Vegan Minestrone

To make a good soup out of very few ingredients is truly an art. You need good flavors, flavors that go together and make the soup you want. In soups with multiple ingredients might seem a little easier to achieve a rich broth, but amassing a required quantity of ingredients sure is tedious; occasionally we…

Quick lunch: Upma

Lunches are difficult for us. We eat late breakfasts (uhm...because that's when we get up; late). Our breakfasts are almost always laborious without shortcuts of butter, cheese, or even bread at times (yes, we often have to make some sort of bready substance for breakfast). So after this whole affair is over -- and since…

Sichuan-style braised eggplant with garlic and chili

I can never tire of talking up home cooking. Best on all fronts; healthy, accessible, satisfyingly yours. Still, there are times, places, or occasions that call for restaurant eating. While travelling, for example. When sampling an unfamiliar cuisine. Or if wanting to have that favorite dish from now familiar but still not your cuisine. When…

Okra stew for (non)picky eaters

Have you got a picky eater around? Are you one yourself? No? Really? The truth is, we all are picky eaters occasionally. Almost anything can set off one's unfancy: cooked onions, raw onions, tomatoes, carrots, fish, mushrooms... The list goes on and on. As with many such rejected foods, the losers aren't they. We shortchange…

Learning to love pumpkin

Pumpkin has a difficult reputation.  Universally acknowledged as ultra healthy (unless as part of a pumpkin pie), beautiful, potentially entertaining, but... generally unloved (except as part of a pumpkin pie). What's up with that? Well, it's difficult. Pumpkin is just a bit too pumpkin-y.  Not just with strong colors, but also strong flavors.  On the…

Harira: a Moroccan tradition

The soup of Morocco is harira, and the soup of Ramadan (the month of fasting for Muslims) is harira. That is how it is in Morocco. Every evening of Ramadan you break fast with this hearty soup. It is usually accompanied on the side with little deep fried sweets covered in honey. Sometimes, of course,…

Bottle gourd with red lentils

Isn't it more than a little strange that restaurant eating is in such high esteem? Okay, there's that convenience of not cooking yourself, which comes in handy now and then (say, when travelling or when sampling new, unfamiliar cuisine). But, really, a home cooked meal trumps restaurant fare any time. Beside the many connections you…