"This is a journey of my life since I was all of 12 yrs when I started my hand in cooking to now with displays of my learning and creations of recipes from around the world. My inspiration and role model has always been my Mum who has always created dishes from around the world and excellently well. I do not believe I would ever match to her culinary skills. I remember the times she could cook and bake almost 4-5 dishes in one go without ever letting one go under cooked or burnt! I was born and raised in Dubai, UAE and recently moved to India for family reasons. Kitchenette just means that over the decades, my kitchen has changed from that of my mum's to my uncle and aunt's, to my home in UAE and now in India. Pala't'te, describes both global cuisines ('Palatte'-diverse flavours) and pleasing diverse 'Palates'."

Food Ingredients between A-Z

I sometimes forget names of ingredients but remember the distinct taste they produce. One such ingredient that came to mind was


  1. Arugula leaves used in Rocket Salad and I found one wonderful thesaurus and thought I would share this as it came with images. Again needless to repeat, I take no credit for the insightful knowledge that the links below provide. All credit to their publishers and authors:                        Salad Leaves : http://www.foodsubs.com/Greensld.html
  2. Bottle Gourd also known as Lauki in Hindi is an vegetable used in a lot of Indian preparations. It is also known as White Gourd or Marrow.
  3. Courgettes (in French) also known as Zucchini in Italian and is a kind of Turai (Hindi) is a bland vegetable.
  4. Dry Mango Powder is also known as Amchur in Hindi. This features in many Indian and South East Asian recipes
  5. Eggplant in North America, is also known as aubergine in French and Britain English. It also carries the name of Brinjal, Brinjal Eggplant, Melongene or Guinea Squash. Dishes like Moussaka, Ratatouille and Baigan Bharta are made with this vegetable.
  6. Fennel seeds or Saunf in Hindi is widely used around the world. Fennel seeds has a liquorice taste.
  7. Gherkins or Tundli or Kundru in Hindi or Kovakkya in Malayalam, is like a small cucumber. Gherkins are used in a lot of diverse recipes. They also make good as pickles both spicy or salted in brine.