Anshu's Food Odyssey

Poha or Pohey is an easy and healthy recipe that comes together in no time. The dish makes for a  quintessential breakfast in Maharashtra and Gujarat ; and if you happen to visit these states, you would find them being served in every nook side eating joint and restaurant. Cooked with beaten rice that are tossed with peanuts, veggies/sometimes just onions and a subtle hint of spices, they absolutely make for a delicious meal. I first happened to savour pohey during my visit to Ahmedabad 5-6 years back. My husband was deployed on a project there and right across our house, was this busy breakfast corner that used to serve poha and fafda/jalebi during morning and evening hours. Packed with lovely flavors with a little hint of sweetness and tartness, topped with chopped onions, coriander, green chilies, pomegranate pearls, beetroot juliennes and a whole lot of nylon sev, oh! poha instantly became my favorite recipe to devour with a hot cup of ginger tea. Not to mention, it is f

Chholey Palak , Chane Palak , Saag Chholey or the Spinach and Chickpea Curry is a delectable North Indian Recipe that is seasoned with some freshly ground fragrant spices, making it oh so flavorful and yummilicious. This beautiful curry makes for a perfect treat to be served on special occasions and dinner parties along with aromatic zeera rice, garlic naan or lachcha parantha on the side. It pairs really well with some crisp pooris too. Not to mention, chholey palak is packed with whole lots of nutrition and goodness of spinach, making it an ideal meal to be served to kids as well. You may notice that this recipe is bit lengthy so, to ease my job, I often keep a batch of blanched and frozen spinach puree stored in my refrigerator. Trust me, the frozen puree provides me with all the convenience and flexibility of using it anytime in any recipe that I wish to, be it PALAK PANEER , ARBI PALAK MASALA or PALAK CHICKEN. You may also go ahead and store the puree frozen; and I

Our summer vacations in childhood days ought to be spent at our Nana Ji's (maternal grandfather) place in Delhi. And often the vacations coincided with the arrival of monsoons, which necessarily meant a trip to the famous Roshan Di Hatti in Karol Bagh to relish the shop's crisp tikkis and gorge on their ever popular and melt-in-mouth kulfis. I still remember how we all cousins would barge into the shop and fill the place with our non-stop chit chats and endless fun & masti while hogging onto their chatpata stuff. Oh, what fun days were those!! ironically, things have changed these days with everyone getting so busy in their jobs and family lives; and those fun gatherings being taken over by just whatsapp group messages and forwards.  Coming back to the Aloo Tikki , well, you all must be thinking what made the ones served by Roshan Di Hatti so special? Number one: a super crisp crust with a subtle seasoning and number two: a super spicy and tongue tickling chana da

Punjabi Mutton Curry is a delectable every day curry made with goat meat in most of the Punjabi households. Onion, tomato and a little amount of curd form the base of this beautiful curry, which is then seasoned with some fragrant powdered spices making it so very flavorsome and delicious. My husband is quite fond of non-vegetarian food, especially mutton. The punjabi home style mutton curry is something he immensely relishes with some garlic naan and rice on the side. On the contrary, I am not that fond of red meat, so, mutton is only occasionally cooked at our home as compared to chicken and sea food. And last week, just out of the blue, I had this thought of making this flavorful mutton curry all of a sudden. Instantly ordered about a kilo of goat meat from a famous butcher shop nearby and surprised my husband with his favorite curry on the dinner table after quite some time. Not to mention, the aromatic Zafrani Pulao served on the side was a game changer and made our

Kathal , also known as Jackfruit is one of my favorite vegetables that can be found in Indian markets around July-August for a short period. The fibrous fruit with its shredded meaty texture makes for an apt substitute for non-vegetarians and you would be surprised to know kathal is often used for mock meat dishes in South East Asian countries. While this beautiful vegetable/fruit is quite delicious, there is only one negative factor to it; it's hard skin and an itchy sticky liquid that oozes out of it that makes cutting jackfruit a messy and difficult task. However, having said so, I'll share a foolproof trick to ease out the cutting process; just grease your hands and knife with generous quantity of mustard oil while skinning and cutting this fruit. Applying mustard oil will ensure you don't face any itchiness, thus, making the whole process a piece of cake. These days, already skinned and chopped jackfruit pieces are also available in the vegetable markets.

Weekend dinners at our place are meant for some Non-Indian recipes, highly preferable being Thai, Italian or Chinese. This beautiful recipe of spaghetti in creamy broccoli, spinach and walnut sauce is something that was the showstopper on our table last Saturday night and was loved to the core by everyone in the family. The sauce of this spaghetti recipe makes for its fundamental ingredient. Loaded with spinach, broccoli and walnuts, its rich in vital nutrients such as iron, calcium, anti-oxidants and essential amino acids. The best part is, it comes together in no time and can be used in variety of dishes other than pasta. Use it as a spread on your favorite bread or have it as a dip along with nachos, chips or any other crispies. And oh! did I tell you, this sauce is very light in terms of calories as it is sans off the cheese and cream. So, if you are watching your weight and crave for some creamy pasta, this is just for you; enjoy it without any guilt. Spag

Arbi  or Taro Root and Palak combined together make for a yummilicious and highly nutritious vegetable curry that goes awesomely well with hot phulkas, chapatis, paranthas and rice. One of my most favorite curries, it comes together just under 30 minutes and makes for a perfect dish to be carried in school and office lunch boxes. Being excessively rich in fiber content, this arbi palak masala is great for those suffering from gut problems and dealing with diabetes. Additionally, palak or spinach in this recipe makes it a great contender for anemics and to-be mothers too. Health benefits apart, if you are looking to add some variety on your dinner table, it makes for a perfect recipe to be served and rest assured, it will be a hit with your family in no time. Don't agree? do give it a try and then thank me later ....😊    Arbi Palak Masala | Colocasia and Spinach Curry Ingredients Arbi/Colocasia - 200 grams Palak/Spinach (washed and shredded) - 1 cu