All posts tagged: Indian cuisine

parmesan okra

Two Delicious Okra Recipes You should try

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Okra aka. lady’s finger. Do you like it or hate it? Hubby wouldn’t even look at it. My encounter with the strange vegetable was in Turkey and I’d had some dishes with it but had never been so keen till I listened to the podcast, Leah Chase: The cook who changed America. Though I’ve never had the Gumbo stew, I can imagine what it’s like and it sounds delicious. Okra, originated in Ethiopia, is found in many dishes in south east countries and many with seafood as in this. There’s a plenty of Indian okra dishes, too, including this one, which looks yummy and healthy. Here in Turkey, it’s called ‘bamya‘, and usually cooked with tomato based stew with or without meat and is, as usual, overcooked. So unless you trick yourself to like it, many people get put off by the slimy texture. The longer it’s cooked, the slimier it gets. So it’s useful in stews and soups as a thickener and I sneaked some chopped okro(plural) into baked beans for English breakfast one morning. And …

tambuli indian nettle

Tambuli with Stinging Nettle and Green Garlic – Spring Healthy Treat

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Nettle pesto, Nettle soup, Nettle frittata, Nettle ravioli.… running out of ideas? I’ve been enjoying this easy recipe ever since my Indian guest taught me his grandmother’s recipe. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t met this dish until then even though I’d been an avid eater of Indian food. Often, some dishes we eat everyday don’t get a spotlight because they are so common and humble. Don’t you think? Whenever there’s something green. I tend to whizz it all up with fragrant cumin seeds, peppercorns, curry leaves, yogurt and coconut. How can such a simple dish be so delicious, satisfying and comforting all at the same time? If you haven’t made this, I hope you’ll start making it because it’s so good and addictive. Whenever I go to the market, I come home with wild greens. I just can’t help myself. How am I going to eat all this?! I’ll make our family recipe, nettle borek, when hubby comes home, but for the time being, I thought I’d make a quick tambuli for lunch. I’ll explain how to …

Indian Dinner@Eat with Me Istanbul – Spice it up!

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Indian food, why do we love Indian food so much? As soon as I announced ‘Indian Night’, at least 6 people immediately responded and what was meant to be a cozy stay-in evening for two became an evening of kitchen labor, but good labor. But I was concerned a little because I had to work on that day, so I prepared some of the dishes the night before and marinated the tandoori chicken; seriously I was cooking and making samosa from scratch at 11pm. Luckily, curries can benefit from sitting overnight. Samosa… I love it but I hate frying so I used the baking method, which worked brilliantly. I made sure to brush the samosas with ghee occasionally. These flew off the plate faster than the time required to keep the guests occupied while I was finishing off cooking the mains. But they left some of the gorgeous Scampi Avocado Lime Coriander Grapefruit Cocktail for me. It wasn’t so Indian, I know, but still exotic, and that’s why I whipped it up as an extra …

kohlrabi fritter

Kohlrabi Kimchi Curry Fritters

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As Chinese cabbages start to appear at markets, I’m pondering the idea of ‘Annual Kimchi Project’, but this time in a grand scale; I need to think harder how I’ll make it happen. Koreans have already got their kimchi made and tucked away to ferment but I’m still not too behind in this part of the world. Towards the end of the year, every household has stinky over-fermented kimchi. When I was in Korea in October, I noticed that kimchi didn’t appear on the table that often; kimchi was running out! So all Koreans must be feeling rich and secure by now. But here I hardly have kimchi in my fridge so using kimchi in cooking is unthinkable. As you know, I made Calamari Kimchi Fritters at my Korean Soiree, using the precious kimchi I had brought, which was a big hit. So you must try making some if you’ve got some kimchi to ‘spare‘. A few nights ago Mr.O and I played a game, ‘10 dishes you must try in different countries‘. When it …

Zucchini Series #1

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 Today I want to talk a bit about Mr.O. He, who I mention on my blog, is the one who takes all the privileges of eating what I cook. Now he gets excited about what is cooking in the kitchen and sends photos of what we eat to his friends, who are tormented by the teasers and also puzzled by the changes he’s made in his eating habits. I’ve probably mentioned this in one of previous posts but I think it’s ok to remind people of this amazing phenomenon. Mr.O is my food tester for my blog, who had shed 25 kg in 6 months, just by eating and enjoying food with me. I still have a delightful memory of Mr.O’s parents bursting into a big laughter at one dinner, seeing Mr.O eating zucchini. They said something to each other but Mr.O refused to translate to me what they were saying at first but I pressed him and he finally said, “They were saying that I didn’t used to eat zucchini, in fact, I hated …

Mussel Korma Curry – Turmeric Power

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Where I am is a small village called, Confort, and I’m having a very “confortable” holiday. I wish I could wake up everyday to the green scenery and walk about in silence except the sound of birds. The only downside of being in a small village up in the mountain is no access to public transportation and good boulangeries for breakfast bread. Here it’s necessary to have bread and other groceries in the freezer and everyday necessities whenever possible. When I’m in the desperate need of something, I have to walk for 1.5 hours to the centre through La Voie du Tram, which is an old tram way that was transformed into a path where people can walk, run or ride a bicycle. It runs over 3 km and 2 km extra to reach the town centre. On the route, I see many people running and wonder how French people love sports and exercises whether they exercise in order to eat like me. The first time I took the tram way I got lost and …