Pure Vegetarian By Lakshmi

A Book

2013-04-10T22:57:00.000+03:00

Six months ago you kindly gave me feedback about writing a cookbook. Your encouragement and ideas weighted in deciding whether to take up the task or not. Three publishers had approached me months earlier but, as usual, I hesitated to commit. In November, finally, I abandoned my reluctance and, by December, was developing and testing recipes. The book will be published and distributed in 2015

Strawberry Sorbet & Sweet Paratha

2013-03-27T12:55:00.000+02:00

Nobody drives a forty-eight years old car. It doesn’t meet today’s need for speed, practicality, ecology, prestige or other values attached to a vehicle. Cars could, potentially, last longer but our ever changing desires dictate when a car, mobile phone, computer or camera is outdated. Buildings from the 60’s, on the other hand, are still used for living although they may require renovation.

Lemon Tart

2013-03-18T11:29:00.001+02:00

Pure accidents by Lakshmi. That’s what the blog should’ve been called. By the strike of fortune I am, time and again, able to turn disasters into edible – sometimes even delicious – dishes. Today’s lemon tart isn’t an exception. I went astray by mixing too much butter with flour for the dough of lavanga latika, fried Bengali pastries shaped like tiny envelopes and sealed with cloves. A larger

Naan

2013-03-10T20:03:00.000+02:00

Baked at high temperature in a cylindrical clay oven, tandoor, in Southern, Central and Western Asia, naan is a traditional flatbread which, due to the restaurant culture, is perhaps the best known Indian bread in the Western world. Although I’ve visited India several times during the past twenty years, prior to this week, I had never eaten naan. It’s not typical bread served in the temple

Back to The Basics

2013-03-03T18:07:00.000+02:00

It’s the time of the year in the Northern hemisphere when the sun reveals how dirty the windows are and how much dust has collected above and below the eye level. This week, I have been brushing, mopping, washing, recycling and throwing away sacks of rubbish. It’s a good start. However, a conversation with a friend reminded me of something I’ve neglected to sweep: my heart and mind. The former

It’s Christmas Time!

2012-12-07T17:45:00.000+02:00

For someone who doesn’t observe Christmas, the holiday season means another year will come to an end. Like in 2011, I will take a break from blogging until February. It is the darkest period with a few hours decent daylight, which makes photographing impractical. Instead, I will concentrate on recipe developing and, hopefully, come back with a renewed enthusiasm next year. I would like to

Sourdough Pan Bread With Butterbean Filling

2012-11-29T13:27:00.000+02:00

If you have been following the blog, you have noticed that I use spelt in most of the recipes that call for flour. Because I’m frequently asked about it, it is a good subject to explore. There are a couple of theories of the roots of spelt (Triticum spelta), an ancient hybrid of emmer wheat (Triticum diococcoides) and wild goat-grass (Aegilops tauschii). It remains unresolved whether it has

Apple Tart

2012-11-09T15:15:00.000+02:00

Do you remember I wrote about cāturmāsa in September? A week ago, on Monday, the smiling face of full Moon marked the beginning of its final quarter, the month of kārtika, which is especially dear to bhakti-yogis for belonging to Śrīmatī Rādhārānī, Śrī Krishna’s feminine energy. It cases the most intimate pastimes in Vrindavan, the forest village of tulasī tree. Among millions, I’ve taken a vow

Pumpkin & Rosemary Soup

2012-10-25T15:01:00.001+03:00

When we moved to Finland with my husband, it was May 2000. Patches of snow still lined a few shadow corners of Helsinki but winter was well underway towards the south of equator. However, a country of which one third rests above the Arctic Circle never really wakes up from the polar night. Even in the summer the northern wind is just snoozing, as if recharging. The presence of the Arctic Ocean

Halva

2012-10-16T16:44:00.003+03:00

The Arabic term halva is used either for a flour or nut based dessert. My first contact with sesame halva was at the age on nine when my parents brought a gift box from Lebanon. It tasted unlike any other sweet before. Although it was light and crumbled when touched, the sugar and nut butter melted in the mouth. It had an earthly smell, almost like timber mixed with honey like sap. I ate it

Chickpea Dip & Spelt Crackers

2012-10-05T19:22:00.002+03:00

Nearby, my camera is standing on a tripod, groomed like a bull ready to charge. As soon as I open the oven, a cloud of steam surges into the kitchen. It reminds me of the moments after rain when every scent travels on its own track. Now I smell the faint spirit of closeness between basil and rosemary that is covered by a duvet of melted mozzarella. It is hidden between the layers of tomato

Filled Cookies

2012-09-27T17:27:00.000+03:00

Sri Vamana Dwadashi of today is a festival to celebrate the appearance of Sri Vishnu’s dwarf incarnation, Sri Vamanadeva. As a matter of fact, the occasion started already yesterday by fasting from grains and legumes on Parsva Parivartini Ekadashi. According to the Vedic lunar calendar it marked the moment when Sri Vishnu turned around while asleep for four subsequent months leading to the

A Cook To Book Or A Book To Cook?

2012-09-20T15:58:00.000+03:00

A confession: I haven’t read books, other than on philosophy (more than a doctor orders!), since 1980’s. It was around that time I gave up watching television, too. Although I probably have missed many sensual experiences, a lot of mental space has become available for matters I consider important in life. And, don’t worry: I have been informed about the major events from the crumbling of

Quinoa Pilaf

2012-09-16T14:20:00.001+03:00

At your dinner table, is there a dish that receives negative reviews time and again? Regardless how it is prepared or served, it will be poked around. Neither my husband nor I am a picky eater, yet, quinoa used to be an issue for us. “Fish-eyes again!” my husband exclaimed whenever I pushed a plate of quinoa instead of rice in front of him. He asserted the kernels were crawling and staring at

Apple Marmalade Candy

2012-09-09T14:32:00.000+03:00

When Henry VIII of England received a box of marmalade from Mr Hull of Exeter in 1524, it likely contained Portuguese quince paste, marmelada. In the 17th century, when the citrus became plentiful in England, the definition of marmalade was restricted to a preserve made of citrus juice and peel. In other languages, however, marmalade may still refer to what is known as jam in British and

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

2012-09-03T10:32:00.002+03:00

The chocolate and zucchini cake is a controversial recipe. To whomever I’ve served it, the first reaction is disbelief. It has a moist and light texture and, no, it doesn’t taste like zucchini at all! It is one of those cakes that go well without a filling or cream. Pumpkin can be substituted for the zucchini. Although the recipe is vegan, milk-products can be used instead of orange juice and

Pakora & Chutney

2012-08-26T14:53:00.001+03:00

Deep-frying is my least favourite method of cooking. I appreciate vegetables, paneer, patties, bread or sweets cooked in ghee, but prefer honouring them in quantity only on special occasions. The quality suffers from substituting ghee with oil. In fact, I got heartburn just by heating up oil the other day! The fumes repel me. A stale smell lingers in the kitchen for days. It is associated with

Cones With Roasted Chickpeas

2012-08-21T13:36:00.000+03:00

A straight forward recipe, for a change, I was thinking while making cranberry milk fudge a friend of mine, Ratirupa, used to serve over 20 years ago as her “trademark”. I haven’t had it since. In the meanwhile, I moved abroad for a decade and she got a stroke that partially paralysed her. Although she is doing great, considering the physical challenge and the fact she is over 70-years old, she

Every ordeal is an opportunity

2012-08-11T11:56:00.000+03:00

Rarely have I been as utterly disappointed as yesterday when renouncing the recipe of misthi doi, sweet yogurt! A week earlier a friend of mine, Cintamani, had introduced it to me. It is one of the most exquisite desserts I’ve had for a long time. Her interpretation of the classic Bengali after dinner treat had a light and silky nuance, quite different from the traditional one. I was looking

OH, SUMMER!

2012-08-02T20:13:00.000+03:00

It is the beginning of August! Time passes so fast. I was off-line for a month and it went like a blink of an eye. Everyone has been complaining about the weather. It is unpredictable. I don’t mind rain or cloudy skies. My concern is: dearest Summer, please, don’t leave us yet! You are so beautiful and vital! And abundant with fragrant herbs, vegetables, fruits and berries. Your rapeseed

Summer Soup (Kesäkeitto)

2012-07-03T17:44:00.000+03:00

There are dishes of collective emotional attachment in every culture. Summer soup or kesäkeitto, as it is called in Finnish, is such. In the country where a summer season is far too short and offers barely a crop a year, every bite of local harvest is honoured. When the first baby potatoes reach farmers market, people rush to buy them, even, if they cost 16 € per kilo! There is something

The White City Of North

2012-06-29T11:27:00.000+03:00

A German architect, Carl Ludwig Engel (1778–1840), was called to build Helsinki as the new capital of the autonomic grand principality of Finland that was a part of Russian Empire from 1808 to 1917. Prior to, Finland had been under the Swedish occupation for six hundred years with a West coast town, Turku, as the centre of culture, trade, administration and education. After a devastating fire in

A Short Vocabulary Of Composition

2012-06-24T23:37:00.000+03:00

For the sake of simplicity, let’s have popcorn as a subject. It hosts fascinating visual attributes: irregular shapes, weightlessness, whiteness, volume, multitude, dryness, crunchiness, tenderness, puffiness... It is associated with leisure, free time, parties, picnic and cinema. Pop corn is an inexpensive, quick and easy snack. The cooking method of popping is adventurous. The taste is mild

An Interview

2012-06-14T13:07:00.000+03:00

If any of you would like to read a recent heart to heart interview about my approach to cooking, photography and blogging, please click here. It is conducted by Radhika of Just Homemade. Thank you.

Stuffed Blackcurrant leaves

2012-06-10T23:51:00.000+03:00

Your comments on the previous post about developing the blog content are appreciated! I’m contemplating ways to satisfy your interest. There is, however, an obstacle I bump into all the time: to talk about myself is hard. It is a matter of identity. Blogging and photographing are activities I do, not who I am. I’m doing them out of necessity at the moment. I was pushed by the cycle of life,