Introduction and Dedications ...

My name is Shruthi. I live in USA with my beautiful family. My husband is an Electrical engineer and i have a 3 year old cute naughty boy who keeps me busy through the day. Like many ladies, i had zero knowledge in cooking before marriage. I would have hardly entered the kitchen twice or thrice. Those kitchen experiments include keeping rice in rice cooker (my mom would mention the quantity of water) , potato fry and dry okra curry, masala chai. After getting married and moving to USA, i started trying out recipes from various blogs. I wouldn’t say they tasted great but definitely not a disaster. We somehow managed with my limited cooking skills. My husband has a strong policy “Never waste food”. So he will finish whatever is served and however the taste is. 😄 I gave a pause to my learning phase in cooking because i was expecting my son and my mom & mom in law was  there with me to take care of the meals. After my son was born and when all the elders has to go back to India, again it’s me who has to cook. So i decided to develop some interest towards cooking because there is a simple concept “Love what you do; Do what you love”. Without interest and love, nothing will work out. I started reading a lot of food blogs, compare a single recipe with two or three food blogs , get my mom’s version , understand the tiny differences, try twice or thrice to understand the taste and finally stick on to the recipe with additions and subtractions as per my family’s taste preference. That final recipe will then become the member of my recipe book. Gradually, when my dishes became a super hit within my family and close knit circle of friends, i gained some confidence. I realized i have a passion for cooking. I have never imagined i would start a food blog. The main reason to start the food blog is to safely document my collection of recipes and a best method to pass it on to other people and future generations. There are some recipes which are really close to my heart in terms of many reasons - culture, tradition, people etc. Here in this blog, i am planning to share each and every memory associated with the recipe and the recipe’s source.

So, Why is the name Khana Priyam ? I strongly thank my family for this culinary skill. My grandmothers (both paternal and maternal) are amazing chefs. My paternal grandmother is a sanskrit lover. She was my shloka teacher, a voracious reader and a knowledgeable person. She is known for her “Bakshanams” (snacks). She rolls perfect murukku. She is no more and unfortunately, i failed to learn that from her. My mom and athai(s) does murukku but i always miss the shape of my pati’s. My maternal grandmother is a tamil lover. She reads a lot of tamil books and an amazing cook even now at the age of 80. Her specialties are “South Indian” recipes especially sambhar, rasam and fried curries. As I already mentioned, there are many memories associated with people and their recipes  which i will share appropriately. Coming to the name, “ Khana “ is a hindi/sanskrit word meaning Food / Eat. “ Priyam “ is a tamil word meaning love and affection. So i decided to go with the name  “ Khana Priyam “ meaning “Love for Food / Eat”, in memory of my sanskrit and tamil pati(s). I dedicate this blog exclusively to both the lovely personalities of my life.

Last but not the least, the reason for inaugurating the blog on Mother’s Day is obviously my mom. The first person that comes to our mind when we are hungry - AMMA ! My mom started cooking at the age of 8. My grandmother used to tell me “ Your mom started basic cooking like keeping rice and dal, boiling water , steaming vegetables at the age of 8 and full meals at the age of 13.” Many a times, I remember my maternal uncle (mama) telling me “Your mom used to wake up very early every single morning just for the sake of helping pati in the kitchen , packed lunch for my grandfather, my perima( mom’s sister) , herself and my mama. All her recipes are fail proof ones. Every single person in my family loves to come to our house especially for my mom’s comfort food. Be it south indian, north indian , bakshanam, sweets and the list goes on..

Wishing my mom a very happy mother’s day ! Thank you so much for giving me such a wonderful skill. Motherhood is such a blessing! All mom’s are the best ! Wishing all mom’s a very happy Mother’s Day!!!!!