No matter how many cuisines you have tried, or how many sophisticated flavours you have tasted,  you always come back to the most simple dishes you have grown up eating, when you need something comforting. This dish is one such for me.

More often than not, what looks like a simple ingredient blows you away with it's versatility. Like tapioca. Though quite bland on it's own, it can become a tasty teatime snack with a simple dip, can be dressed up further by tossing it in a coconut mix and even turn into a Biriyani with very little effort.

When discussing what to make for the regional dishes meet, my instant choice was this Tapioca dish as it was simple Kerala food at it's best. Coconut oil, which is the most important part of our cooking definitely reigns in this dish and the dip. I'm glad that I could introduce this humble dish to my foodie friends, who loved it too. :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Tapioca, cut into big chunks

1/4 cup Shredded coconut

3-4 Dried red chilly

3-4 Shallots, sliced

Curry leaves, a few

1 tsp Mustard Seeds

1 tbsp Coconut oil

For the dip:

2-3 Green chillies (adjust to your taste)

6-7 Shallots

2-3 tbsp Coconut oil

Salt, to taste

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1. Boil water and add tapioca and salt and cook covered till cooked. Drain water and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add 2 tbsp.oil. Splutter mustard and add red chilly, shallots and curry leaves. Fry till brown.
3. Add tapioca to this along with the coconut and a little salt. Toss without mashing up the tapioca.
4. For dip, crush shallots and chillies and mix coconut oil and salt.
5. Enjoy! :)

Author: Remya - The Google Queen

Recipes

17:40

Umm Pav Bhaji who doesn't like this very famous street food from the streets of Mumbai. This well celebrated street food is famous all over country. May be we should make it national food of India! You would rarely meet an Indian who has not had a Pav bhaji ever. I have grown up eating pav bhajis cooked by mom, aunts, friends mothers or in hotels. No matter who ever cooked I used to enjoy eating. 

When I started cooking after marriage I was always on a look out for an interesting pav bhaji recipe and finally my search ended last year when my sister in law visited us here in Australia. One fine day I returned from work to a house filled with aroma of this beautiful dish. I could smell it in the car park too. The smell was so tempting that I could not wait to dig in and without wasting a second I served myself a plate and finished it in no time. I loved this style of bhaji so much that I used to ask my sister in law to make it almost every week until she stayed with us. I did not forget to learn it from her before she left and ever since this is how I cook my bhaji. 

No looking out for any other recipe after I learnt this. Happy tummy and happy me :) 

INGREDIENTS:

6 to 8 florets Cauliflower 

1 Potato, small-sized

1 Medium-sized bowl full of Cabbage, Carrot, Eggplant, Capsicum

2 Onions, finely chopped

2 Tomatoes , chopped

3-4 tbsp Oil

1 tsp Asafoetida

5-6 Garlic Cloves, big ones

4 tsp Red Chilly Powder, adjust to your taste

1.5 tsp Turmeric Powder

1.5-2 tbsp Pav Bhaji Masala(MDH/Everest are my preferred ones) 

Salt, to taste

Butter (adjust to your preference)

Coriander, for garnishing 

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1. Place Cauliflower, potato, cabbage, carrot, eggplant and capsicum (cut in big chunks) in pressure cooker and cook. Keep aside. 
2. Take garlic in mortar and pestle and crush it. Add red chilli powder (2 teaspoon) and mix well.Keep aside. 
3. Heat oil in kadai and add asafoetida powder. 
4. Add garlic and red chilli paste and saute for half minute. 
5. Add chopped onions and saute till translucent.
6. Add chopped tomatoes and cook. Once tomatoes are cooked and mushy add remaining red chilli powder and turmeric powder. 
7. Add pav bhaji masala and cook till oil separates. 
8. Now add boiled veges from cooker with little water from cooker. Mash while mixing. 
9. Add salt to taste and cook it for 2 to 3 more minutes. 
10. Add generous helping of butter once cooked, garnish with coriander cover and keep it for serving later. 

Author: Khyati - The PavBhaji Queen

Recipes

19:34

I'm still not able to believe that the event-planners put up that!!! Well, if we say that we had no prior experience of organizing any event, hard to agree for anyone. Do you agree??!!!

Don't know from where did we get an idea of planning a baby shower for soon-to-be-momma Mariya and we all joined in as a team to make that event successful! This was our invitation card for the event:

At the same time, it was going to be a surprise for her... so we had to make sure that we don't bluff in any case. 

All what we did was:

• Kept the food-theme as it is... Potluck with Regional Dishes
• Created a secret group to discuss the things
• Planned decorations for the event
• Organized some baby shower games

and many more things.... secret way ;)

And the end result was amazing! We did every possible thing around baby shower theme i.e. cake & cupcakes, a beautiful chalkboard work, a bunch of pretty cute gifts, decorations... everything! 

And foodddddd... who doesn't love regional menu? Here is what we all brought for potluck party:

We will never ever forget Mariya's experssions on stepping in the hall!!! And yes, tried capturing all possible moments in my camera... :)

And haan... we pampered her in all possible ways! Let the baby step into this world... and we will make her return the favors soon ;) 

Meetups

19:49

So after a massive success of our last two meets our family of foodies  was  fast growing and there were new members  getting added to our fraternity on a regular basis !

Having said that , the weather was also changing and Melbourne being famous for a beautiful fall season it brings lot of cold winds too on the downside  . After so much of deliberation and discussion we decided upon to fix a venue which is "kids friendly " and at the same time centrally located as this meet was becoming a bigger one in terms of number of attendees.

One of the pioneers of the group N came with the idea of booking a hall as a venue as it will be easier for everyone to bring kids along and even more easier to set up the tables / chairs as already provided by the hall.

With venue sorted the next big question was of course the theme . And we are such a diverse group culturally but the one thing we all have common is - our love of street food . Each of us have their own story of eating street food back in India and memories attached with that and each  memory had a story behind it  . So with a nostalgic feeling the theme was decided - the famous street food . Once that's done, the hard part began - the waiting game :)

We started waiting for the date to come and excited to meet the new friends and of course the yummy food was an added bonus :).

The day came sooner then we all expected and with a heart full of excitement we all were there . The excitement can be felt in the air and the ambience of the venue was very warm and cozy.

Kids were running around as the hall had a big space to keep them entertained and we girls were chatting away enjoying the food and at the same time enjoying our talks. 

The hall was filled with sounds of laughter and talks and aroma of food . The new members were welcomed with an open heart and the old ones are chatting away as if they are catching up after ages even though we all talk on messages almost daily.

The food was nicely spread and it was getting difficult to pick and choose . Everything looked and tasted delicious Above all the euphoria of meeting the foodie friends and creating new memories assosiated  with street food was slowly taking over for each one of us .

It was an afternoon filled with some great food and more then that it was an afternoon where in an enclosed venue we created memories of outside ( street ) food .

And as they say all good things come to an end and so did this meet but for us it was a new beginning of something special we created and that is Memories . I'm sure five years Down the line when the talks of street food will come each one of us will have a special memory or a story to tell about this meet up .

Till next time -- Adios !

Author: Nidhi - "Re-surfaced" Writer

Meetups

00:33

Have you ever experienced hangover without a drop of alcohol??!!! Well, it happens... in real :) I had a hangover of the super-duper foodies meet! After being an active participant on chat channel, I was so excited to see all those crazy ladies in person... I had that funny feeling too... butterflies in stomach wali ;) 

We spent hours n hours deciding the venue for the meet... And before that, we had wasted enough time finalizing the date too ;) We had a whopping 12 attendees and was going to be a day full of fun... If foodies meet, so many delicious, super-yummy, lip-smacking, mouth-watering dishes to banti hi hai!!! Everyone shared their idea of food for the meet... and I knew it was going to be an awesome potluck party <3 Everything was perfectly set... And the countdown started!!! 

Luckily, it was a wonderful sunny day to spend outdoors.. And yes, we had decided to meet at Alexandra Gardens in the city area at around 12 :) Even on my way to the venue, I kept reading updates on channel every few seconds... Who all reached before me and who all are yet to leave their homes!!! I was the last one to reach there but it wasn't something to worry about... they had kept the spread ready to dig in ;) Nobody had touched the food until I reached... Hahaha!!! Here is what all was on the menu... 

And I took a moment in taking out my camera n adjusting it to start clicking, there were plates full of food everywhere :P Hungry we were.... Ate everything that we had, leaving residuals in each boxes which we had packed in takeaway containers :P We all had a happy tummy after gobbling up those tasty dishes... Happiness reflects in each of these pics naa? 

Good that we thought of connecting well with everyone with happy tummies :P We all started chitchatting with each other and blabbered-chattered-giggled as if we had known each other for years. It was so lively and amazing!!! It definitely reminded us of college days where friends used to chat and laugh aloud, quite a carefree way <3 

To sum up everything... It was an awesome day, well-spent with like-minded foodies :) We said goodbye with a hope of meeting again sometime soon :)

Meetups

21:15

Every new friend is a new adventure, a start of many sweet memories.... We didn't know how big and fun an adventure we were getting into, when 6 of us,  Neeta, Roohi, Nidhi, Rupali, Mariya n me(Remya) met on a Facebook foodie page.      

We had a few conversations online, thanked Zuckerberg for the 'Add Friend' option and even started an FB group for Melbourne Foodies like us to connect.                

Not long after, we decided to meet in person. Date and venue were fixed for the 1st of October, 2014 at Melbourne Central, not knowing that this was to be the first of many more such regular meets over yummy food and great company.

Neeta, Roohi, me and our lil foodie, Ryan hit it off instantly and not for a minute did it feel like we were seeing each other for the first time. True foodie hearts cannot be much different, hey? And that's exactly what we have come to realize as we welcomed many more like-minded foodie buddies onto our lil group.                  

Yummy dumplings, fried rice and stir fries filled our tummies that day, while we chatted away like there was no tomorrow. We parted ways after some window shopping, with broad smiles on our faces and promises to keep in touch

A pic from our first ever meet at The Oriental Tea House.

On that very evening, we formed our cozy lil Whatsapp group, through which we stay connected to this day, sharing with each other visual treats from our kitchens, laughs from our daily lives and so much more. :)

Stay tuned to this space for more stories of our fun meets, and lots more.

Author: Remya - The Google Queen

Meetups

21:13