My first days in India we are priveleged to stay in the home of Amit and Shweta Jain, in Gurgaon, a satellite city of New Dehli. Of course my comfort zone is the kitchen, and I quickly discover it's all about the pranthas. These flat, yeastless breads are the centre point of every North Indian meal; breakfast, lunch and dinner, torn and folded with a dexterous action of the thumb and fingers, no cutlery required. Plain, fenugreek or cumin, they are cooked on a concave iron over a gas flame, and puff when ready to turn.
'How do you make them do that?' I'm transfixed.
'It just happens.' Shweta is non-plussed.
A few days later I discover the secret, when I see her rolling out the dough, then picking it up, rolling it into a sausage, coiling it around, and rolling it out again; lamination! Pranthas are not only the centre of every meal, but the focus of Shweta's day. She rises before the rest of the family, to make dough enough for the day, but there always seems to be more to make, as she takes care of the prantha capacity of her husband and two boys.
... and then there's the dahl. The supermarkets have whole aisles devoted to dahl, so the importance of this humble pulse is evident. Dahl makhani (black), pink and yellow dahl, plus plain (probably the closest to the ubiquitous orange and brown I'm familiar with). With Shweta's patience I learn how and why they all taste different; creamy, tomato, chilli, tandoori and always cumin, garam masala spices and onion. The exception being during Navatri ('nine nights' in sanskrit) when the nine forms of the goddess Shakti/Devi are worshipped, and it's all vegetarian with no onion or garlic. A sattvic yogi's dream, and I arrive in the beginning of it.
My culinary vocabulary expands to include:
dosas - huge rice flour crepes that come with a variety of fillings and sides of chutneys and samba
brinjals - glossy round eggplants
aloo - potato
palak - spinach
vadas - savoury donuts for breakfast
curd - yoghurt
My culinary knowledge now covers North and South Indian cuisine, bread over rice, and meat versus vegetarian. The Jain household is an interesting blending of the two; Shweta, a Punjabi from the north, and Amit, a Jain from the south, living in cosmopolitan Dehli. Until marriage, Shweta had never cooked. As a new bride, going to live with her husband's family, she missed meat, and taught herself to cook because she couldn't face another meal of potatoes. With the help of her favourite cookbook by homestyle Indian Vegetarian chef, Nita Mehta (and yes, it's available online), Shweta's kitchen is filled with the smells and tastes of everything I expect India to be, and look forward to creating in my own Indian kitchen.
'How do you make them do that?' I'm transfixed.
'It just happens.' Shweta is non-plussed.
A few days later I discover the secret, when I see her rolling out the dough, then picking it up, rolling it into a sausage, coiling it around, and rolling it out again; lamination! Pranthas are not only the centre of every meal, but the focus of Shweta's day. She rises before the rest of the family, to make dough enough for the day, but there always seems to be more to make, as she takes care of the prantha capacity of her husband and two boys.
... and then there's the dahl. The supermarkets have whole aisles devoted to dahl, so the importance of this humble pulse is evident. Dahl makhani (black), pink and yellow dahl, plus plain (probably the closest to the ubiquitous orange and brown I'm familiar with). With Shweta's patience I learn how and why they all taste different; creamy, tomato, chilli, tandoori and always cumin, garam masala spices and onion. The exception being during Navatri ('nine nights' in sanskrit) when the nine forms of the goddess Shakti/Devi are worshipped, and it's all vegetarian with no onion or garlic. A sattvic yogi's dream, and I arrive in the beginning of it.
My culinary vocabulary expands to include:
dosas - huge rice flour crepes that come with a variety of fillings and sides of chutneys and samba
brinjals - glossy round eggplants
aloo - potato
palak - spinach
vadas - savoury donuts for breakfast
curd - yoghurt
My culinary knowledge now covers North and South Indian cuisine, bread over rice, and meat versus vegetarian. The Jain household is an interesting blending of the two; Shweta, a Punjabi from the north, and Amit, a Jain from the south, living in cosmopolitan Dehli. Until marriage, Shweta had never cooked. As a new bride, going to live with her husband's family, she missed meat, and taught herself to cook because she couldn't face another meal of potatoes. With the help of her favourite cookbook by homestyle Indian Vegetarian chef, Nita Mehta (and yes, it's available online), Shweta's kitchen is filled with the smells and tastes of everything I expect India to be, and look forward to creating in my own Indian kitchen.
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