Raksha Bandhan is a festival that signifies the beautiful and loving relationship between brothers and sisters. My family celebrates Raksha Bandhan with great enthusiasm. For those who don’t know about this holiday, “Raksha” means protection, and “Bandhan” means binding. Sisters tie a thread called Rakhi (like a friendship band) on their brother’s wrist and pray [...]

Teej is around the corner. As a child, I enjoyed Teej festival very much and have lots of fond memories of it. The Indian calendar is filled with many wonderful holidays that celebrate the Gods, the family or the welcoming of a new season. My mom loved celebrating festivals, as it was more of a [...]

Cold Coffee (Iced Coffee) brings back many fond memories of my youth. In the summer months, I would often walk with friends to the nearby gas station that had a coffee shop kiosk. They would make the best cold coffee and freshly baked cookies. When I got married and moved to the US, I did not [...]

Recently my husband Alex mentioned that while he enjoys my usual tofu dishes, he would like me to prepare a new tofu dish. He wanted something with Asian-inspired flavors. I was ready to take on this challenge, as I am not too familiar with Asian cooking. He wanted to try a tofu dish that had [...]

While reading the viewer’s entries for Mother’s day, I felt that I also wanted to share a little about my mother. It has been 15 years since she passed away, yet I constantly feel her presence around me, guiding me and mostly, putting a smile on my face. I am a mom of two and [...]

What are authentic recipes? An authentic recipe varies from province to province, family to family and even person to person. In my thinking an authentic recipe is whatever I had eaten the first time and enjoyed it as a new dish, it becomes my reference point. I have tried to replicate some dishes to that [...]

One of my favorites sweet is called Milk Cake. This is an exotic and traditional dessert. Milk Cake is made with a few ingredients: milk, sugar and lightly flavored with cardamom. With so few ingredients it sounds like an easy recipe. There are many short cuts that I have tried for this recipe but none [...]

Paneer is a fresh cheese, which is un-aged and non-melting. Paneer is also known as chena. In Indian cooking, paneer is used in a variety of ways! It is used to prepare appetizers, side dishes, main dishes, desserts and whatever else you can think of. Any way you use paneer, it tastes great. It doesn’t [...]

I have been out of town for the last couple of weeks.  So I thought this would be a good time to write about some basic tips in cooking and how to create your own recipes. I know many of you have been already doing that. Regarding the making of gravies:  Most gravies are tomato-based. [...]

Thank you all for your comments regarding this contest. I am very pleased to see the interest that my viewers have over the entries and the winners. The website is my way of sharing my joy of cooking, just as the contest is my viewer’s way of sharing their own creative ideas. I take great [...]