One of my resolutions for this year is to actually use the cookbooks that are on my bookshelf instead of ignoring them and letting them collect dust. One of those books is Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries, which I received a few years ago but didn't have much luck with. However, after reading lots of reviews, I've decided to give it another shot. One of the recipes that I've been meaning to try - from this book or otherwise - is dal makhani, a creamy concotion comprised of lots of warming spices and black lentils.


There are a few common denominators to most recipes for this dish - black lentils (whole urad dal), a smidge of red kidney beans, cumin, chili powder, onions. But the numerous variations beyond that were clearly indicative of the many different ways this dish can be prepared. However, the main common denominator was one that made this dish something that I never made: soaking lentils and kidney beans overnight.

I’ve never been a big football fan, but for some strange reason, I’ve really gotten into it the past few weeks. And who have I been rooting for? None other than the Baltimore Ravens. Unfortunately, they lost their playoff game this past Saturday, which means I don’t really care about watching the Super Bowl for the game itself, but I’ll be tuned in to the commercials and eating good food during the game. Enter this dip for game time diversion.


Everyone loves seven-layer dip, but it usually involves ground beef, which I am obviously not cool with. And I’m kind of over meat substitutes (Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, I’m looking at you), so I just left out the seventh layer and made this a six-layer dip. Blasphemy, I know, but it’s tasty, I swear, and you’ll never miss that seventh layer.

It was 103 degrees in NYC yesterday so there was no way in the world I was going to stand in the kitchen any longer than absolutely necessary.  We live on the 4th floor of a small walkup building and it gets – and stays – really hot in our apartment.  Combine that with the fact our air conditioners are small units that are not really capable of cooling down a 100 degree room and you have a recipe for a very hands-off dinner.


Eating out and a big salad were not options (the former because we have so much produce from our CSA share and the latter because we had already had one for lunch), nor were turning on the oven or anything that needed more than 20 minutes on the stove so as to not overheat the apartment or the person standing over the stove in the kitchen (which would be me).

Part of our first CSA pickup was a bunch of beautiful leeks. The stalks were thick and creamy white, unlike the streaky, somewhat dried-up specimens in the supermarket. These particular leeks were even better than ones I’ve gotten at the farmers market – they were incredibly tender and amazingly grit free.


My CSA sends out an email on Mondays letting us know what’s in our pickup the next day, so I’ve taken to meal planning for the week based on what I’ll be getting the next day. I saw leeks on the list for that first week and I knew right away what to make with them.

I really did not like green beans when I was younger. My mom made them two ways: French cut ones with garam masala and chopped ones with roasted lentils and coconut. My brother loved the former and I recall seeing them on the dinner table very often, but I didn’t like them – they were too spicy for me. She made the latter version less frequently, and I don’t recall really liking them, either. But, like most people, my taste buds grew up along with the rest of me, and now I love them. (Although, oddly enough, I used to really like broccoli but now I won’t eat it, ha!).

My mom has been teaching me how to make more South Indian dishes recently. I feel like an idiot for not having learned to do so earlier because not only is it really delicious, but it’s incredibly easy and quite healthy. My mom gave me the instructions for this one a few weeks ago and I think it is now one of my favorite things to eat.

This is seriously one of the easiest meals to make. I bought a ton of kale from the market on Sunday and was planning on turning some of it into a soup along with some white beans (a classic combination), but I didn’t really have plans for the rest of it. I hadn’t made anything for lunch yet (and yes I always make my lunch and take it to work with me because, well, don’t we all know why it’s better to do that?) and the mountain of kale in my fridge was staring at me. So that’s how I got the idea for this quick and hearty lunch.

A few months ago, I made a version of a chaat that I had eaten last summer at my favorite North Indian restaurant in New York, Devi. I served it to my mom when she was visiting and she loved it, which meant that it was a success; my mom holds Indian food to high standards, and why shouldn’t she – she’s been cooking it forever and makes the absolute best South Indian food ever (and I’m not just saying that because she’s my mom).

Last summer, I had a serious obsession with guacamole. I realized that it was definitely not healthy for me to be eating it on an almost-daily basis, so something had to be done to quench my craving. For reasons unbeknownst to me, edamame seemed like a good substitute. I added all the other flavors of guacamole – lime, garlic, cilantro – and, although it is not necessarily a substitute for guac, it is nonetheless a really really tasty dip.