This blog has grown out of a collection of family recipes that I have been gathering for the last several years.  In a sense this is my personal recipe book.  The recipes here feature vegetables, grains, lentils, fruit, cooked with techniques from different regions of India along with a smattering of other cuisines: Thai, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Mexican and French, as interpreted by my Indian taste buds, my New York City environs and trips to other countries.  My recipes have been tested many times, and continue to be refined by daily cooking.

I shop at: a tiny local organic store, Sobseys, in Hoboken NJ, and Patel Brothers in Jersey City.  I like buying spices from Kalustyan’s in New York city.  I frequent farmer’s markets and local farms in the summer.

I am proud of: introducing Feather Ridge Farm eggs from the Hudson Valley to Hoboken by pestering my local store to carry them

I use: organic, pastured dairy and eggs, including organic ghee from a family business near Princeton and non-homogenized organic grass milk

I try: to find creative uses for vegetables and grains that are new to my palate.

I enjoy reading: Ruth Reichl, Alice Waters, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Tarla Dalal, Yotam Ottolenghi

I am inspired to cook for: my three boys, two little and one not-so-little

I am grateful for: my many teachers, including my mother, mother-in-law, my maternal grandmother, and assorted friends