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It is amusing how one person’s personal preferences become your own touchstone to judge the merit of your own work. For instance, any time I make okra, I am reminded of U Masi because she detested beans and okra completely. She complained about the stickiness of okra and unconsciously she influenced me – my okra cannot be sticky either. One of my friends once told me how she hated cooked soft cauliflower – guess what, my cauliflower has to be crisp. I never loved pumpkin when I was a kid till I discovered how passionate one of my uncles was about this humble vegetable and now I love pumpkin cooked with jaggery and dried mango powder. As a child I could not tolerate chilies, my brother would call me a ‘chilly meter’ because I would squeal at the slightest hint of chilly in a dish , and then I lived in Ahmadabad with a family bought up on, I suspect, a diet of peppers and chilies only- now I even lace my omelettes with paprika.

Favorite Indian Food Memories

Growing up - My mom's awesome gajar ka halwa, dahi badey, matar nimona, mooli parantha, ladoos, puas, khajure, koftey, trifle pudding
My masi's gobhi sabzi, sheh
My Dad's chutneys, tehri, kheer
And as for the other aunties- the unforgettable gobhi masallam, the vegetarian biryani
Lucknow- Chaat at hazratganj, the aloo tikkis at gol market, baingan bhartha at aminabad
Pune - the fabulous little hole in the wall where we had dosas, uthappam, filter coffee
The malabari paranthas and kormas
Delhi- Chaat at Bengali market Delhi...paranthas at parantha gali
Sikkim- The vegetarian momos with yak cheese, the Nepali achaari aloo
Calcutta- The warm roshgollas
Gujarat- Handvo, Khaman, Patra, Undhoyon, Bhakri, Theplas, Paav Bhaaji, Gau Ghee Ni payan- and of course phada ni khichdi and sabudana ni khichdi at Swati
Mumbai- Bhelpuri, Masi's kadi, aloo methi, daal, magaj
Virginia- Sublu's avial, methi sambhar

Dinner Party

A typical dinner party in India for a limited crowd of 4-6 people would look like this.

The All Out Menu

Appetizers
If you plan to serve dinner after a while after allowing your guests to mingle, you could serve appetizers with drinks. However this is purely optional since Indian meals do not always include appetizers. You could also serve an indian savoury snack, also known as chaat or buy mini samosas from a store.

Main Course

1.Vegetables - For a party of four, you should ideally try to include at least two vegetable dishes. You could serve one vegetable curry with gravy and one dry vegetable dish. Popular curries include matar paneer, saag paneer, koftas, dum aloo, aloo matar. Dry vegetables include cauliflower, potatoes, mixed vegetables, okra, cabbage, potatoes and greens, eggplant. You might want to include at least one paneer(Indian cottage cheese) dish, dry or with gravy, since paneer is quite a crowd pleaser.

2. Bread - You can choose between paranthas, naan, rotis, or kulchas to go with your vegetable dishes. If your curries are very rich , naan is a good choice. However if you made lighter curries, paranthas and rotis are a better choice.

3. Lentils - You could serve one lentil dish. Popular party choices include choley or chana dal ( garbanzo curry), rajma ( kidney bean ), dal makhani ( black lentils), kala chana (bengal gram). However if you want to go lighter and the dinner is less formal, opt for pigeon peas, mung , black eyed peas.

4. Rice - You could serve plain steamed rice or cumin rice, depending on the lentil dish you choose. Basically the rice is supposed to be the accompaniment to your lentil stew and hence you do not want the rice to overpower the lentil flavor.
Rice entrees like pulao and biryani, do not need a lentil stew at all. They can be served with raita or vegetables in a yoghurt sauce.

Accompanients
1. Raita- Raita helps to temper the spicy curries and are easy and quick to prepare. Curd sauce with cucumber, onions, tomatoes. Popular choices include vegetable raita, cucumber raita, onion raita, mint raita, potato raita.

2. Pappad- Get your favorite brand from the Indian store. Microwave each pappad for 50 seconds.

3. Pickles

4. Salad- Cut onions, cucumbers, tomatos, into slices and just add a little lemon juice/ salt on the top. You can also add carrot and radish batons.

Dessert
Just serve store bought ice cream or kulfi ( indian ice cream), rasgollas (cottage cheese balls in syrup) , ras malai (cottage cheese balls in a milky sauce) if you don't want to work too hard. Some of the desserts on this blog like gajar ka halwa and malpua are excellent cold weather comfort desserts.

The One Wow Dish Menu

Serve paav bhaai
Serve a rice entree like pulao or biryani with raita

Getting Started

The first step is to go to an Indian store and buy the following spices -

Most frequently used essential spices

Asfoetida ( Heeng)
Bay Leaf (Tezpatta)
Cardomom (Elaichi)
Coriander Powder (Dhania Powder)
Cumin Powder (Zeera Powder)
Cumin Seeds (Zeera)
Dried Fenugreek Leaves (Kasoori Methi)
Dried Mango Powder (Aamchoor)
Fenugreek Seeds (methi)
Garam Masala
Mustard Seeds (Rai)
Salt (Namak)
Turmeric (Haldi)

Less frequently used spices

And the following other ingredients


Basmati Rice
Chickpea Flour (Besan)
Garbanzo Beans ( Kabuli Chana)
Kidney Beans (Rajma)
Semolina (Sooji, Rawa)
Tamarind (Imli)
Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
Yellow Lentils (Arhar Dal)

Favorite Things List

I still can't get used to converting the temperature from farhenheit to celsius; the full impact of the cold does'nt hit me otherwise. So its 45 degrees in San Francisco today ...hmm 7.2 degrees celsius and as usual I am referencing it to the Delhi winter. I felt the chill while walking out of work today , but it has felt colder in Delhi. The comfort of knowing the temperature in celsius, weight in kilos, or the comfort of piping hot paranthas which would be ready when I got home. Things have changed so much ..

And coming to this blog; it is definitely going to be a fair challenge. The reason being that I cook by instinct. I eyeball ingredients, smell, watch , and adapt according to my instinct. In order to write, I now have to measure , report changes , quantify and leave no room for adaptation. But don't hold me to that because the joy of Indian cooking is that it is not an exact science like baking. I have always revelled in flexibility...usually you get pleasant surprises. Right now I am just jotting down my thoughts about ingredients and gadgets that have become integral to my cooking.

1. Condensed Milk - Most Indian sweets are milky and condensed milk cuts the cooking time drastically. A lot of us grew up on tins of Amul and Milkmaid which are cloyingly sweet brands of condensed milk. I prefer unsweetened evaporated milk so I can control the sugar I add to the dish. However the sweetened version works too- you just need to keep tasting it to make sure you are on track and also add it at the last minute, in order not to burn the sugar. And of course you can always eat it straight from the tin.

2. Dried Mango Powder - Dried mango powder or khatai or aamchoor is the soul of your dal. Different parts of India use different ingredients to add tartness to their curries, kokum flowers and lime juice in the west, tamarind in the south , and aamchoor on the north. Being from the north, I am partial to aamchoor however I use copious amounts of tamarind in my cooking as well.

3. King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour - My quest for the perfect flour in America, well suited to Indian cooking stopped here. It beats all the flour you can get in Indian stores. I find those brands a tad too refined. However this flour is perfect for making golden brown ( not white) paranthas and chapatis. The other advantage is that you get it at a lot of places. Go no further than your local Trader Joe's.

4. Kohinoor Basmati Rice My favorite brand of basmati rice, a little longer and thinner than the other brands. I prefer this brand for most of my cooking exept khichadi and rice pudding, when you want your rice a little starchier and mushier.

5. Tamarind - I use tamarind in everything from lentil stews to curries.The sweet tangy tartness of tamarind or imli is unmatched.

6. Thai Chillies - Little and hot but pretty high on the scoville scale ..I am a person who adds paprika to my eggs. You can buy a whole bush of green thai chillies, wash, dry, and freeze to use whenever you need them.I will always add fire to my food, however I have tempered in down in my recipes on this blog. Sometimes I do end up using serrano peppers as well.