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Over the past couple of years, I’ve placed more importance on consuming probiotic-rich fermented foods like yogurt, fermented garlic honey, kombucha, and this homemade sauerkraut recipe to keep my gut and body healthy and thriving. Luckily, making sauerkraut is inexpensive and simple enough for even fermentation beginners! What Is Sauerkraut Sauerkraut (often misspelled as saurkraut or sourkraut), meaning “sour cabbage,” is a fermented cabbage dish native to Germany (and popular across Europe), though some say it originated in China....

Aug 15, 2016, Updated Jan 02, 2018 Start off a new week and it’s also India’s Independence Day! Wishing all my Indian readers a very Happy Independence Day! Needless to say I really miss home on these days. It’s a different feeling being there! My husband really misses flying kites with his friends. Flying kites on Independence Day is quite a thing, especially in Delhi and around. So that is something he misses terribly....

Jun 06, 2019, Updated May 07, 2023 Dust the loaf with powdered sugar and enjoy a slice with cup of coffee or chai! One thing which I really miss these days is baking. When I first started cooking, I only used to bake. That’s the first thing I learnt even before I learnt how to cook. It’s funny though, I had no experience in baking nor did I see my mom ever baking at home (we didn’t have an oven)....

Having just shared my favorite methods for juicing kiwi and strawberries (with and without a juicer), I knew I had to share my current favorite way of enjoying those juices – combined in this deliciously fresh, sweet, and tart strawberry kiwi juice! This summer, I’ve fully embraced fresh juices as a great way to stay hydrated while nourishing my body (alongside big jugs of infused water). I’ve already shared recipes for pineapple orange and pineapple ginger juice, watermelon juice, and even cucumber juice very recently....

Feb 05, 2015, Updated May 07, 2023 Before posting this recipe, I was looking at my blog’s home page and all I could see was chocolates and red and pink and some more red. I have been sharing only desserts on Cook With Manali for a while now. But honestly this is the time for all the chocolate and hearts with Valentine’s Day just around the corner. The particular day doesn’t excite me but all the chocolate, roses and cute little things do....

Jun 29, 2021 Cubes of paneer marinated with yogurt, spices and a paste made with cilantro and mint, this is best enjoyed with a squeeze of lemon and more chutney on the side. We all love paneer tikka, don’t we? Paneer marinated with yogurt, spices and then cooked until charred- it is the one of the most popular Indian vegetarian appetizer. You would find it on the menu of every Indian restaurant and also at Indian weddings, parties....

Taco Tuesdays aren’t as much of a ‘thing’ here in the UK as they are in the US, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t still love a good taco now and then. In fact, you may even have seen my recipes for Rainbow Vegan Tacos, Meat-free Organic Rainbow Tacos: 4-ways, and even Breakfast Tacos. However, there’s one issue I’ve always had with tacos – they’re such a messy food!...

Feb 09, 2023 Like they say a good punjabi rajma should be “rassa hua” meaning the spices, masala, rajma should be intermixed so well with each other and the rajma should melt in mouth and this recipe makes just that kind of rajma. It is like a hug in a bowl! Rajma is something I have grown to love in the last 10 years or so. It wasn’t something that was my favorite growing up but now I find it so comforting....

Even though the ample homemade pasta recipe posts suggest otherwise, I’m slightly obsessed with swapping out pasta for slightly crisp, tender zucchini noodles (aka zoodles) at any opportunity. This is why I thought it was about time I compiled this ultimate guide on how to make and cook zoodles (aka zucchini noodles/courgetti)! Learn how to make zoodles with and without a spiralizer, turning to other kitchen tools like a julienne peeler or mandoline to get the job done with top tips for the best results....

Having recently shared a method for homemade vanilla butter (perfect for making buttercream!), I was inspired to create more sweet compound butter combinations, which is where this cinnamon sugar butter comes in. Learning how to make cinnamon butter with either sugar or honey is simple and makes for a perfect Texas Roadhouse copycat recipe! Homemade cinnamon butter can be made from scratch with cream in under 10 minutes or with pre-made butter in just a couple of minutes....

It is official, my obsession with ginger has reached whole new levels, and I absolutely love it. This post contains a cheeky recipe for delicious, crispy homemade dried ginger chips. Using either an oven or a food dehydrator, you can make crispy sweet ginger ‘chips’ – perfect for snacking or adding flavor and crunch to dishes. Recently I made a fresh batch of Homemade Ground Ginger Powder using dehydrated ginger....

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I love sharing all my top methods for juicing my favorite ingredients. In the last couple of weeks alone, I’ve shared methods for pineapple juice, grape juice, and how to juice lemons. Now it’s time to learn how to make mango juice (or “mango nectar”). Fresh mango juice is super refreshing, sweet, slightly tangy, tropical, and thicker than most juices (making it feel like even more of a treat)....

What is Sushi Rice? Sushi rice refers to fluffy, sticky, short-grained white rice cooked and seasoned with vinegar, sugar, and salt seasoning. In fact, “sushi” means “sour-tasting” in Japan and refers to the rice (rather than the fish, as many believe). While there are a few handy tips to stick to for the absolute best sticky rice for sushi, the method is surprisingly easy once you know it! Once cooked, it should be fluffy and sticky without being mushy, with a slight firm bite, and perfect for making sushi, sushi bowls, and more!...

When you think of compound butter (flavored butter), flavor combinations that often come to mind include herbs and chilies – but did you know you can make a sweet compound butter with vanilla? Learning how to make vanilla butter is simple and can be done in under 10 minutes. And, okay, I know that technically you can make this homemade vanilla butter in just a couple of minutes if you’re using store-bought butter, but it takes under 10 minutes to make this vanilla butter from scratch with delicious homemade butter....

What is Poha? Traditional Poha is made from flattened rice, a popular breakfast/snack dish in India. It is an easy, delicious, healthy breakfast recipe made with onions, potatoes, and seasonings like chilies, lemon, and curry leaves. Today, I am sharing the keto version of poha made with cauliflower rice. As we all know, cauliflower is a low-carb vegetable and go-to solution for vegetarian keto recipes. Grate cauliflower florets with the help of a grater or food processor to resemble fine rice....

Oct 31, 2019, Updated May 22, 2023 Pan fried tofu is tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce along with pepper, dried chilies and peanuts. This tastes best with brown rice! Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. For more information on my Affiliate and Advertising Policy, please click here. Kung Pao Tofu was one of the first tofu dishes that made me like tofu. Before that, I didn’t think much of it....

Mar 09, 2015, Updated May 07, 2023 With the clock moving forward by an hour yesterday, spring is almost here, even though I hate losing an hour. But seriously it has been so sunny here that I feel like it’s summers already with temperatures in mid 60s. I love summers [in US of course, they are not fun in India with 115 F degrees!] because other than the amazing weather and lots of sunshine, I love all the delicious fruits and veggies that we get during this time of the year....

Jan 08, 2021 This recipe combines methi, matar (green peas) and malai (cream) in a rich, sweet and seriously creamy curry! Methi (fenugreek) is a popular winter vegetable in India. I remember those cold winter mornings in Delhi when we were served hot Methi parathas with butter for breakfast, it used to taste so good! Since methi leaves were in abundance during winters, mom also made a lot of things with it like aloo methi and one of my absolute favorites was this Methi Matar Malai....

This recipe of Nargis mandakki is very nostalgic. It takes me back to my school and college days during my stay in Harihar, Karnataka, which is 14 kilometers from the city of Davangere, Karnataka. Davanagere is popular for dishes like Davangere beene dosa , mirchi bajji, mandakki usli, pundisappu palya, khara mandakki, Guladiki Undi, and many more. Every time we go to India for vacation, we pack at least 2-3 liters of this Nargis mandakki from my sister-in-law’s father’s restaurant along with some davangere special mixture (sev)....

Jun 04, 2022 Summers in India (most parts of India) get brutal. I grew up in north India where temperatures constantly stayed above 100 F through summer. We made a lot of homemade drinks to get through those days (like lassi) and nimbu pani was always a top favorite. It translates to lemon water where nimbu=lemon and pani=water. We would have roadside stalls selling nimbu pani outside our school and everywhere in the market during summers....