Kerala Recipes

September 8th is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a big feast in the Church. In Kerala, Catholics prepare for our Blessed Mother's feast day by fasting or abstaining from meat for 8 days known as 'Ettu Noyambu'. Yesterday, I wanted to make a cake for Mama Mary's birthday. I didn't have any plans and began searching for ingredients in my pantry. I had some overripe Bananas in the fridge and Oats in the pantry. Decided to bake an impromptu cake to celebrate our Blessed Mother's birthday and surprisingly it came out well. I tweaked the recipe I normally use for Banana Cake to include Oats to make it a tad more healthier. This cake tastes good straight out of the oven but I decided to be a little fancy and made a frosting using Yogurt and Peanut Butter. Just mix peanut butter, yogurt, honey and sugar until smooth and you have a frosting! Spread it on this lovely Banana Oatmeal Cake and you are all ready to serve it for Breakfast or as an after-school snack. I ... continue reading...

I haven't been a lover of Salads. I occasionally have salad but to me it still tastes foreign. Even though I love veggies, Lettuce is one veggie which I find hard to like. I often buy Lettuce dreaming about making some awesome-must-try salad but usually it sits in the fridge for a long, long time. During my mother's visit to the US, she suggested that I make a Kerala style thoran with Lettuce. She had made Lettuce thoran when she was in Dubai and tried convincing me to do the same. I was quick to dismiss her suggestion as silly because you know people use Lettuce only in salads. You don't cook lettuce! End of Story! A few months later, my mother got the chance to make Lettuce Thoran while at my sister's house and this time I knew she was serious about it. When my sister raved about it, I knew I had to try this funny sounding Lettuce Thoran. Well.... you know the end of the story this time, right? The lettuce thoran turned out awesome and I instantly felt completely naive and ... continue reading...