Cooking&more

  Like most mothers of preschoolers, it’s a daunting task to get my child to have his apples, spinach and beans, when he would rather have pizza, cake and candy. But  of late I am beginning to learn that with a little planning and preparation I can coax  him away from unhealthy eating habits. I guess these tips could be of use to any mom hassled with a fussy preschooler. So this is my new found knowledge shared with the World at large Most kids have three basic food cravings craving for something sweet craving for something crunchy craving for something starchy Craving for sweet leads kids to demand chocolates, cakes, pastries etc. craving for something crunchy leads to demands for potato wafers and craving for starchy foods leads to demand for burgers and pizza.  Some simple steps outlined below can help tackle each of these basic cravings 1. Always have fruits stocked in the refrigerator. chopped mix of fruits, arranged in a colorful bowl with a dash of honey, a dollop of yog

Most of my blog posts are about food and how I love experimenting with different cuisines and trying out different exotic dishes, so that anyone reading my blog would easily assume that me and my kitchen are the best of friends, Which fact, would be true, when I am cooking something special and blog worthy. But most of the days when I have to juggle dealing with a demanding three year old, clearing up last minute clutter by the time hubby arrives from office and cooking, even the simplest of stir fry's can seem like a five course meal. Its during those times that I want my kitchen and equipment and ingredients to rally around and co-operate, and its exactly those times that they all decide that a mutiny is in order. Times when, I decide to go all healthy and cook potato fry with only two teaspoons of oil and the potato starts sticking to the pan mid way,and the only way I can bail out the dish is by adding two tablespoons more of oil and frying it on a high flame, at the end of w

  Last week I travelled the Mumbai-Hyderabad route by train with DH and son. It was a route I had taken many times before as a kid. So obviously it was one full of memories. Memories of playing silly paper games with my siblings, of snuggling down in the topmost berth with two paper backs-one to read, and one just incase, of looking at the various streams, rivers and trees pass by, of looking forward to the double engine being added at Karjat station, because it meant that we would be travelling through scenic locales of Lonavala and Khandala, and most of all the food. Food on a train has a charm of its own.  The culinary journey begins as soon as the train rolls out of the station.Cries of ‘chaaai-kaffi-kaffi-chaai’ are heard, as men balancing gigantic steel drums with taps in one hand,and a tower of paper cups in another enter your compartment as a wonderful aroma fills up the place. Even if you’ve just had a heavy lunch, you couldn’t possibly resist the lure of the pipping hot cu

like most moms of preschoolers, I have this constant niggling doubts about whether my son is eating enough? is he getting adequate nutrition? To my eyes he seems to be growing thinner and thinner, although his Docs assure me he is fine and that its just a phase Also, how do you coax a child who refuses to eat, Do you reward him for eating or threaten him with consequences? Do you divert him with TV  so you can feed him on the sly without him even noticing it? Do you force food into his mouth along with a barrage of  criticism about what a bad boy he is for not eating? To borrow from Shakespeare, “whether tis nobler to just put a plate in front of him at periodic intervals as most Doctors recommend or to run behind him with a plate in your hand as grandma recommends?  How exactly do you get a child to eat food that he should be eating, (About food that he should not be eating, it’s a different story altogether!!! no coaxing required there) I am at this phase where I pour through infor

After months of half hearted attempts to revive my blog, lets learn to cook, with little sucesss, I decided to overhaul the blog, give it a new name and a new ideology. After all old things must always give way to new. When I started my blog, I was just discovering what joy there can be in cooking and learning to cook. I wanted to carry my fellow readers with me as I went through the ABC's of cooking. But, now I feel the need to share much more than my experiences about learning to cook. Hence the change in name to 'The food tales' my blog is no longer about recipes, but about food and everything related to it. Watch this space for more

Here's one more recipe from my in laws kitchen...here we live in a place where the old world charm of doing things from scratch isn't forgotten..so no store bought flours and instant mixes, everything is homemade, just as grandma made it. Of course, its much more easier and faster to buy a pack of frozen food and reheat it, but the fun of cooking from scratch and the satisfaction of knowing exactly what goes into your plate far outweighs the effort. In most kitchens drumsticks are generally relegated to one of the ingredients in sambar or curry or dal, sort of like a side character in a multi starrer, but in this dish drumsticks are given a place of their own. Drumsticks are cooked in a rich creamy gravy of rice, sesame seeds and coriander with a hint of cumin. But I guess I better stop rhapsodizing and get on with the recipe 3 drumsticks 6 tbsp uncooked rice 4 tbsp sesame seeds 1 tbsp coriander seeds 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds 4 green chillies 3 cloves garlic salt to taste Oil for

Its been months since I posted here, well the truth is I am in India, and before coming here I had planned on making something new everyday and posting it here. I am learning a lot of new dishes at my in laws place, but somehow never got around to posting them. But today I saw my mother in law make a curry that was so easy to prepare and so tasty, that I couldnt help, but post it. The photo unfortunately is missing, as we polished it off before I could get hold of a camera and take a snap. 2 cups Okra cut in halves 2 cups ridge gourd peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks 2 tbsp jaggery grated extract of small lemon sized ball of tamarind 1 tsp urad dal 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 2-3 red chillies salt and chilli powder to taste oil for tempering Heat oil in a kadhai, add red chillies, urad dal, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, when seeds begin to splutter, add ridge gourd, okra, salt, chilli powder, tamarind extract and jaggery. cover and let it simmer until well cooked and all flavo