Hey there! I am Manali, the cook and photographer behind this blog! I am so happy you’re here!
About Me and My Family
I was born and brought up in India. My dad is an Indian government officer and my mom is a housewife. I have 2 younger brothers and they all live in India. I am blessed to have a such a wonderful family, who have supported me in every decision of my life.
I live in Seattle with my husband, Sarvesh. I moved to USA in December 2011, a week after my wedding. Me and my husband were best friends for 10 years before we tied the knot [I guess we realized that we wouldn’t find anyone better than each other after 10 years!!]. Yeah we have a very filmy story, a Bollywood movie on it is definitely possible! ? Sarvesh is my biggest supporter, it’s his constant encouragement that pushes me to give my best to this blog and to everything else in life in general. And not only that, he also handles all the technical stuff on this blog. The blog design, logo, everything is done by him. I have zero technical knowledge so it’s all him.
About Cook With Manali
I started this blog in 2013 to keep all my recipes at one place. It was Sarvesh’s suggestion to start this blog so that I could have a record of all my recipes, rather than scribbling them on papers all the time. I thought it was a good idea since it would also help me kill some time. At that time, I did not have a work visa and was struggling to pass time in this new country. What started as a time pass, became my passion over time. I am a self taught cook, baker and photographer. Whatever I have learned is through trial and error. I have failed so many times but because I was so passionate about getting it right, I just kept trying till I got it right. That’s why I say if I can cook, anyone can. I had never baked a cake in my life till 4 years back and I know it’s difficult to believe it considering the number of baking recipes I have on the blog! We never had an oven in our house growing up, in fact ovens aren’t still very common in India but back then they were literally non existent. But I fell so much in love with the art and science of baking that now I literally live and breath it.
Cook With Manali is a vegetarian food blog. I have been vegetarian for almost 15 years now and my husband is a born vegetarian. Through my recipes I want to show everyone that vegetarian cooking is just as delicious and not boring at all! India has countless vegetarian and vegan dishes that I grew up eating and I share all those and much more on this blog.
My Background
They say sometimes it takes a lifetime to realize your true passion! It couldn’t be more true in my case, thankfully I realized it before it was too late. I was always a good student in school and college and cooking was probably the last thing on my mind. I wish I could say that I was in love with cooking and baking since my childhood but that would be totally false. I never bothered to enter the kitchen. It was only after moving to the USA that I started spending time in the kitchen. Long story short, I realized that this is where my heart lies. Now I can’t stop thinking about cooking, recipes and food photography!
* I used to be a bookworm in school, yeah those nerdy students who never leave the book, yep that was me!
* I am a medical doctor, I did my MBBS from India.
* I also have an MBA in Health Care from University of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Keeping In Touch
If you have any questions or just want to say hello, please write to me at manali@cookwithmanali.com
I would reply to you at the earliest! You can also keep in touch with me through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
Thank you for supporting me in this journey! ❤
Manali
I’m veganizing a bunch of Indian food recipes and have found your website so helpful ! Bookmarked a bunch of pages on your site, the chole came out well, will be trying the baingan soon hopefully, just gotta buy some ingredients. (I’m just a home cook, I don’t have a blog, not a chef or anything) Thx so much for the recipes ! Good stuff ! 😍
Hello Manali,
My name is Satyam Valluru and we live in Dallas, TX. I enjoy watching all your recipes posted on Instagram/Facebook. Especially the short reels give all the info in a very crispy manner. Tried some of them and found them to be delicious and easy to make. Thanks for maintaining awesome cooking content online.
Thank you Satyam for following along! 🙂
Hi
My name is David, I was born in Israel and live in Colorado. I am a professional Chef and Just wanted to say Thank you for your Blog . My parents are from Punee and I love your food.
Thanks David!
Dear Manali I am the everyday( roz ka khana)cook in the house. But my husband likes to experiment( the scientist that he is) with new recipes!And I want to say that he stumbled upon your blog when he was looking for idli batter recipes which rise in cold temps:)
Since then he swears by Manali Aunty’s (he’s old enough to be your father:)recipes,!
Thanks for bringing variety in our cooking. I’m finally going to try one of your recipes…the one for arvi fry, wish me luck.
Thank you Sridevi, so glad you guys like my recipes! 🙂
Hello,
I love your website. My husband and I spend 5 weeks in 2014 travelling around India. While we were there we loved the food and fell in love! After all our travels we settled near Aberdeen (our home city – I also went to Aberdeen University. Husband went to RGU) but we always missed the food in India. When we got back I tried finding some of the curries online but had no luck. Although we always get an Indian when we are getting a takeaway the food is not the same and does not have the same options. I was absolutely delighted when I then stumbled across your website recently and recognised so many names from when we were in India. I have so far tried 3 of the recipes and we were delighted with them. They are no where near as good as they were in India (due to my cooking skills!) but it was great to get something similar again. Hopefully as I practise they will get better! Thank you so much!
Hey Julie, thanks for your lovely message! So glad to know you are enjoying the recipes! 🙂 Hope you try many more in the coming days!
I absolutely love your recipes! And the reason I keep coming back is because I recently decided to take over the kitchen as I got bored with my hubby’s Indian cooking. He’s a Punjabi and I’m an Odiya. Well so in Canada, we ended up having to cook and feed ourselves and our son who has fine food tastes, is specific about flavour, aroma and textures. Every time I have used your recipes, they have always turned out perfect and to everyone’s taste. Thank you, thank you so, so much for making this blog and sharing your recipes. You cannot imagine how amazing and helpful it has been, given that I have never been interested in cooking. Much love and a truckload of hugs!
*Every time*
Ah, typo!!!
I absolutely love your recipes! And the reason I keep coming back is because I recently decided to take over the kitchen as I got bored with my hubby’s Indian cooking. He’s a Punjabi and I’m an Odiya. Well so in Canada, we ended up having to cook and feed ourselves and our son who has fine food tastes, is specific about flavour, aroma and textures. Every tome I have used your recipes, they have always turned out perfect and to everyone’s taste. Thank you, thank you so, so much for making this blog and sharing your recipes. You cannot imagine how amazing and helpful it has been, given that I have never been interested in cooking. Much love and a truckload of hugs!
Thank you Ara for your kind words, they mean a lot! 🙂
Hello, I just happened upon your site while i was looking for a Naan bread recipe. I made yours and its exactly what I was looking for. The taste is just like the restaurant ones and the texture is amazing also. Thank you so much for putting this recipe online. I look forward to trying more of your recipes. Regards , Juancarlos
Thank you Juancarlos! I am glad to hear
Hello Manali ma’am I hope you are doing well. 😊 i am working on Merchant navy Ships. And i love cooking, and even i follow up all your Veggie recipes and also started cooking each and every veggie recipes on board the Ship everybody loves what ever I prepare by your delicious 😋 recipes. Thanking you.
I am glad to know!