Vegan

Lentil-Radish Salad with Chili-Lime Dressing (Guest Post)

March 17, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Lentil-Radish Salad with Chili-Lime Dressing |foodfashionparty|Guest post by @boxofspice

With the rain and winds, the Bay Area is filled with pollen too. The only way I can communicate now, without messing my vocal chords completely, is to whisper. For some reason the husky and sexy voice(as someone called it) doesn’t seem to suit me and I’ve had a few people feel bad, laugh and make fun of me all at the same time :). It’s one of the worst sore throats I have ever had, and I refuse to go to the doctor. Trying to have green tea with honey, fresh turmeric and everything to soothe my poor little throat. I am so very thankful and grateful to Rakhee from boxofspice to fill my space today with one of her impressive salads.

As Rakhee puts it, we’ve known each other for the longest. I fell in love with her gorgeous photography and this post in particular Chaat Salad, and now we are great friends and I am in love with her personality too. She’s all ears when I want to and makes me feel like a million bucks (what more can anyone ask). Her artistic eye for dreamy and moody photography requires a standing ovation and her salads all belong in a magazine. Without further ado… Here’s Rakhee. Take it away my dear…..

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Taro/Arbi Spicy Stir Fry

March 3, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

She comes home and finds an empty container, which, only a couple of hours ago, had the very best tangy-spicy, oily, fried taro.

A year is a long time to be away when you’ve stayed with someone for 21 years. A trip to India after I came to US was an in-explainable feeling, and an exciting one. There were a lot of things I wanted to enjoy, first being the food. All the things I was overwhelmed to cook or plain didn’t know how to cook were the things I asked mom to make. Sometimes we just have a mind block, don’t you think? You believe it’s hard to cook something, just because. This was one of those things….

Garlicky Mung/Moong Bean-Dill-Pomegranate Spicy Warm Salad

January 21, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

After a couple of years of pretty severe drought in the Bay, the wet weather for the past few weeks is a welcome change. I definitely am happy to hear the pitter-patter of the rain and rumble of the leaves. The deep brown soil turning brown and the dry brown grass on the mountains turning green are some very pretty sights.

Waking up to dark gray clouds, the sounds of rain, the trembling trees all makes us want to snuggle a bit more. Turning and struggling to wake up, going down for a hot cup of coffee and to a silent almost ‘pin drop silence’ except for the rain was an ideal start to my perfect day.

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Vegetarian Mulligatawny – Spiced Vegetable Pepper Soup

January 13, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

A pepper vegetable soup with lentils, so so good and perfect for cold weather. Vegetarian Mulligatawny – Spiced Vegetable Pepper Soup

One of the main things that makes me smile about this soup is its name. The word is derived from Tamil (South Indian language). Mulliga means pepper, and tawny/tanni means water. I speak that language, so you can imagine why I find it slightly amusing.

I have had my share of this soup in restaurants, not because I love soups, but only because I was intrigued by the name. Because soups were not part of meals growing up, we were adventurous and just had to start off very daintily with a soup at restaurants. When a bowl of soup was kept in front of us, I always had this expression: like how could this be pepper water? Some served it with a mango relish, some were soupier and had tomatoes in it. Chicken broth was used in many and chunks of chicken were found in some. I even had mulligatawny soup once which was so bombarded with cream that I wanted to chat with the chef. Honestly though, I have no clue what the original was and how it came about.

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Spicy Tomato Pulao with Vegetables

January 6, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Welcome to the first post of 2016. Happy NEW YEAR!!

“What do want for dinner?” – Mom

“Anything mom.”

“Something spicy today.”

“Something with rice.”

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Endive Boats with Beet-Carrot-Fennel-Pear in Asian Dressing

November 4, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

I’ve always been picky about my salads. I will eat a salad only if it is spicy, crunchy, and made with some peanut butter dressing :). Well, it changed.

I was invited to a clothing boutique opening a few winters ago. That’s when I fell in love with these endive boats after avoiding it for about 20 minutes. As we walked in, our coats were taken. The wine was served and the conversations were on full swing, when a very prim and proper server walked by us bringing these beautiful salad boats. I excused myself politely to walk across to the left of the room where the cocktails and desserts were. After a few minutes, the guy comes again with this beautifully arranged platter of these boats, and I picked out a boat just to be nice to the guy. He smiled because I had been avoiding him for at least 20 minutes. I stalked him for the next 15; I am sure I would’ve eaten at least 10.

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2 Vegetarian Healthy Weeknight Curries

April 16, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Growing up, I always saw Mom making these dishes during weekdays. It was served with rotis/tortillas all the time. There wasn’t a particular pattern, but I knew what was coming some of the days. The very interesting thing was, they tasted the same every time she made them. Now, it makes me wonder how she did it. No recipe, just add this and add that. Our lunches were full course meals, most of the time. Weekday dinners were usually a simple roti with a vegetarian side.

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3 Bean Carrot-Spinach Soup (Spicy Indian Style)

January 22, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

While in many places it’s snowing and freezing, late winter brings bright sunny weather in Northern California. I had to remind myself that it is winter as I drove around in 65 degree weather today. The excitement of winter is only when we drive up for a few hours to see the snow. After a few rash rains, the doldrums of January bring foggy mornings and warm yet cozy afternoons. The sun stays awake for as long as it can, as the fog gives us the perfect picturesque view on early morning walks. Living in the Bay Area sure has its beautiful moments….

Wasabi Broccolini with Saffron Quinoa Pilaf

January 6, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

I have a great rewarding audience to cook for. We all share a common passion, food. Although hubs is not much of a kitchen person, his appreciation and knowledge of his food are admirably impressive.

I don’t have a strategy or agenda when cooking on most days. It’s even more experimentative when clearing the fridge and when I have nothing much going on. Sometimes, a meal comes from a place of annoyance and “Hey, I’m going to cook whatever…”

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SPICY FENNEL ROASTED BABY POTATOES

December 4, 2014 By Asha Shivakumar

Welcome to my new space!!!

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!

We did, and I am excited for my new little space here.

When the thoughts of writing snippets along with food came to mind, blogging was the way to go. Since I procrastinate so much, it helped that my then 12 yr old opened up a blogger account and jumpstarted the blog. That’s the story of how this blog was created.

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