Chef at Large

I’ve been meaning to change the way we eat for quite a while, but for some reason or the other, didn’t really get around to it. But now, things are going to change and thats that. I’m tired of being overweight. Hence the new health regime at home now.
The kitchen is now off limits to [...]

I travel to Bakewell nearly every day of the week to work at a client’s premises. Try as I did, I finally succumbed to the smell of freshly baked Bakewell puddings.
As per Wikipedia: The tale told to tourists is that this dish is an accidental invention of the 1860s, which occurred when a nobleman visiting [...]

Did you know chickpea sprouts are much healthier than the original chickpea itself? I guess so. Do you know why?
Sprouts are very nutritious because they contain all elements a plant needs for life and growth. The endosperm of the seed is the storehouse of carbohydrates, protein, and oil. When the seed germinates, these become predigested [...]

In various conversations with various people over time, I find many people look at cooking, even occassional cooking, as a tedius chore, that needs to be finished off as quickly as possible. I agree all of us are entitled to our own perceptions about things; however, since cooking is something all of us encounter at [...]

The mutton stew I wrote about earlier may be eaten with bread or chapattis but they taste best with Valle-appams or Hoppers. Here is the recipe for Vellappams, the way my grandmother made them. However I have introduced one variation from the original. My grandma used toddy, tapped fresh from the bark of the coconut [...]

This is a simple, quick and delicious stir fry that you can whip up in minutes. It uses two [or more if you like] types of mushrooms - button mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms. Here’s what you do:
Soak the wood ear mushrooms in hot stock. You’ll need to replenish the stock from time to time [...]

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BC and perhaps earlier. There is archaeological evidence at sites located in southwestern Ecuador that chili peppers were already well domesticated more than 6000 years ago, and is one of the first cultivated crops in the Americas.
The Black [...]

Naheed and I popped into the place for working lunch the other day. Friendly service and convenience are the hallmarks of this restaurant. They claim to serve chinese, punjabi, rajasthani, gujrati and south indian cuisine. what comes is a well meaning parody of the original.
All in all, good for a working/shopping lunch and at 150 [...]

Naheed made these at home and brought some over for us. What you see here were lightly sauteed in butter, a sour/spicy dip made with the pan scrapings and served with lightly toasted, fresh kulchas (an ethnic, Indian, leavened bread). I don’t have the original recipe… you could ask Naheed though.

This is the signature dish of a great chef - José Andrés and is served at his restaurant - Minibar. I first saw a visual on a ‘Discovery Travel and Living’ program. Wondered what it was, and definitely knew it looked interesting. Then saw it again on ‘Tastespotting’ a great site, and finally found the [...]