My name is Arun Velekkat. I am a marketing professional during the day. I love spending time in the kitchen during weekends cooking all the great food that I love to eat and share!
I live in Bangalore with my wife Reshmi and our son Pranav. Reshmi inspired me to start this food blog.
Many of those fantastic pictures that you see on this blog are her clicks! We love cooking for our siblings and their little kids, our fun-loving cousins, and friends. Some of the food we cook make it to our colleagues at work as well!
The story behind “The Take It Easy Chef”
My love for food started as a kid with the hearty delicacies that my grandma used to cook when I visited her during the summer vacations. I have also been influenced by all the great food that I have come across in the various cities where I have lived – Kerala, Bangalore, UK, and Singapore. Frequent travels to Goa, where my wife grew up, has exposed me to a whole new world of coastal cuisine.
I started this food blog, The Take-It-Easy Chef, in early 2016 as a way to express my passion for cooking, and it soon became a serious hobby. I create the easiest rendition of recipes that’ll help even the novice cooks create a good looking, tasty plate of food!
This is what this blog is about
This blog is all about simple, honest food! I try to use local, organic produce as much as possible. For all my recipes, the goal is to help create a great-looking, delicious plate of food. Period.
Some of the recipes that you see on this blog have also been inspired by the dishes cooked by my super creative cousins and my brother-in-law, whom you can always rely on to cook a plate of delicious food. A few other fantastic recipes here are from my friends’ moms.
Beyond the blog
I love writing about food in general, cooking, and recipes. Some of my food stories can be found here –
The seed of the matter (The Hindu MetroPlus Food)
Nuts about cashews (The Hindu MetroPlus Food)
Set the goal to go local (The Asian Age)
World Oceans Day (The Yellow Turmeric)
My blog came runner-up in the Recipe Blog category in The Indian Food Bloggers Awards 2016. This annual awards ceremony that aims to recognise and celebrate the finest of food blogging over the past year is the only such award in India.
What about Nepalese Cuisine under Asian style. Would love to see it features here too
Hi Anu,
Thank you. That is an interesting thought.
I haven’t explored much of Nepalese cuisine yet.
But I would love to.
Do you have any recommendations?
I recently discovered your blog. You should continue posting recipes . I am an OK cook but I followed your recipes as is and they came out well. Your tips and tricks helped me out a lot and are recipes are spot on.
Thank you very much, Preeti 🙂
That’s such a lovely feedback that you have shared.
I have been saying this for a while now, but I will resume posting recipes soon. 🙂
Mangalorean here who loves squid AND ghee roast, but forgot to learn to cook it from my mother. This was a great substitute. Thanks a lot!
The real help though was finally learning how to clean crab! Now I can make crab sukkha!
Hi Janice,
Thank you very much for the generous feedback 🙂
I am happy to hear that you liked my squid ghee roast recipe.
Crab sukka is a delicious idea!! 🙂 I am going to try it soon.
Love your blog and tried many of your recipes that turn out perfect. I share your passion for cooking and woud love to connect and explore ways to expand our interest in food and cooking.
Motasim
Hi Motasim,
Thank you very much 🙂
Always a joy to meet someone who is passionate about cooking.
Hi I’m from Kerala and my husband is from Mangalore, I tried your squid ghee roast which he loved, it was easy and simple with precise instructions!
Hi Meha,
Thank you for this fantastic feedback! Happy to hear that you found the ghee roast recipe easy to execute.
What can bring more joy than learning that it was approved by a Mangalorean 🙂
That’s exactly what I wanted to say! He couldn’t believe that I got the recipe from a Kerala based person hehe and yes he knows his food and your recipe was spot on
😀 We did well there, didn’t we!
I am glad the concept and the execution went well!
For someone who is half Malayali, half Tamilian, and born and raised in Bangalore with a wholehearted desire to move to the south of Goa, your blog is a godsend!
I absolutely love the mix of cuisines you’ve showcased. Your well-structured recipes are a breath of fresh air, not to forget the well designed/planned blog (greatly appealing to my finicky ad agency self). Yours is one I’ll be following closely.
Cheers!
Hello Gredel,
Your comment made my day!!! That’s some generous compliments you have added here and I am super-chuffed 🙂
Thank you very much!
From your background, I presume you are familiar with most of the delightful cuisines from South India. And I can totally relate to your desire to move to Goa! We would also love to do that some day.
Cheers
Arun
Hello Arun, just wanted to know if you would mind if I used one or two of your recipes to try on my YouTube channel? I definitely will mention where I got the recipes from. No worries.
Hello Rddhi, could you please inbox me on Facebook or Instagram?
Hello Arun, just wanted to know if you would mind if I used one or two of your recipes to try on my YouTube channel? I definitely will mention where I got the recipes from.
Hi Arun, I have a strong passion for cooking! I tried out your Khow Suey recipe and it turned out amazing! Everybody loved it! What would you recommend for me to try out next? I would love to know!
Hi Rddhi, Thank you very much for checking out my blog. I am happy to hear that you like the Khow Suey recipe.
Could you please tell me a little more about the kind of food/cuisines you like so that I can make an informed recommendation? 🙂
If you like Indian food and if you have a tolerance for spicy food, I recommend checking out the Chettinad chicken curry and the recent chicken perattu. If you like seafood, I suggest the crab curry. The mushroom and spinach with burnt garlic is worth a try. So is the Korean bibimbap.
Hi Arun,
I am new to cooking and I have been searching for a good food blog.
Luckily, I came across your blog and I am so glad I did. It was all I was looking for. I was tired of preparing the same old recipes.
Your recipes are so fresh and the presentation too is amazing.
Thank you and looking forward to more interesting recipes..
Thank you very much Veena.
Your comment made my day!! 🙂 🙂
I am glad to hear that you like my recipes.
I hope you’ll have fun cooking them as much as I do.
Hi Arun,
I am new to cooking and I have been searching for a good food blog.
Luckily, I came across your blog and I am so glad I did. It was all I was looking for. I was tired of preparing the same old recipes.
Your recipes are so fresh and the presentation too is amazing.
Thank you and looking forward to more interesting recipes..
I hope this is the same Arun who writes article in Hindu Newspaper… If it’s so..your articles are too gud..I love your style of writing…and thanks for yummy recipes…while reading your article my mind is also going back to childhood days
Hi Dhans,
That is me indeed! 🙂 🙂
Thank you very much! Your feedback made my day.
I have a lot of recipes inspired by the food from my childhood. Delighted to hear that I was able to evoke similar memories for you.
Hello Arun,
We are few farmers from Kerala, who grow spices in our own backyard. Where are you based out of?
Would like to connect and understand how we can work together.
Please email me your number and details.
regards,
Sandeep
+919899700835
Hi Sandeep,
Thank you for reaching out. I’ll contact you by email.