30 October

The Durga Pujos are just over and today it is Laxmi Pujo in Bengal. Sharad Purnima is observed as Kojagari Lokkhi Pujo or Kojagari Lakshmi Puja in eastern states such as Bengal, Assam, Odisha, eastern Bihar. Yes in the eastern states instead of Diwali, Laxmi Puja is celebrated a few days after Durga Puja. I did my usual puja today for Lakshmiji, nothing special for Lakshmi puja. Its difficult to arrange everything on a working day when you do not have a helping hand as such. However on Diwali I will be doing it.

Finally the rains have bade farewell and it feels like the winters are knocking on the door. The mornings are cold. yesterday it said the temperature was around 16.7 degrees in Pune. I don't know how many of you feel it, but the smell in the air changes with the onset of the Diwali week. It is much crisp now and under the sun it feels good. Finally it feels like the festive season.

I have been again reading a lot these days. Finished two mystery novels in 3 weeks. Currently devouring the Pujobarshiki Anandamela. I have also got my hands on a few culinary books of late. Mostly from the suggestions of the bloggers I follow. Most of the interest pivots around cook books with recipes from the past. Most of the times now due to lack of time and resource we tend to concoct things which are easy to make and hassle-free. Due to this many a time we end up tweaking the original recipe. It is no more a word of mouth legacy that's passed on through the generation , it is more like word of google mixed with personal improvisation. I am guilty of the same many a times too. i cannot say that is a bad thing. Because unless we try something new, how will we know whether a thing works or not. At the same time it feels good to know how was the same recipe made in older days when folks didn't tamper with traditional recipes usually.

One such books I got is - "Thakur Barir Ranna" by Purnima Thakur. Purnima Devi also known as Sudakshina Devi, was the youngest child of noted Brahmo Hemendranath Tagore, and niece of Rabindranath Tagore, thus part of the larger Tagore family.  The preface of the book talks about Indira Debi Choudhurani's ( Naw Ma) collection of recipes. She was the daughter of Rabindranath tagore's brother. Indira Debi herself didn't cook but was a food enthusiast and had a knack to collect recipes from around the world in her recipe book. That is the reason at times this book doesn't talk about the exact measurements of the ingredients. But still it is a Pandora's box of recipes from the bygone era. The most fascinating thing about this book I felt was that it has many recipes across Indian cuisines - like Puran Poli, Mysore pak etc in the recipe list. I never had an idea that during those days as well the ladies in home had exposure to such a  varied range of cuisines. But then the Thakur bari was known to have been much ahead of their times in everything. Also one more thing I noticed in particular was the usage of coconut in the recipes.  Usual Bengali recipes do not incorporate coconuts so frequently, but Thakur baris cuisine has them in most of the recipes. Which makes me think, it was probably influenced by many cultures to which the household was exposed to in those days. Later on Indira debi had gifted her recipe book to Purnima Thakur and she wrote this book to mainly preserve all those legacy recipes. Purnima Debi's mother Nalini Debi was also a great cook. Thus this book also has some of Nalini Debi's recipes and Purnima Debi's recipes as well. It feels kind of a time wrap when you read the book. I have bookmarked many of the recipes which sounded quite intriguing to me. One of those recipes is Mach diye shukto or shukto made with fish. This is one of the lost recipes of Bengal. Never had I heard before that Shukto (bitter medley of vegetables), can also be made with fish. I rechecked the recipe to see if I was reading right. Indeed I was. She had used Katla Fish to make the recipe. The recipe got me thinking, can I make it with just any fish?

If you have any Bengali friends you would know how crazy the Bengalis are about Ilish or Hilsa. Its different that they are anyway crazy about fish, but the craze for Hilsa tops everything. Monsoon delicacy means Ilish. They may sound illegally expensive to others but the Bengali is ready to shell out anything for a good Ilish on their plate. This year due to the covid situation it was impossible to go to supermarket in search of Hilsa. Usually I would get it from the nearby Big Bazar. It almost seemed like this would be a Ilishless year for me when it was already past September. But miraculously I found a fish vendor in facebook [thus you see social media is not always that bad] who delivered in my area and best thing - he had Ilish in stock! It was like a God gifted opportunity! I didnt waste time in ordering my stock of Hilsa. The prices were definitely much more than what we get in Kolkata but then a good Hilsa is worth the price you pay. As scheduled it was delivered by the owner himself. What I best liked was the packaging and the cuts. It was perfect Bengali ring pieces. He also made sure that he packed the fish head and oil in separate bags so that it was easy to use. And best thing yet, the fish tasted lovely and fresh. And I was raring to go ahead and make it into a lovely fish curry.

Now, the problem is whenever we Bengalis think of Ilish only a handful of recipes come to our mind - patui, jhal, bhapa and sorshebata mainly. I wanted to try something different for once. And then I remembered Purnima Debi's recipe of Mach diye shukto. That's it, I had the best fish at hand to try out the recipe because you can never go wrong with Ilish.

Note: This recipe can also be tried with other fishes like the Katla. 

Ingredients:

• Ilish / Hilsa - 6 - 7 pieces (ring cut)
• Bitter Gourd (Karela) - 1 big (cut into thick matchsticks/ batonnet cut)
• Potato (Aloo) - 2 medium (wedges)
• Pointed Gourd (Parwal) - 4 (wedges)
• Brinjal (Begun)- 2 medium (wedges)
• Red Pumpkin (Kumro) - 200 gm (cubed)
• Broad Beans (Shim) - 10 small (remove the tip and the tail)
• Raw Papaya (Pepe) - 200 gm (cubed)
• Raw Banana (Kacha Kola) - 1 (cubed) 
• Mustard Whole (Sorshe) - 1 tsbp (coarsely ground) + 1 tbsp (paste)
• Poppy Seeds (Poshto) - 3 tbsp (paste)
• Bay Leaf - 1
• Dried Red Chilli - 4
• Ginger - 2 inch grated
• Five Spices (5 Phoran) - 1 tsp
• Mustard Oil
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 1 cup
• Salt and Sugar as per taste

Procedure: 

1.  Wash all the vegetables and cut it as mentioned above.

2. Fry all the vegetables and keep aside. All the vegetables must be cooked till 3/4th done. The order I follow is hard veggies first - potato, parwal, banana, papaya. Followed by the softer ones - pumpkin, broad beans etc. Followed by karela and brinjals fried standalone. 

Tip: Frying them in batches is time consuming but it really helps in controlling the color and texture of the vegetables with different textures.

Fry The Karela

Fry The Brinjals

Fry the hard Vegetables - Potato, papaya, Parwal , Banana

Add the fried Karela and the Pumpkin

3. Clean and wash the Ilish pieces. Marinate it with salt and turmeric for about 30 minutes. Now fry them in mustard oil and keep aside. I usually shallow fry them.

Tip: Always prefer the ring cut portions of Hilsa for this.

4. Make a fine paste of poppy seeds and 1 tbsp mustard seeds with water.  

Tip: Soak the poppy seeds and mustard seeds in water for about 1 hour. The more the better it will soak up water and easy to make into a paste.

5. Grind 1 tbsp of mustard seeds with a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Keep it aside

6. Take mustard oil in a deep bottomed wok and when oil is smoking temper it with bay leaves, dry red chilli, panch foron and ground mustard seeds. Give it a good toss to fry everything. Make sure not to burn the spices.

Note : Pach foron is a mixture of five spices. Typically it consists of Methi dana (fenugreek seeds), Kalonji (nigella seeds), radhuni (celery seeds), sauf (fennel seeds) and jeera (cumin). Radhuni is many a times substituted with mustard seeds. It is a very versatile spice mix and in Bengal it is extensively used to add flavour to different Dals and Vegetarian preparations.

7. When the spices are fragrant toss in the fried vegetables apart from karela into the wok and fold in. Adjust the salt and sugar at this stage. 

Tip: Try not to cover and cook, then the color of the vegetables with remain as it is. Which in turn means you have to take care the vegetables do not burn, because water will evaporate fast when cooked uncovered.

Note: Turmeric is not added to shukto, that is one of the ground rule of this preparation. The preparation will have all the natural flavours of the vegetables in tact as turmeric is not added. PS: the picture looks yellowish though because of the mustard seed paste.

8. Add the grated ginger at this stage. Mix well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

9. Add the poppy seeds + mustard seeds paste now. Fold in. Let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium flame.

10. Add the fried karela and give it a good toss to mix everything. 

Note: karela is the last thing to be added before fish

11. Add the milk and water and stir in. The flame should be medium

Pro tip: I usually warm the milk for about 50 seconds in the microwave before adding to the the shukto.

12. When the shukto is almost done, lay the fish pieces carefully on top and put a cover. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Switch off the flame and let it sit covered. This will ensure the flavour of the fish gets incorporated into the shukto.

Note: Handle the fish with care and do not shove it inside the gravy, else it may break and the fish bones can get mixed with the gravy.

Serve it with steamed rice. Usually Shukto is had directly with rice without any other accompaniment like dal. So that each flavour of the seasonal vegetables can be relished fully.

23 October

Subho Saptami to all my readers!

Finally it is a beautiful sunny autumn morning today! I started my day watching the Saptami pooja at Ramakrishna math in Belur (west Bengal) which was streaming live in YouTube. This year it is a bit different kind of pooja but nonetheless it felt very divine to wake up to the chants for Durga Ma. 

I am going to talk about a 15 minute breakfast which is both healthy and hearty. It can brighten up your morning with all the necessary goodness. It is called breakfast hash with eggs. 

Quoting Wikipedia - "Hash is a culinary dish consisting of chopped meat, potatoes, and fried onions. The name is derived from French: hacher, meaning "to chop". It originated as a way to use up leftovers." 

I used to eat and love hash brown potatoes while I was travelling in the States. It was pretty much a morning staple across all the hotels I had stayed. And that is where I had developed a love for this dish. Though the hash brown is a very different recipe and much more calorie loaded. The one I am talking about today is a very simple version and mostly made in the homes. It is just a no fuss, flavorful breakfast recipe which you can try when you are not in mood of anything elaborate. Mostly it is my idea of a lazy weekend breakfast. 

I had read it somewhere it is not really a hash until something gets charred. So I have incorporated a lot of easy charring without any oven on a gas top. it adds a very nice smoky aroma to the overall hash and I just love it. 

The interesting and non conventional addition I have made is the charred garlic. in most traditional recipes of breakfast hash this is not how it is made. But trust me charred whole garlic with potatoes and eggs are the best thing in the whole world. The beautiful burst of flavors in your mouth will testify my claim any day. So without any further ado lets jump straight in to the recipe.

Preparation Time : 7 minutes

Ingredients for Yoghurt:

• Egg - 1
• Baby potato - 2
• Cherry Tomato - handful
• Mushroom - 4 , sliced
• Garlic Cloves - 10 to 12
• Onion (Medium)- 1/2 , sliced
• Spring Onion - 1/4th cup, finely chopped
• Cracked Pepper - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Olive Oil

Method:

1. Start by washing the baby potatoes. The skin should be kept on. Then par boil them in a pot or pressure cooker. I did it in the pressure cooker for two whistles. Take them out from the water and keep aside to cool.

Tip: I jabbed the fork edge into the potato sides so that they are cooked to the core when boiled.

2.  Halve the baby tomatoes. Now take a slotted spoon or a wire mesh and arrange the cherry tomatoes, cut side down in a single layer and over the gas let it char. It will take around 2 minutes on medium flame. Then flip them and let the back side also get a little charred. Keep doing this in batches, don't over crowd the space else it will all become mushy. Keep them aside to cool.

3. Now dice the baby potatoes ( still with skin on) and again on the wire mesh char the sides of the potato over the medium flame. Char it as per your preference. It adds a nice smokey flavour to the hash.

Tip: Keeping the skin on gives a nice crunchy texture to the potatoes.

4. Now heat a griddle or tawa and place the garlic cloves in one single layer. Let each side get charred. Keep aside. Similarly add the sliced onions in single layer ( separate each leaf), let it char for a few minutes and keep flipping so that all sides are nicely done. 

5. Once the onions are almost done, add a little oil to the tawa and toss around the onions. Add the charred garlic and potatoes too. Let it sizzle for less than a minute. take them all off the tawa. Now in the same oil give a 30 seconds toss to the charred tomatoes. Then take them out and keep aside.

6. Clean the mushrooms and halve them. In the same tawa toss in the mushrooms and add a pinch of salt. Toss for about 30 seconds and take them off heat.

7. Wipe the tawa clean with a tissue and now cut roundles from the baguette bread and let it toast. Once the sides are a little brown take them off heat.

8. Finally its time for the egg. Add a little oil in the tawa and crack open an egg. Add salt and cracked pepper. It it cook on low flame for a nice white outer  ring for about 3-4 minutes. 

9. Now take a bowl and toss all the charred and fried veggies into it. Add a little salt and pepper and give it a toss. Your hash is ready.

10. Take a serving plate. Layer the hash and on top of it slide the sunny side up egg. Add the toasted baguette on the side. garnish with chopped spring onions and some more cracked pepper.

Bon Appetit!

October 20

"Chefs don't make mistakes; they make new dishes" - Elizabeth Briggs

Happy International Chef's Day to all the lovely chefs (professional and home chefs), you all are just awesome! 

I mean seriously, if there is one thing the lockdown has done to most of us, is that it has brought to life the inner chef within us. Cooking was always a therapeutic thing for me. When I am upset, cooking made me happy. When I am happy cooking made me exuberant. The romance of the colors and flavors in the wok is like the best ever romance series for me, even better than the Hallmark Romances! The excitement of creating something new, serving it to loved ones and the final accolades - even if it is hard work it is all worth it at the end!

With no or limited access to restaurants, we all have started making things we never thought we could. Or never thought we needed to make, because it was always there at the tap of a food delivery app. After mastering the staples, now people are exploring and stretching their limits. I have been doing that a lot and enjoying every bit of it. Even if there had been a couple of hiccups, and recipes gone wrong here and there, one thing I noticed, the more I cooked and explored the more stronger my sense of flavors became. I could easily visualize many of the tastes of the final dish even without tasting them just by the ingredient combinations. And then adding the touch of experimentation on top of the recipe to tweak it at times and give it a nice personal twist. Never felt so happy pushing my thought limits as I feel while making something new. 

All this experimentation streak has really made me see beyond my favorite cuisines - Indian and South East Asian. I explored American, European, Arabic, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and even planning on some African cuisine soon. In the process of exploring food, I also started reading a lot about food. It was not always physical books but I found good content even on Instagram and facebook. There is this lady who had found an ancient diary when she bought an almirah and has taken up a project to create every dish of the diary throughout the year. Then there is another lady who is doing a series of feature on cricketers who have started on the food business, their food stories. Even some homestay pages talk about local cuisines and how to make them. In a nutshell, there is so much to know about food and cuisines that 24 hours just feel inadequate. The more you see, the more Google keeps suggesting you. Reading has always been a love for me, and I really enjoy knowing and exploring so many facets of food. It almost feels like I am in the wrong profession, I should have definitely my heart set on food domain. 

But when there is no immediate chance of switching the work domain do what you can do best - make things you never tried before, taste things which are not in your usual list of items, read more about the story around a particular recipe and so on. Its not just enough to create a recipe. You need to feel the food, its elements, why you need to add certain aromatics or spices, what happens when you change a few things here and there. Food is as much as a science as any other sciences. 

Coming to today's recipe. I am not at all a sweet loving person. And I was completely opposite as a kid. I used to gorge on sweets. But I think once I hit the teenage, the love for sweets was replaced by love for savory things and its still the same. But having said that, I do love to east sweets occasionally. Especially during the festivals or just a random afternoon craving on a hot day. Only thing is I do not life sweets which are overtly sweet. Mild sweet stuffs are more my forte. This recipe was the outcome of a blueberry frozen dessert I had read about once. A couple of days ago it felt really hot in the afternoon and I wanted to have something cold and nice. Since I didn't have ice cream on me, I thought of whipping up a small batch of frozen yoghurt cups. Fortunately I had granola in the pantry. So wanted to add a nice crunchy layer below the creamy yoghurt layer. A little butter an honey mixed with the granola tasted so divine that I almost felt like gorging on the entire base I had prepared as is. I had to really fight the urge! For the yoghurt part I was wondering what flavor to add. I didn't have any fruits at that time so the  next best option that came to my mind was rose. Rose flavor beautifully compliments any sweet dish, thus incorporating the same into a frozen dessert form was a risk worth taking. And the risk taking did payoff. Apart from looking super pretty, it tasted so lovely and refreshing too. I added ample amount of rose petals to add to the aromatics as well as the overall look of the cups. See for yourself if you like them or not.

This recipe is perfect for the hot summer days. But since it is festive time, sweet little things to munch on is never a bad idea. This recipe would be loved by both the young and old alike. So don't wait, go ahead and give it a shot. Psst...it event tastes divine when it melts!

October is also marked as the Breast Cancer Awareness month to help increase attention and awareness for this disease. It is also called the pink month. Hence this pink themed recipe as a small step towards spreading the awareness and removing any taboo talking about it. Cancer is a reality which I have seen closely even in my family. Both the person who is going though this and the family needs all the empathy we can extend at their hour of need. This post is dedicated to all the brave folks who are putting up against this with a smile and to all those women who need to be cautious about even the slightest change in their bodies. We are all in this together.

Ingredients for Yoghurt:

• Yoghurt (Dairy or non dairy) - 250 gm 
• Rose Syrup - 2 tbsp
• Pink food color - 1 drop / Beet root powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dried rose petals (optional) - 2 tsp
• Castor sugar / powdered sugar - 3 tsp * (adjust as per taste)

Ingredients for Base:

• Granola - 4 to 5 tbsp 
• Honey - 1 tbsp
• Butter - 1 tbsp

Ingredients for Garnish:

• Dried Rose petals 
• Honey

Equipment:

• Muffin mold - 4 cups

Method:

1. Start by melting the butter in a microwave safe bowl. I usually put it in microwave mode for 30 seconds if I am using butter directly from the refrigerator.

2. To the melted butter add the honey and mix well.

3. Now add the granola to this honey-butter mixture. Fold in. 

Tip: Adding honey and butter gives it a yummy taste to the granola.

Note 1: I used Kellogs cranberry granola. You can use anything of your choice.

4. Now prep up the yoghurt. In a bowl add the yoghurt, rose syrup, food coloring and rose petals. Mix it well.

Pro Tip: If you do not have yoghurt you can make this with any dahi as well - homemade or store bought. Just convert it into hung curd by pacing it into a strainer or muslin cloth and letting it hang for about 30 minutes till the water is drained and it becomes nice and thick. Converting it into hung curd will result in a thicker and more creamy outcome whereas if you do not remove the water it will end up being a little glassy.

5. Now take the cupcake molds. I used silicon ones. Brush the base and sides with butter. Now spoon in a layer of granola mix evenly on the base of each cup. Press the granola mix firmly to the bottom. They should occupy about 1/3rd of the cups. Now transfer this to the freezer for about 15 minutes to harden the base.

6. Take out the mold. Arrange a few petals along the sides of the mold ( they will be visible once you demold the cups). Then top each off with the yoghurt mix.  Sprinkle a few rose petals on top. Transfer the cups back to the freezer and let it set for minimum 2-3 hours. 

Tip: You can also add some chopped nuts on top

Take them out when you are ready to eat. Top them off with honey and have them right away.

19 October

This year the autumn in Maharashtra doesn't feel like autumn at all. It feels like we are stuck forever in the monsoon season itself. Rain , rain and more rain is enough to drive us crazy. Thus to cheer myself up I checkout the vibrant fall pictures my friends are sharing on their social accounts from across the world. As much as I love Indian festivals around this time, I love the feeling of colorful autumn, thanksgiving and a white Christmas of the states. It takes me back to the time I was staying in Atlanta and how vibrant the entire place used to become during the fall season - the prettiest of all seasons! I remember the road trips along the Blue ridge parkway and the stunning visuals it presented. I couldn't peel off my eyes even for a second from the vista on both side of the road. I think I will create a separate blog post to revive the memories of a log cabin stay during the autumn in Chattanooga, Georgia.

So you get the drift. I am very much transported back to those red, yellow and magenta days whenever I hear the word fall or autumn.  And it has been my longest standing desire to prepare fall recipes. So this year I have been experimenting a few recipes with the fall theme on mind. I tried incorporating pumpkin in many of the recipes. And I found an interesting thing when I was doing research on the fall recipes. I liked all the pumpkin recipes which were more south east Asian interpretation of the American fall staples. I felt they are more zesty and flavorful. I might be totally wrong in this case, but going by the recipe ingredients this is what I felt. I never knew before this that even in Thai cuisine there is a pumpkin soup or a fall harvest salad. The ingredients they had used to make their versions aligned more to my Asian taste buds.

I am not at all a salad person. At least I was not at all a salad person before the lockdown. The only reason is that its too much of a work and the phycological thought process is that when it doesn't have a bread or rice in it, it is not going to be filling enough. But that notion changed during the lockdown when we started to focus more on healthy eating habits. Thus I started experimenting with different kinds of salad bowls. This particular salad was thought of as part of an Instagram contest (yes Instagram is kind of taking over my life, which I feel I need to restrict for good!) We wanted to create something fresh and feisty and different form the usual salads. It had to define our personality. That's very cheeky I know but yeah that's how the food should be. Its a reflection of myself I feel. And the Thai versions of both the harvest recipes - pumpkin soup and Autumnal salad felt like what would perfectly suite my palate.

When we think fall ingredients a few things instantly come to the mind - butternut squash, sweet winter pumpkins, crisp apples, pears, sweet potato and so on. They are so lovely ones that you can not just go wrong with any combination you choose.

This can be passed off as a both a fall and a summer salad. Its a feisty salad which will tease your taste buds with the spiciness of the bird's eye chilli, sweetness from the honey dressing, citrusy burst from the tropical fruits, buttery tropical vibes from saffron coconut prawns and to balance it all off the earthiness from the toasted nuts. It basically is a warm fall salad that will keep you cozy on a chilly fall night.

Marination Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients for Salad:

• Fresh Prawns with tails - 20 
• Peanuts - 1/4th cup
• Walnuts - 1/4th cup
• Pumpkin Seeds - 1/4th cup
• Onion - 1/2
• Cherry Tomato - 6
• Lettuce - 1/2
• Apple - 1
• Pineapple - 2/4th cup diced
• Mosambi/Sweet Lime - 1
• Salt

Ingredients for Prawn Marination:

• Saffron Strands 
• Sesame oil - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Bird's eye chilli - 1 chopped
• Coconut paste (Optional) - 1 tsp
• Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Shredded Coconut - 1/2 cup

Ingredients for Dressing:

• Honey - 2 tsp
• Lemon Juice - 1/2
• Fish Sauce - 1/2 tsp
• Sesame oil - 1 tsp

Ingredients for garnish:

• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds -  2 tsp
• Bird's eye chilli - 2 chopped

Equipment:

• Thick bottom skillet/ non stick skillet

Method:

1. Start by cleaning the prawns. Devein it, take the head off and leave the tail. It preserves the shape of the prawn.

2. Now marinate the prawn for 30 minute with marination ingredients mentioned above expect the shredded coconut.

3. While the prawns are marinating, dice the apples. In a bowl take 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp honey and add the apples. Toss everything well and let it rest.

4. Now prepare the nuts. Take a skillet and heat it on medium. Once hot toss the walnuts first until they are fragrant and toasted. Same way toast the peanuts and the pumpkin seeds. Now keep both of them aside to cook down.

Note: If you are using toasted pumpkin seeds no need to toast it again.

5. Slice the onions. In the same skillet on medium, dry roast the onions for about 2-3 minutes, tossing them around with a spatula. Take them off heat and let it cool down.

6. Dice the sweet lime and the pineapples. 

Tip: If either of them are sour, then just add a bit of sugar and let it sit till the sugar melts.

7. Time to prepare the prawns. Heat the skillet, add a teaspoon of oil. Spread the shredded coconut on a plate or any flat surface. Now take one prawn at a time and coat it with the shredded coconut on both sides. Tip them in the oil and keep the flame on medium so that the coconut doesn't get burnt. Turn both sides and fry them nicely till it gets a light golden brown hue. Patiently fry all the prawns for not more than 30 seconds each side. Keep them on a paper towel to soak the excess oil.

Note: Adding saffron is optional. But it gives a very nice flavour to the fried prawns.

8. Now prepare the dressing. In a bowl take everything mentioned under dressing and give it a good mix. 

9. Now its time to plate everything. Start by laying down a layer of lettuce in the platter. On top of it arrange all the fruits, onion, halved cherry tomato, prawns and the toasted nuts. Drizzle the dressing on top generously. Toss everything in.

10. Finish off by garnishing it with pumpkin seeds, chopped bird's eye chilli and sesame.

Pro tip: You can even add some cheese on top to make it more luscious.

You can pair this feisty autumn salad with any autumn soup of your choice. I had served it with the Thai Spicy Coconut Soup. Check out the recipe here.