Basics

Is it daal, dal, dahl or Dhal? These are ways in which lentils or pulses are named. To be honest right way of writing or calling it would be either daal or dal, adding an extra ‘h’ makes the easy sounding word turn tough, but again call whatever you like it is the best known vegan protein naturally available today. There are more than 50 different lentil groups in India but we will focus on the most commonly used ones in the Indian kitchen. But before we progress, you have a question in your mind about the term ‘daal’, don’t you? Well the terminology is used in 2 situations: Dried Lentil/Pulse/Bean is called daal. For e.g. – Mung Beans is called Hara Moong Daal, or Split Yellow Peas is called Toor DaalAnd any dish or lentil soup prepared using this food group

Spices are the way of life for any Indian kitchen. There is no Indian who can cook without spices, to add to our fascination of spices we even add them to our tea or use them for their medicinal purposes as well. And why won’t it be, India has been the spice capital of the world, the largest producer of almost all spices known. And hence we can’t think beyond them! Duh! In my kitchen I have an entire cupboard dedicated to the varieties of spices, two racks in my refrigerator and a special portion of my freezer as well. But for daily use I have this spice box or as we call it ‘Masala Dabba’ in Hindi for my everyday cooking. (Masala = Spice & Dabba = Box). It’s not always the standard ingredients as you see below, but keeps

Cooking the perfect rice is quite a difficult task as much as it might not be seem to be. For someone like me who has grown up eating rice for most of her meals, I do find it challenging to get those perfect strands of rice too. Every variety of rice cooks differently and behaves differently in water and heat. It is important to understand that there is no thumb rule applicable to all varieties. Below I have tried to just explain how to cook basmati rice in 2 different ways - Pasta method & Absorption method. P.S either of these two methods will bring you the best rice, provided you use a good quality rice brand. Pasta Method Absorption Method Types of basmati rice that is perfect for your recipes https://youtu.be/sxXejYJ16-0