Kaveri Sahay Prasad
History, 2002I am a soft skills trainer living in Bengaluru. My roots are in Patna and Delhi. I had the privilege of growing up across different cultures as my father worked for a pan-India organisation; my interest in food culture stems from this and my father’s fondness for road trips. LSR taught me to deconstruct and simplify; I apply these principles to food that are new to me: be it kokum meen curry or za'atar bread or kwanti! I inherit my knowledge around food from my dadi, nani, parents and parents-in-law, my mother being a strong influencer for the nutrition bit. My life is enriched with reading and playing with family, music, creative writing, and ideas around waste management!
Chef's Recipes
Ingredients
- Broken wheat: 1 cup (soaked for 30 min and drained)
- Water: 1½ cups for pressure cooking
- Jaggery: ½ cup
- Coconut milk: 200 ml
- Ghee (clarified butter): 1 tbsp
- Cardamom powder: ½ tsp
- Dry coconut (finely sliced or chopped): 3-4 tbsp
Godhuma payasam
Onam special from my Malayali friend!
Ingredients
- Lalbagh Sindhoora mangoes (ripe): 4
- Sugar: ⅔ cup
- Water: ⅓ cup
- Kesar (saffron): a few strands (optional)
- Elaichi (cardamom) powder: 3-4 pinches (optional)
Mango popsicles
An experiment that turned out to be my children’s favourite!
Ingredients
- Raw mango (grated): 250 gm
- Ajwain (carom seeds): ⅓ tsp
- Mangrela (kalonji, onion seeds): ⅓ tsp
- Saunf (fennel seeds): ⅓ tsp
- Rai (black mustard Seeds): ⅓ tsp
- Methi dana (fenugreek seeds): a pinch
- Haldi (Turmeric): ⅓ tsp
- Kashmiri chilli powder: ⅓ tsp
- Mustard oil: 50 ml
- Salt to taste
- Green chillies or dried red chillies: as per taste.
Kachche aam ka koocha ( a grated…
My Dadi’s favourite. I can still feel her company when I have this koocha. The word ‘koocha’ means that which has…
Ingredients
- Button mushrooms (sliced):1 cup
- Iceberg lettuce (coarsely chopped): 1 cup
- Capsicum (sliced): ½ cup
- Cucumbers (sliced): 1 cup
- Cherry tomatoes (halved): ½ cup
- Green chilli (sliced): 1
- Honey: 2 tbsp
- English mustard: ½ tsp
- Garlic (minced): ½ tsp
- Juice of lemon: 1
- Salt to taste
- Ground pepper as per taste
Mushroom salad with honey mustard dressing
I fondly recall how my parents encouraged us to have a lot of fresh vegetables, at times semi-cooked or raw. These…
Ingredients
- Wholewheat flour: 1 cup
- Chana dal: 1 cup (soaked for 6-7 hours)
- Garlic (peeled): 6-7 cloves
- Fresh or dry chillies (optional): 2
- Water for kneading the flour
- Salt as per taste
- Water: 1 litre
- Mustard oil: 1 tsp
- Mustard or any oil of preference: 1 tbsp
- Rai or black mustard seeds: ½ tsp
- Slit green chillies as per preference
- Finely chopped coriander leaves: 2 tbsp
Chana dal peetha
In Bihar, naashta (as morning and evening snacks are called) is seasonal. There’s a main dish that is accompanied by a…
Ingredients
- Tomatoes (medium size): 4
- Onion (finely chopped): 4 tbsp
- Garlic (finely chopped): ½ tsp
- Ginger (finely chopped): ½ tsp
- Coriander leaves and stem (finely chopped): 2 tbsp
- Lemon juice:1 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Mustard oil: 1 tbsp
- Dry red chillies: 2
- Fresh peas: ⅓ cup (not the frozen ones)
- Water for skinning the tomatoes: 500 ml
Tamatar ka chokha / bharta
In Bihar, naashta (as morning and evening snacks are called) is seasonal. There’s a main dish that is accompanied by a…