"People who love to eat are always the best people" - Julia Child
Hi, I am Shinta, and I'm so glad you're here!
Caramel Tinted Life was started in 2016 as a blog where I could share some of my favorite recipes, especially classic Indian Recipes and Instant Pot Recipes. Over time, I started sharing step-by-step recipes and recipe videos so that readers, such as you, can cook with ease at home, and enjoy the cooking process!
I am always on the lookout for inspiration for my next meal, and my food philosophy is to make food from scratch using clean ingredients. I am all for using a can of tomatoes or a stock cube from time to time, but you'll see me using unprocessed ingredients as much as I can. Making delicious food from scratch is not complicated, and I'm here to show you how!
Food Blogger in Switzerland
After working for several years as a marketing professional in India, I took a break when our family of three (update: now 4!) moved to Switzerland in 2014. I recreate recipes from back home in India and experiment with locally available produce and ingredients. When I started this blog, I was more than a little obsessed with baking cakes. Sugar Rush, was my home-baking venture, through which I taught myself to make those gorgeous cakes that I used to drool over in recipe books and glossy magazine covers. Although baking has since taken a backseat, I still get a rush from making and designing a cake stacked with layers, indulgent frostings and sinful toppings.
Indian Food
Food is something that connects me to my childhood, and has played a key role in making memories for a lifetime. Growing up in India, I've had a strong connection to the food of my country. Food in India is very symbolic and treated with reverence at times. There are plenty of sub-cuisines to enjoy and partake in. Perhaps the Indian obsession with food is what makes it as good as it is!
Some of my favorite memories are eating my grandmother's chicken curry in her humble home in Kerala. I've taken inspiration from those memories to make Instant Pot Chicken Curry which is now a reader-favorite recipe on the blog. Is there such a thing as an 'Authentic Butter Chicken'? This legendary dish has humble beginnings and plenty of variations all over the world. My Butter Chicken recipe was tested several times before I was convinced that it tasted just like what I had grown up eating in India.
I understand that Indian cooking can be very intimidating, but I hope that with the step-by-step recipes, and tips, and suggestions, the process of cooking becomes more fun and less stressful.
Here's what Anthony Bourdain said about food, something I believe in wholeheartedly:
"The best meal in the world, the perfect meal, is very rarely the most sophisticated or expensive one. Context and memory play powerful roles in all the truly great meals in one's life"
Every one of the meals and recipes I share in this space has been thoroughly enjoyed by me and my family. Some of the recipes have a little bit of nostalgia thrown in, while others are my recreations of meals I've enjoyed more recently. I hope you enjoy what you read here!
For inquiries, contact me at [email protected]