Wanderberry Tales

Festive season along with the breezy winter has made its presence felt. Although good food needs no season or reason, it is simply an excuse to make some deep fried sugary  tea time snacks. It's strange how memories that have long been pushed to some remote corner of the brain comes popping back on occasions with no particular trigger. That is how diamond cuts made its way into my list.A long time ago (as all stories begin) my mamma lovingly rolled out these dough and the sheer desire to use the spoon that had a wheel on its end to make the diamond shapes got me onto the kitchen slab beside her! I did enquire after the well being of the spoon last time I was home:) I have used wheat flour, you could easily replace it with Whole Purpose Flour and also use some powdered sugar in the dough itself. Off we go to the recipe. Ingredients For the dough- Wheat Flour - 2 cups Ghee - 5 tbsp + 1 tbsp Water - 1 cup warm Salt to taste For coating -  Sugar - 50 gm...

Even the best of the hostel food seems bad when the monotony in their menu gets to you. That was the case with our hostel. We were blessed to have non vegetarian food for every dinner except on Fridays but yet after a point in time we began craving outside food.That is how food from Ande ka Funda, a small food joint near our hostel caught our attention. It was very affordable on our student days allowance and quite tasty too - Egg roll, bread omelette, aloo paratha, gobi paratha were their popular items. I took a liking for their egg rolls which came either as single egg roll or double egg roll. The double egg roll made a good meal! My paratha egg roll came into being trying to replicate theirs. Its a favorite due to the simplicity of the whole thing! You need not make paratha from scratch, you could always use the store brought ones when you are in a hurry! The same recipe goes well with chapati too! It is my go to recipe when we need a quick dinner! Ingredients Plain P...

It is strange how certain food items which did not feature in your favorite list until a few years back, crawl in to the list to remain there. Aval is one such item that made it to the list. I keep wondering why I never attempted making aval vilayichathu earlier! As the name suggests, this dish has its origin in Kerala. It is simple to make, tastes good and above all can be stored for atleast two weeks. It is sweet, leaves behind a happy tummy and all you need is a banana or two to accompany it. Absolutely perfect for the tiffin boxes - kids and adults will enjoy alike. Ingredients Brown Aval/Poha/Rice flakes – 250 gms Jaggery – 250 gms Coconut – 2 cups grated Water – 1 cup Cardamom powder – ½ tsp Dry ginger powder – ¼ tsp Channa Dal – 4 tbsp Black sesame seeds – 2 tsp Cashewnuts – 2 to 3 tbsp Ghee – 2 tbsp Method Boil water along with jaggery cubes and let it dissolve completely. Strain to remove impurities. Heat ghee in a deep bottomed pan. Fry the cashe...

My sister was a picky eater. I have no choice but say 'was' because this time around when she came to Dubai I saw the 'pickiness' ( not too sure there is even a word as such) changing. It was not just her being picky but she hardly ate. Her favorite was chapati with chicken gravy ( she never touched the chicken in it though) So my Dad thought there is one easy girl to manage not much expenses on her food. This was until she grew up and then all she wanted to eat was non-veg food:) The hungriest time of the day was the gap between rushing from school at 4.30 pm ( read after throwing the shoes one under the cot and another under table, socks on the dining table and school bag on the sofa) and the play time which started at 5. We always rejected the option of left over morning puttu ( steamed rice cakes) for evening snack time. But our mother had her way. She would sprinkle a generous amount of sugar, mash in the bananas and feed us. That did taste out of the world - a d...

Wishing you all a very Blessed New Year! It is the 14th of the month and I hope you are still sticking to your resolutions that have a tendency to lose momentum as the month goes along! I have not made myself any strict resolutions but I hope to be better and do good more than I could in 2017. I have had a happy 2018 so far and I hope and pray that all of you did too:) Having said that, certain things do not seem to be changing in 2018! It took me 14 days to get a post out for new year and a long pending post which was shot last March along with the Crispy Sweet Corn  and was idling away in the drafts. It took a weekend get together were I made the ulli vada again that I got reminded of my pending post. So here we go with the post.  Its called Ulli Vada down south of India - it could be roughly translated as onion pakoda, onion fritter or onion bajji - depends on which part of the globe you are from! Some recipes call for the use of all purpose flour - I have used gr...

Time flies by in Dubai - yet another winter is peaking over the horizon. I love winters. If only I could do away with the occasional flu that tends to interrupt the weekend outing plans. We are done with the first flu of the winter which I would like to call the 'change of season flu' that has so become ingrained in our lives for the past three years. Looking forward for a blissful few months that includes a vacation home and not to forget the impending festival season. On that note, we head over to the new recipe on the blog - Fish cutlet. The type of fish you choose is absolutely your choice - the lesser the bones the easier the task of mincing it. Cutlets can make your weekday dinner cooking a little easier. Just prep a batch over the weekend and freeze it! Here goes the recipe -  Ingredients Fish - 1 kg Potato - 2 medium sized Ginger - 1 tbsp grated Green chilli - 4 to 5 finely chopped Onion - 2 medium finely chopped Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp ...

If you are a malayalee, then you must be quite familiar with the Kerala Banana which is an integral part of a malayalee household. Breakfast, lunch or even snacks, if you love them, you always have a way incorporate it into your food. Raw banana is thinly sliced and fried to make the popular Kerala banana chips( yes, the very same chips you ask your malayalee friend to get when they come back from their vacation). The ripe banana is good eaten as is or if you do not like the taste there are always ways to modify it. Crisp it up by battered deep frying it, make payasam for your sadya, halwa, kaipola , pullisery, unnakkaya and a healthier option of simply boiling it or jazz it up with a little butter and sugar. If you are looking for something quick with minimal ingredients, then this is the recipe for you - a frequent dish at our place be it breakfast or evening snacks. Here you go - Ingredients Banana - 2 Ghee - 2 - 4 tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Method Slice the bananas...

I have already written two parts of our Italy travel ( if you have missed it, you can always find it here ). After every travel, as a tradition we publish a recipe from that region. So before moving onto the third segment of our travelogue, we have for you a dish that we learnt as a part of cooking class in Tuscany. Cantucci is a type of biscuit that is double baked to get the crunchy exterior. However you could also choose to have the softer version by avoiding the second bake and that is totally up to you. It is commonly a dinner dessert in Italy paired with wine. For us, it simply formed our tea time snacks. The recipe isn't all that time consuming and can be whipped up in under an hour or may be even lesser. I have to admit the end product was simply hard to take hands off from - you just end up going back for more. Here is the recipe for you. Recipe courtesy - Elizabetta, La Guida Farm House, Sinalunga, Italy Ingredients All purpose flour - 500 gm Sugar - 200...

I always knew of Ramadan but it is only after moving to UAE, I realised how religiously it is observed and what iftar and suhoor mean! The world of blogging introduced me to a lot of Malabar snacks mostly fried but really mouth watering. I tend to stay away from deep fried stuff, primarily because I have pimples popping on my face as soon as I relish on anything fried. Since it is shorter office timings during Ramadan, my husband one day happened to come home with some snacks that he picked up from the local Kerala cafeteria for our evening tea together (that is a rarity too - happens only during Ramadan). It was all deep fried stuff and I could not resist it - pakoda, samosa, irachi petti, chatti pathiri, mulagu bajji, ulli vada. It was all there. I waited for two days after we had this - Yay! No pimples and that made my resolution to prepare a fried malabar snack stronger. That is how I ended up making irachi petti with the minced meat I had in the fridge. Irachi means meat and pe...

I keep saying that every dish has a story behind it and Shibin says every photograph should tell a story. So we definitely have a 'Once upon a time' in this dish and a 'happily ever after' too. Most of us have heard of Barbeque Nation and have atleast been there once to satiate our barbeque cravings.What you probably did not know was this restaurant chain is owned by Indore based Sayyaji Hotel. I was fortunate enough to spend two days here and that is where my love affair with crispy fried sweet corn started. I have tried making this snack couple of times - but never achieved success till about two weeks back. This definitely does not meet BBQ Nation standards but still we loved it this way. Last week, we had a family over for dinner and we spent most of the time playing carroms. The need for a quick snack at the carroms table was what reminded me of this recipe. It turned out crispy as I wanted it to and that led me to making it again the very next day for ...

I am relatively a beginner in bread baking and this is probably the only bread I have baked more than the fingers on my hand! I tasted focaccia only when I came to Dubai and that was the first time I even heard of it. Back in India, I knew 4 types of bread - white bread, brown bread, multigrain bread and fruit bread - that was my extent of bread knowledge.  I would not label bread baking as difficult - it is only time consuming - so if you have the time in hand - Foccacia is definitely worth a try. Focaccia is an Italian bread with a generous amount of olive oil - topped with herbs, olives, onions, sun-dried tomatoes or any other vegetables that goes along. Focaccia, I realised recntly makes a good sandwich bread too! I have tried topping with olives , tomato and onions but the best for me was the shallots. It is easier to chop them into cute little rounds - it caramelizes well and the looks quite pretty on the bread too. I read an article today by Nandita Iyer from the Saff...

Karnataka has been my home until I moved to Dubai two years back. Brought up in a small town called Brahmavar in Udupi district and then completed my post graduation and experienced my first feel of corporate life in Bangalore. These are two unique places with its own charm. Karnataka has it all - from the coastal stretch of Mangalore - Gokarna to the mountainous charms of Coorg and Sakleshpur, not to forget the temple towns of Belur, Halebidu , Hampi and Bangalore - the silicon city of India. I have not yet traveled all these places but one day, I do wish to strike off all these from my bucket list. Chikmaglur is one such beautiful hill station nestled at the foothills of the Mullayanagiri range with beautiful climate and coffee estates that adorn the hills. This makes it a popular tourist destination and we got to be one of them in February. No denying the gorgeous climate of the place, the wonderful coffee estates, greenery all around and you could relax the whole day almost d...

Every vacation has three phases -  The waiting phase - You have planned your vacation, arrangements have been made, you are on a shopping spree, you are texting your relatives and friends on your upcoming vacation plans, you are clearing your fridge and finally packing your bags. To add on - I do an additional cleaning of the house because I love to see the house clean and neat on my return! This is an exciting phase and the feeling that you have something bright to look forward to makes even the most daunting task enjoyable. The actual vacation - this is the fun part. Your waiting is over and here it is finally - the execution of all that you planned. Meeting family, friends and relatives - lots of nostalgic moments, being pampered by family until the day it is time to pack your bags and return. The vacation hangover - the most annoying phase that comes after your vacation. The feeling of emptiness, a vague sense of nothing to look forward to, a weariness to get back to tra...

It is vacation time and for the first time blogging from a place other than home in Dubai. It feels good to be home and lot of changes have happened in a year - our family of doggies grew from 2 to 3, trees have been replaced by roads and places are beyond recognition, the bakery with my favorite egg samosa seems to have closed down, swipe machines have appeared even at the smallest of stores - demonetisation effect and yet the Gudbud ice cream tastes heavenly except for the increasing price and the decreasing glass size!! While I feast on my mom's food and savor every moment - why don't you guys virtually feast on the recipe from my archives - Vermicelli Upma. I love the sweetness of this and for me it goes well even without a chutney. Ghee enhances the flavor and peanuts adds the crunch. So here we go -  Ingredients (Serves - 2) Vermicelli - 1 cup Water - 1 cup Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp Urad dal - ...

Sue's Kitchen in Bangalore is a popular Caribbean restaurant. It was for a team lunch that I stepped in there for the first time in December couple of years back. It was a small yet cozy place and I fell in love with the food. I was intrigued by the similarity of the Caribbean food to the Kerala cuisines. The buffet spread was decent and the variety amazed me. I was particularly fond of the pan fried plantains. It is something that we often make at home - yet I simply could not resist going back for more. So on those lazy days when I sit back and wonder what to do with time in hand - I have flashbacks of some wonderful moments and Sue's Kitchen happened to be one of them. I had plantains and I wanted it to be Caribbean. So off I set on a internet search and came up with the fritters recipe. The basic difference I have incorporated is steaming of the plantains and cooking on tawa without deep frying it.  It is definitely a hassle free recipe and would make a good snack tim...

New Year started on a pretty low note. Climate is amazing here in Dubai and so very apt for all sorts of infections! So after two weeks of medicines and rest, we are slowly getting back on track.  Phew! finally food tastes like food!  Two weeks almost made us forget what it was like to be foodies with our tongues absolutely losing its sense for taste. The beginning of a New Year went by and our third wedding anniversary too confined within blankets and cup after cup of ginger tea! Since it did not exactly feel like a New Year - we decided to postpone all our celebrations till we were fine and we are on the verge of recovery now. Now, I do wish we could have posted about a dinner date or romantic outing on our anniversary but never mind we did something special too! We took care of each other:) It is not easy having two sick people taking care of each other but we did tide through proving true the marriage vows we took three years back - 'In sickness and in health'!...

It has been long since I played the game of Secret Santa - I am sure most of you are familiar with this game. It is not the gifts you wrap or unwrap that gives the happiness. It is more about the suspense, the secret letters and the guessing games as to who could be your Santa. I was introduced to this game when I was in hostel where every year we religiously play  - we did have our semester exam during this time of the year but that never dampened our spirits. Nothing could possibly be a hindrance to this game when you have a whole hostel - 100 odd girls playing this game. We had a letter box where we could drop in letters addressed to our secret friend. The thrill of finding a letter addressed to you or small gifts that would mysteriously appear on your bed or a messenger getting it for you. Aah!  Shopping for the gifts weren't easy either. It was always last minute purchases and all the 100 girls end up at the same store every time. We had to dodge our secret frie...

It is winter, it is Christmas and baking just happens this season! Listening to the carols, there I went baking again.   My mind began wandering to 'Long time ago in Bethlehem', In the 'Silent Night' I envisioned 'Hark the herald, angels sing'. The bright stars guiding ' We three Kings of Orient are' Led them to the place where ' Mary's boy child Jesus Christ ' lay.   ' O Come All Ye Faithful' and spread the word. 'Go tell it on the mountain' and spread 'Joy to the world' . It is a 'Merry Merry Merry Christmas' And 'Santa Claus is coming to town ' 'Dashing through the snow' here he is With 'Rudolf the red nose reindeer' by his side and 'Frosty the snowman' to welcome him I 'Decked my halls with boughs of Holly' , and keep dreaming about a 'White Christmas'. Looks like an overdose of carols!! Oh Never mind, like Shibin sa...

Often happiness comes in small packets and learning to live in these small packets makes the complex system called life all the more meaningful. Not that I live to dot as per the philosophy I just quoted above but I do try and do want to. The same is applies to food as well - its not just elaborate buffet meals that satisfy your souls, it could be quick fixes like the recipe for today that brightens the soul. I do not mean to dampen the spirits - I know buffets can be more than soul satisfying for the foodie in us but a serene evening in the company of simple food can just do as well when hunger pangs are not too ardent. Another beginners recipe - Kala Chana Sundal with minimum ingredients and that can be snack in itself or a side dish. Hoping on to the recipe. Ingredients (Serves - 2) Black Chickpea - 1 cup boiled Onion - 1 medium finely chopped Coconut grated - 3 tbsp heaped Coriander leaves - chopped Chilly powder - 1 tsp Oil Salt to taste Method Soak ...

It is the peak of the summers in Dubai and my heart longs for the monsoons in India. Waking up to the sound of rains.. A rainy evening with a mug of hot coffee.. A walk in the rains.. Getting splashed - ugh!! Sounded annoying back then, but now! I need that one splash.  And of course, the hot fried bajjis that lifts your spirits. That is something I can do in Dubai too! My thoughts went scrambling and this is what it resulted in. Cheers to Goli Bajji/ Mangalore Bajji with hot tea that sent me down many memory lanes. While I get nostalgic, why don't you guys have a sneak peak at what is below -  Ingredients All purpose flour - 1 cup Yogurt - half cup Rice Flour - 2 tbsp Onion - 1 medium chopped Ginger - 1 tbsp grated Green Chilly - 1 sliced thinly Curry Leaves - 1 sprig finely chopped Coriander Leaves - a handful finely chopped Asafoetida - 2 pinches Baking powder - 1/4 tsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Salt to taste Oil for deep frying Method ...