The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
So excited to share with you details of my debut cookbook! All about the wonderful world of Gujarati snacking and our culture of sharing and hospitality. It’s full of stories as well as quick and easy vegetarian recipes from beer snacks to bhajia, masala mogo to green chilli margaritas! Have a look!
I love travelling. Especially travelling on holiday. But the problem with holidays is that you have to leave behind important everyday chores. I know what you;re thinking. “That’s the whole point of a holiday!”. I know. I know. But when you are away during quite possibly the hottest couple of weeks in the UK for […]
It’s mango season! Last week I bought a box of 12 Kesar mangoes for £10. So expensive! My mother will wait until boxes hit £5 but I’m too greedy and can barely contain myself walking from vendor to vendor on Ealing Road in Wembley. I bought two boxes because we ate one in the car. […]
It’s been a while since I was at the allotment. It was a pretty grim day today and none of the plots were looking that great to be honest. Empty canes stick out from the ground. Seedlings were not to be seen – even in the greenhouses. It’s that time of year when everything is just […]
Patra is one of my all time favourite Gujarati dishes. My Baa (maternal grandmother) used to make them for breakfast when I was little using fresh colocasia leaves and her own spice mix. I was too little to really appreciate her or her patra which makes me so incredibly sad. However, I wasn’t so little that […]
I’m very fussy about tomatoes. I love the sundried variety but not in pesto. I like the raw variety but only paired with basil and mozzarella and in a ‘cachumbar’ (salad) with sliced onions, red chilli powder and salt. But I love cooked tomatoes. Especially in curry. It’s my go to dinner when I am […]
This coconut masala is adapted from the lovely book Mr Todiwala’s Bombay. Please also take a look at the okra. The tomatoes soak up the coconut really well and I’ve added a little extra of the coriander seeds and cumin seeds, garlic and a tarka with curry leaves to give this dish more flavour. A tarka is […]
I am a huge fan of okra. This wasn’t always the case because they can become a huge sticky mess and taste awful! The trick is to make sure they are washed and dried carefully with a teatowel so there is no trace of water when you cut them. The water meets the inside and […]
I was invited to the Harvest Festival at The Eden Project to talk to people about Baobab and take up the challenge to create some recipes. This was my savoury offering which worked really well. The baobab powder brought out the citrus of the lemon and gave the bhajias a light tang. You’ll need 300g […]
I was born in Tanzania. I don’t remember much. I have flashbacks of my Mr India toy, my swing in the garden, riding an elephant to school and mangoes. Confused memories of a five year old child. What I also remember were soldiers. Guns. Dark faces with frightening eyes. Hushed conversations. Brave smiles. It was […]
It’s mango season and quite possibly one of the best times of the year! Crates full of mangoes arrive into the UK from all over India which produces 51% of the world’s mangoes. Here’s a great little map pinpointing exactly where they come from. The state of Andhra Pradesh produces the most but my favourite are […]