Chef at Large

Ashwin and I decided to meet up midweek and yesterday seemed as good a day as any. Since I had had enough of western style food, the general consensus was either an Indian or a Chinese restaurant. Roaming around Khan market, we found SideWok.
If I were to choose a single redeeming feature at SideWok, it [...]

We awoke to a cool and damp day but as it is our holiday we don’t mind that much.  We did some basic shopping then had a drive out to the countryside.  There is a distinct lack of wild life in this area compared to some places we have stayed, the only things of interest have been [...]

As with most of her cooking, this soup is hearty, nutritious, healthy and filling.
No fat people in Zainab’s house - everyone here is fit and healthy, in stark contrast to my portly self. Definitely the cooking!
This soup is no exception. Filling and nutritious, it uses onions, tomatoes, leeks, carrots and green cabbage for the body. [...]

Made using a pre-mixed tomato basil mixture, this bread is the perfect accompaniment to any soup. Soft, tangy and delicious it tastes wonderful with a light spread of cheese or butter.

This is a simple, tasty soup that serves as a full meal.
First shell your walnuts, pound some roughly and keep a few pieces for the garnish. Chop some onions finely and slice an onion finely. Slice a tomato. In a little butter, saute your chopped onions and some peeled, smashed cloves of garlic. When the [...]

Meeting with some long lost friends, their parents, their children and so on, we landed up at Fortune Cookie on Friday night.
It’s a nice place really - the owner is an ex-shippie who has ransacked his house and placed all his collected oriental artifacts in the restaurant. Decorated with an overpowering shade of red, The [...]

Apart from being prepared for a situation where you simply must cook, is there any other reason why you should take up this dreary pastime?
Of course there is. I remember the exact moment when I was truly hooked. Before then, I was experimenting with making spring rolls, perhaps the odd adventure with beaten egg [...]

I’m not well today - probably the flu. But that doesn’t stop me from cooking. No siree, it doesn’t. So, after making the rice for the ‘How to cook’ series (next post), I was wondering how to use it, besides the obvious curry route.
So… chopped some spring onions and carrots and put them in [...]

This noodle soup is immensely satisfying and is perfect for a hot, nutritious complete meal for the kids. It uses glass noodles or bean threads and looks quite interesting too. With the right vegetables in it, it can look simply amazing!
Start by sauteing some spring onions, carrots, beans and cauliflower, all cut to the right [...]

Star anise, star aniseed, badiane or Chinese star anise, is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavor, obtained from the star-shaped pericarp of Illicium verum, a small native evergreen tree of southwest China. The star shaped fruits are harvested just before ripening. It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, in Indian cuisine where it [...]