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A review by ginabbina
Indian-Ish: Recipes and Antics from a Modern American Family by Priya Krishna
5.0
This is an excellent cook book! I tried two recipes so far and I like them both a lot. The lentils/dal recipe that I tried, in particular, is excellent and I want to make it all the time (Priya says she cried tears of joy when she ate it and I don't think she's lying).
The recipes in general are healthy in the way normal health conscious families eat every day, and they're mostly vegetarian recipes. These are both plusses for me.
The introduction made me reflect on the idea of "authentic food" a lot. I find the way she talks about it VERY relatable, substituting Nicaraguan for Indian. It's impossible to cook the same food as your grandma when you move this far away, even if you would like to. Indian grocers and Mexican/Latinamerican grocers are common enough that you can get close. But also, as your kids grow up more American, things get adopted. (E.g. a food I loved as a kid is scrambled eggs with ripped up tortillas in them, and ketchup on the side. Kids in Nicaragua don't eat this, but kids who grew up multigeneration American don't eat this, either). So Roti pizza isn't exactly familiar to me, but the spirit of it is very familiar.
Recommend to people who want to cook every day (weeknight) Indian food, and aren't too bothered about "authenticity."
The recipes in general are healthy in the way normal health conscious families eat every day, and they're mostly vegetarian recipes. These are both plusses for me.
The introduction made me reflect on the idea of "authentic food" a lot. I find the way she talks about it VERY relatable, substituting Nicaraguan for Indian. It's impossible to cook the same food as your grandma when you move this far away, even if you would like to. Indian grocers and Mexican/Latinamerican grocers are common enough that you can get close. But also, as your kids grow up more American, things get adopted. (E.g. a food I loved as a kid is scrambled eggs with ripped up tortillas in them, and ketchup on the side. Kids in Nicaragua don't eat this, but kids who grew up multigeneration American don't eat this, either). So Roti pizza isn't exactly familiar to me, but the spirit of it is very familiar.
Recommend to people who want to cook every day (weeknight) Indian food, and aren't too bothered about "authenticity."