Sweet Potato and Carrot Halwa in Coconut Milk - Indian flavored sweetpotato truffles

Make it vegan or regular. In slow cooker or gas stove….

Rich, aromatic full of flavor, nothing beats a great halwa. I love Indian desserts and this is one of my favorites. It is made from sweet potatoes, carrots and coconut milk - vegan halwa.   The flavors work very well and I love the mild coconut flavor in the halwa. It is a great slow cooker dessert.  It’s halwa but formed as a ladoo ( balls) just to control my portion size ;)

I am an over enthusiastic shopper. No! It’s not handbags, foot wear, make up or dresses….( that too but  not as much). I go berserk in a grocery store - produce section drives me crazy. For one I do not do weekly menu planning - neither do I have a grocery list that is cast in gold. I have a basic list, but it’s always way beyond what’s on the list. For most of my friends going grocery shopping is a chore and a stressful exercise, for me it’s quite the opposite. I even take cell phone pictures of produce - if you follow me on FB or Instagram you know what am talking about. 

A few weeks back I got a huge amount of sweet potatoes ( no kidding!)…the freshness just enticed me. Everything sweet potato was on my mind, pies, curries, soup and even ice cream (am planning that really soon).  Thankfully Sweet potatoes has a long shelf life, I forgot about them and discovered them a couple of days back.  I had originally planned to make an ice cream or a curry, but..I was not in the mood for ice cream in sub zero, horrible, terrible, no good winter day ( ops! I shall reserve this rant for another post) anyway, long story short…I wanted to have a warm dessert - something traditional.  Halwa it was. I used coconut milk instead of milk - loved the flavors. 

There are a lot of ways to serve the halwa - make it into tiny bite size balls (ladoo) and coat them with powdered pistachio or desiccated coconut.  Or just serve in a bowl topped with pistachio. 

Culinary Optics - Neel from Learn Food Photography: an interview

Food Photography tutorials email me - turmeric53@gmail.com

1- How to capture Steam in food photography
2- How to capture white objects on white.
3- Composition theory for food photography
4- How to shoot moody and intense images
5- Painting props for food photography
6- Personalized tutorials.

How does one interview an individual who has interacted with almost all of the top food photographers? Every food blogger knows Neel Chaudhary from Learn Food Photography - everyone! In case you don’t, you are either new to food blogging/photography or you live under a rock. Not only do we know him, but many of us have a secret aspiration to be featured on LFP. As far as I am concerned, it’s no big secret that that’s on my bucket list. (No pressure, Neel.) Jokes apart, what started as a collection of information has grown into a huge data base of knowledge. The site has close to two million hits: that speaks a lot about its readership and his vision for LFP.

It took me some time to frame my questions for Neel. He asked me questions in response to my questions; it was thought provoking even for me. Neel, thanks for all the hours you put in to do this for TNS readers and my column for The Daily Meal. I don’t think the man ever does anything with a casual frame of mind, you can see his effort even as he answers questions for an interview.

A little bit of trivia here: if you ever want to upset Neel, just send him an image of food shot with camera flash. He has mentioned it several times - it really bothers him. If you ask me, I think this is the real reason he started LFP - to send ALL images shot with camera flash into the historic realm of dinosaurs :)

To save the world from flash food photography Neel is hosting a 30 day online food photography workshop. I took this workshop last year and it changed the way I see through the viewfinder. It was really the turning point for me. I am eager to participate this year, can’t wait to see you all there. It starts August 4th. Just for the record, I have never used flash on my food.

Some of Neel’s images and excerpts from his interview.

 “Growing up in India there was always a lot to photograph every where. In early days I was more inclined to photographing people and landscapes. In India I come from a city known for its street food and passion for food. The food streets there are massively crowded till 3-4 am every day. Some say people of Indore don’t have blood in their body but sev, pohe and jalebi - a typical Indori breakfast that you can get in every street corner of the city.  That’s how food came into my life - through my blood veins.”

"My relation to photography has been very deep and profound. I often find photography very much like meditation. Give me a camera and I wouldn’t care about anything else. Me, my camera and my subject. That is it. Over the years this connection has become very strong and continues to grow. "

"LFP has grown beyond my imagination. With where we are now in the journey I can say that we’ve achieved some success and there is lot more left to be done. There are many friends we need to educate and ask them to please not use that on-camera flash or not to get so close of your food that it feels like a you are seeing a microorganism through microscope.

As I’ve said before elsewhere, every time I see a photo taken with on-camera flash, I cry a little. I can’t sleep at night. (Okay! that’s a joke!) We need a world without on-camera flash photos. Wouldn’t that be a great world to live in.”

“Wow!! I am really moved by the megapixels of this photo” Have you ever heard that? or how about “The sharpness of this photo makes me cry”

"The key to an extraordinary food photograph is whether the photograph evokes positive emotions in the audience. I say positive emotions because at the very basic level, that is what food photography is supposed to do. A good food photo needs to invite you to experience the food.”

Here is part of the interview exclusive on Turmeric N Spice.

CULINARY OPTICS - Andrew Scrivani

Food Photography tutorials email me - turmeric53@gmail.com

1- How to capture Steam in food photography
2- How to capture white objects on white.
3- Composition theory for food photography
4- How to shoot moody and intense images
5- Painting props for food photography
6- Personalized tutorials.

I had no idea how this happened. We often assume that celebrities are larger than life, we see them on the media and form an image about them. I was skeptical that Andrew would even respond to my e-mail, let alone agree to do an interview. He’s one amazing guy… so down to earth, it was more than a surprise. I sent him a list of 7-10 questions, asked him to pick 5 or even 4 due to time constraints, he responded to all of my questions - I asked him for a sample of images and it was a treat to see a handful of images from him. What is it about some people that is so endearing, you wish more for them and feel they deserve every bit of the success. Thank you so much Andrew Scrivani.

You can see his signature style in all his images, the magical light with perfect composition. In one of his workshops he calls himself a ‘light chaser’, you can clearly see that in his images.  About composition, he says, “food styling is composition within a composition, you have an overall composition and then you have to also compose your plate….you are making two different pieces of art and putting them together”

Andrew, ”A good photograph is one that makes it’s audience feel something. That may be a really simple answer but that’s exactly how I feel. If you can change the thoughts and feelings of an audience with an image then you have made a good photograph.”

Andrew, “Planning a photo shoot for me always begins with the recipe, then the ingredients, the season and the culture it is borne in. All of those things influence how I plan the lighting, propping and overall feel of the shoot….”

Here is Andrew doing photo yoga :) This is just a teaser, click here to read my full interview. Thanks Daily Meal for the opportunity.

Here is Ilva Berretta’s interview on Culinary optics - March- 2014.

If you want me to include your favorite food photographer or have any suggestions for this column - please email me at turmeric53@gmail.com or leave me a comment. Thanks !

All images in this post are a copyright of Andrew Scrivani.

Culinary Optics - My monthly column on The Daily Meal

Food Photography tutorials email me - turmeric53@gmail.com

1- How to capture Steam in food photography
2- How to capture white objects on white.
3- Composition theory for food photography
4- How to shoot moody and intense images
5- Painting props for food photography
6- Personalized tutorials.

 

 

I was absolutely thrilled to get an opportunity to write a photography column for The Daily Meal. I call it ‘Culinary Optics’, and as the name suggests, it’s all about food and the art of capturing food, a topic very close to my heart. It’s a monthly column and I am counting on you guys to help me shape it, so please leave me comments, criticism and reactions. It’s going to help me a lot.

This month I’m featuring Ilva Berretta. Her work is an inspiration and to say that her rendition of styling is out of the box is an understatement  - she always baffles me with her creativity and I often wonder how her mind works so uniquely. 

Trying to decode her creativity, here is a teaser. Read the complete article here.

An excerpt from the write-up…

Ilva “Three words that means a lot to me as a photographer: growth, light, and harmony. Growth is very important to me, both as a person and as a photographer, I always try to evolve, to grow and get better, to try new ways and never sit back and feel complaisant about what I am doing but to move onwards and to challenge myself to do better. I am obsessed by light and I think it can be seen in my photos, light is so beautiful, be it strong or subtle. I also strive for creating images filled with harmony of some sort, the actual act of creating a photo is one of harmony to me, it is like a visual puzzle, all things has to fall into place and then I can feel in the pit of my stomach that the photo is right”

 Ilva: “People often ask me about which is the best lens to shoot food with, I prefer the prime lenses I mentioned above because in my opinion they are better for shooting food and still lifes but I think it is a matter of personal taste, whatever feels good to you and is within your price range. If you are doing it as a hobby you can usually use what you have, when you start selling your photos you may need to upgrade.”

Ilva "Think of how you want the light to fall and how much of it you want, use reflectors to accentuate and lighten dark parts or the food you are shooting or screens to reduce lights and scrims to diffuse harsh light. Play around with the camera a bit, try different angles and go closer if you are not satisfied with how it looks, it usually helps.”