Snippets from exploring Sijhora’s weekly market post fieldwork, eating as many wild cherry tomatoes I could, and watching all the Mahua dry.
And to finally trying lasarre subji after hearing a lot about it! It didn’t have a distinctive state but it was slightly sour and somewhat creamy! I cooked them in a paste of tomatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, jeera along with some spices— as the lady in the market suggested.
Arpitha (@curdricechapters ) talks with great fondness about her grandmother’s summer ritual of making watermelon rind rotti. Her grandmother, Sarojini Bhat, experimented with every part of a vegetable at home—ensuring no scraps were left behind and no peel went to waste.
“She would teach me how to peel it properly. I would peel it with a peeler and she would straight up reject that,” she laughs, recounting how the reuse of what is generally considered vegetable waste for making rottis is something her grandmother grew up with as a child—now passing it on to Arpitha. She also recalls how they would make her grandfather do all the peeling.
If you want to try making this scrappy yet hearty watermelon rind rotti at home, here are a few things to keep in mind. Make sure the tough green outer skin isn’t included. Use up all the red flesh clinging to the rind to fully utilise the scraps. Since watermelon rind doesn’t have a strong flavour of its own, it becomes a wonderful blank slate for other flavours to shine.
Read the full story ‘Watermelon Rind Rotti: Arpitha and Sarojini Bhat’ and listen to their conversation on the @LocalFoodClub.in website—link in bio. You can also find the recipe for Watermelon Rind Rotti there!
This story is part of our ongoing ‘Longing for Home Food’ Project—a listening experience cataloguing oral food memories and recipes through conversations that evoke a familiar sense of home.
Persimmon olive oil cake🥮
I got a couple persimmons in mid December and had to patiently wait for them to get very ripe so they were sweet enough. The recipe is a combination inspiration of the spiced persimmon cake from #dessertperson but in an olive oil and without the nuts. I remember liking the original but this is a little softer and milder but still very warm and comforting.
Notes-
Wet ingredients:
Paste made with 2 ripe fruits and 1/4C water, 100g yogurt, 150g olive oil, 140g brown sugar
Dry ingredients sifted in:
180g flour, 2tsp baking powder, 1.5 tsp baking soda, 1.5tsp salt, 1.5 tsp ground ginger, 1tsp ground cinnamon.
Fruit sliced and placed on top, Demerara sugar sprinkled.
Baked for 45min at 180°C, cooled for about the same
.
.
.
.
.
.
I haven’t baked anything new from Dessert person for a long while so I decided to make something that is worth the time and commitment.
I couldn’t find almond paste so I made it using almond flour.
Subbed the alcohol soak with nolen gur syrup, eggs with yogurt, and AP flour with whole wheat. The cake’s structural integrity was not the best but tasted good and we finished a Bundt cake in under 5 days!
I still am dedicated to bake through the book, hopefully by the end of 2026.
—————————
Fruitcake
<Bake 31 from @csaffitz ‘s Dessert Person>
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#fruitcake #christmascake #egglesscake #dessertsofinstagram #dessertpersoncookbook
Laal gajar and carrot cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting🥕
I’ve been craving gajar ka halwa but, decided to try making carrot cake instead because I haven’t baked one in over a year.
The Delhi carrots made it a little more moist, flavourful and wholesome. The browned butter made it very comforting!
.
.
.
.
#carrotcake #carrotcakes #dessertsofinstagram #creamcheesefrosting
Masala chai choco chip cookies 🫖+🍪
I have one good and one unspeakable tea-with-milk experience. Not sure if I’ll ever start drinking tea with milk but, Asmi made me a pretty good chocolate chai once and this is my attempt at immortalising it.
This was a good attempt as far as first trials go but, one further attempt with more flour and some cream might make it perfect.
Song recommendation (if you want one. Ear worm worthy!! ) The Wish by John McLaughlin.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#masalachaichocochipcookies #masalachai #masalachaicookies #chocochipcookies #brownbuttercookies #brownbutter #brownbutterbakes #egglesscookies #homebakery #egglessbaking #chocolatetea #cookiecrumbs #cookiecrunch #dessertperson
cookie experiment- almond version :)
In love with the crunch and mild sweetness of this cookie and I might just make a kaju version to match kaju katli after overloading them this Diwali.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#cookies #cookiestagram #homebaking #almondcookies #almongcookie #egglesscookies #homebaking #homecafe #egglessbaking #dessertperson #wholewheatbaking
Sweetpotato - cumin quiche🍠🥧
I'm trying to find different methods to cook with sweet potatoes from uncle’s garden and I've been itching to bake something that aren't cookies for a while!
The crust contains makki ki atta, whole wheat flour, flax seed, butter and unibic doosra jeera cookies! The filling is steamed sweet potatoes, tofu and a bunch of veggies. The jeera flavour from the unibic cookies blended perfectly with the veggies and creaminess of the sweet potatoes.
Very filling and wholesome. Will bake this again :)
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#tofuquiche #sweetpotatoquiche #corncrust #wheatcrust #quiches #quicherecipe #bakefeed #veganquiche #wholewheat #healthierchoices #stressbaking #homecafe #homecafé #bakersofinstagram #bakefromscratch #egglessquiche #veganfoodshare #plantbased #cottagecore #metro_swaadkasafar #plantbasedrecipes
Kharada kaddi season🎉
Snacks sorted for the week. Ajji made the batter, amma fried it. I and ajja did our bit in crushing and eating them
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#kharadakaddi #alubhujia #bhujia #besan #besanrecipes #homemade #homemadesnacks #snacks
