Welcome to My Weekend Kitchen – a space for mindful cooking with real ingredients. Here, I share traditional and contemporary Indian recipes peppered with food experiences from our travels around the world. Whether you are looking for healthy, easy-to-do one-pot weekday dinner ideas or elaborate weekend meal inspirations, you will find yourself at home here.
The recipes
The recipes here vary from one-pot meals like a mung daal khichdi to elaborate restaurant style recipes like shaam savera. Some are festival specific like Sheer Khurma for Eid-ul-Fitr while some make a regular day, a festival, like the warm pear crumble. Some, like the Gem squash with chunky salsa, are inspired by our travels while others like Caldo Verde are inspired by the different countries we have lived in and called home.
In 2016, following a health scare, I was nudged to relook at everything we ate by a naturopath. I believed I was doing everything right. We ate simple home-cooked food for most of our meals but I didn’t realize how processed and refined food was sneaking into my pantry and in our bodies. (Read more about my food journey here)
We rediscovered our whole relationship with food and cooking. Since then my cooking has changed in many ways:
- Mindful cooking with attention to ingredients and their source.
- Lots of raw cooking. You will see many raw salads and smoothie recipes since 2016.
- Increased use of whole-grains and millets. Even in baking, I’ve completely stopped using all-purpose flour.
- More vegan cooking. The only thing currently stopping me from turning 100% vegan is the use of clarified butter (ghee) in many Indian recipes. Ayurveda celebrates ghee as a superfood and it is a quintessential part of Indian cuisine. I am not yet able to give it up completely. And occasionally use of cheese esp paneer and eggs.
- Reduced eggs. As of now, I do eat eggs once in a while, but I am now slowly phasing them out by substituting eggs with flax eggs in baking or using alternatives for vegan omelets.
- No meat or seafood. While the archives do have some non-vegetarian dishes, we have since 2016 stopped eating and cooking non-vegetarian food.
Note: Nutritional information, when shared is an estimate for one serving of the dish and not an exact measure.
The ingredients
- As far as possible,
- All our ingredients are locally grown, seasonal and organic.
- We stay away from everything that comes packaged in a bottle so really no shop bought bottles of ketchup or pasta sauce. When my niece saw home-made ketchup she exclaimed “but isn’t ketchup something we buy from the supermarket?” 🙂
- When it says salt, it is always sea salt or pink rock salt. Rock salt for sprinkling and sea salt for cooking.
- We use no readymade spice mixes. We used to but not anymore. Some of the past recipes here, do call for them but now we have made our own home-made spice mixes and will be happy to share.
Measurements & Conversions for Recipe Ingredients
All the recipes here use standard US cups, tablespoons (tbsp), and teaspoons (tsp) measures found in most kitchens today.
- 1 cup = 240 ml
- 1 tbsp = 15 ml
- 1 tsp = 5ml
As I was learning how to cook from my mother, aunts, grandmothers, and other elders; they would always measure ingredients by hand and estimate. One fistful of rice per person is my mother’s estimate that works every time! But a beginner cook like me needed weights or volume and I figured using volume was easier as I just needed to measure the ingredient in a Measuring cup or spoon and use it. My spice box has a “one teaspoon (5ml)” measure spoon in it so every time I add spices to a dish, I know how much went.
I measure all my wet ingredients and dry ingredients like grains, lentils, and beans in the standard US cup measure (240 ml). All measures, unless specified, are with a level full and not heaped. An egg, unless specified, is a regular medium sized (~60g) organic egg. 1 cup butter is roughly 225g.
A word of caution: While trying out any recipe, make sure you use the same measure throughout. For example, if a recipe calls for three different types of lentils, use the same cup measure for all three.
Read More about My Food Journey…
Connect with me
This blog is a labor of love. If you liked and/or tried any of the recipes here, I would love to hear your experience. Rate the recipe, leave a comment, share a photo with #weekendkitchen on Instagram or connect with me on our Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest profiles.
Or join our newest journey into Recipe Videos.
With lots of love!
Ashima
P.S.
My Weekend Kitchen is completely offered as a gift. I love to cook and it gives me a lot of joy to explore, learn, and share new recipes with everyone. There is no paid advertising on the blog and there are no affiliate links.
In the past, I did went down the rabbit hole and did put in some affiliate links but I am in the process of removing them all. If you come across any on the site, do let me know. It will really help me :-).
All your dishes look very very delicious!
Since my classes have finished, I have more time to cook and am going to try them out!
Many of the dishes were actually the ones I wanted to try, but recipe’s here were very complicated. Your’s are exactly what I wanted!
Thanks!
Atul
Good luck! ask me if you have any question anytime! 🙂
Cheers,
Ashima
I appreciate the real-life examples and case studies you’ve incorporated into your post. They make the content relatable and applicable.
wonderful food blog!
Thanks! Liked your Organic initiative.. wish there was something like that in Baroda..
Cheers,
Ashima
Hi Ashima,
I have a question about yellow lentils, is that mean the split skinned moong bean or there is a yellow lentil like red or brown lentils.
Thank you
Hello Michel,
Most often yellow lentils refer to split and skinned moong bean but there are more yellow split and skinned lentils like pigeon peas and chana dal. There isn’t a yellow lentil like the red or brown lentil.
Hi,
We’re interested in advertising on your blog / website. Let me know if you’re interested in discussing further about it.
Thanks
Amandeep singh
Hello Aman,
Please contact me at ashima.goyal@gmail.com
Hi Ashima, the best part of your website is the english-hindi translation of indian spices. I always had problems with this in south india.
Hello Subhrajit!
Thanks 🙂 I want to increase that list.. I still keep coming up with spices that I don’t know the translation for.. For example, star anise.. Do you have more suggestions?
Cheers,
Ashima
Hey Ashima
Could you give me a gravy sabzi recipe with suran
Lovely website keep up the good work 🙂
Thanks
Hey Meenakshi,
Sorry for such a late response :o. I’m assuming by suran you mean yam. right?
I have never tried suran in a gravy sabzi. Always made it as a vegetable fry but you’ve given me the idea and I’m going to try it out soon!
Thanks for your encouragement 🙂
Cheers,
Ashima
To learn Recipe of millet
Hey Ashima,
I find your blog :-). Really amazing. Will be following it 🙂 I struggle with recipes. Thank you for blogging.
Hey!!
Thank you thank you 🙂 I hope you try some as well! And I also hope I get to taste some as well 😛
love
ashima
Hi Ashima……..
First of all hats of to My Weekend Kitchen…………!!! Amazing recipes………….
But I never knew that its ur website………..Really happy to see that………. u were always good at things…….. 🙂
Well….wanted to know can we make any Indian curry with broccoli….as me n my husband both love it…till now I have been stir frying it n having it as a salad………..
But just thought can we make it as an Indian curry………..need ur suggestions in this…
Thanks n All the best
Regards
Hey Teena!
Thanks so much 🙂 Actually I have also used Broccoli only in soups, salads and pastas. Haven’t tried it in any curry.. My family is not a big fan of Broccoli but I use it occasionally as its very healthy! I once tried broccoli aaloo (just like gobhi alloo) and it was fine but haven’t yet tried a gravy dish with it…
On net also I could only find broccoli dry sabzi and not gravy…Will let you know if I come across an Indian curry recipe using broccoli and would love to try if you come across one! 🙂
Thanks again!
love
ashima
thanks for the reply ashima
I love your blog Ashima, the best part being the pictures and short story behind every recipe.
Hey Divya!
Thanks so much 🙂 It means a lot! I wish I knew a little about food photography! I see such lovely photos on some blogs with props and amazing colour combinations… I need to learn that some day 🙂
love,
ashima
Hi Ashima,
I just landed on your blog while going through IndianExpress lifestyle page where you post regarding bunnu urad daal is posted.
Well, I am already in love with your blog! I was in a hurry when I landed on your blog, but your blog kept me engaged/interested for a good amount of time. But, I thought of not leaving this wonderful blogger page without leaving a comment. I also visited lime and lemony blog. You are an excellent writer. And going through a few posts itself I seem to get connected with you. Seems like you are from baroda (not very sure but your blog somewhere gives that idea) and have moved somewhere in SA. Well, I am from baroda as well 🙂 And you posted daal pakwaan recipe which is a sindhi delicacy .. I am Sindhi as well … I want to continue reading your blog but I will stop by your blog again (fursat se)!
Just wanted to say hi ! Also, I have very recently started blogging after being inspired from one of my friends. I blog about random stuff though. You are a great writer may be I will learn from your writing style in course of time. Do visit it if u get some time – its beingdhriti@blogpost.com
And keep blogging!
Hey Jaya!!
You made my day 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind words.. I started blogging almost 4 years back as a way to share sort of my everyday life with friends and family.. and I had no clue about blogging or writing back then..I think you are being very generous in your praise..
loved your blog! and congratulations.. I figured you got married recently (well within one year will be recent!) and love the Maui pictures.. one of my dream destinations 🙂
looking forward to reading more of your blog! I was in Baroda for a couple of years and shifted to Angola in December last year.. Are you based in the Bay area?
love,
ashima
You are so sweet. Thanks for you wishes..
Yes I moved to bay area 3 years back .. Keep writing about your experiments with your kitchen, I would love to try out your recipes as I am getting closer to my kitchen these days 😛 (As until very recently, I never used to cook (very well), but as my husband is a foodie so I cook varieties of dishes and experiment on him which gives me immense happiness :))
aww… having a foodie husband really helps! 🙂 Mine is a big one and is always ready to try out something new!
Good Luck!
Hi, Great meals you’ve got!
I have some questions about your website/wordpress layout so please contact me!
Thanks, Caroline
I want to discuss about writing assignment for my company. I didn’t see any other method to get in touch. Can you reply back to my email address please.
Regards,
Dharmesh Acharya
COO
Radixweb, Ahmedabad
Hello Dharmesh,
Thank you for contacting me.. I have sent you an email regarding this.
Best Regards,
Ashima
Hi Ashima,
Nice blog!
I’m a London based freelance journalist and I am doing a story on Gujarati food for Greaves Tours, run by the renowned A Hedonist’s Guide to… (hg2.com). May I please use a picture of Khaman dhokla from your website? Full credit will be given, of course. It will appear in a story similar to this, where links to photographs have been given.
http://greavesindia.co.uk/blog/posts/2014/december/a-guide-to-rajasthani-cuisine-by-chef-sanjeev-kapoor/
Do let me know at the earliest if it is okay with you please? Pls email me.
Hey Namrata!
Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to use the image. I have emailed you as well.
love,
ashima
Hey Ashima!
Great recipes, trying out today the palak aloo subzi which was posted on Indian Express.
Nice blog.. Keep up the good work 🙂
Are you into baking too? would luv to get some handy tips on baking breads n buns at home.!
Hey Ashima!
Great recipes, trying out today the palak aloo subzi which was posted on Indian Express.
Nice blog.. Keep up the good work 🙂
Are you into baking too? would luv to get some handy tips on baking breads n buns at home.!
P.S. This is the right email id. thanks.
Hey Aryan!
Thanks so much 🙂 Do let me know how it came out for you!
Yes I am into baking as well! Let me know any query that you may have and I will try to answer it 🙂
lots of love,
ashima
Very Beautiful and Neat Pages and Exclusively Classy.
Thanks Steven!
Hi,
We have gone through your blog/website and find many nice recipes on it. You are having amazing cooking skills and we appreciate your work and want to make it reach to the right people who love food and cooking. We don’t want to let such talent go unnoticed. So, let us help you in becoming more famous. We will be very much happy to have you on our website-Onfoodie.com.
We would like you to upload your recipes on our website. All you have to do is, just sign up and add your recipes or if you want we can add your recipe into your profile after signup on your behalf (If you permit us) and will promote you and your recipes. You can also add variations in already uploaded recipes and can add YouTube video link along with your recipes. Rewards and offers will also be provided and added soon.
If you face any problem in registering or in uploading the recipe, please contact us at support@onfoodie.com or you can write us back also. We will be very happy to help you. The current services are just a beginning and we will be adding other functionalities to make your experience amazing and wonderful.
Your contribution will mean a lot to us.
Thanks in advance.
Onfoodie Team
Please give me Indian butter chicken gravy recipe
Hello Rohit,
Have emailed you the recipe.
Hope it is helpful. Let me know if you have any more questions.
G’day Ashima,
Such a delight to read your blog! Very clearly written and professionally presented! You keep up reader interest with your story, your recipes and your excellent quality photos. Altogether, top marks for great presentation!
Recently, I’ve become weary of going shopping for commercial vegetables and I’ve started my own backyard raised garden. Here, the biggest problem I’m finding is needing a larger one, to plant all the ones I want to eat! So far: beans, beets, egg pant, gherkins, a variety of tomatoes, lettuce, celery, spring onions take up most space. I’m having to use additional pots to grow herbs. I’m also trying to grow a blueberry bush and am trying to sprout some avocado seeds. And grow pumpkin, and… and… and… and where do I plant my potatoes???
Where cooking is concerned, living on my own, it’s very basic. Sometimes, I’ll try to re-create Russian recipes Mum used to make – but they’re never as good. My preference is easy to prepare Asian style stir fries. Your recipes offer up some moth watering alternatives, which I must try. If they look so good – they must be good for you!
Thank you for your participation in Sreejoni as well – it’a appreciated. When G+ folds, you may later consider the “Phoenix” site I’m setting up. Still playing around with the exact format, but I’d love to have you as a member – your choice, of course, no compulsion, ever.
Tonight, I’m watching “The Man who would be King” on DVD (not on a smartfone screen!). A story by Rudyard Kipling, set in areas you’d be familiar with. Sikander is apparently derived from Alexander the Great – and that’s part of the story.
🙂 george
Hey George!
Thank you so much for dropping by 🙂 and for your encouraging feedback.
I am not surprised you are running out of space! Wow, so many vegetables! I have to say, I am rather envious. I live in an apartment and only have the option of growing plants in pots… so my herbs and veggies include basil, dill, parsley, rosemary, mint, green chili, tomatoes, eggplant, spinach, cucumber, and turmeric. I would love to grow so much more 🙂 Totally inspired by your garden!
I would love to have your feedback on the recipes you try! and surely I will join the Phoenix group. Just need to figure out the MeWe network.
Sikander is the Hindi name Alexander the Great was given when he came to India. I’ve heard about ‘The Man who would be king’ but haven’t watched it myself. Hope you enjoyed it.
Looking forward to the Phoenix!
love,
ashima
Hi Ashima!
I browsed through your YouTube playlist — the videos are excellent quality. One request: would it be possible to create oil-free versions of the recipes? Here are two possibilities: (a) two separate videos, one with oil, another without oil, (b) Insert the phrase “can be made oil-free” in the title or the video description and insert a small clip showing how we can do ‘dry roasting of seeds like mustard’ (with a lid on the skillet) or how we can simply replace oil by water for tempering spices like cumin seeds.
Finally, you may wish to experiment with 2-3 different speeds of videos. Maybe some user studies will be helpful to identify which speed is ideal. If you need help with this effort, maybe I can find some volunteers.
Thank you.
Hello Gurmeet,
Thank you so much for your feedback and all the information that you sent me on email! I am happy to have connected with you on this media!