We spent last week in the Hudson Valley north of Red Hook. The house that we stayed in dated from 1773, and it had an orchard that was brimming with apples that were beginning to turn red. I loved the warm brick house with its generously sized rooms, well worn wide plank floors and white…
Tag: vegetarian cooking
Kali Dal
My South Indian mother-in-law makes this rustic and hearty North Indian-style kali dal which is a creamy buttery lentil dish made with whole black urad dal and rajma (red kidney beans). I’m always surprised at how truly North Indian this comforting dal tastes, as if it somehow arrived out of a cold winter evening in…
Matar Paneer
This morning I wake up bright up and early. I am going to make my mother-in-law’s matar paneer for the first time. Her delicious recipe comes from various North Indian neighbors, such as “Singh Bhabhiji” from her old residential colony in Bombay. So I call mummy who is back in Vizag to talk about the…
Andhra-style potatoes
My husband introduced me to the food from his native state of Andhra Pradesh when we were dating. The cuisine and its cooking style was a revelation for me. For instance, a simple sookha aloo-pyaaz or dry potato-onion dish tasted completely different because of the cooking process, the treatment of ingredients and a slightly different…
Stir-fried Okra
Sometimes when I am in the kitchen, the strongest association that I have with the food, in this case okra, is the memory of a two-and-half year old Agastya hovering around, helping in some way or just getting involved in the vegetable that I am making. My mother has always claimed that all little children…
Calcutta Chow 