About Me

Namaste!

I’m Ashwini Bangaradka Musti, the face behind Pakashastra. I’m the recipe developer, amateur photographer and food stylist of the website. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering but cooking is my passion. I am a full-time mother of two lovely active souls and an IT Professional who finds solace in cooking. Seeing my family and friends devour the food is a true stress-buster.

I was born and brought up in a small town close to the coastal city of Mangalore in southern part of India, where food goes far beyond just feeding the family. Married to a foodie (never admits that he is one) from the east-coast of Andhra Pradesh in southern part of India, I get to explore the best food of both the states. The food is an essential element of my culture, which presents love and traditional values that I’m committed to passing down to my kids.

Growing up in a closely knit family with highly refined palates, I watched my mom and family members work their magic to create authentic, healthy and delicious dishes and since then I have developed a true passion for creating recipes with wholesome and healthy ingredients that the whole family can enjoy. I’ve been in the kitchen since I was 9 years old, experimenting with new recipes and ingredients; my father, brother and grandpa were my best critics then; I must say that they cook well too. Everyday now, my other-half and my two little souls are my honest and tough food reviewers!

I am a voracious reader of food blogs and articles, food reviews and restaurant reviews. I love to learn about different cuisines and their heritage, culinary techniques and practices, kitchen gadgets and appliances. Ardent lover of traditional and authentic food, I like the modern easy – peasy foods made with natural, non-processed ingredients too. I am a strong believer in “Eat Healthy, Live Healthy”. A lacto-vegetarian by birth and by choice, I strongly disapprove my family from any food that contains artificial or synthetic, highly processed ingredients.

When I’m not in the kitchen, I love gardening, traveling, shopping beautiful things and experiencing life with my family. I also like to visit restaurants that boast about their goodness to validate!

I live in the east-coast of USA. If you are interested to work with me, please do write to me.

About Pakashastra

Pakashastra is my personal food blog, created and maintained by me. Pakashastra is a Sanskrit word that means, specialized knowledge or science of cooking (Paka means cooking, shastra means specialized knowledge/science). I started this blog in March 2009 on a blogger domain, pakashastra.blogspot.com. After 11 years of blogging on pakashastra.blogspot.com, I have taken a big step of moving to my own abode that you have now landed in!

When I started blogging, I visualized it as online documentation of all the recipes that I have tried in my kitchen instead of penning them down in a book. Hence you will see some initial posts without any pictures, which I plan to revisit and update in future. Over time, the blog has evolved with hundreds of recipes, improved recipe formats and food pictures captured through my lens.

I am not a professionally trained chef or a nutritionist What you see on my website is purely based out of my passion for cooking, which I inherited from my Mom, who is the best cook ever. Every recipe that you see here has been tried and tested in my kitchen.

On my website, you’ll find hundreds of from-scratch recipes that are inspired by all-time favorites and recipes that have been passed down to me. There are also plenty of helpful kitchen tips and tricks that will encourage you to cook with confidence.

Pakashastra has only lacto-vegetarian food recipes, that have no artificial or synthetic ingredients and no highly processed ingredients as I strongly encourage the use of natural ingredients. There is no use of egg, gelatin, artificial food dyes or hydrogenated vegetable shortening in any of my recipes. I use minimum fat for cooking, so you will see my recipes panning out dishes that have no fat floating on top or running down your fingers. I strive to make food and all recipes as healthy and nutritious as possible with optimal use of  ingredients so that there is no compromise on the flavor, color, fragrance and texture that are paramount for all our taste buds and eyes.

While nurturing Pakashatra, I have been learning much more than new recipes. I have been learning to write better in my posts (as I’m not a great story weaver). I firmly believe that ‘You first eat with your Eyes’, hence have been learning food photography; you will see how I have been improving my photography skills slowly from using a small digital point and shoot camera to a Canon 70D that I currently use. I’m still in the learning curve of photography and have a long way to go pursuing my new found passion. Food photography is not just about the camera or the lens but more about the colors, lights and apertures too. The blog has also been teaching me food styling and plating. On the technical side too, it has boosted my skills of data migration from my blogger domain to this abode of mine, setup and maintenance of this website, all by myself. In addition, it has opened the world of Molecular Gastronomy, a subject that interests me to the core. What it has rewarded me with is a wonderful tribe of people who follow my blog, including YOU!

I invite you to try the recipes from my website. When you do try a recipe, let me know your feedback; I would be longing to hear from you on your experience.

Thank you so much for visiting Pakashastra!

My Social Handles for you to stay connected:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pakashastraABM

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/pakashastra

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pakashastra

Email: pakashastra@gmail.com

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