It makes about 2 cups Serve this with hot, quartered pita bread or use in preparing Hommos bi Tahini and Baba Ghanouj. • 1 cup tahini (sesame seed paste) • 3 large cloves garlic, crushed or finely minced • ½ cup fresh lemon juice • 1 tsp. salt • ½ cup cold water 1....
It makes 6 to 8 servings These dumplings are good with any broth, and they are a must with creamed fresh pea soup. • 6 Tbs. soft butter • 2 eggs • 1½ cups flour • ⅓ cup milk • ½ tsp. salt • ⅛ tsp. nutmeg • ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper 1. Cream the butter in a deep bowl and...
In Andhra, the term “vepadu” refers to dishes that are either stir-fried or deep-fried until they are crisp (see this page for vepadus and more on Andhra meals). In the south, this delicious spicy spinach is generally served on the side, along with rice, thin dals,...
A simple but very flavorful spinach dish from the royal palaces of Hyderabad. Serve it at meals with either breads or pilafs, along with a dal, such as Hyderabadi “sour” dal. At the Falaknuma Palace Hotel, where I first ate this, the spinach had been blended into a...
This dish, from a Hindu Goan restaurant in Bombay, tastes best if made with waxy potatoes. It is generally eaten with rice or rice breads, but can also be rolled up in a chapati, along with some chopped tomatoes and cucumber, and eaten as a snack or for lunch. Urad...
Marwaris are a highly successful business community that originated in Marwar, in the deserts of Rajasthan. Many left their hometowns to create large businesses elsewhere in India. They are completely vegetarian, with a distinct and much-admired cuisine. Vinita has...
A very typical dish from the bazaars of the old city of Banaras (I and many others still use the old name for Varanasi). Serve with puffed fried breads or any other Indian flatbreads, as well as other vegetables, chutneys, and raita. SERVES 4 • 4 tablespoons olive or...
Here is another of Vinita’s inspired dishes. Although it uses potatoes and might seem very similar to the previous recipe, it is actually very different. This is a “chaat,” a spicy, hot, and sour snack food, which in India could be eaten by itself with a cup of tea....
This is a simplified version of the very first dish I learned to cook. I was in London, a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and desperate for family foods. I could not cook at all. I begged my mother in India to teach me, and she answered with three-line...
This recipe is very similar to the previous one, but has a few additions and comes from Bihar. Ghugnis, made out of small red chickpeas, regular beige chickpeas, fresh green chickpeas, and fresh green peas, are breakfast food for many vegetarians in Uttar Pradesh and...
