Sometimes a simple dish is all it takes, to make me feel warm and cozy on the inside. So, it is something special when someone serves me a heaping bowl of hot, thick, right off the stove dal…
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Indian Style Empanadas with Tomato-Apricot Chutney
Although we may think that the samosa is truly native to India, the “sanbosag” as it was first known, can actually trace its origin to 1oth century Persia. Functioning as the Clif Bar of its times, these simple dough pockets filled with vegetables or meat, sustained traders for days while making the journey between Central and South Asia on the Khyber Pass . Virtually every culture has it’s own variation of this food form. The Portuguese empanada, the Italian calzone, the Russian pirozhki, the German strudel, the Jewish knish, and of course let us not forget the delectable American Hot Pocket…
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Oven-Roasted Eggplant and Butternut Squash Curry
Every summer we make a weekend trip up the Pacific coast to visit our stunningly beautiful sister city to the North, Vancouver. And always, the highlight of this annual pilgrimage is dinner at one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Vij’s.
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Split Chickpea Lentil Parathas
In India, the vegetable leftovers from the previous night’s dinner are often mashed up and kneaded into dough to make parathas. The parathas are then eaten with pickles and/or yogurt for brunch or lunch the next day.
I’m always in search of new and creative ways to get more lentils, a rich source of protein and iron, into our vegetarian diet. In this recipe, the split chickpea lentils, also known as channa dal, mix well into the dough, making the parathas much easier to roll than if they were made with vegetables or harder-texture lentils.
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Roman Style Kati Roll (aka Paneer Pizza)
The first time I had a paneer pizza was at pizza hut… yes, pizza hut… in Calcutta. I can’t quite remember but I think it was almost 12 years ago. From that point on I was hooked. This was so ingenious… the marrying of two of my all time favorite foods, paneer, in any form, and pizza… After coming home, for the next several years, every time I ate pizza it was all I could think about… but the paneer-topped labor of love was nowhere to be found. Back then making homemade pizza was not that common, especially in our house. So I just had to wait… till the next 22 hr plane ride…
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