The Kitchen I Wish I Had Grown up in: My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King

Spices are toasted and ground.  Indescribably heady aromas waft through the air.  Butter sizzles, meats simmer, and the most riotously delicious, sophisticated and whimsical meal emerges.  This was what life was like in my kitchen for the week I was reviewing My Bombay Kitchen.

I grew up eating kosher.  For some of you, kosher may connote cleanliness, food blessed by a rabbi.  For me, it connotes horrible vinegars and cheeses, meat salted to within an inch of its life, dank, tannic wines and non-dairy “desserts” made of some sort of hideous hydrogenated product that can only be purchased frozen.  The only thing that the particular type of kosher food that I grew up eating has going for it is that the kugels and dumplings of my childhood were without a doubt comfort foods of the heartiest, if dullest, sort.

The Parsi cuisine in My Bombay Kitchen is comfort food that falls on the other end of the spectrum --food that explodes with flavor, texture and heat, and is lush, sophisticated, wild and hearty all at the same time.

Parsis are a group in India who originated in Persia.  In My Bombay Kitchen, Niloufer King incorporates traditional Parsi dishes peppered with her own personal and family touches and a few modern reinterpretations. 

I started off with Patrel, a snack-type food made by spreading large taro or chard leaves with a paste of tamarind and chickpea flour, rolling them into a log, steaming and slicing the log, and then frying the pinwheel slices until crisp.  Doused with a good squeeze of lime, they were a perfect study in contrasts – sweet and tart, crispy and tender.

Next I made the seafood masala, seafood mixed with a rub of cayenne, turmeric and salt and grilled/seared.  This was where Mr. Addict and I, who are total wimps in the spiciness department, learned the hard way to divide the heat source in every recipe in half.  The thing is, though, that the recipe was super easy and so yummy that Mr. Addict and I couldn’t stop eating it even though our throats were on fire.

The Fish in Coconut Milk, fish poached in coconut milk and curry leaves, was rich but slightly disappointing. Mr. Addict thought it was nice.

The Khima-Stuffed Potato Cakes, mashed potato cakes stuffed with spiced meat, were yummy but a little plain – next time I would make it with one of the suggested sauces.

The split chickpea stew – dried split chickpeas stewed with potatoes, ginger garlic paste, fried onion, sambhar masala and spice mix called Dhana Jhiru – might be my favorite recipe from the book.  The Dhana Jhiru, a mix of about twenty toasted and ground spices, transformed my humble chickpeas into something too exciting to be called a stew.

Nana’s Biryani, rice layered with lamb or kid braised in a luscious gravy of yogurt, masala paste and ground cashews, was also a showstopper.  King explains that in her house this dish was garnished with fried almonds, raisins, onions and silver leaf and served on her birthday.  I can’t imagine a dish that would make me feel more birthday special. 

The two sweet recipes I made were wonderful too.  Date pastries, a flaky pastry crust encasing dates scented with orange zest, cardamom and honey, were the nicest date-centered food I have tasted.  I was so proud of them that I even made Mr. Addict, who despises dates, taste them.  His eyes widened with pleasure; his first positive date experience (!).

Last, the New Year’s Milkshake: a beautiful striated concoction of milk, soaked basil seeds (think tapioca balls), rose syrup and vanilla ice cream.  Sweet, creamy, crunchy and icy cold, but with roses in it.  It was the milkshake of my fantasy childhood.

Comments

[Mr. Addict]

I really liked the majority of dishes that were made from this book.

The Patrel was particularly interesting and very nuanced in flavor.

[tina]

Everything looks so good, and the descriptions of the recipes inspire me to immediately take the subway to kalustyans and try to duplicate the dishes!

[Toby]

King's book reminded me of Marcella Hazen's earlier cookbooks, perfect for home cooking. I think this and Dave Pasternack's The Young Man and the Sea were the two best cookbooks of 2007.

[Mr. Addict]

I remember hearing about the David Pasternack book, but to my knowledge we do not own that one yet!

It sounds like it might be a good addition to the list of upcoming books to be reviewed for this blog.

[DougW]

Mmmm. I've made the milkshakes before. One of my favorites. I've been venturing out into Indian cooking a lot more. Now if I could only find someone to eat the spicy stuff with me....

Great post! Love the pics...what camera are you using?

[Cookbook Addict]

Hey Doug! We're using a Pentax K10D. It totally rocks. We alternate between a 50mm lens and 100 mm macro. My better half took that first shot -- ain't it gorgeous?