We enjoyed a ragi dosa with spinach and cheese at Solitude Farm’s cafe in Auroville. While tearing the soft melt-in-your-mouth masterpiece and delivering it to our mouths, we marvelled over the nourishment that this six acre parcel of mother earth delivers. Sarah, the cafe’s cook, is an intuitive one. She thrills at the produce that …
We developed this recipe for Date Laddu with Cardamom and Sesame to replicate the delicately balanced dried fruit laddu we purchased in Auroville and proceeded to snack on for days after. Auroville has its own food processing plant called the Kottakarai Organic Food Processing Unit (KOFPU) that has been fully operational since 1997. The KOFPU …
One thing that was reinforced on our visit to Auroville was the powerful flavours of fresh local food. Anandi of Satchiananda Cafe and Krishna of Solitude Farm are both quite famous for their smoothies. We enjoyed a reviving green and minty smoothie during our visit, which worked wonders to beat the heat and restore our …
Imagine a vast plain of dry, fissured red earth baking like clay under the hot sun. It collapses and erodes under the weight of each South Indian monsoon. Scruffs of grass are the only growth it bears after decades of deforestation. Visiting the city of Auroville now, you’d never guess that this was the condition …
Auroville. We were fascinated that there is a place (and people) on this blue earth existing for the sole reason of promoting human unity. We made a brief visit to Auroville in 2014 before returning in 2016 for a better understanding of this unique place. In order to make the connections we value, we needed …
Huge gratitude and credit to our friends Sumeet Nair and Anita Goubert for sharing this flavourful recipe with us. You can find a plethora of inspiring recipes from Sumeet with his latest project Yummefy. It’s so fun to have such a creative and food-loving friend. Sumeet’s work is artful and professional and most importantly – …
We’ll never forget the day that we ate this chicken with our friends Sumeet and Anita in the garden of a lovely colonial home in Puducherry. Surrounded by tropical flowers, in the shade of broad leafed trees, with cool stone under our feet, we savoured every flavourful morsel. How refreshing to take something as simple …
There’s much to love about Puducherry. Called Pondicherry until 2006, it’s now mostly known as Pondi. The city was the French capital of India from 1674 to 1954 and as such is decidedly different than any other part of India.
Creole. In North America, we associate the word with Louisiana. We see it as a sultry mix of cultures and food, a blend of races, spices and language. It’s where French (and Spanish) colonials met with African-Americans and Native-Americans, free or enslaved, in the heat of the south and everything melded together, willingly or unwillingly. …
Read more about Cooking French Creole in Puducherry with Anita Goubert and Sumeet Nair
Our wonderful driver Murali was a great ice cream model for us! He always seemed to know when we needed a break on the road and where to find the best dosas, chai and kulfi – India’s richer, creamier version of ice cream. Kulfi traditionally takes two days to make, with one whole day spent …