Blustery, gloomy, melancholy, wet – I’m a foul weather friend. Bring me thunder, lightning and rain! But our home is mostly peopled by real “under the weather” sorts, wilting from want of the sun. What can you do? Buy a sun-lamp? Perhaps.

As the rain makes your world go soft focus, you’ll know you’re a real Indian if your thoughts turn inevitably to something delicious to snack on with your evening tea. Bhajiya and wadas? Yes, perhaps but only if you have no imagination and/or opportunity to go beyond the deep-fryer or the deep-fry shop. While we did experiment with minty-lemony-mushy-pea stuffed batata wadas, yam chips and onion rings (see the blog) this monsoon, let’s turn a page. And I’ll tell you why this bunch of recipes is super cool.

Genesia Alves

Upward mobility has brought many good things through the front door but has chased common sense and healthy frugality out the kitchen window. We think we know our vegetables.

When it comes to monsoon treats, I understand the bhajiyas, the ginger tea, the soups: I think there’s something almost sadistic though, about our monsoon craze for fire-roasted corn. Watching bedraggled rain-revellers on the corniche, standing around the bhutta cart I always get distracted by the guy doing the roasting. His coal-stove is

Simple, perfect, the building blocks of life: our experiments with whole grain continue. This week, it’s whole wheat. When I came across the term wheatberries, I thought maybe they were like the Iranian zereshk or some manner of food fabrication turning wheat into giant couscous. But the answer is much simpler. Wheatberries are the hulled

Mumbai is my village. Around this time of summer, every year, the hordes on the streets in my neighbourhood seem to thin. It’s ‘muluk’ going season – everyone goes home to their ‘native place’ to wait the heat out, maybe do some sowing, or hanging with grandma. For the East Indian community, this Mumbai is our ‘muluk’, so our

I’ve said it before and of course, I’ll say it again, the Indian summer is best dealt with by treating it as nature’s do-it-yourself spa. Use the humidity to detoxify: spritz some lemon or mint into your drinking water, drink it slightly warm and wear only the loosest, whitest, muslin clothes and you’ll deal with the gentle perspiration nicely.

Mother Nature, she’s a crafty one. As the mellow first months of the year ripen in the shimmering heat, when the sun begins to wreak havoc on mind, body and soul and the monsoon seems far too far away, she presents six weeks of the most delicious distraction. Mangoes! Like with all things of legend, there is considerable discussion

Now that the summer vacations are upon us, there’s a high risk of being bamboozled into taking the kids “somewhere”. Whether it’s because of guilt, emotional blackmail or cabin fever, I predict that soon, despite the heat, you will find yourself planning a picnic or a day of “fun” at an amusement park or the zoo. This will involve

Shining like a light in the middle of the noisy, hectic, chore-infested tunnel of every day is that magical oasis of calm and snacking — teatime. Whether you’re a Hatter of questionable sanity with a dormouse and rabbit for company or with Silky, Moonface and the Saucepan man atop Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree in the Land of Tea Parties