Recipes

I have been a foodie since childhood and enjoy eating all cuisines worldwide. With the cancer diagnosis last year, however, the taste buds have changed with the chemo medications. It also altered my cooking pattern a bit to best suit my needs.

I now want to extend those recipes to you all. Non-cancer patients can modify their taste with the spice and oil levels, whereas cancer patients can continue to enjoy some of the dishes as is, which are easy to make by themselves or the caregivers.

I have altered and used these food combinations to maintain energy levels, balance the hormone changes, and keep nausea under control. I plan to add more recipes with videos to this page.

ButterNut Squash One Pot Meal/ Stew/Olan

The sheer variety and volume of the pumpkins at every grocery store during the fall season – make it my family’s fav seasonal food—Squash Stew, or Olan as we call it in southern India. I learned to prepare this dish from my elder sister’s mother-in-law – it’s been a family delicacy for almost 15+ years. I did not want to miss eating my fav seasonal food and called for some modifications for my current health situation. I recommend going with butternut squash or a naturally earthy sweeter squash for this dish.

Butternut squash is low-fat, low in calories, and rich in nutrients containing fiber, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A and C. It has other health benefits, too, along with being antioxidant. I recommend reading online for its other health benefits for diabetic, heart patients etc.

Check out the recipe in my YouTube channel

Delicata Squash Thogayal/Chutney

Paati, would invariably make thogayal every day with any vegetable available, and one of my favorites was the thogayal made from pumpkin skin. My paternal grandma (paati) was an excellent cook who could whip out an extraordinary dish from the simplest ingredients. Ours was a joint family, so we stayed with our grandparents. We would look forward to trying out the yummy dishes she would put out for us with all her love. This thogayal inspired by her cooking is not spicy. For non-cancer folks with better tolerance, you could add spice and tamarind.

The thogayal makes a great combination with Olan. I also switch to Zucchini during other seasons to make the thogayal.

Check out the recipe in my YouTube channel