Chemmen Thenga pal Curry (Kerala-style prawns cooked in coconut milk)

When it comes to non-veg, there are few things my family relishes more than prawns. Fried, sauteed, grilled - we can't have enough of 'em! The famous "Chingri Malai Curry" (prawns cooked in a rich coconut milk sauce and select Bengali spices) of West Bengal is probably our favourite, followed closely by "Daab Chingri" (prawns in a grainy mustard sauce, cooked inside a green coconut).

Having moved to the south of India, the exquisite cuisine of Kerala inevitably caught our fancy, especially because of its brilliant seafood recipes. This afternoon, I decided t try my hand at cooking a the traditional Chemmen Thenga pal, recipe sourced from http://www.mykitchentreasures.com/2010/09/prawns-in-coconut-milk-curry.html

It turned out to be the easiest dish to make and it's a creamy, spicy bit of joy, best served on a bed of steaming, fluffy white rice.

Ok, time for lunch!

If I have no bread, I'll just bake some!

This weekend I decided that it was high time that I pushed myself into the unknown realms of baking. It's probably the baked foods frenzy that I see on Facebook nowadays, with some of my friends posting picture after picture of the most amazing oven- fresh goodies that they've churned out. I decided I had to see for myself if this is something truly doable for a single man, with little to spend in the kitchen.

I never seem to want to start just from the basics (bad habit) so I found myself a recipe of rustic rosemary garlic bread at http://chewoutloud.com/2012/10/05/rustic-rosemary-garlic-bread/

To cut a long story short, here's what happened after about 3 hours (2 hours of which was free time, waiting for the dough to rise).

As I look back on the weekend, I think I could get used to baking after all!

Grilled veggies drizzled with pomegranate reduction

Inspiration struck this afternoon, driving me straight to a nearby store from where I procured the veggies. I had no idea what I would do with them until I go home. Seeing our trusty OTG in the kitchen I decided on grilling them, and the memory of a middle eastern dish made me think of a pomegranate reduction. The reduction would normally have been used on pork or lamb, but its addition to hot grilled veggies was just as good! Pity you can't see it clearly in the photograph. Next time, I'll take a picture of it separately.