More About Me and Edible Garden

Born on a very lazy summer evening, this blog is now my passion. I am from Kerala and lived there for the first 23 years of my life. Relocated to Hyderabad to join my first job. Somewhere on the way, my interest in food sprang up. Though from Kerala, we are originally Reddiars and this means we have deep roots in Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The interesting part is, of course, our cooking. Its a wonderful mix of Telugu, Tamil and Kerala cooking. Now, that's got to be interesting, right?

Right now I am based in Singapore where I live with my husband and work in a great place. This site receives an average of 1000 2500 3500 5000 6000 pageviews a day and its steadily growing. Its a pleasure to see my efforts being appreciated and inspiring others around me

Then comes photography. This is an area I had rarely thought about, but it goes hand-in-hand with food blogs. Now, photography comes a close second to my cooking interests. I recently started a new series on Food Photography for Beginners. Check it out in case you are looking for pointers.

I am available for writing jobs both relating to food and otherwise. Please contact me at naagu.v@gmail.com.

Here are some FAQs from readers.

But why another blog for cooking?

-Blogging has been a passion for a while now and even as a kid, I used to keep diaries. It was never a day-to-day log, but more of a special occasions and thoughts kinda journal. That soon became online and then when the interest for cooking kicked in, the answer was to start blogging that too.

What sort of stuff do you cook, normally?

I am all for spending as little time in the kitchen and yet coming up with stuff that looks like you spent more than 15 minutes on it. I also try to make dishes as healthy as possible but that doesn't mean I don't deep fry or indulge once in a while ;) I am a Malayali at heart so there are mostly Kerala Recipes in here and almost all are really simple and can be made in an hour or less.

How did you choose the name Edible Garden? Is this a vegetarian blog?

The name just occurred to me one fine day (that's how most things happen to me) and it stuck till I made it the name of my blog. It was called 'For The Cook In Me' for a long time till I changed the name in July '08. This is NOT a vegetarian blog so please don't get misled by the title, like some people have. I have labelled my recipes so you can choose to browse through only those recipes that you actually want to see.

What camera do you use?

From the day I started to the end of Dember '08 I have been clicking all the pictures with my good 'ol Nikon L10 which is a 5 megapixel basic point and shoot camera. I now use a Canon SX10 IS which is a slightly higher end point and shoot camera. I did consider upgrading to a DSLR but can't really afford it and the overhead now. Maybe in a couple of years, when I get better at this, I might.


And I finally took the plunge. I got a Nikon D90 with two lenses - an 18-105mm kit lens and a 50mm 1.8D prime lens. Pictures starting from this post are taken with the new camera. 

Where do you learn how to take/edit pictures?

There are tons of websites out there and talk about techniques of food and macro photography, aperture, focal length and all the other jargon that is still mostly greek to me. If you have a good eye, some basic artistic sense and a camera you can take decent pictures. I visit a lot of food blogs and most have awesome pictures. I draw inspiration from them but at the end of the day you come back to your dish, your plates, your table and your camera and it all boils down to what you do with them.

Again, you can check out my series on Food Photography for Beginners to learn about photography tips and techniques that you may find useful.

What if I am looking for something specific and don't find it here?

- You are free to request a recipe that you don't see in here. I would love to hear from you. Other comments and feedback is also welcome. You can leave a comment at the end of this post.

I like your recipes and your pictures and would like to feature it on my site/blog/magazine/newspaper/talkshow. May I?

- I would really appreciate it if you could contact me first so that I have a better understanding of how you are going to represent my work. Email me at naagu.v@gmail.com




All content in this website including text and pictures is copyrighted and belongs to me. If you need to use it or reproduce it, please ask first. Any unauthorized usage will constitute plagiarism.

Kaya Mezhukkupuratti (Raw Banana Fries)

While making the aviyal, some raw banana was left over so I quickly made mezhukkupuratti with that. My roomy finished it off before we even had lunch and she says that's supposed to be a complement. Well, I guess so :)

What I used (to serve 2):

Kaya/Raw Banana : one big, cut into long pieces
Garlic paste : 1 tablespoon
Chilli powder : 2 teaspoons
Oil : 2 tablespoons
Salt : to taste
Curry leaves : 1 strand

How I made it:

1. Add very little water to the cut banana pieces and boil it with lid closed.

2. When the pieces turn soft (will take about 5 minutes), uncover and keep on fire till the water evaporates completely.

3. Heat oil in a pan and crackle the mustard seeds.

4. Lighly saute the garlic paste, chilli powder and curry leaves before adding the banana pieces.

5. Fry till golden brown, add salt and serve hot.