 Green garlic or lilu lasan or hara lasun is in season! This beautiful ingredient is known by different names across diverse communities in India and used to prepare a lot of yum dishes. I have tried my hand at making a few preprartions from different cuisines. Here is a look at some of them:
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 LASANIYA RINGNA BATATA WITH CHOPDAS As a person with a penchant for non-vegetarian preparations, there are very few places in the city whose vegetarian food is able to pleasure my meat-eating taste buds. Soam at Babulnath, Mumbai is one such restaurant!
I have savoured Soam's fares with family and friends over the years. But, the special thing about the visit this time was the Kathiawadi menu that the restaurant is showcasing. This was coupled with a very informative #TasteAndTalk session with APB Cook studio founder & Indian cuisine expert Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal to enlighten food enthusiasts like me present about nuances of Kathiawadi food. Pinky Chandan Dixit, the affable owner of Soam too graced our session with her insights on Kathiawadi food she has been relishing since her childhood days.  Mangalore Buns The closest encounter I have had with Mangalorean cuisine was at the Udupi restaurants in the city of Mumbai. But, about two weeks ago I realized the intricacy of this gastronomy at a dinner hosted by Mrs. Prabha Kini, a home chef who welcomes people at her residence to enjoy her traditional meals. She hails from the Gaud Saraswat Brahmin (GSB) community of Mangalore which is one of the six communities contributing to the Mangalorean culinary legacy. The other five she mentions are cuisines of Rajapur Saraswat Brahmins, Udupis, Tuluvas, Mangalorean Catholics and the Beary Muslims.
In this article I am delving in detail in Mrs. Kini's meal that comprised of traditional GSB preparations including Mangalore buns, Phanna Upkari, Chitraana with the exception the Ghee Roast, a Tuluva specialty. GSB's are a Brahmin community that consumes non-vegetarian fare only in the form of seafood and this meal was a reflection of the same. It’s always a heart-warming experience to indulge in a delicious breakfast of humble South Indian delicacies served on banana leaf. While we identify a typical South Indian breakfast with idli and dosa, do note that these two have immense variations as we move every few kilometres in the five southern states of India - Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. Also, there are delicious preparations beyond the aforementioned two that are lip-smacking and beckon applaud. So, with a glutton's appetite, an urge to sample fares and learn something about South Indian breakfast, I landed up at the famed Arya Bhavan eatery in Matunga East, Mumbai. Here is a glimpse of what I devoured and what do these delights entail : Christmas is indeed a time for merriment and what better way to enjoy it than to indulge in delicious, traditional Christmas delights. However, this festive season I decided to not only gobble Christmas sweets but also learn their method of preparation. Thus, the Holly Jolly East Indian Christmas cook-up held by India Food Network and Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal's APB Cook studio at Craft Deli.Bistro.Bar, Mumbai proved the perfect opportunity to do so. The affable duo of Chef Paul Kinny & his beautiful wife Smita Kinny as well as Chef Tanai Shirali educated attendees about popular Christmas delicacies and also shared accounts around these treats. This was the first time Mrs. & Mr. Kinny were cooking together and it was an absolute pleasure to watch them churn out lip-smacking Christmas goodies like guava cheese, marzipan and milk cream.  Kunafa drizzled with saffron infused sugar syrup On my recent trip to Dubai, I had relished Kunafa and had spoken about it on my Instagram. Kunafa is a popular Middle Eastern sweet delicacy consisting of distinct layers of cheese and semolina or vermicelli baked together and then soaked with sugar syrup for sweetening. The ingredients used and method of preparation make it a delicious sweet but one with a shelf life of merely a day. Therefore, I was saddened when I could not carry this delicious treat back with me to Mumbai.
However, within a few days of my return to Mumbai my cravings for Kunafa had found a solution. Foodeementals, a sweet venture by Sufyan Qureshi and Zuber Barudgar in Mumbai is currently the only one home-delivering this rich, decadent treat to Mumbaikars.  Eating healthy is not a cumbersome task as most people make it out to be. A few alterations in our lifestyle in both the physical activities we do and the food we eat can go a long way in achieving our fitness goals. It is with this intention of helping out scores of people looking for information on healthy eating, http://www.fitfoodie.in/ has been created by Saffola. The aforementioned platform is like a mini encyclopedia of simple, easy to follow recipes ranging from Asian to Continental to Indian cuisines curated by a Fit Foodie panel of renowned chefs like Kunal Kapur, Saransh Goila, Shipra Khanna as well as nutritionists and food bloggers.
 In a recent article I had touched upon how the cookware sector has progressed in the past century and highlighted the pros and cons of various cookware. The cookware industry is revolutionizing its products at a rapid pace to cater to growing numbers of population, who want to employ healthy cooking techniques that also preserve nutritional value of food.
The Innove range from Royal Prestige® brand exclusively distributed by Seeba International in India is one such premium cookware offering the promise of nutritive food preparation. Well, in order to know more about this cookware range and what it entails, I landed with my foodie friends for a lovely Sunday brunch held by Royal Prestige® with celebrity chef Rakhee Vaswani at her Palate Culinary Studio in Mumbai.  I am always concerned with regards to the nutritional value of the meals I consume since I eat out almost five times a week. Am I taking all the recommended daily allowances of macro and micro nutrients in my daily meals? The answer is maybe or maybe not. This concern stems from the fact that I am pressed for time to make my own meals and also I end up eating my major meals of the day at extremely odd hours.
In light of all these alarming situations, I recently stumbled upon myDaily, which is a meal replacement shake replete with carbohydrates, proteins and fats. In addition, this powdered meal comes enriched with necessary minerals, vitamins and dietary fiber. Thus, for a person with a hectic work schedule like me it held the promise of a well-balanced meal that is hassle free and offers ease of preparation and consumption. So, does myDaily’s proposition work for me?  This KHAMEERI NAAN made in very select, humble bakeries nestled in quaint bylanes around Dongri area of Mumbai has a very raw appeal.
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