Category: Food Thoughts

  • What Indian Spices Do You Really Need?

    I’m sure there’s a rule against this somewhere in the food blogging universe, but I’m going to do it anyways.  A little over a year ago, I posted The Top Ten Essential Indian Spices for North and South Indian cooking.  Yet, I continue to read about how Indian food requires so many (so many) spices. […]

  • hungry desi at home

    I taught a cooking class.  I FINALLY did it.  After talking about it, thinking about it, planning on doing it but then changing my mind, I finally just did it.  And it was a lot of fun.  A little stressful to cook, talk and teach at the same time, but I did it.  And it […]

  • Planning an Indian Menu: And The Accompaniments Have It

    A few years back, Rajat and I hosted a dinner party.  I made palak channa, aloo gobi and Indira at Mahanandi’s pudina paneer.  Each dish was my best (if you’ll indulge me and let me toot my own horn – which really, you have no choice but to let me).  Really.  It was some of my […]

  • Planning an Indian Menu: What to Serve with What?

    Wet.  Dry.  I had never thought of Indian food in these terms until I met my husband.  But thinking back, even the South Indian meals we had growing up could be broken into these categories. Monday – Sambar.  Wet.  Stir fried eggplant.  Dry. Tuesday – Rasam.  Wet.  Cabbage and peas.  Dry. Wednesday –  Spinach daal. […]

  • Book Review: Curry – A Tale of Cooks & Conquerors

    Has this ever happened to you – a friend tells you that they don’t like curry.  BUT, they reassure you, they really want to like Indian food.  It’s just that – well – they don’t like curry.  So they enlist you to go out for Indian food with them to help navigate the menu. I […]

  • From the Spice Box: Tamarind Candy

    As a kid, I used to sneak into the pantry when my parents weren’t around and tear off a little corner from the block of dried tamarind that was guaranteed to be aplenty in our house.  I would pop the hard knob of tamarind into my mouth, looking like a baseball player with dip wedged […]

  • Lucali – A Restaurant Review

    If a picture is worth a thousand words, I should warn you that this photo is of a cold slice. When we’re not cooking in our Brooklyn apartment, Rajat and I make it a hobby to find new restaurants that are (A) delicious and (B) vegetarian friendly (of course).  I’ve been wanting to share reviews of the […]

  • For the Love of Nutella

    Today is World Nutella Day, and I applaud the good people who decided that this chocolate and hazelnut wonder deserves a day of it’s own.  In honor of the occasion, I want to share the nutella drenched waffle pictured above that I had at Wafels & Dinges, a Belgian waffles truck.  Yes, that’s right.  A truck.  Where else […]

  • 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 […]

  • Help Feed 1 Million Children

    As many of you know, R and I have been longtime supporters of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.  Akshaya Patra feeds almost 1 million children across India for $28 per child per year.  Many of these children are encouraged to attend school because this is their only meal of the day.  Akshaya Patra has made it […]