Lunch Combos

When you don't want to do so much work early in the morning for breakfast, you postpone it and do that for lunch.

When it's the weekend, the mind and tummy automatically wants Pooris. What is the connection I wonder???

Today's lunch
Pooris
Cheruku Aamras (stored away for days like this)
Potato masala

Just whipped up this comforting plate for lunch—fluffy egg biryani, spicy mirchi ka salan, and cooling onion raita. The biryani has all those warm, fragrant spices with perfectly boiled eggs tucked in. The salan? Oh, it’s got that nice kick from the green chilies, balanced with that nutty sesame-peanut gravy. And the raita? Just thick yogurt with crunchy onions, a pinch of cumin, and fresh coriander to tie it all together.

No fancy tricks, just good, homely food that hits the spot. Perfect for a lazy afternoon! 😊

There’s something so satisfying about a humble, no-fuss meal that just hits right. Today’s lunch was exactly that—soft, warm chapatis rolled up with a drizzle of ghee, paired with a deeply spiced egg curry that’s been simmered to perfection. No fancy plating, no elaborate techniques—just real, home-cooked comfort.

This is the kind of meal that reminds me why I love cooking—no pretenses, no stress, just good food made with care. It’s not restaurant-style, it’s home-style, and that’s what makes it special.

Today’s Lunch: Paneer Biryani, Tomato Salan, Onion Raita & Lime Soda

This plate is pure comfort. Fluffy paneer biryani with soft cubes of paneer and fragrant rice. The tomato salan has a tangy, spicy kick—perfect with the biryani. The onion raita is cool and creamy, balancing the heat.

Two glasses of fresh lime soda sit beside the plate—sweet, tangy, and fizzy. Just the thing to wash it all down.

No fancy tricks here. Just good food, made with care.

Today's Dinner: Shell Pasta & Summer Drinks

Made conchiglie pasta tonight. The shell shapes hold pesto sauce perfectly. Tossed mine with shrimp. Made a veggie version for him.

On the side - watermelon mojitos. Added blue curacao for color. Refreshing and light.

The fried rice has golden egg bits mixed through every forkful. Babycorn pieces are coated in that sticky honey-chilli glaze - crunchy outside, juicy inside - sweet, spicy and totally addictive.

All set for today's cricket match 

Cheesy Veg and Chicken Tacos (hard shell tacos)
Some veg and chicken nuggets
Mint mayonnaise, Honey mustard sauce and ketchup

Nothing else matters. Ain't it???

☘️Nellore Chapala Pulusu with Vanjaram/Seer fish and
☘️Rice

Happy Pongal/Sankranthi to all!

🌿Chakkara Pongal
🌿Venn Pongal and
🌿Pumpkin-Drumstick gotsu

Monday Blues??? Naaaaaaaaaaah, why fret when it can be Yellows and Orange

💥Methi Aloo Gobhi
💥Poori and
💥Alphonso Mango chunks in pulp

Amazing, finger licking lunch

Used Byadagi Chillies (Red chillies of Karnataka) for the 1st time....and wow what colour it gives to the food!!! 

Most importantly, it's not very spicy.

💥Egg Masala
💥Ghee Rice
💥Onion raitha

An awesome finger licking combo in the Kerala cuisine which can be had anytime of the day... breakfast/lunch/dinner 🌞🌞🌞

💥PaalAppam and
💥Kadala curry (Small brown Channa)

These Lacy soft Appams are a delight with Veg and Non-Veg curries. The Kadala curry is a favourite, and those Thenga kothu (coconut pieces) inbetween give it a lovely crunch.

Today's Lunch
 
☄️Peas Pulao
☄️Masala Eggs
☄️Yennai Kathrikka / GuttiVankaya masala
☄️Onion-Tomato raitha

👉Mamadikkaya Roti Pachadi with a dollop of ghee
👉Rice
👉Sambar
👉Arati dhoota curry with coconut
👉Karivepakku-Munagaaku podi
👉Curd (nip)
 
Now for a nice nap after lunch 😴

When you think of "comfort food" what comes to your mind first???
 
For me it's a nice hot plate of Rasam and Rice 😋
 
🍀Ginger-Lemon Rasam (without Tamarind) made in the Eeya Chombu/Tin vessel
🍀Sepankizhangu / Arbi /Chamagadda roast
🍀Curd, Fryums, Pickle (NIP)

Happy Friday folks!
 
🌸Dal tadka with
🌸Ghee Rice

3 States in a Plate 🌝
 
🌟Menthikura Pappu (Telangana)
🌟Peerkanga Thogayal / Beerakaya Pachadi with coconut (Tamilnadu)
🌟Chaena mezhukuperati / Yam fry (Kerala)
🌟Kerala Pappadam (Papad)
🌟Rice, Ghee n curd

Potato is a favourite veggie and we love it in any form 🥰
 
The texture and taste of this curd based gravy is just awesome 😋
 
☄️Dahi Alu with
☄️Chapathis

With APrime and Netflix ... anytime is movie time at home 
 
Get into get into the Movie mood like this 😋
 
♨️Sliders
♨️Potato wedges and
♨️Strawberry Milkshake

Chineeeeeeeeseeeeeee!!!
 
🔹Veg fried Rice
🔹Cauliflower Manchurian

Vanjaram fish curry/Nei Meen curry - Kerala style
 
Spicy, tangy with the use of Kodampuli (Malabar Tamarind), lots of ginger, garlic, curry leaves, shallots and tomato.
 
✹Fish curry
✹Palappam
✹Lemon rice
✹Curd rice
✹Potato masala

🎉Ghee Rice
🎉Egg Butter Masala 
🎉Buttermilk
🎉Ash gourd Halwa/Gummadikaya halwa

First comes the 💥Egg Biriyani – piping hot and full of masala, with fluffy basmati rice layered beautifully with spicy boiled eggs, caramelised onions, and a touch of mint and coriander. 

On the side, there's 💥Onion Raitha – cool-curd mixed with finely sliced onions, green chillies, and a sprinkle of roasted jeera powder.

To wash it all down, you've got a refreshing 💥Mango-Chilli Mojito – a crazy combo of sweet mango pulp, zesty lime, and just a hint of green chilli for that kick, topped with soda and mint leaves. 

 
💥Egg Biriyani
💥Onion Raitha
💥Mango-chilli mojito

If you have lost sleep the previous night and want to catch up on it, have this for lunch. No need to worry about some blissful afternoon nap 😄
 
☄️Ghee Sambar rice
☄️Potato roast
 
Just this one pot meal and you're done! Well, 2 pots technically...along with the Potato roast  .

Today's lunch
 
🍀Vegetable Rice
🍀Kadai Paneer

Sunday Lunch at Home!
 
🔥Alu-Pyaaz praata (Punjabi slang ) - makhan maar ke
🔥Mango Lassi
🔥Aam ka achaar and
🔥Dahi

Wish you all a very Happy Pongal!
 
🌿Ven Pongal
🌿Chakkara Pongal
🌿Medhu Vada
🌿Sundal
🌿Tomato Chutney
🌿Sambar (nip)

I wanted to try something new as a side dish. Made this "Empty Salna". It's named that way coz it doesn't have any veggies/meat and is made with just Onions and Tomatoes. It was just too good with the Biriyani.
 
Today's lunch
 
🍁Veg Biriyani
🍁Onion-Tomato Salna (Tamilnadu style)
🍁Kerala Pappadom
🍁Onion raitha

Today's Lunch
 
🍃Annam
🍃ChilakadaDumpa Munakaya Pulusu
🍃Dondakaya masala
🍃Kakarkaya vepudu
🍃Perugu
🍃Nei

Lunch is normally a very sober thing @Home when it's rice. I mostly just make ONE thingy (to pour on rice) like Sambar, a veggie dal, Rasam, Vathakozhambu or Avial etc and 1 side dish, with a pachadi now & then. Pickle and Fryums or pappadom to add to the course. Of course curd is a must to round off the meal.
 
Sometimes, I get possessed and try to do too many things  .
In all the confusion of cooking, plating, supervising the composition of the shot and finally approving the one best click by Kishore, I forgot to add the pickle and fryums to the plate

Today's lunch
 
💥Tomato pappu (Tomato Dal)
💥Eeya chombu Kalyana Rasam (Tin vessel Kalyana Rasam)
💥Nooney Vankaya / Yenna kathrikka (Brinjal gravy in oil)
💥Beerakaya pachadi (Ridge gourd chutney)
💥Rice, Ghee, Curd
💥Laddoo (store bought)
💥Mango pickle and fryums (NIP)
  
Have a beautiful Sunday people!

Red is the colour of tis Season! 🥰
 
Chinese it was, for today's lunch at home
 
🍁Veg fried rice
🍁Chilly Potato Paneer
🍁Khus-Coraco Mocktail

Husb wanted this dish all of a sudden and thankfully I had all the ingredients at home 🙈
 
🫛Methi Mattar Malai with
🫛Ghee smeared Chapathis
 
Dinner will be finger licking gooooood 😋😋😋

Today's lunch @ Home ☺️
This is my leaf and the veggie Husband's leaf had everything except the NV 😄. The NV was leftovers from yesterday 😄.
 
☄️Sorakaya Pappu (Organic tender Oval fat Bottle gourd from a dear friend's farm)
☄️Mutton Fry/Roast
☄️Prawns Masala fry
☄️Usirikaya / Gooseberry / Amla Pickle
☄️Majiga Mirapakaya / Curd chillies (store bought)
☄️Dondakaya / Ivy gourd masala
☄️Rasam
☄️Curd
☄️Ghee
☄️Potato chips (store bought)
☄️Mini Palgova bites (store bought)

One of the favourite combo of a Malayali/Keralite 🥰
 
💥Kappa and Neimeen curry / Tapioca mash and Seer fish curry.
 
Soul satisfying, finger licking good stuff. That fiery spicy fish curry with the Tapioca mashed with coconut paste .... hmmmmm, this is a match made in heaven 😋

Jab Penne Pesto met Prawns masala for lunch today @ Home.
 
🍃Veg Penne Pesto for him
🥐Prawns Penne Pesto for me
🍸Mango Lime Mojito

How do you take revenge on somebody? My favourite is to hit them over the head with a Frying Pan! 🤫
 
When you're asked to make Pooris for lunch in this horrible hottttttttt summer, enjoy the food before you take your revenge
 
🎈Fluffy Pooris
🎈Alu saag
🎈Sindhuri Aam ka ras
🎈Some Banganpalli

When the fellow loves Gobi Paratha and I love Alu, both of us have to be happy 
 
Today's lunch 😋
 
🍂Gobi-Alu-Pyaaz Paratha
🍂Aam ka achar
🍂Dahi
🍂Mango Lassi and
🍂Cherukku rasam for dessert

Today's lunch was finger licking goooooood! 😋😋😋
 
🌟Egg Biriyani
🌟Mirchi ka salan
🌟Onion-Cucumber Raitha

My nephew announced that he's gonna make us lunch on my birthday (which was 2 days back) and that I'm not allowed to enter the kitchen 😄
 
💥Firecracker Salmon
💥Baked Potatoes
💥Avocado salad
 
Needless to say it was yumm. The sauce paired with it was amazingggggg.😋
Anything made with love is always so special. The part where we all burst out laughing was when he came out of my kitchen all tired and sweaty like Tom who was chased by Jerry and said "Aunty, don't make me cook again just because you get a day off" 😂😂😂

Aapam and Kadala curry, a match made in heaven! It would sure make a non Mallu fall in love with Kerala food.
 
A boring Monday got converted into a lovely day with this pair for lunch! 🥰
 
The handful of coconut bits fried in coconut oil enhances this dish to another level.
 
Any non-veg curry with these lacy aapams is a better choice anyday 😄

It was all about last night! 😄😄😄
 
A typical and traditional Kerala delicacy, a quintessential part of a Malayali's food spread which is so versatile that it can be a breakfast, lunch or dinner dish. Basically...just anytime food! ☺️
 
Having a nice dinner helped ... It was like a Pre-match celebration .
🍃Aapam
🍃Kadala curry (small black Channa curry) with lots of Thengakothu (bits of fried coconut)