Hi there, and welcome to kencookbook!

I’m Priti Naiga—a home-cook, recipe-hoarder and full-time flavour-chaser based in Melbourne, Australia. Born in Mumbai, rooted in Mangalore, and now stirring pots on the other side of the globe, I started cooking seriously only after my wedding day (thanks to a hungry husband and a very patient mother-in-law!).

My earliest teachers were my mum’s fail-proof daal, Sanjeev Kapoor’s weekend TV demos, and a little notebook I filled with my MIL’s Mangalorean gems. Each recipe had to pass the “Ketan-thumbs-up” test—some took three attempts, one took thirteen, but we got there. That same notebook is now the heart of Cookbook Commons—a living, breathing archive of family flavours, passed-down secrets and brand-new discoveries.

When we moved to Melbourne, I fell head-first into international cuisines—farmers’ markets, hole-in-the-wall ramen joints, neighbours who swap curry leaves for fresh basil. This blog is my attempt to document those edible adventures and give every dish a digital page in our communal cookbook.

What you’ll find here:

Family heirloom recipes (hand-written originals scanned for nostalgia)

Week-night fusion experiments (think Mangalorean tacos)

Disaster-to-triumph stories (I still have rice scars on my ceiling)

Honest, step-by-step photos—shot on my Samsung Note and occasionally my iPad, no fancy lighting, just real kitchen light and real results

What I believe:

Every recipe has a back-story—share it, don’t shred it

Day-old rice makes the best fried rice, and day-old memories make the best food writing

Comments are currency—tell me what worked, what bombed, what you’d tweak

Thanks for stopping by. Pull up a chair, grab a virtual spoon and leave your own pinch of yum in the comments.

Happy cooking,

Priti