Articles and Contests

Black rice is the deep dark short grain variety of rice that is originated from China and Asia. Black rice is sweetish to taste and has a nutty feel about its texture. Black rice was available only for the members of the royal family for a long period. As people realized the potential benefits of eating black rice, is when the black rice was grown commercially and common people also were given access.

Diwali is a big festival of India, also known a the Festival Of Lights and is widely celebrated all over the world. It is celebrated due to the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after completing his 14 years of exile in the forest after getting victory over the evil. It is the most eagerly waited festival of the year, as the members of the family and friends celebrate it together. The process of cleaning the home on the Diwali is an age old tradition which has been passed on from generations. 

The East Asian Recipe Contest is a tribute to the palate and the senses. East Asia has a splendid set of cuisines that are packed with flavours, spice and taste, that makes us love them. In this recipe contest, put on your chef's hat and bring out the "Chef in You". You will be surprised what will happen when you win the contest. You are in for some real treat.

Seeds are the small pockets of energy and a storehouse of nutrients that the plant manufactures to help it reproduce. As a rule of thumb, many plants with edible plant parts, with seeds as a mode of multiplication have edible seeds. Apart from major cereals and pulses like rice, wheat, corn, beans, nuts, spices and dals, there are umpteen plant seeds that are edible. Some edible seeds are lesser known for their culinary value and are sparsely used in everyday diet. Some of these beneficial edible seeds can be eaten raw, some are roasted or cooked and then consumed.

Exploring a new restaurant has become a fun activity at Archana’s Kitchen every month and we usually try to cover the places with different cuisines. So, this time it was one of the most popular restaurants of Bangalore, SMOKE HOUSE DELI. This restaurant is situated in the heart of Indiranagar, located on busy 100 feet road and crowded with many other popular restaurants around. 

Durga Pooja, a festival of Shakti is widely celebrated all over India with friends and family by Bengalis. It marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. In India, every festival is celebrated with different varieties of food depending about the region or the state. And when it comes to Bengalis, it is all about food. Many people also opt to go vegetarian during this festival, but everyone enjoy over food in these days.

Have you wished for shopping and waiting for good deals like we all Indians do?  Here’s a time come back for us to rejoice. The Great Indian Festival of Amazon is back with a bang to entice us with amazing deals to make the incredible products be available at unbelievable prices. It’s a time to move products from our wishlists to the buying cart.

Microwave oven is a common kitchen appliance found in most urban kitchens, majorly used to reheat the recipes. What if I told you that there are umpteen possibilities of easing your daily kitchen chores with the help of microwave oven? Apart from the easy and quick microwave recipes to cook, there are a few hacks and tricks which will help you ease your time in kitchen. A few processes like soaking, blanching, and proofing while preparing various recipes are time-consuming. A few procedures like dehusking, frothing, deskinning, making taco shells are tricky and need experience.

Eggs are the go to breakfast in most of the families all around the world. There are so many dishes that you can make using eggs with other day-to-day ingredients. From boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, omelets to curries, there are a variety of dishes which you can cook for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Who doesn’t love vacations and to get ready weeks before with required shopping of clothes, accessories, and packaged food to keep our holiday spirits high? Whether it is a trip of 2 days during a weekend or a long tour, we repeatedly think of our necessities during travel and make sure we do not run for supplies and comforts during last minute. Some of us, majorly ladies of the house have additional things to do while the family decides to go on vacation. These tasks are little different from the regular euphoria we get while we purchase things for the tour and stay. Women need to take care of the house, the kitchen garden, leftovers of the kitchen, perishable kitchen items like fresh vegetables and fruits, laundry, water and so many other things to think of.

A lot of us are aware drinking juice gives us that instant energy during a hot summer day, post a workout. Making good old homemade juices brings back fond memories of our mother or grandmother, who would whip up a fresh fruit juice to give you that instant energy. In addition, juices are probably one of the easiest ways to increase your fruit and vegetable intake, through a healthy, refreshing way.

With more articles about how food is grown with more pesticides and fertilizers than required, majority of consumers are becoming aware and conscious of the ill-effects caused by over usage of chemicals to grow food. While some of us shell out more money to buy “so called” organically grown foods, statistics show that complete organic way of growing is still a distant possibility in India.

Since ages, our ancestors have been cooking home-cooked food every day. In bigger cities with longer travel times to work and schools, all the time that is available at hand needs to be managed as efficiently as possible. Even if you are blessed with shorter travel time during mornings, an efficient time management in kitchen gives you ample time to get ready and do other household chores without pressure.

Started in 2007, Archana’s Kitchen is a collaborative space to build ideas, create and share recipes that are easy to cook and healthy with the world. Since beginning, the vision was to make cooking easy and to make recipes at people's finger tips and till today that has not changed.

Over the many years many of you have become a part of our contributing community and have collaborated with us to share recipes with the world. For us, the idea of collaboration is not competition but it's all about sharing ideas and coming together for a common goal. We share ideas, so we can grow together as a community and create a valuable impact on our audiences. 

With so many festivals coming up, we are back with a new contest, ‘No Onion No Garlic Recipes Vegetarian’. Here is your chance to send us some of your delicious recipes which are made without Onion and Garlic.

As Navratras, Paryushan, Janmashtami and other major festivals just around the corner, mostly people eat food without Onion and Garlic due to religious concerns. During these festivals, most of the people fast and there are so many recipes which are only dedicated to fasting. We would love to receive them from you!

There is a classic saying - ‘You can’t buy happiness, but you can always buy ice creams and that’s about the same thing’.

We totally agree with the above statement because who doesn’t like ice cream? Ice cream is one of those mouth watering and delicious treats that tops everyone’s food list and is enjoyed by almost everyone from kids to adults.

Oils are a combination of various fatty acids and cooking oils are sourced from plants or animals. Unsaturated fatty acids which are termed as healthy fat, differ with each kind of cooking oil. Many of the Indian main course curries and sabzi require sautéing or cooking with oil. Appetizers and tea time snacks have a large category of deep fried recipes. Being cautious in selecting what to cook and how to cook - can actually reduce the amount of undesirable fat consumption to a minimum.

Here we are with yet another interesting recipe contest! Take advantage of the baking pro in you to explore the possibilities with Eggless & Vegetarian Recipes. Eggless baking offers innumerable options for vegetarians who avoid egg consumption. Pick all the baking recipes that you researched over time to adapt to eggless versions of them.

Calorie management is the actuality that is achieved by being conscious about the sufficiency. Managing calories by managing what we consume needs to be a way of life to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Carbs in the form of sugars, starch, fats in the form of oils, cheese, butter, fatty acids, and proteins when combined with fats, shoot up our daily calorie intake which might lead to idle fats in the body.

Birthdays are special and more exciting when someone gives you a surprise. It's like a cherry on the cake. Many of us spend most of our time in office and we end up making some amazing friends. We go out to shop, eat and do a lot of fun things. And when it comes to celebrate their special day, it's time to do something special for them but it should be fun yet appropriate for an office environment.

Art of serving is a necessary learning to be a successful cook. A few sprigs of herbs like coriander, thyme, rosemary or a lemon wedge gives an appetizing look to the delicious recipe that you have prepared. What if you could pick the freshest of some of these herbs directly from a pot in the balcony?

Fridge is the most important appliance in our kitchen and we just can’t imagine our life without it. Have you ever imagined what our life would be without a refrigerator? When we set up our kitchen for the first time, the first thing comes to our mind is to buy a refrigerator.

Convection ovens are a boon to cook and bake along with reheat or defrost and multi-stage cooking. The convection oven also facilitates healthy baking for many recipes which would otherwise require more oil to shallow fry/deep fry. The inclusion of a fan at the back spreads heat inside the oven and helps in an even cooking.

‘People who loves to eat are always the best people’, I completely agree on this quote, as we here at Archana’s Kitchen are all big time foodies. We have a tradition of team lunch once in a month and we try to explore different types of cuisines and places with our every visit. I always enjoy sitting with my amazing team, enjoy the food, talk about its taste and flavour and plan what exciting we can do next. Well, we get ideas when we get good food to eat!