If you liked my recent recipe for chocolate almond cookies, then you will surely like this one as well. It’s very similar; still easy and delicious, still vegan, almost refined sugar-free, but instead of baking and making cookies, we’re making truffles. Perfect for packaging up and giving away to someone special… just be sure to make some for yourself as well!
Continue reading “chocolate almond truffles”
The tomato-eggplant combination is a mighty good one. That would explain why just about every corner of the globe has its version of a dish featuring this combination. While I love this combination in every version, the one that I make most often is this Indian curry.
Continue reading “spicy tomato & eggplant curry”
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. -John Wooden
Remember my recipe for homemade chocolate hazelnut spread? Well, one day, it turned into these. How you ask?
The strength of Canada lies in our diversity. Our harmony comes from knowing that there is commonality within this diversity.
Our first home in Canada was in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montréal. Back then it was far from being the gentrified hipster hangout that it is now. It had served as the stomping grounds for waves of immigrants, notably English Protestants, Irish Catholics, Jews, Greeks, Italians and Portuguese, long before we arrived. By the time we settled there, in the 70’s, it was already embedded with relics from its rich history.
Every Saturday morning, we took the 55 south to do our weekly shopping on The Main or boulevard Saint-Laurent as it is officially called or Saint Lawrence Boulevard as it was called back then among English-speaking Montrealers. My parents found the shops along this strip far less daunting than the pristine aisles of the large chain stores like Steinberg’s and Simpson’s. These smaller shops were more in line with what they had been accustomed to back home in India. Money was tight and if a little haggling could save a few quarters and pennies, it made all the difference. On Saturday mornings, the place was bustling, streaming with new and old immigrants alike. Everyone spoke with a different accent if not a different language, and although everything was new for us, we were strangely comforted by the diversity of it all.
Continue reading “rye and tuna patties & a tale of two immigrants”
Toum is simply a garlic sauce that hails from the Middle East and consists of no more than garlic, lemon, oil and salt. It’s very similar to the Mediterranean region’s aioli and what is often referred to simply as garlic sauce here in North America. If you’ve had a bite to eat at a Lebanese restaurant, you’re sure to have had some!
Today’s recipe is a not-so-typical smoothie recipe. All you need for this recipe are about half of a lime, some milk and any type of sweetener. How does this become a smoothie?
Magic.
There’s something about autumn that wakes up our senses and reminds us to live. -Unknown
Autumn, here in Montréal, arrives gently. First the trees are tinged with colour, and then slowly over the weeks, they transform into creatures of gold and red. First the nights get cooler and gradually that carries into the day. Then, as gently as she arrived, autumn fades away, usually under a blanket of snow. Her purpose, fulfilled.
Continue reading “soul food: quick and easy, warm semolina pudding for breakfast”
From humble beginnings come great things.
A simple vegetable curry served with fresh rotis (Indian flatbread) is a typical lunch in a Gujarati home. This sort of humble food is deeply rooted in my humble beginnings. And though, now, things may have changed on the outside, at heart, nothing has, and this simple Gujarati girl still craves these simple yet delicious curries. I cook them not only to satisfy my own cravings but to ensure that I can at least pass this portion of my heritage to my Canadian born, half-Indian children.
Continue reading “indian-spiced cabbage with tomatoes and green peas”
Following the light of the sun, we left the Old World. -Christopher Columbus
Pesto is a sauce of the Old World. It’s also simplicity at its best. Its name comes from the method used to prepare it: by pounding using a mortar and pestle. Okay, so perhaps the use of a mortar and pestle does not exactly conjure up the notion of simplicity when we can use a blender instead. Which ever method you use, 4 ingredients later, you end up with Italy’s most prized sauce.
Continue reading “basil pesto”
