Fenugreek and Yellow Moong Salad

Ever since I called the western world my home about 14 years ago, my visits back to India start out with me being paraded around like a show pony in front of all my extended family. I am not talking 4-5 homes here, the first 7-10 days are assigned to this ritual. This is to show all my uncles and aunties and 40-some cousins that I am in good health and doing well for myself. Each one of these visits starts out with my parents asking me to put on my nice jewelry and getting all dolled up. The visits generally involve me eating samosas, ice cream, and rich home-made specialities - in no particular order. During one of these visits, I got to visit our ancestral house where four generations of … [Read more...]

Vegetable Curry – Visiting Unpredictable India!

It has been over 3 years since I visited my homeland, India. India! It evokes so many contradicting emotions in me. The cultures, colors, smells, people, animals, foods and life in general - India can be overwhelming to many visitors, and sometimes even Indians. Most visitors and travellers marvel at Taj Mahal or Kutub Minar but I have always thought that India's beauty rests not in those famous monuments, but in the unpredictable chaos that is daily life. To promote tourism, the government of India had launched a campaign called "Incredible India" a few years ago, but I think "Unpredictable India" would have been more suitable because one has to learn to celebrate the uncertainties and … [Read more...]

Chocolate Tart

I was reading the statistics about vegetarianism and I wasn't surprised that India had the lowest rate of meat consumption in the world. India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism - the most prominent religions advocating vegetarianism. I grew up in a vegetarian family and didn't eat any meat till I was in my 20s, well after I married Anup. Eating meat was such a foreign concept to us; we didn't even know people who ate meat. Once every winter, when the weather got cold enough and when the stars were perfectly aligned, my dad would ask my mom to make omelettes at home. Omelette making was a covert operation because god forbid if our equally strict vegetarian neighbors found … [Read more...]