15 Min

GF

V

Cucumber Bhel Poori

Bhel poori is a common Indian street food native to Mumbai and cities in Gujarat. Usually made with puffed rice (a very common snack in India) and varying mixes of seasonal vegetables, herbs, chutneys and crunch bits of chickpea flour or wheat flour. This is an instant ‘salad’ so put it together just before eating. The ‘bhel’ refers to puffed rice and ‘poori’ refers to bits of pooris (fried wheat puffs) crushed just before mixing. Here we are replacing the poori with sev, a crispy chickpea noodle found in most Indian grocery stores.

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Cook Time

15 Minutes

Serves

2

Directions

Step 1

Peel the cucumber if necessary and dice into 1/2-inch pieces.

Step 2

Just before serving, toss the diced cucumber with puffed rice, pomegranate seeds, sev, cilantro, minced onion, cilantro mango chutney, peanuts, and lime juice.

Step 3

Divide into bowls and serve immediately.

Notes & Variations

Puffed rice is usually available at most Indian grocers – if not, replace with Rice Krispies. To toast, spread them on a flat baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 to 7 minutes.
If sev is unavailable, replace with crushed potato chips.
Bhel poori can be customized to your desires – replace the pomegranate seeds with blueberries; cucumber with diced apple; red onion with scallions or green onions.
For added sweetness, add more mango cilantro chutney or drizzle honey or maple syrup. Alternately for added spice, add minced serrano peppers or more chili powder.

Ingredients

1 small cucumber

1 cup toasted puffed rice (see notes)

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/2 cup sev (see notes)

1 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1/2 cup minced red onion (optional)

1/2 to 1 cup of Cilantro Mango Chutney

2 to 3 tablespoons toasted chopped peanuts

Juice of one lime

Step 1

Peel the cucumber if necessary and dice into 1/2-inch pieces.

Step 2

Just before serving, toss the diced cucumber with puffed rice, pomegranate seeds, sev, cilantro, minced onion, cilantro mango chutney, peanuts, and lime juice.

Step 3

Divide into bowls and serve immediately.

1 small cucumber

1 cup toasted puffed rice (see notes)

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/2 cup sev (see notes)

1 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1/2 cup minced red onion (optional)

1/2 to 1 cup of Cilantro Mango Chutney

2 to 3 tablespoons toasted chopped peanuts

Juice of one lime

Notes & Variations

Puffed rice is usually available at most Indian grocers – if not, replace with Rice Krispies. To toast, spread them on a flat baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 5 to 7 minutes.
If sev is unavailable, replace with crushed potato chips.
Bhel poori can be customized to your desires – replace the pomegranate seeds with blueberries; cucumber with diced apple; red onion with scallions or green onions.
For added sweetness, add more mango cilantro chutney or drizzle honey or maple syrup. Alternately for added spice, add minced serrano peppers or more chili powder.

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15 Min

Stock Your Pantry

Nut & Seed Masala Dabba

$250

A handmade spice box containing masala cashews, spiced walnuts, pumpkin & sesame seeds, pine nuts, masala pistachios, hazelnuts & almonds.

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15 Min

Stock Your Pantry

Nut & Seed Masala Dabba

$250

A handmade spice box containing masala cashews, spiced walnuts, pumpkin & sesame seeds, pine nuts, masala pistachios, hazelnuts & almonds.

We have the "cilantro tastes like heaven" gene.

If you are blessed enough to say the same, check out these other recipes that feature this divisive herb!

IT'S AN ACQUIRED TASTE.

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10 Min

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Charoset

Passover, or the ‘pilgrimage of the passing over’, a major Jewish holiday is around the corner. A delicious condiment called Charoset (or Haroset), usually made with apples, walnuts and kosher wine is a fixture on the Seder plate and symbolizes the mortar used by Hebrew slaves to build Egyptian structures.

20 Min

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Cherry Mushroom Chaat

Chaats are beloved savory snacks that originated in India and are usually available at roadside stalls or food carts. At the core, they are salty, sweet, spicy, crunchy snacks usually involving vegetables, lentils and herbs with drizzles of chutneys and yogurt. It’s the food from India most of us transplants miss the most. Over the years, I have tried dozens of variations from corn mint chaat to the quintessential pani poori and loved them all. Here is a salad loosely based on the idea of a chaat. The yogurt provides the creamy touch, mushroom the meaty, cherry the sweet and tarragon the herbaceous finish.

30 min

GF

Chicken Chaat Salad

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 Min

GF

NF

Corn Mint Chaat

As we said our final goodbye to Indika, the restaurant I opened in 2001, this past week, I was reminiscing about Corn Mint Chaat, a popular summer salad. Renditions of street food from India, with magical combinations of fresh vegetables and aromatic herb-infused sweet, spicy and savory chutneys with crunchy tidbits in almost any form — and sometimes turned on its head into a salad — bring on tastes that make most of us transplants from India swoon. One of the unusual flavors common to chaat is black salt, a sulfurous salt native to India. It smells funky (imagine boiled egg aroma), appears pink but turns blackish when it hits food or water and is absolutely delicious on chaats. Over the years, I have experimented with dozens of chaat combinations — from using potato or tortilla chips for crunch to grilled kale and basil leaves for herbs — but making one is no easy task. However, here is a take on the corn mint chaat that may be relatively easy to execute at home.

45 Min

GF

Cream Chaat

This dessert is inspired by a street sweet of India called ‘Daulat ki chaat’ (daulat means rich). It is rich but incredibly light and essentially just a whipped cream but the incremental addition of sugar and saffron makes all the difference.

15 Min

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Fruit Chaat

In New Delhi, for almost a decade, there resides a sweet fruit chaat vendor tucked away near the famous Janpath street market. Depending on the time of year, his choice of fruits and vegetables varies. He rides his bike every morning with a fresh load of fruits and vegetables, hands out fruit chaat all day until his stock is over. Mango, melons, cucumber, papaya, pineapple, apples, or bananas are cubed and laid out on a banana leaf plate and sprinkled with chaat masala. Sometimes, strawberries will show up in the mix. A squeeze of lime and he hands it to you with a smile. If it can be eaten raw, any vegetable or fruit is fair game for fruit chaat. Usually, chaat masala is a combination of toasted ground cumin, chile powder, amchur (dried mango), salt and more. Black salt, a sulfurous rock salt native to India, is a common but not essential component of chaat masala. It’s an explosion of flavors – give it a try this summer with the fruits and vegetables at hand!

120 Min

GF

Garbanzo Chaat Salad

The garbanzo beans are seasoned to a spicy richness with cumin, black pepper, ginger and asafetida and then added to the salad.

45 Min

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V

Patra

This is is one of the most iconic and utterly delicious snack foods from the state of Gujarat.

90 Min

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Purple Potato Chaat Salad

Chaat — a family of roadside salty, sweet, tangy and crunchy snacks in India — come in many sizes, shapes and flavors. After leaving India, this is the food I missed most and, over time, taught myself how to make versions of it. These days, I can pretty much turn anything into a chaat if I just have the right sauces, which usually comprise of a creamy yogurt sauce flecked with cumin, a bright herby cilantro chutney or just a handful of herbs and something sweet — perhaps diced mango or peaches, or just a dash of sugar. The crunch can come via crushed nuts, tortilla or potato chips. Top it off with a sprinkle of black salt and roasted crushed cumin seeds and there you have a chaat.

25 Min

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Amchur Chicken

Amchur, a little-known spice, is simply sun-dried green mango powder and makes a great sprinkling spice.

35 Min

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Aviyal

Aviyal, a rustic, coconut-based stew from the Kerala region of India usually prepared with seasonal vegetables.

45 Min

GF

Bengali Indian Eggplants

These eggplants are native to India but can be found at Asian or Indian supermarkets in most major cities.

30 Min

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Black Bean Mango Salad

Over the years of experimenting with summer salads, this black bean mango salad settled as a favorite. It not only tastes better the next day, but it also keeps for days as the sharp taste of celery mellows and nestles in with the black beans and mango. The season for the small, skinny Atulfo mango variety is almost over, the next best is the larger rounded Kent or Hayden. Do make sure to let the mangoes ripen to a soft sweetness before making the salad.

20 Min

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GF

V

Braised Ivy Gourd

It is a delicate yet versatile vegetable, could be used in curries, braises and roasts. Here is a simple preparation inspired by the cuisine of Calcutta.

DF

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NF

V

Buckeye Bean Stew

A bean native to the United States, the yellow buckeye bean is extremely creamy, more like a classic turtle bean than anything else. Thought to be originally from Montana, it’s dense without being too intense in flavor.

120 Min

GF

V

Butternut Squash Khichri

Khichri in Hindi means a “hash” of rice and legumes. It is easily digested and perfect comfort food.

45 Min

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Calcutta Cauliflower

Today Chinese-Indian cuisine is an integral part of the food scene in India, from the restaurants to street vendors, and the relationship gives locals and diners a reminder of the rich history between two ancient cuisines. Be prepared to fall in love with the peanut sauce in this recipe — it’s good on almost everything!

20 Min

NF

Cheese Toast

India’s version of grilled cheese, a popular sandwich worldwide, is filled with masala and spices and is referred to commonly as cheese toast

45 Min

GF

NF

Chicken Harvest Curry

This is a classic curry recipe – we always prefer using chicken on the bone for best results but can be substituted for boneless meat. To make a richer curry, replace the yogurt with heavy cream or coconut milk.

120 Min

GF

NF

Chicken Mulligatawny

Legend has it that one time an Englishman asked his South Indian cook to prepare a soup as a starter — and soups being unfamiliar to his Indian cuisine, the ingenious cook created the Mulligatawny (“molo tunny” in Tamil means “pepper water”) by combining rasam, a traditional peppery lentil broth with vegetables.

30 Min

GF

Chicken Pakora with Mint Chutney

Pakoras are the quintessential fritters of India, and after a long day of fasting make for a substantial and delicious starter.

45 Min

DF

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V

Chilled Kerala Noodles

Rice noodles, also called string hoppers, are sometimes sold in the streets tossed with vegetables, coconut and spices. This salad-like chilled noodle dish is inspired by the flavors of Kerala and, true to my cooking, comes with copious amounts of freshly minced ginger.

10 Min

GF

Cilantro Chutney

A universal condiment. This chutney is good with nearly anything. Try it on toast, rice, samosas, salads, etc.

10 Min

DF

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NF

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Cilantro Mango Chutney

There are many versions of cilantro chutney, some cooked some raw but this one is sweet and filled with fresh herb. Cilantro can be replaced with basil, mint or a combination of all three. It is best eaten the day it is made.

30 Min

DF

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V

Classic Bean Salad

A bean salad tucked away in the refrigerator has made for a wonderful late-night snack after busy nights at the restaurant, especially during the holiday season. Over the last few months, I’ve experimented with umpteen combinations, none of which I have stuck to. I always start with soaking one cup of beans overnight (this cuts the cooking time in half), cooking them to softness the next day and adding a changing assortment of vegetables, herbs, nuts, or dry fruits. I’ve embellished some with roasted carrots, others with steamed asparagus, peanuts, walnuts, cilantro, mint and much more. In the last few weeks, I finally arrived at a combination that I have made for three 3 weeks straight and one I am excited to share with you. Raw purple cabbage, celery and beans make the base of this salad, and one can go in so many directions with it. It makes a great light lunch on its own or pairs it with a sandwich or soup. The best part is that cabbage and celery taste better wilted and after they’ve marinated in the juices for an hour or two. The salad tastes delicious for up to three days so use it for a healthy late-night snack.

90 Min

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Coconut Clove Pilaf

Cloves make this a delicious and unique pilaf. Can be eaten as a meal (yes, it’s that good) or as a side.

45 Min

V

Coriander Spinach Pasta

This is my take on a classic Italian since I truly believe that spices can add magic to any dish.

20 Min

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NF

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Corn & Onion Chickpea Chilla

These are a house favorite for us! These are way easier and just as delicious as a breakfast dosa.

45 Min

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Desi Macaroni

Pasta is one the most universally loved foods, however, not every culture eats it like the Italians do. A ‘baked’ pasta dish, usually macaroni cooked in a mildly spiced white cheese sauce will often appear on an Indian buffet table laden with curries, sabzi and pilafs. As a kid, I would search for those baked dishes and macaroni was one of my favorite foods to eat. My mother would cook it in a tomato masala, add all kinds of vegetables like peas, beans, or corn and strange as this may sound, we would eat it with flatbreads like roti or paratha. The pasta was always cooked with the masala, never on its own. Here is a macaroni just the way we Desis would like to eat it, in a tomato masala with copious amounts of ginger.

45 Min

GF

Eggplant Sabzi

Eggplants are having a moment in Houston, just about every farmer’s table is bursting with varieties of these purple berries, from the large heirlooms to the tiny little green eggplants. Eggplant is one of the few vegetables which, when cooked right, can give me the satisfaction of meat. And when paired with the aromatic flavors of Bengal, the lush eastern state of India with dense coconut groves and fields bursting with greens and vegetables, eggplant can truly be a thing of beauty. Today, I bring you a humble eggplant sabzi (sabzi simply means cooked vegetable in Hindi). Cooked with pungent mustard oil, which is often considered Bengal’s olive oil and hints of cumin and jaggery, this sabzi can be enjoyed over rice, with rotis or other flatbreads or over toast.

45 Min

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Fresh Fava & Spinach Dal

Nothing satisfies in cooler weather quite like dal, the quintessential aromatic spice-laden lentil stew of India.

30 Min

GF

V

Garbanzo Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are essentially a delicious and nutritious vessel for fillings and are far more satisfying than salads - especially in the summer, when the heat in our bodies helps us digest raw foods.

75 Min

GF

V

Garden Rolls

There are a variety of Asian-type rolls, most of which originate from China. However, my favorite are the fresh spring rolls native to Vietnam. I love that they are rice-paper wrapped and not fried, and as far as filling goes, pretty much anything works. Traditionally made with chicken, pork or shrimp and vermicelli, I love stuffing them with a mixture of raw and cooked vegetables with lots of herbs for fragrance and flavor. When picking vegetables, make sure they are cold when you are ready to make the rolls. It does take a bit of expertise to make them — at first, I was making lumpy, awkwardly shaped rolls with vegetables sticking out. They still tasted good, and my family happily ate them up. It took some time and practice to get them to look uniform — the key is not to overstuff them and pack the vegetables in tight when rolling.

90 Min

NF

Goat Noodle Stew

The best part about goat is that the flavor is so rich a little goes a long way.

50 Min

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Green Bean Sabzi

In India, vegetarians do not make a meatless meal look or taste like meat. The meal should be triumphantly vegetarian; hearty, appetizing, nutritionally well balanced and satisfying, with a flair of its own. No processed, lab-grown meat or chunks made to taste and look like a chicken in sight. Enter sabzi, a cooked, dry vegetable of sorts. Sabzi, dal (cooked spiced lentils) and rice or roti is perhaps the most common everyday meal in India. There are dozens and dozens of sabzis in every region of India, from potato, cauliflower, sautéed greens, bean, squash sabzis and so on. Here is a satisfying green bean and potato sabzi — enjoy it with roti, simple whole-wheat flatbread, and a simple dal made with yellow moong.

30 Min

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Green Bean Salad

This spicy and bright green bean salad is delicious hot or cold.

150 Min

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Green Dal

Greens lentils are the inside of the dried green beans called ‘vatana’ in India. They have a deliciously distinct earthy flavor that goes well with leafy green vegetables.

30 Min

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Green Papaya Salad

A wonderful way to balance holiday indulgences and alleviate the guilt associated with it is to eat something cleansing after. Besides, why not start the year on a fresh healthy note? Green papaya salad, or Som Tum as it is known in Thai cuisine is believed to have originated in Laos. I have never tasted a version of this salad that I don’t love, and I often make a meal out of it. The fact that green papaya has innumerable health benefits like high fiber and vitamin content always helps. But it’s the endless possibilities with this salad that make it most exciting. On a basic level, fresh grated green papaya is tossed with chiles, dried shrimp, palm sugar and fresh garlic. Add grated carrots, cabbage, apple, green beans, cucumber, or mango. The shrimp is delicious but not essential to the flavor; instead throw in copious amounts of grated, finely minced, or julienned ginger. Slice in some tomatoes for the acid, peanuts for crunch with herbs like cilantro or basil for aroma and you have a wonderful salad. Instead of peanuts, add cashews, add sliced almonds, or pine nuts. Switch out sugar for something as wholesome as honey or maple syrup. If you have extra papaya left over, use it in meat marinades as a tenderizer.

90 Min

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V

Green Vegetable Curry

This curry is made entirely with vegetables, but feel free to add meats or seafood — in either case, be sure to cook everything in the curry before adding the green herb sauce. Just before serving, add the green herb sauce to keep the colors bright and the flavors vibrant.

20 Min

GF

Papaya Chaat

I love the flavor of papaya and often add it to chopped salads or Indian street snacks, called chaats.

50 Min

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Grilled Nopales

This summer, try grilling nopales on your backyard grill and topping them with this simple tomato masala.

10 Min

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Heirloom Tomato Salad

This salad is good on its own and also makes an awesome side dish for grilled or roasted meats.

50 Min

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Herbed Pooris

Deep fried balloon breads popular all over India, adding herbs to poori dough just gives it a little more interest and fragrance.

30 Min

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Holi Pakoras

The days of Holi are, hands down, some of the best memories of my childhood in India. Based on the lunar calendar, festivities begin the day after the full moon, usually in March, when there are neighborhood bonfires with people singing and dancing around them. The bonfire signifies the end of sorrows, grievances and the healing of old wounds. The morning after, street parties begin! My two brothers and I would wake up, put on old throwaway clothes and hit the streets, our pockets overflowing with colored powders. We would stalk the neighborhood, visiting friends and family, throwing powders on everyone and each other, then continue to frolic all day long. My parents, on the other hand, would stay home most of the day and join family or friends for decadent late-night soirees with card games, flowing whiskey, samosas, pakoras and occasional sips of bhang, a popular cannabis-infused elixir. Unrecognizable, our bodies covered in layers and layers of colored powders and exhausted from the excitement, my brothers and I would end the day eating street foods — pani poori, chaats, biryanis and pakoras — then head home to wash up. Pakoras are delicious vegetable fritters with a deeply flavorful chickpea batter — and though I am not a big proponent of deep-frying at home, some occasions warrant it. You can even make these in a skillet filled with oil, then strain the oil and use it for cooking later.

20 Min

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Jicama Salad

Jicama is delicious raw and lends itself well to Indian chaat style street preparations.

60 Min

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NF

Kerala Stew

The fragrant coconut stews of Kerala are especially transporting and legendary — and we can create the same flavors in Houston with seasonal local vegetables.

90 Min

GF

NF

Lamb Kofta with Green Beans

Like in most ancient cultures, eating meat was rare, celebratory and considered a delicacy. These meatballs are so delicious that you will not even realize that half the meat has been replaced with mushrooms.

20 Min

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Lettuce Fried Rice

Eating vegetables and fruits grown by local farmers with stellar practices is one of the best ways to build immunity in our bodies. Whether it’s by visiting neighborhood farmers markets or getting a farm share, there is no time like the present to support our farmers and ranchers — they need our business. Always looking for ways to incorporate more vegetables into our meals, at the recommendation of a friend, I tossed fried rice with torn lettuce, and it made for a delicious light lunch. The lettuce wilted every so slightly but tasted really good — and who doesn’t love a flavorful, light fried rice?

20 Min

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Local Heirloom Tomato Berry Salad

Composed salads lend themselves to so many possibilities — they have become my go-to salad. For breakfast I’ll sauté mushrooms with a cumin seed pop, spread them on a plate, tuck in a few slices of tomato, throw some microgreens on top, sprinkle salt and red chile powder and a drizzle of olive oil and lime juice. In the evening, mustard seed roasted carrots plated with diced mango or peaches and mint leaves can be the start of a light dinner salad. Given how short the treasured local heirloom tomato season is here in Texas, I find many ways to enjoy them, from raw in a salad to cooked into a masala or a chutney. Here is a truly local salad made with heirloom tomatoes from a small farm in Alvin, local blackberries and blueberries and cashew butter dressing.

45 Min

GF

Green Masala Mattar Paneer

Mattar paneer is a classic Punjabi dry dish, usually eaten with a roti or naan. Here, instead of the classic tomato masala, we do a green herb and yogurt masala to accompany to paneer and peas.

15 Min

DF

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V

Mint Coconut Chutney

Chutneys are usually meant to be eaten as accompaniments with snacks or meals. We love them on toast, with rice, on top of meats or veggies, and especially with stuffed mushrooms. They are delicious with nearly anything.

120 Min

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V

Moth Dal

The moth lentils, mostly native to preparations in Gujarat, are small but hearty and delicious.

60 Min

GF

Pea Stuffed Peppers

Bell peppers are in full bloom in Texas, filling farm table stands with their striking yellow, orange, red and purple hues. Mincing and tossing into scrambled eggs, a stew or in stir-fry, there are endless uses for peppers. Their skin is often discarded after roasting, as are their seeds and placenta; however, these are edible and can be incorporated into the cooking. The seeds can be bitter, but cooking mellows this out. At my restaurant, anywhere peppers are used, given their high vitamin C and fiber content, we use every part except the stem. These fresh green pea stuffed peppers are intensely flavored, which is balanced by the cooling saffron yogurt sauce. Make sure to soak the saffron threads in yogurt a day or two before; the flavor of saffron is best when it has had time to develop.

90 Min

V

Potato Fenugreek Samosas

Seldom made at home, samosas are popular on street side corners or carts bubbling away on large vats of hot oil.

30 Min

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Quinoa Cabbage Pilaf

Pilafs such as this can become a meal entirely on their own. It can be served at room temperature as a salad with the addition of more vegetables.

30 Min

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Roasted Squash Curry

This curry is inspired by the stews of South India and can be prepared with other root vegetables also.

15 Min

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Rye Poha

Poha is a standard breakfast from Gujarat region of India and is usually made from sauteing potatoes with onions and flattened rice flakes.

45 Min

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Saffron Mashed Potatoes

Thanksgiving has been my favorite American holiday for a very long time. Just like many other immigrant communities

120 Min

GF

Sai Bhaji

Sai bhaji, which simply means green vegetable, is an age-old staple from the province of my vanished homeland, Sindh. After the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, like many others, my parents migrated to India dearly holding onto food customs as tender memories of their exiled community. Not the most attractive of dishes but delicious when made right, sai bhaji is popular with Sindhis because it’s easy to prepare. It is also highly nutritious with an abundance of vegetables, can be prepared with a minimum of fat and is commonly eaten during winter. As with most Indian stews, every family has its own version, but for the most part, it consists of channa dal slow-cooked with root vegetables, leafy greens, herbs and aromatic spices. I have mixed memories of sai bhaji as a child. Depending on the vegetables at hand and time allowed, my mother would fuss over it all day and lay out a luscious stew with notes of fennel, cardamom and ghee for dinner. Other times it was rushed into a pressure cooker and tasted more like vegetable gruel. I had abandoned cooking it for years, but lately I have been finding ways to bring back the magic of sai bhaji using local seasonal vegetables. Late winter and early spring is definitely the best time to make it when fresh fennel and fenugreek, which I consider integral to this dish, are in season.

30 Min

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Sayel Bhindi

This is a classical Sindhi preparation for okra.

30 Min

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Sayel Okra

In Sindhi, sayel means a rustic onion-based preparation.

25 Min

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Smoked Eggplant Dip

This dip is inspired by the traditional Baingan Bhartha, a Punjabi favorite smoked eggplant sabzi (aka, roasted vegetable dish).

60 Min

GF

Smoked Eggplant Masala

This recipe is inspired by the Punjabi “baingan bhartha,” which essentially translates into spiced eggplant hash.

40 Min

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Smoked Eggplant with Kalonji

Eggplant charred on a gas stove top develops a smoky flavor and a perfect texture for a spread or a dip.

45 Min

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South Indian Vegetable Stew

Every home in South India has its own version of a vegetable coconut stew. Here is one using the bounty of spring vegetables but feel free to substitute different vegetables to suit the season.

30 Min

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Spring Pilaf

Cabbage may be a humble brassica, but it is packed with plenty of essential phytonutrients and makes a great low-calorie addition to the pilaf

40 Min

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Stuffed Squash

Pattypan squash is small & shallow with scalloped edges. This squash is easy to handle because its skin isn’t too thick & cooks relatively quickly.

30 Min

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Tindora Sabzi

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…

30 Min

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Vegetable Harvest Curry

This is a classic curry recipe – use any combination of root vegetables.

20 Min

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Watermelon Avocado Salad

No recipe needed, just follow your senses. I hope you get the picture.

45 Min

GF

White Quinoa Pilaf

This pilaf is inspired by the beloved South Indian morning hash uppma.

20 Min

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Zucchini Moong Fritters

Inspired by the lentil cakes of Maharashtra, these are lighter and fluffier because of the addition of zucchini.

25 Min

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Zucchini Sabzi

The key to this sabzi is getting a good brown on the zucchini, that is when it’s flavor truly shines.

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Mushrooms

Eggplants

Cauliflower

Squashes

Root Vegetables

Vegetable Curries

Green Vegetables

Okra