Five Days, Five Easy Meals: One Pot Rice & Lentils (Khichdi)

October 23, 2014 By sujatha Leave a Comment

Festive season is in full swing in India at the moment with today being Diwali – the festival of lights. It’s a day when neighbours exchange sweet treats and snacks and kids gather together to light diyas and enjoy some firecrackers.

The one thing I remember about any festival is that it was a day when no meat, eggs or fish was consumed. All meals of the day would be strictly vegetarian. With that in mind and with the idea of a light lunch, I made this simple dish this afternoon – rice and red lentils cooked together with just a tiny amount of spice. This is my version of ‘khichdi’ or what the English know as ‘kedgeree’ – a popular comfort food.

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Five Days, Five Easy Meals: Asparagus, Prosciutto & Ricotta Pasta

October 22, 2014 By sujatha Leave a Comment

I put together this quick pasta dish with leftovers from the refrigerator. The asparagus, prosciutto and ricotta creates just the right combination of flavours and textures to make this a comforting plate of food. You may replace the prosciutto with bacon or pancetta and the asparagus with say, cherry tomatoes. Similarly, you can leave out the ricotta and just use parmesan instead.

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Five Days, Five Easy Meals: Flatbreads topped with minced lamb, aubergine & goat’s cheese

October 21, 2014 By sujatha Leave a Comment

I made these last week for supper for two using the left over lamb from the first recipe in this series. It’s a simpler version of a pizza. Instead of laboring over pizza dough to create the base, you use store bought flatbread such as lavash. Top it with anything that suits your mood. Give it a whirl in the oven and serve it piping hot.

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Five Days, Five Easy Meals: Lamb meatballs with Harissa Rice

October 20, 2014 By sujatha Leave a Comment

On a few odd occasions, I find I have to rustle up a quick lunch or dinner just for myself. Now here’s a confession – I do not enjoy cooking for myself as much as I do for others. So, often a stretch of imagination is necessary to avoid me from falling for the usual take away suspects! I thought I’d share some of my recent inventions when it comes to easy and quick meals. These can be modified to leave out anything you don’t have right at the moment in the kitchen and to include any other odd bits and pieces of vegetables, meat, etc that maybe lying around. It’s just a way of me trying to inspire you to open that refrigerator door and use anything in there that catches your fancy.

The first dish in this series is for a warming plate of rice made with harissa and tomato paste along with scrumptious meatballs topped off with creamy yoghurt and tart sumac.

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IFBC 2014 – A Taste of Seattle

September 24, 2014 By sujatha Leave a Comment

The IFBC opened on Friday evening and ran through Sunday afternoon. On Saturday evening, we had a ‘Taste of Seattle’ fair – a showcase of some of the best local gourmet products and food from some of the best restaurants in town. There was a lot going on. There was vegetarian and regular sushi, tuna poke, root beer floats, spiced and candied nuts, and sous vide steaks to name just a few nibbles on offer. All this was accompanied by wine from local wine merchants and even an eclectic fashion designer who fashioned costumes out of mussel shells and the backbones of deer. If you’re curious at all, the complete list of vendors who were there, can be found on the Foodista website.