Chai and Chai Wallahs – these words are all music to our ears when we travel in South India. Chai wallah translates as tea worker. Whether they have their own stall or are a worker at a restaurant, their job is to make and/or sell chai to their customers. One of the best things about …
A street food vendor we met outside Ooty’s Government Botanical Gardens inspired this recipe for Grilled Chilli Lime Corn. She roasted her corn over a charcoal spit. Then she rubbed it with lime, sprinkled it with chilli powder, and handed it over wrapped in the daily news. Our recipe is a little more decadent because …
We sipped Creamy Cardamom Tea on a tea factory tour in Ooty and got inspired to create this recipe for you. That tour also influenced the purchases we made in the tea museum’s gift shop. All purchases led to our ability to recreate that Creamy Cardamom Tea again at home. We made our way straight …
Ooty, also known as Udagamandalam, is high in the Nilgiri (blue) Hills of Northern Tamil Nadu. Every 12 years, a native shrub called kurunji turns the hills blue with its blossoms. That sight inspired the name. It must be quite a sight to see. Sadly, we did not catch this phenomenon during our brief visit. …
Ironically, it was just about tea time, when Nanjundan approached. We were looking into the big windows of the production floor at the Benchmark Tea Factory and Museum near Ooty, Tamil Nadu. His smile revealed a large gap where a bottom tooth should have been. A beard of silver stubble hinted at his age. Tea …
If we tell you it was a hot day when we visited Auroville your mind will check a box and move on. If we tell you it was the kind of hot where beads of moisture pop up on your skin and soon turn into little streams that dampen your clothes and have you mopping …
This dal is infused with favourite flavours of South India – fennel, ginger and coconut – and was inspired by a fresh-from-the-fields spinach dal we enjoyed as part of a lunch time thali at Solitude Cafe in Auroville. Our Moong Dal with Spinach, Fennel and Ginger will satisfy any craving for classic South Indian flavours. …
Our Cassava and Spinach Subzi recipe is inspired by the subzi we enjoyed so much in our thali lunch at Solitude Farm Cafe in Auroville. Subzi is a Tamil word referring to a dry curry. Spicing is still present but these recipes omit the fluids that make the usual curry or spicy gravy Indian dishes …
We enjoyed a ragi dosa with spinach and cheese at Solitude Farm’s cafe in Auroville. While tearing the soft melt-in-your-mouth masterpiece and delivering it to our mouths, we marvelled over the nourishment that this six acre parcel of mother earth delivers. Sarah, the cafe’s cook, is an intuitive one. She thrills at the produce that …
We developed this recipe for Date Laddu with Cardamom and Sesame to replicate the delicately balanced dried fruit laddu we purchased in Auroville and proceeded to snack on for days after. Auroville has its own food processing plant called the Kottakarai Organic Food Processing Unit (KOFPU) that has been fully operational since 1997. The KOFPU …