Sunshine Dishes for Sunny Days

We asked chef and author Tara Deshpande Tennebaum about the hottest dish she's ever cooked and pat came the answer - 'Sunshine Salad'. That got us thinking - what are some other sunshiny recipes you can rustle up to compete with the sunny days?

Goan Prawns Caldeen

Cook prawns in a creamy, yellow gravy consisting of 1 inch ginger finely chopped, 6-7 garlic cloves finely chopped, 1 tsp jeera/cumin powder, 1 & 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder, 2 tbsp oil, 1 tsp dhania/coriander powder, ½ tsp pepper powder, 6-7 cloves, 50 gms ladyfinger/bhindi chopped, 1 medium sized tomato blanched, skinned and chopped, 1 & 1/2 tsp vinegar, 1 & 1/2 cup water, 1 medium sized onion finely chopped, 1 & 1/2 cup coconut milk and salt to taste. Serve warm with rice.

Golden Milk / Turmeric Latte

World over, food experts are touting golden milk or turmeric latte as a magic cure for a variety of malaise. To make this latte, add a generous amount of turmeric with sugar, coconut oil, ginger and honey to a saucepan of milk. Bring to a boil and serve.

Sunshine Salad

Chop ripe pineapples, mandarin oranges (or any sweet variety), carrots and bananas. Add jello mix and some vanilla essence and allow to set in the refrigerator. Add canned pineapple and orange crush if you'd like it sweeter. This salad can also be served for dessert.

Banana Bread

A slice of banana bread with some fruit yoghurt is one of the best things on this planet for sure. Make a batter of 270 grams brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 3-4 bananas, 270 grams flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground ginger and 140 grams unsalted butter, and bake.

Sunshine Smoothie

The traditional recipe calls for a blend of mango and banana with some orange juice. But feel free to add any yellow ingredient to make it more sunshiny, such as carrot juice. Ice-cream will take the smoothie to another level. You could also add a dash of lime juice, ginger and cashew nuts.

Thiruvathirai Ezhu Curry Kootu

This hard to pronounce vegetable stew is made during the Thiruvathirai festival celebrated in the months of December & January in South India, in honour of Lord Shiva. Make it with kootu paste, 1/4 cup raw banana, 1/4 cup red pumpkin, 1/4 cup suran, 1/4 cup arbi, 1/4 cup avarakkai, 1/3 cup val, 1/4 cup sweet potato, tamarind dissolved in water, pinch of turmeric, salt to taste, oil, mustard seeds, pinch of asafoetida, few curry leaves and 1 tbsp grated coconut. Enjoy it with rice.

Eggs Sunny Side Up

Fried eggs with the yolk facing upwards are one of the sunniest dishes you can have. Make it as runny or firm as you like, dust pepper on top and serve over multi-grain bread or potato wedges and bacon fries for a gourmet breakfast.

Malaidaar Anda

Can Indian egg curries be far behind when a discussion sunshiny dishes is on the table? To make this delicious anda curry, prepare a gravy with 2 tbsp oil, 150 gms cream, 3 tomatoes, finely chopped, 2 onions, finely chopped, 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 1 & 1/2 tsp salt, 1 & 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, 1/4 tsp haldi powder and 2-3 green chillies. Slice 4 boiled eggs and add to the gravy. Garnish with coriander and serve hot with roti.

In fact, why don't you plan a sunshine theme dinner and cook some pumpkin dal or corn pulao? What is the hottest dish you've ever cooked? Tweet to us with your response!