Everyday cooking can often erode the magic and joy of cooking. All the more reason, to get inspired with a simple and easy spaghetti recipe!

By Somali Roy

As kids we must all have gone through the phase when mothers would act hammy, let out a hapless sigh, look heavenwards and ask, “Now, what do I cook today?”. While the answer never came from above, I could scarcely fathom my mother’s dilemma (specially, in light of my algebra problems) that something as trivial as this might warrant divine intervention; till it was me standing in my kitchen in a quasi-meltdown state, asking the same question.

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Good cookbooks are a treat to the senses as well as a lifeline at desperate times! A list of some great cookbooks for all seasons.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

How many of you dread the, “What’s for dinner, Amma?”. I hate the, “Oh no! Not THAT again!” that usually follows my response. My son is perfectly happy to eat pasta every night of the week but feed him dosa for the third day in a row and he’ll go “AGAIN?” followed by a long moan. What are today’s children coming to, I ask. The womenfolk of my family made merry with an inexhaustible supply of idli/dosa batter and I ate dosas every day, thrice a day if I had to and liked it too! No wonder mums like me are hitting the (cook)books like every night is Board Exam night!

Despite the fact that my cookbooks occupy a whole shelf all by themselves in my bookshelf (I had to offload quite a bit when we moved to Chennai last summer), there are still a few that are my go-to books for any season. In-laws’ coming for lunch? High tea with school mums? Healthy fare to satisfy the brother? There are no issues these cooking gods cannot deal with. Which is why, these books form my top 5 favourite cookbooks.

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Entertaining guests is about having a good time, not impressing them; on the ‘dangers’ of potlucks and an easy Pineapple-Banana Crumble recipe.

By Neeraja Subrahmaniyan

Every little girl in every country/culture plays with a mini kitchen set at some point in her life. Mine comprised of lovely wooden toys, hand-painted in bright reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. There were grinders, cookers, pots, jars, ladles and so many cute little things that were used to host mock-tea or pakoda-parties in the backyard. The guests were usually a mix of toys, friends and bemused adults who munched on non-existent or unpalatable “food” hashed out of spices stolen from mom’s kitchen, crushed leaves and unknown berries from nearby trees. But, there was always plenty of giggles and laughter. The giggles and laughter – they remain most special. It was creative, interesting and everybody had fun – kitchen sets are still being sold as toys, aren’t they?

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Can one have too many gadgets in the kitchen? Not if you go by this foodie, who picks her 5 kitchen essentials.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

You know when you hear me admit that The Gadget Show was one of my favourite shows in England, that I am a massive gadget freak. If anything can do any type of technical wizardry, then it can have my total attention. Put that with my love for cooking/food, and you’ve got a massive kitchen gadget addict. Looking at stuff that will make it easier for me to come up with delectable goodies, ranks among my favourite things.

As it is the start of a brand new 2012 (happy new year, dear reader!), I thought it is great timing to put together a list of what I feel are some great kitchen tools that can make your life easier. These are personal choices and are ranked according to how much I have come to rely on them.

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Once a silent affair in most parts of India, now Christmas is celebrated joyfully by many – with cakes, carols et al!

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

When I was a little girl growing up in Chennai, I used to be quite fascinated with the plastic stars that were hung outside some homes in the month of margazhi (December). Why did they have it? What did it mean? Why didn’t we have the stars? Were some of the questions I used to plague my family with. I absorbed the barest info about Christmas and the Star of David and just waited for the lone Christian classmate of mine to come to school with some cake.

The past decade when I made England my home, Christmas was one glorious affair. The hoopla around it started sometime in mid-October itself and the almost unbearable excitement that built up has to be seen to be believed. Moving back to Chennai this summer, I was all set for a muted December.

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Children with picky eating habits can frustrate even the most patient mothers. Here are some clever food ideas to handle the challenges!

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

So, how do you feed the fussy eater?

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Time for fireworks, festivities, family and fun! A look at the regional and seasonal variations in our festive menus and a recipe to soothe your stomach.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

We are in the thick of festival season in India right now – the 9-days long Navratri/Dusshera is in full swing and the mother of all festivals, Deepavali is just waiting in the wings. The newspapers are full of details of Golu and Dandiya nights but for the foodies out there, it just means it is Primo Food Time! Just think of the festival fare; depending on the part of the country you live in, it could mean different types of sundal every day, varieties of payasam/kheer, crispy fried vadas…. I better stop before I drown in a puddle of drool!

Indian festivals traditionally are a celebration of what is in season. Pongal/Sankrathi food is about freshly harvested rice and sugar cane, coupled with a good old-fashioned carnival atmosphere, to celebrate that year’s bountiful harvest. The various regional New Year celebrations happen around springtime, just when the mango season starts. Thus, for Ugadi/Tamil New Year etc, we eat dishes featuring raw mangoes – manga pachadi, raw mango dal, raw mango rice etc.

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A lush herb garden easily adds a touch of brightness – both to your home and to your health!

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

Any idea what a ‘perandai‘ (edible stemmed vine) is? Can you differentiate between ‘kandanthippili‘ (Long pepper in English, Tippali in Hindi) and a regular twig?

Three weeks ago, I signed up for a cookery contest, along with my sister-in-law. The topic was ‘Grandma’s Recipes: Homemade medicines’ and as we sat about discussing what to do, my mum showed us what looked like a parcel of short twigs. Even as we were cackling about making a merry fire with it, mum started explaining about the wonder condiment called Long Pepper.

Amongst its many uses, it can relieve you of body aches, menstrual pain, fever and general malaise.  It is gentle enough to be given to children and has no side effects. The rasam made with this herb is an excellent cure-all for all kinds of aches and pains, feverish symptoms and head cold. If you are feeling under the weather and need a pick-me-up, then the kandanthippili rasam is the way to go, we heard.

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There is no one ‘best diet plan’. How to choose a healthy diet plan that suits you – and a delicious paneer recipe!

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

Hands up if this is you: health-conscious, visit the gym at least thrice a week, do cardio, lift weights, swim lengths or get some other form of exercise regularly – and – eat sensibly but have nothing to show for it. You cross the i’s and dot the t’s as dictated by the gym trainer/nutritionists and are getting more than a little frustrated that you are not reaching your health goals – be it weight loss or losing belly fat or simply feeling more fit. If this is you, chances are your diet plan is not working as effectively as it should.

I am sure the nutritionist attached to your gym has given you an extensive and exhaustive ‘balanced diet plan’ of what to eat when (‘Buttermilk at 10.00 AM’ followed by two Marie biscuits an hour after) but how sure are you that the advice is sound? I have friends gymming in Mumbai and Bangalore with more or less the same list of ‘must eats’. Obese, under-weight, prepping for a half-marathon – well, I have seen no separate diet profile for anyone.

Building the best diet plan – for you

Based on personal experience and what I have gleaned from friends’ complaints, the nutrition advice doled out by the gym boffins is generally faulty. Take my case: I was a petite 5’2”, carrying an extra 15 kilos and considerable inches. My gym buddy, though much taller, had different fitness goals. I was a vegetarian; she ate everything in sight. Despite these, we followed more or less identical fitness routines and diet. No wonder these so-called healthy diet plans fail us!
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There are as many cliches on the subject of breakfast as breakfast recipes, but this meal still gets less attention than it deserves.

By Lavanya Donthamshetty

So, what did you eat for breakfast today? Idli-chutney? Crisp dosa with sambhar? Poori masala? Parathas and chole? Or, like more and more harried families, sugary cereals and milk? At the start of a busy day, one is so focussed on dealing with the lunch boxes, freshly pressed clothes and getting out of the door on time that a healthy breakfast, more often than not, is treated as an afterthought.

In many South Indian households, the question of ‘what to make for breakfast’ is resolved by means of the ubiquitous idli-dosa batter. Grind it on Sunday and you never have to battle with the ‘What the hell am I going to make now’ question at 7.00 a.m. weekday, again. Simpler still is to break open a box of branded cereal, microwave a bowl of milk and be done with it. In fact, as it helps getting down a glass of milk down your child’s throat with minimum fuss, you can even chalk it up as a win!

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