Table Of ContentC H U T N E Y S &
T H O K K U S
45 Plant Based, Gluten Free, Low Calorie Recipes
Navolina
Copyright © 2020 Navolina
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, printing, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express
written permission of the author.
Cover design and photo credits: Navolina
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the 'Universal Life Force Energy' which connects
all life forms on this planet. Life force is the intelligent power that converts
food, oxygen, and sunshine into fuel which assists the living beings to
survive. The life force energy helps in recharging our mind, body, and soul.
Food is an important component of this life force as it is a flowing energy
which needs to be replenished daily through the food we consume. Good
health starts from inside. What we eat affects our emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual health. In this book, I have played around with the natural colour
of various fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables, lentils, herbs, leaves, and spices, to
infuse this life force energy into our being.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is an expression of sincere gratitude to all those who have encouraged &
supported me towards the completion of this book.
Firstly, I would like to express my deep love & gratitude to my dear husband
Dr. S. Kameshwaran, for being my pillar of strength and supporting me in
everything I have done so far. I thank him for his love, affection, and
inspiration since the inception to the completion of this book. He was, is, and
will always be my unofficial food taster & critic for all of my experimental
home cooked dishes. His feedback has helped me immensely in exploring
new flavourful combinations of recipes mentioned in this book. Additionally,
his knowledge of photography was pivotal in helping me set up a mini studio
at home to shoot all the photographs for this book. His expertise lend a
helping hand in how to style & design the cover for this book.
I am hugely grateful to my bestie Mo, for her time in reading through the
draft copy of this book and giving her valuable feedback. Her love, moral
support, & encouragement has boosted my confidence and trust in my own
capabilities.
I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my dear friends - Cats, &
Mock, for their valuable inputs regarding the design for the cover for this
book. I am grateful to my friends Mich & Hilda, for trying out recipes from
my book (during its drafting stage) and extending their support with their
encouraging feedback. I am also thankful to my friends – Nina, Marje, Kasia,
& Katherine for their love, support, and encouragement during my writing
journey.
I am indebted of my grand mother-in-law Mrs. Saroja, and mother-in-law
Mrs. Sa Mangai for sharing their knowledge of Tamil cuisine with me. Some
of these family recipes have been handed down through generations. I am
also grateful to my nephew for his feedback on a few recipes in this book
which are his personal favourites.
I am also grateful to all the cooks (home cooks, and cooks at the small
hotels), whom I met in the villages in Telangana & Karnataka (during my
field trips for my M.Phil & Ph.D theses). I had the opportunity to taste the
delicious food they cooked, prompting me to interact with them, which in
turn widened my sphere of knowledge of both Telugu as well as Kannada
Cuisine. I cannot forget to mention the knowledge shared by my hostel cooks
in Hyderabad. I also had the opportunity to stay at my friend Sai Sailaja’s
place in Andhra Pradesh, and taste a couple of delicious chutneys cooked by
her mom apart from the large spread of other vegetarian dishes from Telugu
Cuisine which she cooked for me as a loving host. All these people have
inspired me over the years to explore and create new recipes of chutneys with
different flavourful combinations.
I am also elated to convey thanks to all my friends, & followers who have
been supportive of my journey as a home cook through their encouraging
reviews for my recipes, and also for their supportive comments & reactions
on my posts for the past 5-6 years on both my timeline and cookery page at
Facebook.
Above all, I thank the Universal Life Force Energy, for blessing me with the
knowledge regarding various cuisines, and giving me this opportunity to
explore myself further by writing this book and fulfil my dream of becoming
an author of a cookbook.
Last but not the least, I am also grateful to my own self for trusting myself,
for pushing my boundaries to learn new skills (in areas of food styling &
photography, and writing & publication), and taking the step forward. The
confidence I have gained is because of the freedom from my limiting beliefs,
which I achieved after attending many holistic healing workshops conducted
by great seminar leaders across the globe. I would specifically like to express
my heartfelt gratitude to my Spiritual Teachers – Brandon Bays
(www.thejourney.com), Kevin Billett (www.kevinbillett.org), and Dr.
Rangana Rupavi Choudhuri (www.vitalitylivingcollege.info) for their
valuable teachings at different workshops conducted by them. I am also
grateful for the innumerable opportunities to interact with them. Through
their teachings & mentoring, I have healed from my traumatic past and
become a newer version of me by connecting with my own authentic
greatness.
- Dr. Navolina
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am an Economist by education, Home Cook by Verve, Blogger by zeal, and
Heart-Centred Manifestation Coach by passion. I have a Ph.D degree in
Economics, and I began my career as an Economic Consultant for the World
Bank. I have an interest in meditation, cooking, & writing blogs on social
issues. I am the founder of Tune into Abundance – Life Coaching and
Alternative Therapy. I currently reside at Bengaluru, India and work as a full
time Manifestation Coach. A Manifestation Coach empowers you to clear
your fear of failure or success, eliminate your sabotage behavioural patterns,
and release any remaining blocks to attracting success and abundance in your
life. I conduct online healing sessions for my clients and the focus of my
practice is to empower my clients to discover wholeness and inner peace in
daily living. Link to my website: www.tuneintoabundance.com
I started cooking regularly at home only after I got married a few years ago.
Very soon I realised that cooking was a form of meditation for me. Every
now & then I would share photographs of my home cooked dishes on my
Facebook timeline. Friends loved them and started asking for recipes of my
featured dishes. This prompted me into joining various online cookery
groups. I participated in cookery competitions organised by those groups and
by a prominent cookery app. In 2017 alone I won 7 back to back cookery
competitions. This encouraged me to start my own Facebook cookery page in
September 2017. The response to my page encouraged & drove me to
participate in more cookery competitions which were judged by renowned
Professional Chefs. In January 2018, I won a cookery competition for my
plant based ‘Chutney Platter’. That inspired me to write this book.
Chutney Platter (Clockwise - Shallot & Tomato Chutney, Mint Leaves &
Coconut Chutney, and Dry Red Chilli & Garlic Chutney)
In March 2018, I participated & won in a cookery competition organised by
ITC Masterchef and my recipe – ‘Spicy Prawn Roast’ was featured in a
Cookbook by ITC. Then in October 2018, I participated in ‘Mega Dussehra
Recipe Contest’ organised by Cookpad India, which was judged by a
Masterchef and my plant based recipe – ‘Urundai Kulambu’ was selected as
the first runner-up. I participated in many cookery competitions in 2019, and
won 5 of them; out of which 2 were judged by famous chefs of the country.
Also, one of my plant based recipes – ‘Jhala Mudhi’, got published in a
Cookbook by Cookpad India after winning in a competition organised by
them.
Although I do not follow a ‘Vegan’ lifestyle throughout the year, I still try to
follow it for about 320 days in a year. I enjoy creating new and healthy plant
based recipes and love eating them too.
A few of my plant based winning entries across various cookery competitions
are listed in the collage.
Top (L to R) – Fresh Fruits Jelly Cake in a Vegetable Decoction, and Thai
Green Curry Fried Rice
Bottom (L to R) – Jhala Mudhi, and Urundai Kulambu
You can follow me @
Facebook: Navo Lina
Link to my Official Page: https://www.facebook.com/tuneintoabundance/
Link to my Cookery Page: https://www.facebook.com/CookwithNavolina/
Instagram: dr.navolina
