Last weekend, about to leave town for a long trip, I was staring down into my fridge, where lay 2 perfect tomatoes from Lightsey Farms and a few black plums I had picked up at the grocery store. Houston Dairymaids, the wonderful cheese shop out on the east side had sent us a big tub of Pure Luck chèvre, a bit of which was sitting in my refrigerator. I turned it all into a salad with a quick goat cheese and yogurt spread and there, a new dish was born!

Back in 2001, we opened Indika with this salad, and it was an instant success. To satisfy my chaat cravings, I ate it for lunch for three weeks straight. The sweet, spicy, tangy flavors paired with greens made it a satisfying, substantial salad. We served it at Pondicheri in New York City; our landlord would come in for it regularly and declared it the best chicken salad in the city.

45 or nearly 50% of the mixture is vegetables and this not only makes the burger less ‘meaty’ and the vegetables add so much flavor. In this hot weather, outside grilling is the way to go so give it a try…you may never go back to making burgers without added vegetables!

Here is a simple recipe that turns the artichoke aromatic using whole spices, after which you get to eat it with yogurt as a dipping sauce.

Frozen peas may be a year-round offering, but this beautiful spring weather calls for the fresh variety.

Cucumber dill pickles may be widely popular here in the United States but the overall popularity of pickles in India is hard to match. Here is an instant cucumber pickle, inspired by the American dill pickle, that can be eaten as a salad or in between sandwiches or burgers.

The crunch of sugar snap peas is a good accompaniment to the sweetness of shrimp and here in this quasi curry/stir fry, you can get the best of both. With a sharp zing of fresh minced ginger, you can eat this stir-fry on its own, or over rice or noodles.

Seeing the bounty of kale among almost all the farms around Houston and knowing that kale is much more nutrient and fiber dense than other greens, especially local kale, I decided to go on a journey to find new ways to eat kale. It’s a wonderful sandwich to take on a picnic or a park so do give it a try!

Fish wrapped in banana or other leaves and steamed is common through India’s fish-eating communities.

The pilaf is a showstopper when made and can be served alongside grilled meats or vegetables or a simple stew. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, there are a multitude of ways to enjoy it, if not just straight out of the refrigerator. It can go into a salad, a stir fry or just dumped into a warm stew or curry.

Every winter usually during the colder weeks, I make this stew at least once or twice and enjoy it for a couple of days. It almost amplifies in flavor the next day.

All the vegetables in this pasta are just barely cooked, to help maintain the crispness and their nutrients.

A sable is a crisp shortbread like French shortbread cookie that was created in the 1600s and at first, reserved for royalty. In English, sable translated to sand and it’s a cookie with a sandy breadcrumb like texture and a perfect bite with an afternoon chai or coffee.

Here is the recipe for the masala chai we have been making for over a dozen years at Pondicheri, using our hand-ground Chai Masala – it is hands down our most popular hot beverage and despite traipsing India several times every year, we’ve never tasted a better chai.

Chillka roti is an unfermented crepe style bread usually eaten with meals or as a snack with chutney or pickles.

These delicate little white Japanese turnips have become a fixture of farmer’s market from New York to California to here in Houston. I decided to slow roast them with spices and orange juice and found them to be so delicious, I had to stop myself from eating them all straight from the pan.

After playing around with different versions over the years, this green masala is a staple.

Crushing spices helps incorporate their flavor into the broth and black pepper and cloves have been a home remedy for sore throats for millennia in India. Dairy can often make congestion worse, so I used coconut milk instead – it’s also easier to digest. The soup has more vegetables than chicken, which makes it even more nourishing.

Every region of the world has its version of a chicken noodle soup, but this variation may be the best one I’ve tasted on a trip to Nepal a few years ago. Perfect to eat during colder weather, it’s infinitely adaptable, tastes even better the next day and can be made with or without meat.

There are few things as comforting as the smell of banana bread wafting out of the oven, especially one laced with aromatic spices like cardamom and cinnamon. The topping of blueberries adds a splash of color and a tang to the bread. If you have houseguests, it’s a great way to start off a holiday weekend, especially after a night of indulgences.

You can make the turkey kebabs ahead of time and finish in the oven when ready to eat. Here is a tamarind glaze that will not only be delicious on grilled vegetables like butternut squash or zucchini but also on meats like chicken or lamb. The glaze will keep in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Here is a fresh fava curry that can be adapted to be eaten just as a soup, topped with yogurt, herbs, nuts and greens or with a side of rice or bread. Just like most stews or curries, it is best enjoyed at least a couple of hours after all the ingredients has had time to chill together and mellow out.

Here is an aromatic pumpkin and scallop stew tinged with saffron and cardamom. The cardamom stews slowly in the sauce and softens towards the end for a punch of flavor with every bite. Coconut oil is an acquired flavor so feel free to substitute with olive oil or ghee. Enjoy it for a first course over the holidays over rice or pasta or as a main course for a weekend meal.

Here is a recipe for a small lemon cake with cherries, topped off with whipped cream and beauty berries.

Curry masala, essentially curry powder, is best in long-stewing curries and beef, or any other dark meat works well with it.

What adds to the appeal of the Hatch chile is that they pack just the right amount of heat and are neither too spicy nor too mild. They can be added raw to salads, turned into salsas or fire smoked and stuffed with everything from cheese to vegetables to meat fillings.

Ocean masala may have been created with seafood in mind, but it is good with so many other things including vegetables and poultry. Zucchini is the kind of bland everyday vegetable that absorbs flavor effortlessly and this masala is the perfect foil for it.

They are fresh, tiny, and tender, about the size of an apple and the knife slides right through them. For a larger butternut, I’d discard the seeds along with the stringy tissue around it but with these little beauties, I leave them in.

An ancient Rajasthani delicacy, safed maas is a white curry usually made with red meat. It is also the only curry that is traditionally mild in flavor with no chiles added. We have made this curry with dark meat chicken and a touch of rosemary, which complements the creamy rich sauce. And just like most curries, this one is best a few hours later or the next day.

Over years and after much tweaking, I have developed a non-toxic solution of edible camphor with essential oils to deter mosquitoes and I use it freely at home and at the restaurants. Spray it directly on yourself or leave a bowl out.

One of the best ways to use up leftover roasted, baked, or grilled fish is to make fish cakes or fish koftas. Then pour an aromatic curry on top, cook some rice and you have dinner. Here is a curry inspired by the coastal flavors of Sri Lanka with lemongrass, kari leaves and coconut.

Aloo (which means potato) cooked in a poppy seed (poshto) sauce is a legendary dish from Bengal, enjoyed both in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India. It’s rich, creamy, decadent, and delicious. Normally eaten with dal and/or grilled meats, along with the Bangla steak, it’s a Bengali meat and potatoes dish of sorts. While in most cases, it is a traditional dish where the potatoes are usually deep fried, we opted for this variation with the potatoes sauteed with the onions and a little addition of cream at the end.

Even for biryani lovers, the kacchi (meaning raw) biryani of Bangladesh is a road less travelled. Biryanis in India are usually made by separately cooking the rice, meat masala, perhaps vegetables and bringing them all together at the end. In this style of biryani making, the Banglas cook the marinated meat and rice together and then finish it with fried onions. It infuses even more flavor into the rice. The pungent mustard oil is one of the most essential components of Bengali cuisine and here it shows up in the lamb marinade.

With a tropical monsoon climate, the cuisine of Bangladesh has been shaped by its history and the river-line geography. Very similar to the cuisine of West Bengal, India, Bangladesh has rich, aromatic dishes with liberal uses of ghee and was also influenced by the Mughal occupation of India. This chicken roast recipe is inspired by a dish made by a lovely young intern by the name of Ayesha who spent a few months with us at Pondicheri. If you do not have the Indian apricots, use about half the quantity of regular dried apricots but make sure they are not sweetened. It is rich, aromatic and can be eaten just with a side of a pilaf, rotis or warm crusty bread.

Lamprais (pronounced lamp-rice), is to Sri Lanka what biryani is to India, a decadent meat and rice dish. The name is derived from lomprijst (meaning rice packet) and it is truly a feast of rice, curries, pickles and sambals and more wrapped up in a tidy banana leaf package. You can go as elaborate as you like.

This is a take on a traditional rice dish usually made with short grain rice and any kind of meat stock. We used brown basmati rice, which takes a while to cook but absorbs the flavor of the stock beautifully. The aromatic spices, onions and coconut add enough depth of flavor to the rice to be eaten on its own. This rice dish works well with Lamprais, the popular traditional Dutch-influenced dish from the colonial days.

Weather patterns due to climate change are evident in almost all spheres of life. While Houston has a vibrant cycle of summer fruits from peaches to blackberries, figs that used to appear late summer or fall have been at the farmers market much earlier this year. Fall fig sightings are usually followed by cool breezes but this time around, we have a long summer to contend with. But how wonderful that we get to enjoy figs for perhaps a longer harvest period? A fig is a delicate luscious, sweet fruit, however quick to spoil so usually, must be consumed within a few days of harvest. It is delicious just on its own, or sliced and tossed into salads or even slightly roasted but nothing preserves and enhances the flavor of figs like a coating of dark chocolate with a hint of aromatic spices. The chocolate dipped figs can be eaten whole or sliced and served over ice cream for a beautiful, elegant dessert. Buy the best quality chocolate you can as this will make all the difference.

Parsley is not native to Sri Lanka but the flavors do really work well in this condiment.

Dal, the quintessential lentil stew of Southeast Asia has umpteen versions scattered through the sub-continent. This dal is an adaptation of the popular parippu, a red lentil stew seasoned with coconut, garlic, onions. The addition of aromatic lemongrass is a bit of game changer! We added lots of spinach to it at the end to make it greener and healthier! For a more traditional version, add a teaspoon of dried chopped fish flakes or shrimp when preparing the masala.

Cultural influence on Sri Lanka ranges from Indians, Arabs, Malays, Moors, Portuguese, Dutch and the British. The new ingredients that they brought in like tomatoes, potatoes and chiles have been adapted to local preparations. The Sri-Lankans roast their spices to a much darker finish than the Indians do, which characterizes their food as different. This traditional spicy chicken curry of Sri Lanka that is most locals crave when they leave the country. It's rustic and best made with chicken legs on the bone.

Naan, the fluffy bread usually made in a tandoor at most Indian restaurants, can also be made at home.

A bright verdant green masala is perfect for shrimp since they cook so quickly that the masala retains its color as well as flavor.

This mix, pour and bake pudding cake recipe is simple, quick, and given that it has 8 to 10 cups of fruit, a true celebration of the summer bounty. Enjoy it with just a drizzle of fresh unsweetened cream.

These are not the brined mild pickles of the west but more of an intense, tart, salty, spicy oily pickle that is eaten alongside a meal for an intermittent small spicy bite. Enjoy this pickle on the side or put on toast and cream cheese or in pasta or a pilaf.

Here is a gently spiced lemonade to welcome a Texas spring, it’s only lightly sweetened, adjust and spike as needed.

The recipe makes a little more than a cup of pesto, but it is so tasty, you will be putting it on everything from toast to tomatoes, I promise.

In this savory decadent tart, the addition of mushrooms brings an earthy note. It is best to bake the tart a few hours or the day before serving it.

Here is a light and springy herb-forward pasta with snap peas using a lot of dill and parsley. In the spirit of spring cleansing, I decided to skip the cream or even coconut milk, instead studded the pasta with copious amounts of herbs.

Shrimp can be stir-fried with many different vegetables like asparagus, snap peas, green beans, or carrots. This masala becomes the crowning glory of the stir-fry. If you want to add heat the dish, add a teaspoon or two of red chile powder or slice a serrano pepper into the dish. The stir fry can be enjoyed on its own or with rice or noodles.

The best part about the ocean masala is that you can directly slather it on fish with very little else and roast it in the oven.

Roasting cauliflower is one of best ways to cook a vegetable that can often get mushy when braising. The ocean masala adds a nice tart tone to the cauliflower.

Here simple mashed potatoes made with ghee and yogurt, as opposed to the more traditional butter and milk, are topped off with pop masala to not only add a crunch, but a burst of flavor.

This is our spin on a plant-exclusive ranch dip, enjoy!

Squash is one of those plain canvas kinds of vegetables that can absorb any flavor you put on them.

Emerging wisdom is indicating that to maintain a healthy gut flora, diversity of diet is just as important as what we eat. The sheer variety of produce in an Asian grocery store from half a dozen varieties of Bok choi to other leafy greens or a whole jackfruit may seem daunting. But this is when trips to stores from other cultures can become an exciting adventure and keep in mind, it’s only food. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it again. In Indian grocery stores, aside from the umpteen aromatic spices and lentils you can peruse through, varieties of intriguing squashes can be found that resemble neither zucchini nor butternut squash. One such tender squash with a delicate burst of flavor is the tindora, or the ivy gourd. They are size of your finger, need a quick light braise, and are packed with fiber and phytonutrients. This sabzi (which simply means cooked vegetable) is inspired by the cuisine of Gujarat. Enjoy it with dal, a lentil stew, and rice. Here is to starting the new year off with a fruit or vegetable you have not tried before…

Here is a recipe for first creating a spreadable slightly fluffy seasoned cream cheese and next, you can choose three options of masalas to prepare.

More so than other vegetables, broccoli or broccolini needs to be cooked just right to be served at its best. For example, okra or green beans may not look pretty when overcooked but tastes just fine. Broccoli is better slightly undercooked than overcooked because the later can result in a soggy dish devoid of flavor, which is why roasting or grilling it guarantees good results. It took me a few tries to realize that it was the strong brassica smell of the broccoli that my taste buds subconsciously objected to. Now, I always cook broccoli with something fragrant, least of all garlic but usually an aromatic spice like cardamom, nutmeg, or mace. A quick little grating of nutmeg at the end, or the spears tossed with cardamom, black pepper and olive oil can transform broccoli. A squeeze of lemon or orange juice at the end can add even more fragrance and a smear of yogurt on the bottom can add a creamy luxurious finish.