What I love about this homemade marinara sauce is that it requires no chopping (yay!), uses simple pantry ingredients, can be made ahead, and, like this vegan pesto, keeps well in the fridge for days! It’s also incredibly versatile. I use it as a sauce for pasta (of course!), pizza, and lasagna. It also works well as a dipping sauce. It is kid-friendly too! Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?! And it is....

Have you ever thought about making your own bread crumbs? I have to admit, I probably wouldn’t have until food allergies became an issue in my family. My son has a severe sesame seed allergy (along with all tree nuts and peanuts). Suddenly I became an avid label reader. How long it takes: 30 minutes Equipment you’ll need: food processor, baking pan, oven Servings: makes 2 ½ cups Here’s the shocker: Many commercially produced bread crumbs have sesame seeds!...

Of all the legumes, mung beans (moong beans, green gram, or green moong dal as they are also known) are my favorite. An Indian household is incomplete without a good stock of these! As a dependable fall-back, I always have a box of green mung beans - boiled or sprouted - in my fridge. Once they are prepped i.e. soaked and boiled or soaked and sprouted, it is a breeze to turn them into a delicious dish - this green moong dal and mung bean salad, for example....

Oat milk is extremely flavor-neutral and goes really well in Chai, lattes, and smoothies. Creamy oat milk is key to a delicious vegan Chai. Are you looking for uses of oat milk and similar inspiration? You might like the decadent Dairy-free Chocolate pudding that I made using oat milk. Why Oat milk though? The bright side to the pandemic is that we learned to depend on our own abilities as much as possible....

Hi, my name is Rachel, and I confess that I continue to be addicted to my Instant Pot. I’ve been bringing you guys a mix of basic recipes like Instant Pot Boiled Eggs and Instant Pot Shredded Chicken, as well as complete meals like Instant Pot Chili, Healthy Chicken Piccata, and Instant Pot Pasta with Sausage. This recipe is on the basic side, but baked potatoes are such a versatile building block in the kitchen....

I’m a broccoli fan, pure and simple. I love broccoli in any form, but most especially roasted. Roasting broccoli makes a convert out of folks who are professed broccoli haters. How long it takes: just over a half hour Equipment you’ll need: Instant Pot or large pan Servings: 4 (makes 7 cups) My dad is not a broccoli fan but he’ll definitely eat this broccoli salad with no complaints and he usually goes back for seconds....

What is Kootu? Kootu is a Tamil word meaning “combine” or “mix” or “add” or “adding.” Based on the context, it can mean combine or add. For the dish kootu, we combine a vegetable along with lentils. In our household, we mostly add moong dal, but for some vegetables, we do add chana dal. A typical Tamil Nadu thali/feast is incomplete without a kootu. Go to any Tamil Nadu restaurants, and you will find a kootu in their thali....

I have posted smoothies with kale and also kale chips. But never used in dals and stir-fry. Last time when we visited Preethi’s place, she served kale chole. :-) It was a unique combination but we liked it, and that’s when I decided to use it in Indian cooking too. As we love the kale chips, I thought of preparing stir fry / dry curry first. I tried it right away with simple spices....

Check out how to make this mushroom kuzhambu (vegan and gluten-free) with step-wise pictures. My love for kuzhambu, especially vathal kuzhambu is a known secret. More than sambar, I prefer kuzhambu varieties and explore different ones. Also, I love recipes that you can pair it with different dishes, and this mushroom kuzhambu, or as we say in Tamil, the kalan kuzhambu is one such recipe. The coconut, coconut oil, and the curry leaves and whole spices make this gravy lip-smackingly good and a perfect side for all the dishes....

Instant Pot Rajasthani Dal Dhokli When recipes from different countries intertwine and cross the boundaries, no wonder recipes and ingredients within India intertwine and cross the boundaries. This Dal Dhokli is quite famous in the lands of Gujarat and Rajasthan. But they are prepared in a slightly different way, and today I am going to share the Rajasthani version of the dal dhokli. Like dal bafla, you make the dhokli first, simmer it in water (no need to bake) and then prepare the dal and simmer it back again in the dal....

Trevti Dal | Three Lentils After green gram dal masiyal from TN and sobji dal from Bengal, the third instant pot recipe that I am going to post is from the land of Gujarat – The Trevti Dal. Trevti means three and as the name suggests we prepare this dal with toor dal, channa dal, and moong dal. Like sobji dal, this is also a no onion no garlic, vegan and a gluten-free dal recipe....

This karela masala is easy to make and tastes amazing. And it is also perfect to serve with both rice or roti. About the recipe People have love/hate relationship with kakarakaya aka karela or bitter gourd. But I really enjoy cooking and eating this bitter vegetable. One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is in this simple kakarakaya podi kura. I try to remove some of the bitterness by microwaving or steaming karela with either tamarind or yogurt....

Friday is what we call a fun family night and this Kashmiri Lamb Chops Curry is a perfect way to welcome the weekend! What is Kashmiri Lamb Chops Curry? It’s nothing but Indian Lamb Chops made using a special ‘Kashmiri Spice Blend’ in a yogurt sauce. Kashmir is a state in the north of India and is extremely popular for its rich, aromatic dishes cooked using ‘Saffron, Fennel, Almonds, and Cardamom’....

After posting back to back Christmas Candies, I am back with a comfort food recipe just perfect for this winter season. It is my favorite – Rasam. Today I am going to share the instant Kerala style rasam recipe without any rasam powder and also without any toor dal. If you are thinking if I will be preparing fresh rasam powder for this recipe, then the answer is no. :-)...

You can make this kobbari sweet either into burfi or ladoo shape. A perfect last minute treat for festivals or celebrations. About the Recipe I grew up eating kobbari lauju, or more commonly known as laskora, very frequently. This is an Andhra version of popular coconut barfi made with just 2 ingredients. All you need is fresh or desiccated coconut and jaggery. Back home, these are sold as kobbari undalu in stores....

Lemon Cupcakes Another lemon recipe for you today! 🍋 Between all of the testing I’ve been doing for my lemon brownies, lemon curd, lemonade, and now these lemon cupcakes, it’s a miracle my grocery store has been able to keep up with the amount of lemons I’m going through. Today’s recipe comes by request. I’ve had a lot of fans of my vanilla cake ask me how to make a lemon variation of that recipe, and while I’d love to have an easy fool-proof response to that question, I really don’t know the answer until I get in the kitchen and try it myself....

It’s a little embarrassing how much Easy Mac I ate when I was in college. And when I say a little embarrassing, I mean a LOT embarrassing. How long it takes: 10 minutes Equipment you’ll need: large measuring cup or bowl Servings: 1 For those of you who aren’t familiar with Easy Mac, it’s the familiar Kraft mac and cheese, packaged in individual portions that can be prepared in a mug in the microwave, ready in just a few minutes....

Kadamba Sambar Sadam Kadamba saadham or the kadamba sambar sadam is a famous recipe among the Iyengar community in Tamil Nadu. In simple words, it is mixed vegetable sambar saadam. But taste-wise, it entirely differs from the regular sambar saadam. So what makes this recipe unique? Why Kadamba Sambar Sadam? Of course, the fresh ground masala and the inclusion of curry leaf in that masala. Curry leaves make this rice taste divine....

Homemade No-Churn Oreo Ice Cream Who says you need an ice cream maker to make homemade ice cream? Once you try no churn ice cream, you’ll kiss your ice cream maker goodbye. One less appliance to clutter up your countertops! How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 6 hours in the freezer Equipment you’ll need: mixer, large bowl, freezer Servings: 10 Ice cream is one of my kids’ favorite after-school treats....

Only 4 days left til Christmas, and I have so much gift-wrapping to do! I still exchange gifts with all 5 of my siblings (and my parents) and I have a pile of gifts for Zach stowed away at my parents’ house, and there’s an untouched roll of wrapping paper lying on my dining room table. I should be wrapping, instead I’m obsessing over dessert shooters, and today I’m sharing these Peppermint Bark Dessert Shooters with you....