I’m back!! It’s been a crazy few months and it is hard to believe that my last blog post was back in March. Seriously. Where does the time go?

Unfortunately, my blog always takes the hit when life gets chaotic. This needs to change. I started writing this blog as a way to find my own little creative space where I could share my love for good food. It has always been a retreat from the madness of life as a working mum. I miss blogging!

It’s time to swing back in to action and I’m starting off nice and easy with a recipe I promised to share a long time ago!

Any Indian street food lover will know exactly what I’m on about today! Crispy, tangy, sweet and spicy flavours all combined into the delicious savoury snack famously known as ‘chaat’.

Lots of possibilities when it comes to chaat but Papdi has always been my favourite. It always brings back fond memories of the handful of years I spent as a child in Delhi. I hadn’t realised until recently how easy it is to recreate the Indian street food magic in one’s own kitchen.

The ingredients can all be prepped in advance making it ideal for easy entertaining and also perfect for an evening meal on busy work days!

I’m definitely starting to feel the October chill these days. And, as winter comes closer, I find myself longing for the warmth of delicious soups and curries over the refreshing salads I lived on over the summer.

A steaming bowl of Japanese ramen is what I fancied for dinner the other night and I certainly wasn’t going to find a Tokyo style ramen restaurant in my little corner of Surrey. Dried noodles in styrofoam bowls didn’t sound right to me either.

Luckily, I had most of the ingredients to create ramen magic in my kitchen cupboard waiting to be used. A quick visit to Korea Foods in New Malden for some miso and tofu was all I needed for a delicious ramen fix.

I don’t know much about Malaysian food but am a big fan of Malaysian chicken curry scooped up with soft, flaky, roti paratha. Sadly, there aren’t any Malaysian restaurants in my neighbourhood and limited chances to indulge – probably a good thing as I could easily eat roti canai every day.

My friend, Sharon, made it for me when I visited her beautiful home in Surrey last month. I absolutely loved it and rolled back to Wimbledon that afternoon with a very happy belly and this wonderful recipe that I couldn’t wait to try at home.

My Facebook and Twitter timelines are flooded with enticing World Cup themed recipes shared by my favourite chefs, food writers and magazines. No wonder I am exceptionally hungry for fun food and cocktails! 😉

Nigella Lawson’s ‘Soccermole’  inspired a strong Mexican craving this past weekend. Not heavy, cheesy Tex-Mex style but something fresh and spicy with lots of lime. One thing led to another and out came these gorgeous chilli prawns smothered in lime and coriander.

The prawns are best served as fajitas with the usual Mexican sides (salsa, guacamole, cheese, sour cream etc) or simply topped with sliced avocado.

London takes on a whole new persona when the summer sun shines. People are friendlier, happier, brighter. Sunny dresses are out in all their girly glory, as are the sandals and sun cream. Summer also means lazy BBQs and refreshing salads – hooray!! Most definitely, my favourite time of the year.

After a super indulgent Wales trip followed by a decadent birthday weekend, my body craved some clean eating. Thankfully, the summer sun is feeding my healthy eating drive and I’ve been whipping up tasty salad storms.

Anchovies are either loved or hated with a passion. The word itself makes me slightly uncomfortable and I can’t stand the sight of these slimy, tiny fish.

Nigella, Jamie Oliver and many other TV chefs have popular versions of Spaghetti alla Puttanesca which literally translated means ‘spaghetti a la prostitute/whore.’ Controversial, just like the anchovies.

I’ve made vegetarian versions of Puttanesca sauce before, always leaving out the anchovies. Mr. A tried out Nigel Slater’s recipe while I was out one night and insisted that it was one of the best pasta he has ever had. He insisted that the dish had potential to make me rethink my hatred for anchovies.

I had friends visiting for tea the other day and wanted to make something quick, easy and spicy.

Chilli Cheese Toast is often served as a savoury snack in India. It is essentially, a spicy version of cheese on toast, kicked up with chillies, onions, fresh coriander and spice. I love cheese and this is one of my favourite things to make and eat. 🙂

The wonderful flavours of Indian style chilli cheese toast were a huge hit with my friends. Here’s the recipe for some easy entertaining the next time you have friends coming over.

The recipe makes around 18 chilli cheese toast canapes.

Chilli Cheese Toast 

BIG milestones to celebrate this week! Hungry Aphrodite turns 1 on Friday and this is my 100th post. Time flies. I never imagined the blog would go this far when I started writing a year ago. I am grateful for the opportunities and experiences that have come my way and can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.

A special milestone like this one deserves a delicious post. As you know, I was recently invited to enter a culinary challenge hosted by Maille, the famous French gourmet brand. I shared my recipe for a delicious summery salad a couple of weeks ago (see Maille Halloumi Salad). I am excited to share my 2nd and final entry for the Maille challenge with you all today.

I met The Saucy Fish Co. team at the Be: Fit London  (see blog post here) show a couple of weeks ago and they sent me home with a selection of meals to enjoy at my convenience.

The Saucy Fish Co. started three years ago with an aim to make cooking with fish simple and exciting. They offer a range of attractively packaged fish (sourced from certified farms in Scotland and Norway) paired with delicious pre-made sauces.

Mr. A & I ate a lot of fish last week thanks to The Saucy Fish Co. Here are the meals we sampled:

I was recently invited by Maille, the famous French gourmet brand to enter the Maille Culinary Challenge and develop recipes using a couple of their products.

I love Maille mustard and was delighted with the opportunity to experiment with flavours. I chose Citron et Harissa (White Wine, Lemon & Harissa Spicy Mustard)and Noix de Coco et Epices Colombo (White Wine, Coconut and Colombo Spices) as my spicy mustard weapons.

Today’s recipe uses the Maille Citron et Harissa mustard. Harissa is a spicy red pepper paste commonly used in North African cooking. My colourful salad is a tasty marriage of flavours and textures with the marinated cheese, tangy pomegranate, walnuts and of course, the Maille Harissa mustard dressing.

If you are following me on Twitter, then you are witness to my current tartine obsession. I’ve tried all sorts of toppings from smoked salmon and dill to hummus and white beans and chicken and mustard. I can’t get enough of the endless possibilities.

A tartine is basically a French open-faced sandwich.This bright and cheerful tartine I made a few days ago makes a perfect lunch for a sunny day. The avocado and grilled halloumi cheese go beautifully with the tangy pomegranate molasses  while the pomegranate and pistachio give a sweet crunch.

Popular London Mexican restaurant Wahaca is opening a 5 minute walk from my home and I could not be more excited. The restaurant signs went up earlier in the week and make me happy every time I walk past.

Not surprisingly, I’ve been craving Mexican food all week and decided to whip up one of my favourite Mexican treats for dinner last night.

I love the simplicity of quesadillas. ‘Queso’ means cheese in Spanish and a quesadilla is basically a toasted tortilla with melted cheese and any other savoury toppings you fancy. Easy and yummy!

One of my favourite memories of student life in Boston is gorging on delicious plates of Pad See Ew noodles at a hole-in-the-wall Thai eatery in the dubious ‘Chinatown Food Court’ on Beach Street. Along with Pad Kra Pow, these noodles were an instantly gratifying Thai fix washed down with an order of sweet Thai Iced Tea.

Pad See Ew remains one of my favourite Thai dishes and as much as I have tried to recreate the Boston flavours from memory, I am yet to get it right. I think it is probably due to my restraint in adding unnecessary grease and a whole bottle of fish sauce in to my food. 😉

Cold salads on wintry January days aren’t easy.  Especially, when it is gloomy outside and all you want is a hot plate of comfort.

I wanted something fresh, spicy and Thai yesterday. And, I needed it to be raw. A gorgeous Thai green papaya salad came to mind but I wasn’t going to find a Thai green papaya anywhere in my neighbourhood. Luckily, there was an unripe green mango at home with my name all over it. 😉

It took no effort to put together this cheerful Thai style Mango Salad. It is packed full of flavour, healthy and so easy. Try it sometime – it makes being good, taste fabulous!

I tried this creamy saffron and prawn risotto on my first trip to Rome many years ago. We had some excellent food on our Roman holiday but this  particular meal near our hotel in Testaccio was without a doubt, the best and most memorable.

Risotto alla Crema di Scampi is clearly a Roman specialty as I haven’t come across it anywhere else in Italy.  I’ve tried hunting down recipes many times over the years without much success  but got lucky a few days ago when I found a few Risotto alla Crema di Scampi recipes…all in Italian! Thank God for Google Translate!

Brrrr. It is freezing cold out there and on wintry days like these, all I want is hot, comfort food. In my case, comfort is always a steaming bowl of spicy curry. Thai, Malaysian, Indian, any kind will do – but, the only way is curry!

Today, I am sharing the recipe for a delicious Kerala style Pepper Chicken I made earlier in the week. As you can guess, the dish uses loads of black peppercorns and fresh curry leaves along with other aromatic spices traditionally used in food from this particular region of India.

It is Thanksgiving today and my American friends and family around the world are celebrating a beautiful tradition centred around expressing gratitude and eating lots of delicious food. I always miss being in the US at this time of year and have some great memories of long weekends spent feasting away on turkey, stuffing and pie!

Been a while now since a proper Thanksgiving meal but I do make it a point to always make or do something special on this day and join in the festivities.

There are people who eat to live and then there’s those of us who live to eat. My fascination with good food doesn’t stop at eating. I must also talk, write and read about it every single chance I get.

I love food-lit and have a great selection of delicious cookbooks, healthy eating guides and food/travel memoirs scattered around my home. Flipping through these books is one of my favourite ways to switch off, unwind and drift off into a world where everything tastes heavenly and calories don’t count. 😉

Italy is one of my favourite places in the world. I have visited many times over the years and each trip has been so memorable.

Eating the most divine and authentic pizza in Naples, a beautiful Tuscan holiday with family, driving through the breathtaking Amalfi coast and discovering the best (and worst!) Italian food in Rome are just a few of my favourite memories of Italy.

Last Friday, I caught an episode of Gino’s Italian Escape, an ITV series featuring Italian chef Gino D’Acampo as he travels to various parts of  Italy introducing viewers to classic Italian recipes. In this episode, Gino was in Rome and making a traditional Roman Bucatini alla Carbonara  – without the cream.

Last night’s dinner was simple and divine – Pumpkin & pine nut stuffed fiorelli with a butter, lemon and sage sauce.

Of course,  I did not make the Pumpkin Fiorelli myself – I have my lovely friends at Waitrose to thank for the shortcut 😉

This was my first time cooking with fresh sage and I loved the strong, invigorating smell that wafted through my kitchen as soon as the leaves were plucked.

Making the sauce could not have been simpler. Melt butter, infuse with sage leaves, add fresh lemon juice and stir.

Nothing like a deliciously cold salad on a sweltering summer day. Wouldn’t you agree?

I have blogged about my Avocado and Cherry Tomato Salad before (see Superlicious Avocado) and today, I would like to share another cold favourite with all of you.

My Chilli Coriander Prawn and Avocado Salad is spicy, tasty and ridiculously quick to put together.

Chilli Coriander Prawn & Avocado Salad (Serves 2-3)

2 ripe and ready avocados, halved and pitted

1 pack pre-cooked prawns, around 150-200g

4 tablespoons, low fat mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic, chopped