato & Bell Pepper (Capsicum) Chutney/Relish

My neck of wood is turning grey, matching with the greys of skies! The giant tress on the road sides look naked, except for few stubborn dried leaves hanging tightly to their skeleton of branches. Soon these leaves too will be blown away from there, leaving the trees look like big dark ghosts looming around in the sunless early evenings and days. The air has turned crisp, sharp and chilly; biting my skin, making me bury my nose under the thick furry scarf around my neck.

Spicy Tomato Chutney/Relish Recipe for Tomato Lovers

Spicy Tomato Chutney/Relish

I know, I know, I know!!!

I know it’s been raining “Tomato and Tomahto” here in Monsoon Spice but I did warm you well in advance! With baskets after baskets of tomatoes coming from our little veggie patch, I am left with no option but to cook and enjoy them as much as we can. I have made few jars of pickles and chutneys which we can enjoy in coming winter but there are yet more to be preserved in a form of jams and purees for quick fix curries.