Recipes & Stories from Maa’s Kitchen

There’s a kind of magic that lives in every mother’s kitchen. It’s woven into the scent of spices and the gentle clatter of ladles. Its quiet love folds into every bite of food she prepares. What makes everything she touches so special? Maybe it’s the way she uses her hands instead of measuring spoons, or how the hum of her morning routine fills the kitchen. Her food isn’t just food, it’s a feeling—one that’s filled with childhood memories and served warm. Today, we serve up our own memories of maa’s kitchen. Find below our cherished recipes and the stories that simmer within each dish.

Chakka Kumbilappam

By Parvathi Anilkumar

Growing up in Fujairah, surrounded by the rugged mountainous terrain, I eagerly looked forward to my yearly trip to Kerala. The moment I arrived, I would run barefoot through the backyard, my heart full of joy, soaking in the familiar sights and sounds. Slow evenings with my mommy were the best – we would wander into the backyard, gathering bay leaves for Chakka Kumbilappam. I still remember the innocence of those moments and the warmth of her love as she folded each leaf, stuffed it with ripe jackfruit along with her secret spices, and then steamed them. The aroma of the dish, with Kattan Kappi on the side, still lingers in my memory.

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Servings: 8-9

Ingredients:

• Ghee
• 1 cup ripe jackfruit
• 1 cup rice flour
• 3/4th cup jaggery
• ½ cup grated coconut
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/4th tsp dry ginger powder
• 1/4th tsp salt
• 8-9 bay leaves

Method:

1. Clean the bay leaves under running water and wipe them dry.
2. Heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Deseed the peeled jackfruit and grind in a mixie jar.
3. Add the crushed jackfruit to the ghee and stir well and let it cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Melt the jaggery in hot water and strain it.
5. Add it to the jackfruit mixture and mix well.
6. Roast rice flour in another pan and add the roasted flour to the jackfruit and jaggery mixture. Mix well and cook on a low flame until the mixture becomes a dough-like consistency leaving the sides of the pan for a minute and put off the flame. Cover it for 10 minutes until warm.
7. Make small cones of the mixture and wrap them in bay leaves forming a cone and cover them with one end of the bay leaf leaves like small small cones fixing one end of the cone with a toothpick.
8. Heat the idly steamer and steam the packets for about 20 minutes and check with a toothpick. It should come out dry.
9. Serve warm.

 

Ashoka Halwa

By Sathya Priyatharshini L

As a child, I’d wait for my mother’s Ashoka Halwa, made with roasted moong dal and lots of homemade ghee. Every time I get a taste of it now, my heart does a happy little dance. Despite being a working woman, she always found the time during Christmas to slow-cook this halwa alongside her cakes. It’s a dish that demands time, patience, and love—stirred slowly, with all her heart in it. That taste, and the memory of her making it, will stay with me forever.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Ghee
• ½ cup Moong dal
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp wheat flour
• 3/4th cup sugar
• Few threads of saffron
• 1/4th tsp cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp cashew
• 2 tbsp raisins

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker heat 1 tsp ghee and roast ½ cup moong dal.
2. Add 2 cups of water and mix well.
3. Cover and pressure cook for 3 whistles or until the dal is cooked well.
4. Cool the dal completely and blend to smooth paste and keep aside.
5. In a large kadai heat ¼ cup ghee and roast 2 tbsp wheat flour, until the flour turns aromatic and lump-free.
6. Add in prepared moong dal paste, stir and cook making sure the dal paste is well combined.
7. Cook for 5 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken slightly.
8. Add in ¾ cup sugar and mix well.
9. Dissolve the sugar keeping the flame on medium, keep cooking for 15 minutes or until the mixture turns glossy.
10. Add a pinch of saffron threads in warm milk a food colour and mix well. Keep cooking on low flame until the mixture separates the pan. takes approx 25 minutes.
11. In another pan heat 1 tbsp ghee and roast 2 tbsp cashew and 2 tbsp raisins until the nuts turn golden brown.
12. Add in roasted nuts over the halwa and add ¼ tsp cardamom powder, mix well and serve warm.

 

Dahi Butti

By Sandhya Prakash Pangarkar

This was a quick recipe prepared by my aai when we were school-going kids. I come from a conservative Brahmin family, where food was never served before it was offered to the Gods—especially to Agni Deva. After the morning puja, the Vaishwadeva ritual was performed, during which cooked rice was offered to the sacred fire. Since we didn’t have a breakfast culture and school began at 9 a.m., my aai had little time. The moment the havishya (offering) was placed in the fire, she would hurry to prepare Dahi Butti and serve it to me just in time.

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 5 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 cup curd
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• Turmeric powder (a pinch)
• ½ tsp cumin seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 2 green chillies
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Cook rice in a pressure cooker. Let the cooker cool and when the pressure is released. Remove the rice.
2. Mash the rice with a wooden spoon until almost like a dough.
3. Mix warm milk, curd and salt to taste.
4. Prepare the seasoning on medium flame in a small pan by adding ghee to it. Add the cumin seeds. Let it splutter chopped green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric to it.
5. Mix well and serve.

 

Jackfruit Chips

By Akhil Venugopal

This memory is from when I was in the 8th grade. Every jackfruit season, amma would carefully pick a half ripened jackfruit from our backyard. She’d then clean, deseed, and slice each piece before frying them in hot coconut oil. I’d sit beside her, watching the rhythm of her hands and the calm in her face as she worked quietly and patiently. By morning, she’d have packed those crisp, homemade chips into pouches—not just for me, but for all 36 of my classmates. This is my sweetest memory of amma. She never said much, but those little packets of Jackfruit Chips said everything. 

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups jackfruit flesh, half-ripe, cut into long wedges
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1-2 tablespoon salt
• 1 glass of water
• Coconut oil, for deep frying

Method:

1. Slice the jackfruit flesh/bulbs lengthwise into moderately thin wedges. Remove the seeds.
2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom frying pan.
3. Add the jackfruits in batches and fry in medium-high heat till crisp. Add turmeric powder to the frying mixture in a small quantity and mix well.
4. In a glass of water, add the salt and mix until the salt is melted.
5. Once the jackfruit is fried to a crisp texture, add a tablespoon of saltwater to the fried chips and mix well. 
6. Mix and strain the chips to a plate lined with a kitchen towel.
7. Allow it to cool and transfer it to an airtight container.