#tamatar-rice

#tamatar-rice

The spices are merely a vessel for culture, community, storytelling, and politics. The recipes were so fresh, simple, and seasonal. That's not the version of South Asian food that most people know.

Food trends have never moved faster than they do now. With the power of social media, and particularly short-form video, a food can go from a concept in a lone creator's mind to an absolute phenomenon in a matter of hours.

Walking through the narrow bylanes of Mylapore neighbourhood at dusk is like watching a sepia-tinted postcard of Madras coming to life and gently reasserting itself over the Chennai of today. The 7th-century Kapaleeshwarar Temple, the fulcrum of commerce and culture, draws the devout into its timeless force field, and on nearby Pitchu Pillai Lane, a small crowd gathers around the Raghul Kuzhi Paniyaram street stall to buy kuzhi paniyarams: spongy orbs of pan-fried batter speckled with mustard seeds.

When Ceylon India Inn opened near Times Square in the early 1900s, the city's first South Asian restaurant quickly became a hub for New York's burgeoning community of desi (a term used to describe people of South Asian descent) dock workers, and students. More than a century later, there are more than 400 such restaurants across the five boroughs, enticing a far more diverse array of diners.

Though they were only serving in town for one night, the chefs and staff behind the Mexico City supernova Masala y Maíz managed to cause what felt like a temporary ripple in L.A. dining during their pop-up last week. It reminded this diner that despite the era's current dedication to culinary and cultural boundaries - you should only cook what you know, write what you know - a spirit of mixture and melding can actually lead to something extraordinary, and not cringey, in practice.

Country of origin labeling became mandatory on all international products entering the United States in 2009. The goal was to ensure American consumers knew where the products they were buying came from, enabling shoppers to make informed buying decisions. These products include everything from Mexican avocados to French wine to pasta from Italy, with the latter thankfully safe from recent U.S. tariffs. However, does the location a product comes from actually matter?

A true one-pot meal, this Indian-spiced rice is made with store-bought spicy simmer sauce, paired with tofu and cauliflower. It's hearty, filling and you can load it up with a range of herbs or crunchy nuts as toppings. We are staying in a little loft in San Francisco right now, trying to find our next place to live. The kitchen is tiny: two electric burners, a microwave, roughly 2 feet of counter space.

India is a country with countless regional specialties, each with its own history, culture, and unique use of spices. I wanted our guests to experience that variety and feel as though they were traveling across India one meal at a time.

Coriander and cumin aren't direct substitutes. Cumin is more pungent and earthy, so if used in place of coriander, I recommend using about half the amount and adding a touch of citrus zest or fennel seed to restore brightness.

The first whiff of garam masala, for example, might transport you back to a wonderful meal that you had at your favorite Indian restaurant last weekend. Curry powder, on the other hand, despite bearing the word "curry" in its title - which is what you ordered at the Indian restaurant, right? - is unlikely to awaken such a connection. Its aroma might, however, remind you of dishes coming from countries like Jamaica, Thailand, and Japan.

This creamy Spinach Lentil Curry is comforting, richly spiced without being heavy and made with just a few pantry staple ingredients in about 30 minutes. Prep Time: 10 minutes. Cook Time: 20 minutes. Servings: Makes 4 servings of approximately 1.5 cups each. Nutrition: 269 calories with 17g protein + 19g fibre. Dietary Info: Vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free. Difficulty: Easy! One-pan recipe with minimal ingredients and prep needed.

Your spice cabinet is like a passport of sorts, allowing you to sample the flavors and ingredients of different cuisines and cook dishes from around the globe. As such, building a robust collection of both staple spices, and more underrated and unique ones is important. If you're shopping for new additions to step up your seasoning game, look no further than garam masala and ras el hanout. Although these spice mixes may have similar colors and ingredients, there are some major differences between the two that warrant adding both to your spice cabinet.

Pav bhaji, or Indian spiced mash, is a home cook's friend. It's not fussy, and it will take most leftover vegetables and transform them into something delicious. Add a squeeze of lemon, chopped onion and fresh herbs, and mop up with a butter-fried roll, just as the people of Mumbai do. The odd potato? No problem. A bit of cauliflower? Sure. Some peas from the freezer? Ideal! What you do need, however, is a secret weapon in the form of pav bhaji

In accordance with the lunar calendar, Ramadan could start as early as Tuesday this year, which falls well before the switch to daylight saving time on March 8 in the United States. This means that iftar will begin around 5:30 p.m. for most of the country for nearly three weeks, leaving a short window after work to get a comforting, nourishing meal on the table.

I have yet to see anyone eating mulligatawny in an Indian restaurant perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it's a product of the British occupation, and the very name has an off-putting Victorian feel, which is a shame, because it's aged a lot better than imperialism. Based, historians think, on the Madrassi broth molo tunny, it's a lovely, gently spiced winter soup that's well worth rediscovering. Prep 15 min Cook 50 min Serves 4-6

Soaked and blended, cashews become a stand-in for heavy cream, keeping stuffed shells, soups, pasta sauces, and desserts luxuriously dairy-free. Toasted and roughly chopped, they add crunch to salads, curries, stir-fries, and more. There are so many reasons to love cooking with these seeds-that's right, "cashew nut" is technically a misnomer, since they grow outside the fruit rather than inside a hard shell like true nuts.

Variations of coconut fish curry abound up and down the Swahili Coast, so much so that the dish is often broadly referred to as East African fish curry. This version of coconut fish curry leans heavily on xawaash, a spice blend that is at the heart of Somali cuisine. This Is my malaay qumbe, coconut fish curry. Variations of coconut fish curry can be found all throughout East Africa.

Classic spicy vodka rigatoni is such a glorious sight, beautifully orangey-red and glossy. That iconic look and luxurious texture sparked the idea for this dish. This pasta highlights the humble carrot by making it the star of the show and the base for a creamy, spicy orange sauce. I like buying carrots with the tops attached for this to make a lovely herby topping to balance the richness of the pasta, but if you can't find them, this dish is still a stunner.

Zainab Shah's quick, flavor-packed meal brings the smoky, tangy essence of tandoori-style cooking into the kitchen with minimal effort. The shrimp are marinated in spiced yogurt to infuse them with bold flavor before being roasted over a bed of vegetables in just minutes. This is my sheet pan shrimp tikka. It's a super simple dish to prepare with minimal cleanup and a lot of bold flavors.

When it comes to traybakes, chicken is the undisputed hero, because it's endlessly adaptable and perfect for carrying bold, global flavours. First up, some eastern Mediterranean chicken meatballs, flecked with feta and black olives for a sharp, savoury punch. Then a Persian-style saffron chicken and rice; the rice cooks with the chicken, absorbing all the flavours of the sunshine-yellow saffron and crisping up at the edges.