About

Hi,
I'm Shreya, an artistic and creative food enthusiast. I have loved food since forever! My food philosophy is very simple and clear,

The journey of your dish starts from the nose travels to your eyes and then finally into your mouth

Every part of a dish is therefore essential to truly enjoy it. I believe food is more than just feeding your tummy, its also feeding your mind and your soul. Although I cooked a bit during most of my adulthood, I truly started cooking regularly and religiously only after I got married and moved to a different country with my husband.

Moving out of India has made me crave for the flavours back home. The spices in the food and the simple yet elegant preparations I enjoyed back there were no longer easy to get. I truly felt homesick because of this and to comfort myself I started to research, learn and create various dishes. At that moment I did not imagine starting kandykurries and sharing my creations and recipes with the world.

Being raised in India I was always surrounded by flavours, spices and a lot of what I consider comfort food. You will find a lot of these here. I remember standing in the kitchen and watching my mom prepare some amazing curries and I always wondered how the flavours emerged from those amazing dishes. The aroma of spices combined with the fragrance of fresh garlic, ginger, onion and chillies that came from the kitchen invoked a sense of happiness in me. I imagine that's what inspired me to start cooking like this.

My husband and I are both foodies and have always tried every new dish/flavour we could. We try different restaurants and cuisines a lot and watch YouTube/Instagram videos about food and recipes all the time. Our love for food is something that cannot be explained and its this passion for amazing flavours that inspired and motivated me to start kandykurries.

I also believe a lot in colour therapy. For instance, bright colours will always cheer you up, but dull colors cannot help lift up those spirits. So with every dish I try to make a healthy colourful plate.

Healthy & Colourful plate + Good food = Happy life & Awesome day.

With kandykurries, my goal is to help you create simple recipes while adding a little twist of my own and taking you on a journey of some amazing flavours. All the recipes and dishes here are created and photographed by me. My purpose is to create food for the soul, show everyone how meaningful every dish is to me and share my love for food with the rest of the world. Hope you all enjoy creating and munching on the recipes here as much as me.

Cheers!!!

Comments

Mackerel Curry

I recently discovered this recipe on my usual inspiration hunt online and decided to give it a try. During my grocery run at the city centre before, I decided to have a look at the fresh fish store and got some amazing looking mackerel filets. I had not decided on the recipe at that moment, but then I happened to have everything at home for this recipe and things simply fell into place. Normally I am into masaledar, spicy and coconutty fish curries but this time I did not have any coconut milk at home and I was also feeling a bit lazy with my cooking. This recipe was an absolute delight for my mood with an amazing tangy, sour flavour of tamarind and vinegar and a slight sweetness of jaggery. Quick and simple! Totally worth it and definitely recommended. Press Enter and insert Image https://www.instagram.com/p/CI276lADeR5/ ...

Glühwein / Mulled wine

Glühwein or mulled wine is a German/Austrian holiday drink that most people have during the winter season. This alcoholic beverage is a must-have during the festive season here. Interestingly, this wine is also known as glow wine as it is warm and when you drink it, it makes you glow from the inside. It's a warm & cozy wine infused with spices and citrusy flavours which is perfect for the cold and freezing winter weather. I stumbled upon this wine during my first Christmas in the Netherlands last year (2019). They were lighting the Christmas tree at the city center and the streets were crowded and lined by food carts selling delicious Christmas treats, desserts and warm Glühwein. This year however, we are under a strict lockdown due to the ongoing pandemic and with everything shutdown we couldn't experience the beautiful Christmassy vibe outdoors. So, I decided to bring the Christmas vibe indoors and made my own batch of this cozy, warm drink. So, here you ...

Sri Lankan Prawns Curry

I have tried prawns in a variety of preparation styles and flavours but making this Sri Lankan style curry was my first. As always I was very excited to try out something new with a new combination of flavours and using a different variety of ingredients. This juicy prawns curry infused with the Sri Lankan spice mix I made from scratch and coconut milk base was exactly what I needed after a super hectic day. Traditionally you add the prawns heads into the curry for an additional depth of flavour. However, I had bought some pre-cleaned prawns from the market which had their heads removed so could not add the heads. In this recipe I have nevertheless written how to use the prawns heads in the preparation. The curry definitely came out amazing and simply mesmerising. Hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I did. Cheers!! Press Enter and insert Image https://www.instagra...

Pulikachal (spiced tamarind paste)

Pulikachal in Tamil literally translates to puli meaning tamarind and kachal meaning an extract made by vigorous boiling. This is a very common spice mix found in South-Indian households and is normally used as a substitute for pickle. My mom is a huge fan of this flavor. In fact, she loves anything that combines spicy, tangy and sweet (who doesn't 😋!). The combination of curd-rice and pulikachal is simply mind blowing. As kids, whenever there wasn't anything interesting to go with our rice, my mom would just mix this in and make a wonderful dish known as Puliodarai (tamarind spiced rice). So, read on to find out how this tangy, spicy and flavor packed condiment is made. Enjoy and let me know in the comments below how you find this recipe. 😊😊 https://www.instagram.com/p/CCdoVUDDpht/ SERVES: 8-10 ...

Stuffed Brinjal (Andhra Style)

This particular vegetable happens to have many names in English and I learnt to call it brinjal, but they are also commonly known as eggplant or aubergine. This is a new recipe that I learnt from a friend. I have made stuffed brinjal before, but it was in a completely different style. At our house we make it in a variety of different ways and this time when mom got these small ones, I wanted to nervously try out my friends recipe. Like I usually do, I followed the recipe by adding a slight twist of my own and eagerly waited for my mom's review. Amma just loved it and praised me quite a bit. With cooking, like most things in life, it's okay to fail sometimes. It's more important to give it a try and make sure you learn from your mistakes. You do not need to be 100% perfect every time. In my case, one of the brinjals was not completely cooked through, but I nailed the ratio of the spices and flavour. So hope you give this a try and let me know how it turned out.🙂🙂 ...

Puttu with Kadala Curry

Puttu is a staple breakfast dish in south India popular in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. "Puttu" means portioned in Malayalam. It is a very filling and hearty breakfast dish made with rice flour mixed with salt water and typically steamed in a puttu steamer with coconut shavings in between. Sometimes a bit of jaggery powder is also added to make it a bit sweet. My husband loves to eat puttu with elaichi bananas or other small bananas; mixing it with the puttu. I came across this dish after I got married into a Malayali household and got exposed to a lot of Kerala recipes and dishes. My mother-in-law makes really amazing puttu and Kadala curry. So, after I moved here to the Netherlands I wanted to give this a try. I didn't have a puttu steamer, so I asked my mother-in-law and she gave me the idea to steam it inside a coconut shell which is also a popular traditional method of cooking. It was totally worth all the effort and to be honest it was really ...

Stuffed Mushroom

These are amazing starters/appetizers for a party. Tender mushroom caps filled with panko, fresh herbs, sundried tomatoes, a double dose of cheese and Italian seasoning makes this dish perfect for a pre-dinner bite. The best appetizers take at least two bites to satisfy and these mushrooms are no exception. The key to making a perfect stuffed mushroom is obviously the stuffing. With an amazing stuffing, the mushrooms blend in well and taste amazing. In this recipe, I used Cremini or white mushrooms as they are naturally cup shaped and perfect to hold the fillings. Make sure when you buy these mushrooms they are big and a bit firm. Do try out this recipe and let me know how awesome it was! Press Enter and insert Image https://www.instagram.com/p/CHFyIhID_FC/ SERVES: 10-12 PREP TIME: 30 mins ...

Nei Appam

Nei appam in Tamil literally translates as nei meaning ghee and appam meaning pancake. It's a traditional sweet made during auspicious events like kartikai, gokulastami and other auspicious events and is a great snack for kids. The recipe is very simple and quick to make with very few ingredients. Just the sweet aroma of ghee and fried appam that fills the kitchen when cooking is mouthwatering. This is one of my favourites among South-Indian treats. During traditional festivals at home, my amma would make nei appams along with a feast and me and my sister would stand besides her hogging on these hot out of the pan. Now that I'm married and living with my husband, I make these delicious treats at home while my husband stands next to me and hogs on them 🤭🤭 . Read on below to know how to make these yourself and enjoy the amazing soul satisfying treats. 😋😋😋 Press Enter and i...

Rasam with Pepper Roasted Chicken

Rasam is a staple dish in my household. Having chicken and rasam combo was truly a blissful experience. I happened upon this dish when going through a post from famous chef, @lokicooks . He had made this amazing recipe and the experimental chef I am, I immediately wanted to give it a try. So, with apron tied around my waist and mind full of excitement I brought this dish to life in my kitchen. It turned out delicious and soul comforting. Give this a try and let me know in the comments below how you found it. 😊😊😊 ...

Turkish Bread with Za'atar Spice and Baba Ghanoush Dip

I came across Turkish bread for the first time after I moved to the Netherlands and I bought it from a Turkish shop near my place. Absolutely fell in love with it! The softness and flavours were just amazing and right then I decided I am going to try making my own batch. This is absolutely lovely and versatile; you can pair it with anything. You can make a bruschetta, pair it with some shrimp salad or have it with some dip like hummus and baba ghanoush. I paired mine with some creamy baba ghanoush and a generous garnish of za'atar spices. The best part about creating this dish was that it was so simple and easy to make. In my head I had inflated the difficulty too much and was expecting some really hard and tricky process to it, but it turned out to be so simple! Not to forget the excitement I got when it came out as amazing as I was expecting. SOFT, FLUFFY AND DELIUCIOUS! So, read on to know how I made this amazing bread with a simple and fool proof method. ...

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