Navarathri Day 2—Tangy peanut potato ‘sundal’ chaat

This recipe is in memory of my paternal grandmother whom we called Mangalam Paati, Mangalam being her name and the word paati means grandma in Tamil. She was a cook par excellence. She was a very religious lady and followed a strict vegetarian diet, and what she ate depended on the day of the week…

Potato chickpea tikkis with caramelised onions and green chutney

Happy Indian Independence Day! To celebrate here is my take on a quintessential Indian street food dish. Potato patties form the basis of many Indian snacks and my healthy aloo tikkis are packed with all my favourite features of different versions plus some twists of my own. Inspired to create a more protein rich patty…

Cauliflower kootu curry

This curry was first introduced to us by my aunty, Prema mami — mami means aunty in Indian languages. So we started referring to it as Prema kootu or stew. In this colourful and unusual dish, vegetables are coated in a tomato and red pepper base thickened with chickpea flour. When I used to make…

Roasted potato curry with carrot and peppers

In South Indian cooking “curry” refers to a dry mixture of cooked vegetables coated with spices. Crispy potato curry is a favourite dish but typically involves large quantities of oil and needs to be tended carefully to achieve a crisp golden exterior. Here instead they are roasted in the oven which results in a delectable…

Red lentil dal

In this twist on a quintessential North Indian dish, red lentils (masoor dal) are cooked with spices to a creamy consistency, then stirred through with sautéed onion and garnished with coriander. To serve I swapped traditional rice or rotis with which dal is served with spiced roasted vegetables. You can also eat it on its…