I Bring you Brinjal
This is a post about brinjals and getting back in touch with old friends. Preethi and I went to the same school in India. My family moved to the US when I was in high school and I lost touch with most of my old school mates. Years and years later I moved to Germany [...]

Making Time to Cook
You wake up early in the morning, shower, eat breakfast and rush to work. After endless meetings in the middle of which you hopefully get some time to grab lunch, you finally finish up work and head home. It’s already past your dinner time and you are starving and tired. Will you make bowls of [...]

Stay Cool with Cucumbers
How’s the weather where you are? Here in Seattle, we finally got summer this week after months of whining and praying for it! And now that it’s here, we’re whining about how hot it is! With summer comes BBQ season, cold soups and salads, and lots of Indian food too. Yes that’s right! Indian food [...]

June Newsletter – why cook Indian food?
“Why cook Indian food when you can buy a pre-made curry from Trader Joe’s or get takeout from a restaurant?” Not many people have time to cook anymore so it’s a good question. It’s a question I get asked occasionally. Thankfully, I have an answer, four good reasons to cook from scratch. #1 Experience something [...]

Top Utensils in my ‘Minimalist’ Kitchen
What utensils does one need to cook Indian food at  home? Just the basics really. There are no fancy schmancy gadgets in my kitchen. Nope, I don’t even have a pressure cooker, much less an idli maker or coconut grater (though I wish I had one of these). Now before you judge me, I need to [...]

Grated Carrot Sandwich
I know that’s not grated carrot sandwich! But I have a story about grated carrot sandwiches first. So bear with me. This story takes place when I was a schoolgirl in Bangalore, India. Like all other kids, I had a little tiffin box carrier that my mom would fill up every morning for my brother [...]

Creamy Savory Coconut Chutney
On a recent trip to the Bay Area, my husband took me to a South Indian restaurant to impress me. He often works in California and had been to the restaurant a couple of times with his Indian colleagues. Knowing how picky I am with Indian restaurants, he was very eager to get my verdict. [...]

New Potatoes with Sauteed Fenugreek
New red potatoes still in their jackets, chopped into bite size pieces if necessary. Fenugreek, an herb available in Indian stores for a short while in summer, vivid green and slightly bitter. Bell pepper, red and juicy, roasted till just south of tender, not an ingredient in the original recipe but thrown in anyway because [...]

Red Onion Chutney with Crispy Papadum
So far this month has been all about catching up with friends. Friends new and old, friends who live a few blocks away in Seattle and from as far away as Japan. When we meet, I love cooking for them. I don’t always cook before hand and have everything ready by the time they arrive. [...]

April Newsletter
This post just went out as part of my April Newsletter and I thought I’d share it here as well. It has been about six weeks since I launched in mid-February. And what an interesting six weeks it has been. Everyone I talk to loves the concept behind Veena’s Market – recipe kits that make [...]