Magazine Interview
I am absolutely thrilled to share with you my first magazine interview. Poor Taste Magazine has featured a fun interview with me as their October Blogger of the Month.
If someone would have told me a year ago that I would see my interview in a magazine, I would have looked over my shoulder and wondered who they were talking about!
Check out the interview for some fun back story about the blog and a few personal tidbits.
Read MoreChai Video
I have got many of my friends addicted to chai. Once they experience what real chai tastes like, they tell me a store-bought chai just doesn’t do it anymore. I’ve sent many a new chai addict home with their own bundle of Indian tea and an index card with instructions, to help them enjoy chai anytime they’d like. Now, with the help of this video recipe, they can make it whenever they want. Maybe I’ll start coming to their place for chai.
Read MoreGanesh Festival
It was such a great coincidence that we arrived in India at the beginning of one of the biggest festivals in Bombay; the Ganesh festival, known in India as Ganesh Chaturthi. It’s 11 days of dancing in the streets, handfuls of colored powders being thrown in the air and an endless processional of loud drums. It’s an annual celebration of the birthday of Lord Ganesh. Each neighborhood builds their own enormous Ganesh statue, housed in a fantastic temporary shrine for all the locals to come and pay homage. The 11 days of celebration culminates in the dismantling of each shrine and a countless number of parades begin carrying the larger than life statues of Lord Ganesh to the nearest ocean, where they are immersed. For Bombay,
Read MoreAloo Gobi Video
Our first full cooking video with Mummy-ji is here. This was one of the first recipes we made together, potatoes and cauliflower known as aloo gobi in Hindi. It is one of Hubby’s childhood favorites and a dish I like to turn to when looking for something quick and tasty.
As for making the first full video tutorial, it look me this entire week to learn how to edit in iMovie and it has been well worth the trouble. I have always wanted to make step-by-step videos as watching someone make a recipe is the way I learn to cook, so I’m thrilled to finally have the opportunity to offer this to everyone.
Read MoreCooking Videos
Mummy-ji and I have been cooking up a storm this week. She has been a great sport while I’ve gotten myself in the strangest positions, trying to find the best possible angles to capture each recipe. More than a few times my dupatta (scarf) has been in danger of catching on fire during a few particularly acrobatic angles.
This week, we are working on editing the footage and into great step-by-step videos of Mummy-ji’s wonderful cooking. Here is a snippet of what is coming up in the next few weeks:
Read MoreAnnual India Trip
We are on our annual India Trip and this year I’m spending most of my trip in the kitchen. Mummy-ji and I are side by side almost everyday while she teaches me each and every step of some of her favorite recipes. Hubby’s made it known which dishes are top priority to learn from her while I’m here. I thought it would be fun to include some detailed videos of our readers’ favorite recipes, featuring the cook who makes them best. So check back soon and keep your computers and kitchens ready for a series of how-to videos.
Here is a preview of the recipes and videos to come. Stay tuned as more and more videos will be making their way to the blog faster than you can say “how do you make navratan korma?“
Read MoreExploring Felton
On a Friday night it’s more than likely to find Hubby and I packing a weekend’s worth of Indian food into the trunk of our car and heading over the hill to Aptos and La Selva Beach, where my parents live. We spend most of our weekends enjoying the good weather of Santa Cruz County, especially during the summer months. So when I got the chance last week to speak at a blogging event in Felton, an old-fashioned town in the Santa Cruz mountains famous for it’s redwoods and railroads, I was surprised to realize I had never spent any time there before.
The town is amazingly picturesque as if it were pulled from the pages
Read MoreHandmade Dough
I’ve been having a curious desire to return from machine made to handmade. It all started from a realization with chapati dough. I had learned to make chapati dough by hand, using a traditional Indian dough pan. When the day came to make a new batch of dough, I dreaded it. The job was time consuming and tedious, mainly because the large pan was so shallow I wasn’t able to mix easily. Eventually I switched to the food processor and soon progressed to the electric mixer, complete with dough hook attachment. These convenience machines made the once daunting task quick and easy, with hardly any effort on my part; until it came time for cleanup. They may knead dough in record time, but every crevice and attachment had to be
Read MoreMaking Paneer
If you’ve been joining me in trying a hand at homemade ghee, you know I decided to carry out a little experiment to see how much it would cost to make my own ghee using butter bought in bulk from Costco. The results are stacked in my fridge…two large jars worth. The savings were so inspiring that I began to wonder what other ways I could cut kitchen costs.
My new curiosity: would this work with paneer? Twice a month, I buy two full gallons of milk at Costco. Even though Hubby and I are avid chai addicts, this is much more milk than we need, but it’s still so much cheaper than shopping at my local Safeway. So I decided to
Read MoreGhee Recipe
I’ve noticed it takes about half an hour to make ghee, whether I’m boiling two sticks of butter or sixteen sticks of butter. The first batch I made, I assumed it would take an hour. So I set the timer and walked away. When I came back the ghee had over cooked and all the butter was browned. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for but it wasn’t a complete loss either. Browned butter has an intense flavor, which is somewhat sweet. So if you happen to over cook your ghee and end up with browned butter, don’t throw it away. It’s often used in pastries and is a great accompaniment to caramel desserts.
Read MoreHomemade Ghee
Whether you want to save money, or you don’t have access to store bought ghee, making your own ghee at home is cheap and easy. I’ve always bought my ghee from the Indian store, being perfectly content getting it ready made. I never would have considered making my own…until I noticed the price of ghee slowly but surely increasing. The twenty ounce bottle of ghee I add to my basket every couple months started out around seven dollars and now costs me thirteen. I didn’t think much of it beyond wishing the price would stay put. Then on a trip to India, I saw so many people in the neighborhood making their own ghee at home. To them, store bought ghee was completely unnecessary, a waste of both time and money.
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Turmeric
Turmeric. The golden spice. It can turn a dull looking dish into a colorful treat and it’s used in almost every recipe. While it does not add any particular flavor, it’s the rich golden color that makes this spice so desirable. It gives curries their luscious rich color. Add it to bland looking dishes such as cauliflower, potatoes or paneer and your dish will transform into a golden meal fit for royals. Actually, depending on the dish, whether it’s alkaline or acidic, the turmeric can turn either yellow or red. Mushroom Tikka Masala and Malai Kofta, both of which use a base of tomato tadka will turn red, while daals, eggs and garbanzo beans will turn yellow.
Read MoreJuly 4th
One of the things I love most about my family is the amount of time we spend together. It seems every other weekend is a holiday, birthday or anniversary celebration. Even so, we usually don’t need much of a reason to gather ’round the family table. Last weekend I called up my mother, told her I was bored, didn’t want to cook dinner and asked if Hubby and I could come down to her place. Apparently my brother and sister had the same idea as she was already expecting them for dinner too.
Summer time is an avalanche of family get-togethers and parties. We have four birthdays, two annual summer BBQ’s and one anniversary,
Read MoreBindi
“What does the bindi mean?
I can no longer count how many women have asked me this question. It’s a tricky question because the answer that follows never fails to disappoint.
“It doesn’t signify anything, It’s just jewelry.” I say, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
”but only married women wear it right?”
Read MoreEasy Mango Ice Cream
The peak of summer heat is fast approaching and for me, it conjures up old habits of fleeing over the hill to the cool coasts of Santa Cruz. In years past, we lived in our claustrophobic one bedroom apartment which stubbornly collected heat no matter how many windows I opened. In the early years of our marriage, as a student and then later as a teacher, I always had two and a half months off for summer. Grand plans would be made for these months. I’d dream of starting that home inventory project I’d always been meaning to do or scrub the walls and clean out the closets. I’d finally start writing that curriculum book I’d been planning. The only thing I hadn’t kept in mind was the fact that I was now without the air conditioning I
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Hi! My name is Colleen
Hi there! I'm Colleen. I'm a girl from sunny Santa Cruz, California who married a Punjabi boy from Bombay. These are the stories, recipes and photos of our adventures together as I've learned about, and fallen in love with, Indian culture...as well as taught Hubby a thing or two about my American ways of doing things. Pull up a chair and enjoy!
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Indian Adventures
Join me on our annual trips to India and see the streets of Bombay or the simplicity of rural Punjab. Learn the differences of daily life such as how to work the shower and visit the doctor. Click on the picture above to read more.
Indian Home Cooking
Learn to cook authentic Indian food in the comfort of your own home. You'll find recipes and tips for everyone, whether you're a beginner or have been cooking Indian food for years. Click on the picture above to view all posts in "Indian Recipes"
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