Month: December 2008

  • Indian Cure for a Cold: Tomato Garlic Rasam

    Tangy, spicy heat massaging my vocal cords.  Roasted mustard seeds, cumin, garlic and pepper steaming towards my nose.  Each maintaining a soft cadence under direction of the nutty paste of toor dhal.  Filling my belly.  Warming my throat.  Reviving my olfactory senses.  Cold cold go away.  Please don’t come back another day. R and I were not […]

  • 10 Essential Indian Spices

    One of the best care packages I ever received was a full set of basic Indian spices that my sister put together in labeled jars.  Having the right spice on hand or not can take a great recipe and destine it either to a long, sad life in your junk drawer or earn it a spot in the […]

  • Ready Made Goodness – Cheddar Cheese Masala Burger

    About a year ago, my sister signed me up for Martha Stewart Living.  I love reading the magazine, I really do.  Although, I’ve never actually made anything from it.  When I hang a holiday wreath, I don’t cut stenciled leaves from gold foil and staple gun them to a wooden frame.  I buy one – and […]

  • Mumbai Mama, Take Me Home – Vada Pav

     Country roads, take me home, to the place where I belong…John Denver was singing about the mountains of West Virginia but his song resonated with me as I read about prominent Mumbaiites like Suketu Mehta urging the world to run to Mumbai – not away from it in response to the recent terrorist attacks.  I agree with Suketu’s […]

  • A Very Desi Thanksgiving

    I’ve never characterized Thanksgiving as just “a day to be thankful” – it’s always been more about a day of good food, parades and family because I just don’t understand limiting thankfulness to one day.  A thing as difficult as say parades, however, I do understand limiting.  The loss of life and terror we saw this past […]