Cooking with a Kahari, and a Great Indian Author

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a traditional Indian kahari, a piece of cookware that you’ll find in most Indian kitchens. There are a few online resources, but finding a large, great quality, cast iron kahari is turning out to be tricky. There are a couple of sources out of New Zealand, India, and Australia, but they are shipping within their countries only.

I cook Indian food a lot. I never get tired of it. One of my favorite breakfasts is masala dasa, a rice, black bean, potato, onion, and spiced crepe-type affair. Sometimes I’ll add tomato. And daal is the best cold-weather meal in the world.  The spices of Indian cooking are the best – cumin seed, coriander seed, turmeric, fennel, chili, mango powder, ginger, and lots more. Adding yogurt to a masala makes it creamy and tangy, and since I make our own yogurt, there’s usually a fresh supply of yogurt on hand. I love how Indian food mixes spicy hot with cool and refreshing – a spicy daal served with a dollop of cold yogurt, for example. Or a paneer masala served with a cold, crisp cucumber salad or a sweet Indian fruit salad.

I used our last garden Japanese eggplant last night. Boo. But I made a yummy rigatoni with eggplant, tahini, garlic, and yogurt dish that was great. So even though summer is all over, it’s all good.

Speaking of great things from India, I’ll be stopping by the Granby library later to pick up my newest read – Family Matters, a novel by my current favorite author, Rohinton Mistry. I read his A Finer Balance earlier this year (a friend’s recommendation) and was completely drawn in to the story. Looking forward to another journey to contemporary India with Mistry.

All good. All love.

/II\

Namaste