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128: Noha Serageldin: An Introduction to Egyptian Cuisine and Beyond

June 22, 2016 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast featured image
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Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about an introduction to Egyptian cuisine and beyond.

Matters of the Belly

Noha was born and raised in Egypt where food was such a huge deal that it felt like a member of their family. She moved to Australia with her husband in 2013 and is where she currently lives. On her blog Matters of the Belly is where Noha shares with us the food she likes to cook and eat, and the memories that they evoke, hoping to inspire us to put on our aprons and to pick up our wooden spoons.

I’m so excited to have Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly joining me on the show.

(*All photos below are Noha’s.)

On Growing Up in Egypt:

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about growing up in Egypt.

I come from quite a big family. And to us, in Egypt, food is so central to everything we do — all the events, all the birthdays, all the special occasions — everything is centered around food, and so it’s been a massive part of my life growing up. Every social gathering, every holiday, everything has a special food for it, and we always looked forward to that and my parents were very big on making things themselves rather than buying.

My sisters and I learned to cook and to make things and to get excited about food from a very young age, especially my younger sister and I. My older sister was not as interested. Food has always been wonderful and a big part of growing up for us.

The norm is that food is a big deal, but it’s not necessarily made from scratch, if that makes sense. Lots of people rely on bringing food in, buying food, not really making it, and our family was very much interested in gathering around making it, so making an event out of making the food and spending time together in the kitchen, and planning it, basically, and doing it all together. So that’s where ours was, I think, a bit special.

On Egyptian Cuisine:

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about Egyptian cuisine.

It’s not very widespread, not like, for example, Lebanese food which you can find almost anywhere. Egyptian food is very similar to Lebanese and other foods of the area where it’s very simple food. It’s very highly reliant on vegetables and beans and things like that because they’re staples and they’re very cheap. Most normal families in Egypt would be on the poorer side and they’d want something to sustain them and keep them going through the day that doesn’t cost that much.

Most of our most famous national dishes are actually vegan or vegetarian without even…not on purpose, but it just happened to be that way.

Lots of big flavors, quite a bit of spices. Our meats are very simply prepared, nothing fancy, when we do have meat, but yeah, that’s pretty much it, sums it up.

When I think of Egypt, the spice that comes to mind instantly is cumin, instantly. So cumin and coriander are very, very widely used in Egyptian dishes, as well as cinnamon, I would say.

Cumin and coriander always go together. Cinnamon, it’s separate, it goes by itself, more like maybe some nutmeg and things like that, more warming dishes. It’s often added to desserts as well. Lots of desserts are flavored with cinnamon.

On What a Typical Egyptian Meal Looks Like:

The typical Egyptian meal, that if you walk into any Egyptian home, you’ll see has to be a massive plate of rice on the table at all times, and there’s probably bread too. Our Egyptian pita bread is really, really special. It’s a bit different to the types of pita bread that you see that are nice and smooth and white. It’s more whole grain and it’s very rustic, and it has the bran of the wheat covering it, all of it, so it’s a very special bread.

These are always there, and you’ll find some sort of stewed vegetable always, with tomato sauce stewed slowly, like green beans or okra or even peas. And if it’s a day where the family is having meat, then there’d probably be fried chicken or maybe grilled kofta meats, like beef kofta or maybe even lamb. Lamb is quite popular as well. That’s your typical Egyptian meal.

On Must-Have Dishes for Visitors to Egypt:

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about must-have dishes in Egypt.

I’d say there are three dishes that cannot be missed for anyone visiting Egypt, and they’re quite easy to get because they’re widely available on the street. Most Egyptian food, you’d need to go into an Egyptian house, in a home, to eat them but these three… The first one is koshari, which is, pretty much, I would consider it the fast food of Egypt because it’s what people eat during work for lunch and typically have on their working day. It’s made up of, again, rice and lentils, cooked lentils, cooked chickpeas, a spicy tomato sauce, and fried onions on top. People usually even have it in a big plastic bowl or even a bag. I think that’s popular in Asia, as well, where you can get drinks and food in plastic bags. That happens a lot. So koshari is a must, must have. It’s a very spicy and very filling dish while being a vegan one as well.

The other two that usually go together are ta’amiya which are Egyptian falafel. They’re very similar to most of the falafel you know, but they’re made with fava beans rather than chickpeas, and they’re very, very green inside. So you’d take a bite and they’d be bright, bright green inside from all the herbs. And these are often eaten with ful which is, I would say, the number one national dish of Egypt, which are very slow-cooked fava beans. It’s a stew. It’s dark brown, and it’s very often flavored with cumin and coriander and olive oil, and maybe chopped tomatoes and cucumber and eaten with the pita bread. So these are the must, must haves.

The Pressure Cooker:

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast - The Pressure Cooker.

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I’m hooked on MasterChef and I’m never going to stop.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

Well, food websites that I go to back and back again are Food52, The Kitchn, and Bon Appetit. I always go there if I need a basic recipe. As for food bloggers, they are endless. I’ve discovered so many talented food blogs and food bloggers around. I’m going to say a couple of the Australian ones that I’ve discovered here.

I love Cook Republic by Sneh Roy. She’s just wonderful and her recipes are never failing. I love, for desserts, I really like Thalia Ho from Butter and Brioche. I love, what else, My Darling Lemon Thyme of course.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

I’m not big on Snapchat yet. I’m still trying to figure out how to work, how that works, but I’ve started following a few people and I do enjoy following very little video stories. I love following Local is Lovely, which is a wonderful local blogger here called Sophie Hansen that lives in regional New South Wales. Their stories and photos and events always make me so happy and make me actually want to move to the countryside, because she just focuses on the local growers and the local farmers and everything that this beautiful land has to offer, which always really, really makes me happy and makes me want to explore more of what Australia has to offer.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

Actually, this is a funny story, but when I first came here for the first year, I started trying to collect all the things that I need in my kitchen from around Australia, and there were two things that I could not find anywhere that I was used to use back home. So when I went back to visit, I carried them back with me in my luggage, which is one, my rice washer. It’s just a bowl with slits down the side that you can easily wash rice in without it falling through. So it’s very thin slits and it’s a very simple thing, but it just saves me so much time washing my rice, and rice is such a big thing in Egyptian cooking. So that was something I had to bring back. And the other thing was the tool we use to hollow out vegetables for stuffing. It’s a really thin, long tool, and I couldn’t find it anywhere. So these two things are, they’re very precious and I guard them all the time and make sure I pack them first whenever we move.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

So many, because my mother used to always try to feed us all the wonderful Egyptian food, and we’d just say, “Oh, I don’t like eggplant,” or I don’t like one other very popular dish in Egypt is called Molokhia which is… I mean looking at it, you’d probably think it’s gross because it’s basically a green, slimy soup, and it’s not very appetizing, but I cannot have enough from it now. And I go specially, I trek out to the western suburbs, to the Middle Eastern grocers to buy it specially frozen so I can have it often. I used to make fun of my mom because she could have it every day, and I was just very grossed out by it, but now, I’m just completely addicted to it. I love it.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Definitely Ottolenghi cookbooks. I use them like a resource. It’s just like an encyclopedia for how to cook vegetables well. He knows his vegetables. He’s tested every sort of method there is and he always gives you the final verdict. So that, for sure, and I do have the Cairo Kitchen cookbook with me from back home, which is written by an Egyptian who opened a restaurant by the same name. So that has lots of classic and slightly modernized versions of our classic Egyptian dishes. I love having that whenever I need a quick tip on how to make something that I miss, I go for that.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

The soundtrack for Amelie, the movie. It always makes me want to cook.

On Keeping Posted with Noha:

Noha Serageldin of Matters of the Belly on The Dinner Special podcast talking about keeping posted with her.

Definitely Instagram, I’m quite active on there and use it to also do micro posts because I don’t always have time to do full blog posts anymore, but I try to keep every other day, at least, on Instagram with a bit of an update, a bit of a story, anything like that.

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Amelie, Australia, Bon Appetit, Butter and Brioche, Cairo Kitchen, Cook Republic, Egypt, Egyptian Cuisine, Falafel, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Food52, Ful, koshari, Local is Lovely, MasterChef, Matters of the Belly, Molokhia, My Darling Lemon Thyme, Noha Serageldin, Ottolenghi, Sneh Roy, Sophie Hansen, Thalia Ho, The Kitchn

102: Erin Alderson: Moving From Fast Food to Healthier Eating

December 23, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.
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Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about moving from fast food to healthier eating.

Naturally Ella

On her blog, Naturally Ella, Erin shares seasonal vegetarian recipes that are pantry-inspired and favorite recipes that are simple, fresh and exciting for her family. She’s written two cookbooks, The Homemade Flour Cookbook and The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen.

I am so happy to have Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella here on the show today.

(*All photos below are Erin’s.)

On Her Journey From Fast Food to Fresh and Seasonal:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her journey from fast food to seasonal and fresh.

It’s definitely been a long journey, but one I’m glad I took. Through high school and part of college, we were a middle-class family who was always on the go. Had a lot of activities after school, during school and it just seemed like we never really had time to cook. Looking back I think we probably did have time. But like most people it’s just convenient to eat out and grab food as we go.

It wasn’t until in between my freshman and sophomore year of college that my father had a heart attack and had a quadruple bypass. He survived it all but it was definitely a wake-up call for my entire family. After that we changed our diets and we haven’t looked back.

On Getting Started to Eating Healthier:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about getting started on eating healthier.

Baby steps. Definitely baby steps. Instead of eating out every day I’d eat out three times a week. I just stepped back slowly but surely. There were things I didn’t like at first. I didn’t always eat a lot of vegetables as much as I should have. It took time. It took time to really grow and get the process down.

I thought it might have been easier than I expected. I definitely had it built up in my head thinking that, “Oh, I’ll be able to do it. It won’t be that hard.” But it definitely was a day-by-day experience and there were a lot of temptations and challenges around every corner.

I feel like a lot of time people think, “Oh, health food. That must mean salads.” And really I don’t know. I love eating whole grains I do a lot of noodles. Again everything in moderation. You can have a lot of fun with it.

On Some Good Resources for Starting to Eat More Healthy:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about some good resources for starting to eat healthier.

I think blogs are awesome. A lot of the healthier food blogs because there’s just so much inspiration. And a lot of times those I feel like are recipes that people can really dig into.

Any of the Michael Pollan books are really a kind of good, swift kick in the rear. Because you read them and think, “Okay. This is why I should be doing this.” Mark Bittman is also a good resource. I think he’s the one that has the cookbook, How to Cook Everything.

I feel like those books can really be go-to references. They don’t have to be something that you read cover to cover. It’s just something that you can say, “Hey. I feel like trying this.” And you can go and dig into it.

On Her Blog:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her blog.

Originally I started as a healthy baking blog way back in 2007. This was towards the beginning of my healthy eating journey and I wanted to share. For whatever reason I thought blogging sounded like fun even back then.

But I soon realized I didn’t like baking. And I fell in love with cooking. And that really took hold when I joined a CSA. And it was one of the ones where I could go out and pick. Every week I’d go out to the farm and I’d get to pick the produce that was ready. So I was getting my hands dirty.

It just really felt like connecting me to my food more. And forcing me to… instead of making a list of recipes and then going grocery shopping it was forcing me to say, “Okay. This is what I have. What can I make?”

It definitely opened my eyes to different varieties of things. I tried new things. Like kohlrabi was something that I would have never bought at the store but because it was there I tried it. And you learn about it and while sometimes at first you don’t like it. You can try it a different way and prepare it a different way. I think it’s a lot of fun.

In fact in the early days I would come back from the CSA and photograph everything. And I’d say, “This is what I got from the CSA this week.” And then the recipes would be based on that. That’s when my blog really turned seasonal.

On Essential Pantry Items for a Healthier Diet:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about essential pantry items for a healthy diet.

I always say that people need a couple, two to three, different kinds of grains. If you’re a grain-eater. Obviously I know there are some diets out there that people don’t eat grains. But for my purpose I’m going to say a few grains. Quinoa’s always a nice one to have because it’s quick-cooking. I love brown rice. That’s a good base for things. I usually have some millet and oats on hand.

And then you need some legumes. I love black beans, chickpeas and lentils. I usually have one of each of those. When I say pantry-inspired, those are really the items that I’m thinking of.

On Her Cookbooks, The Homemade Flour Cookbook and The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her cookbooks.

The first one the publisher actually reached out to me and said, “Hey, we think that you would be a really good fit for this concept we have. Would it be something you’re interested in?” At first I’m, “Oh my gosh!” I’ve talked about milling flour. I had a lot of grains but I’ve never really put the two together. The more I thought about it, I was like, “No, this is a really good extension of my brand because a lot of times these are the ingredients I have in my house anyway. So what a cool way to show a second use for them.” So that concept was interesting for me.

Then the second book was an idea that I had been playing around with for a while. Because it kind of goes back to that seasonal, “I have these things, what can I do with them?” And so for The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen, it’s 50 base recipes that you can build upon with whatever you have. And so I keep it really open-ended but I do give some examples of what to do per season.

On Being in the Kitchen as a New Parent:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about getting back into the kitchen as a new parent.

I don’t blog full-time. I have never actually blogged full-time. Naturally Ella has always been my secondary thing that I do and I’ve kept up.

But as of January it’s going to be my full-time because with having Mack around I’ve found that I can’t continue to do about three different jobs. So I’m going to focus solely on the blog. I have been spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen. Primarily during nap times and on weekends when my husband’s home.

But he actually loves being in the kitchen. I put him in the bouncer and I set him up on the kitchen island. And he loves to watch and really enjoys just being there. So that’s nice. It’s been very helpful.

My husband and I’ll even put food up to his nose and say, “Hey, this is mint.” And there was one time that he accidentally got parsley in his mouth and that was a really funny experience. Because he was, “Wait a minute, what is this?” We’re really looking forward to when we can start solid foods and have him experience all of that.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

We don’t have cable. We only have antennae. AI still watch shows like MasterChef. I love Junior MasterChef just because I love seeing the eight-year-olds and the 10-year-olds just get in the kitchen. I think it’s really inspiring for kids to see other kids be in the kitchen. And hopefully grow a generation that’s used to cooking.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I love blogs. I’ve met a lot of friends through blogging. But the blogs I’m loving right now, who are doing some really creative vegetarian cooking, are, The First Mess, With Food + Love, Cookie and Kate, Love and Lemons. I’m sure there’s about a dozen more I could name, but those are the four that I really love.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

So on Instagram, I love following The Fauxmartha. She has a two-year-old at home who sometimes you see little hands in her shots. And I just love that.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I have a giant stoneware bowl that is made from a company where I used to live. And it’s a pottery place that’s no longer in business. I just love it. Because I feel like you can’t buy bowls like that anymore.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Oh. So many. I’m going to have to say goat cheese. For the longest time I was scared of any cheese that was white because I thought it was goat cheese. But now I love it.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

First and foremost, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible is pretty much how I develop recipes. It’s so great because you can look up an ingredient and get other ingredients. And I love both of The Sprouted Kitchen’s cookbooks. There’s a new cookbook out called, Rose Water and Orange Blossom. That’s a Mediterranean/Lebanese cookbook and it’s just wonderful.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Yo-Yo Ma did a collaboration with a few bluegrass artists. And it’s called, The Goat Rodeo Sessions and it’s my favorite one especially this time of year. It gets me in the mood to get in the kitchen and cook.

On Keeping Posted with Erin:

Erin Alderson of Naturally Ella on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.

Instagram. I am all about Instagram these days.

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Cookbook Author, Cookie and Kate, CSA, Erin Alderson, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Healthy Eating, How to Cook Everything, Love and Lemons, Mark Bittman, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, Michael Pollan, Mom, Naturally Ella, Parent, Plant-based, Rose Water and Orange Blossom, The Easy Vegetarian Kitchen, The Fauxmartha, The First Mess, The Homemade Flour Cookbook, The Sprouted Kitchen, The Vegetarian Flavor Bible, Vegetarian, With Food and Love, Yo-Yo Ma

092: Emma Galloway: Learning to Cook with Food Intolerances

November 18, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast
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Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about learning to cook with food intolerances.

My Darling Lemon Thyme

Emm went to culinary school and worked as a chef for almost eight years in restaurants, the pastry section of cafes, and catering companies in Australia and New Zealand. She left when she became a parent and discovered that not only do her children suffer from gluten and lactose intolerance, but so does she. Emm started her blog in 2010 to share gluten-free vegetarian real food recipes, and stories and tips on organic gardening. Since then, she has written a book, My Darling Lemon Thyme – Recipes from My Real Food Kitchen, and her blog was the 2014 Saveur Blog Awards Winner for Best Original Recipes Blog.

I’m so excited to have Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme here with me today.

(*All photos below are Emm’s.)

On Her Interest in Cooking:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her interest in cooking.

I grew up on quite a large property, where my parents grew heaps of vegetables and fruit that we had. And being vegetarian, my mom used to put a lot of time and effort into preparing most of what we had from scratch. So it was part of who we are, and my family, I mean, we’re all into cooking, and from a very young age, I knew that I wanted to be a chef. So, even though a few people told me not to, because that’s a pretty crazy profession, long hours and stuff, I didn’t listen and I just followed my heart and did what I wanted to do.

On Working in Restaurants, Cafes, and Catering:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about working in restaurants, cafes and catering.

My preference was working in smaller cafes, so that’s where I worked in New Zealand, mostly it was smaller cafes. Smaller cafes, you generally have only a couple of you in the kitchen, so you’re basically covering all bases yourself, you’re doing everything. Sometimes, even doing the dishes as well, which is actually how I started off in the industry. Restaurants tend to be divided into sections, so you’re only in charge of the one section. And catering companies are quite similar. So I was in charge of the pastry section when I worked for two catering companies in Sydney years ago.

They all have their challenges. It’s a pretty high stress environment, working in the kitchen. Especially when, like I said, if you’re working in a cafe, where there’s only one or two of you in the kitchen and you’re doing two, three hundred covers a day, it’s a lot of work and a lot of stress and a lot of running around. So, yeah, they’re all pretty high stressed.

I think cafes in the winter time generally are nice and calm and that’s when you have your time to play and be a little bit more relaxed. I don’t know if it’s the same in the States, but in New Zealand in summertime, if you work in a cafe, it’s extremely busy, especially if you’re in a cafe anywhere near the ocean, which is where I used to work. People are always going to the beach in the summer and then they’re wanting to go and eat, so it’s pretty busy.

On Starting Her Blog:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about starting her food blog.

When I left the kitchen when my daughter was born, I didn’t even know what a food blog was. We’re a little bit behind in New Zealand and Australia. Five years ago when I started my food blog, there was probably only two of my friends that had ever heard of a food blog before. Even though, I mean, there’s people like Heidi Swanson in the States, who have been blogging for well over 10 years. We’re a little bit behind here, so I had no idea when I left the kitchen at all. And it was actually from finding Heidi Swanson’s cookbook in the library and then getting onto her food blog that I even discovered what food blogs were. So that was only five years ago.

For years I’ve always recorded recipes. If I find a great recipe in a magazine, I was always the crazy person who would be frantically writing out recipes and trying new things. And after I got onto food blogs, I thought, “Well, I’m at home.” Just looking after my kids, my kids were four and two at the time when I started it, so I wasn’t working professionally. And then I missed that creative side of cooking, where you can just experiment. So, at the start I had no clue of what I was doing, didn’t really know how to take photos, but just started.

On Recognizing Her and Her Children’s Food Intolerances:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about recognizing her children's food intolerances.

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had basically just a sore tummy the entire pregnancy. I just thought that’s just what happens when you’re pregnant. Being my first pregnancy, I had nothing to compare it too. And then when my daughter came along, she was extremely upset 24/7, wouldn’t sleep and was just in a lot of pain, basically. And so, my midwife at the time suggested that maybe I try cutting out some of the foods in my diet that might be affecting her through my breast milk. So, that’s when I cut out gluten and dairy, but I’d always been interested in alternative food. Being vegetarian, I’d always look to vegan foods and loved seeing how people get creative with vegan food, but the whole gluten-free thing was quite a challenge at the start.

I didn’t really know what I was doing and I don’t think I was 100% gluten-free, because I hadn’t figured out that it’s in basically everything at this stage. So, when my son came along two years later, and showed a lot of the same symptoms as my daughter had, I got quite serious and went and got us allergy tested. That’s when it showed up that we can’t handle any gluten. We can handle small amounts of dairy, and more so as the kids have gotten older, but yeah, gluten is not our friend.

On Tackling a New Approach to Cooking and Food (with Food Intolerances):

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about approaching cooking with food intolerances.

I think the easiest way to approach it, is to focus on what you can eat, rather than being all upset that you can’t eat that donut in the store. Although, there are a lot of gluten-free donuts and things around these days, but I think focusing more on what you can eat, and naturally gluten-free and dairy-free things.

I’m very lucky in that my husband is Vietnamese, and so, all of our night-time meals are based mostly around rice, which is gluten-free and dairy-free. So I find that eating a more Asian-inspired diet or a Mexican diet, where the core ingredients are naturally gluten-free is usually the easier way to go to begin with, until you get your head around working with different gluten-free flours and dairy-free alternatives.

I’ve never really used the pre-packet gluten-free flour mixers, I prefer to just use my own individual flours. I think, when you’re first starting out, by all means, if you’re overwhelmed by gluten-free, then going that way is totally acceptable. You’ll probably get to a certain point where you would love more flexibility to add different flavors or different nutritional qualities to what you’re making. So that’s when you can use your own flours, but it’s totally acceptable at the start. When it all feels too much, I just think, do whatever you can do to make it easier for yourself.

On Some Good Resources to Learn More About Gluten-Free Cooking:

The main one that I have used over the years is glutenfreegirl.com. Shauna’s recipes are extremely well-tested. I guess with her teacher background, she’s extremely good at explaining everything, and why she uses certain flours, and for all the basic things that you’re missing, like pizza and bread and all those things. She has brilliant recipes on her site and in all of her books as well.

On Her Book, “My Darling Lemon Thyme – Recipes from My Real Food Kitchen”:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her book.

After a couple of years of blogging, I pretty much had made up my mind that I wanted to try and get published. Over the years, there were a lot of recipes I had been holding back from putting on the blog, because I thought they’re too good to share in this capacity and I wanted to save them for a book.

And so, I spent about a year trying to approach publishers and see if they were interested. And I got turned down by every single one. Basically, at that stage, this was probably going back at least three or more years, probably four years nearly even. At that stage, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian food was a little bit too specialized for most publishers, so they turned me down saying, “It’s just all too hard.” And basically, I was in talks with one publisher in New Zealand at the time, who said, “We’ll publish a gluten-free baking book if you’re interested in that.” But that’s not really what I wanted to do for my first book.

And so, I was extremely lucky when I was nearly giving up hope, Harper Collins, New Zealand, who I hadn’t approached, because you had to have an agent to approach them and I didn’t have one at that stage, they actually approached me from seeing my blog. So it all worked out well in the end – very, very happy and thankful.

The book is filled with a hundred of my favorite recipes. Most of the recipes in there are recipes that I have been making for a long, long time. Some are inspired by recipes my mum made when I was little and I’ve adapted them to be gluten-free. And there’s a lot of base recipes, which is what I wanted my first book to be, so that anyone can pick this up, that’s new to gluten-free, and it covers all the bases.

There are numerous breakfasts to choose from. There’s pizza. There’s a homemade sourdough. There’s how to make your own yogurt from scratch. Tomato sauces, everything like that. The whole book is vegetarian and gluten-free, and then most of the recipes are dairy-free also. There are little bits of yogurt and butter, which is what my body tolerates, so that’s in there.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I do watch MasterChef.

There are a lot of professional chefs that think cooking shows like that are just slightly embarrassing, but there’s a lot of talented people that go on MasterChef. Some of the dishes they make a lot of professional chefs would struggle to make. So, I quite like it.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I’m terrible, I don’t actually read heaps of food blogs. So, 101 Cookbooks is the number one, I don’t think I’ve ever missed a post of hers in the five/six years that I’ve been reading it. I love The Vanilla Bean Blog, Oh, Ladycakes, The First Mess and With Food and Love. All of those blogs, they make food that I want to eat, even if I can’t, like The Vanilla Bean Blog, my friend Sarah writes it. Most of it I wouldn’t even be able to eat, because it’s not gluten-free, but I just love looking at her gorgeous photos.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook or Snapchat that make you happy?

Green Kitchen Stories Instagram’s feed is amazing, absolutely amazing. Tara O’Brady, Seven Spoons. Luisa Brimble, Australian food and lifestyle photographer, her stuff is always amazing, and both on Pinterest and Instagram, she has amazing stuff on there. And Sarah Kieffer as well, from The Vanilla Bean Blog, her Instagram and her Pinterest even more so, it’s just amazing.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

That would probably have to be all the vintage props that I’ve acquired over the years. I have a wee thing for bowls and plates and glass jars.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Mushrooms. That would probably be one of the vegetables I didn’t like as a kid, but now I can’t get enough of them.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I love, I’m not sure if it’s available in the U.S., but it’s called Vegies, by an Australian chef called Simon Bryant, that’s one of my favorites. Heidi Swanson’s book, Super Natural Every Day is another favorite, and Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry is another good one. I have so many cookbooks it’s hard to choose. I have stacks of them all around my house.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Anything reggae. So, I really love listening to Burning Spear, any of his albums when I’m cooking, it just makes me happy.

On Keeping Posted with Emm:

Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.

Instagram is a daily update, so probably Instagram. On Facebook as well, but yeah, Instagram is probably the best one.

 

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: 101 Cookbooks, 2014 Saveur Blog Awards, 2014 Saveur Blog Awards Winner for Best Original Recipes Blog, Afro-Vegan, Bryant Terry, Burning Spear, Cookbook Author, Dairy-Free, Emma Galloway, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Gluten-Free, GlutenFreeGirl.com, Green Kitchen Stories, Heidi Swanson, Luisa Brimble, MasterChef, My Darling Lemon Thyme, My Darling Lemon Thyme - Recipes from My Real Food Kitchen, Oh Ladycakes, Sarah Kieffer, Seven Spoons, Simon Bryant, Super Natural Every Day, The First Mess, The Vanilla Bean Blog, Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegies, With Food and Love

076: Rakhee Yadav: Discovering a Passion for Food

September 14, 2015 by Gabriel 4 Comments

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast
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Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about discovering her passion for food.

Boxofspice

Rakhee is from India and lives in Holland and her life’s goal is to be more adventurous in trying new foods. On her blog, Boxofspice, Rakhee incorporates Indian spices in many of her recipes and shares her food creations as she navigates through her relatively new passion of food.

I’m so happy to have Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice here on the show today.

(*All images below are Rakhee’s.)

On Her View of Food:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her view on food.

I grew up in India as you know and I wasn’t really encouraged to be in the kitchen or to cook. Because India is such a different culture, mostly in the middle class, which is how we were, food is cooked by someone else. A cook will come in, we had a lot of help and my mum was particularly finicky about her space. So I was not ever allowed in, so I think food for me was something that mum did.

We ate really only Indian food, and I’m a vegetarian and I was an extremely finicky eater. So there wasn’t a wide variety of food. I always said growing up that for me food was about surviving. I didn’t really enjoy food that much. I was sick a lot, it was just bland food.

It was really in my 20s that I began to somewhat experiment, and by experimenting I mean a little more spice in my food. I would not say no to everything. So food, yeah, food was not on my radar of fun things.

I was sick a lot, so I had a lot of tummy problems. I was not allowed to eat a lot of spices. So food was not an adventure, it was just something I ate to stay alive. That’s really how . . . it sounds very dramatic but that’s how I felt.

I think most bloggers would say that they love to cook or food was very interesting to them, therefore they began the blog. For me it was quite the opposite. I think it was because of the blog that I discovered that I could cook and not just that I could cook, but I did a pretty decent job of it. There were happy faces all around and that’s a big gratification factor I think for any cook, is to see the joy on someone’s face when they’re eating your food.

I never thought I could cook. I always thought I was a bad cook in fact, so for me to suddenly discover, and that’s what’s so funny about life, where it takes you … Boxofspice made me get out there and try new things and experiment with food and that’s how I realized I can cook.

On How She Learned to Cook:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how she learned to cook.

When I moved away from India I was forced to cook. I lived in the US for a few years and suddenly there was no one, there was no back up, and even in the US again, it was very functional. Food was functional, but I realized that I had absorbed a lot of what my mother did for me, or made for me, and that’s really the basis of where it all began.

The rest is research, research, research, and recently I have decided to take the blog in a slightly different direction to where it is now. I want to explore the Indian aspect because Indian food is so varied. I have not even scratched the surface. So yeah, it’s research. It started from a base point and then building on that, from blogs, from cookbooks, from every source that I can find.

On India and Holland Influencing Her Cooking:

I grew up only eating Indian food. I mean literally. I think the first foreign food that I tried was pasta, and that was when I was 29. So I grew up purely on Indian food and really I did not want to try anything because Indian food is so vast.

Again, I was not experimenting at all with food at that time. I think the challenge in Holland is that I don’t get all the ingredients here, so the challenge is how to turn an Indian dish into an Indian dish, but with a limitation of ingredients. That’s where the Dutch aspect comes in. I have never heard of kale before I came here. So those kinds of things, like using kale instead of something else that was Indian. That is the kind of fusion that comes about in my food now, which is out of necessity and not really because I want to do fusion but because I have to.

On How Food is Enjoyed and Shared in India Compared to Holland:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how food is enjoyed and shared in India and Holland.

I think everything that happens in India happens around food. We live in large families in India. You’re never really alone in India, and everything revolves around food, whether it’s tea time or lunch time or dinner time, and we as opposed to Holland, we eat three warm meals in India.

The women usually are always in the kitchen cooking and it’s always fresh meals. You will never have leftovers and stuff like that but in Holland again, it’s functional, breakfast is bread, lunch is bread. So it’s slapped on cheese and bread is put together just because it needs to be done, it’s lunch, done. And dinner really is the time when the family will come together. That is not the way in India. India is really . . . and when you see a table, even if it’s a regular meal in India, you will have four or five things to eat. It’s a lavish spread but in Holland again, not the case.

Dutch meals revolve around meat and since I’m vegetarian, that obviously cannot happen. And the minute you take the meat out, all you are left with is mashed potatoes and boiled vegetables. So there’s very little spices involved in Dutch food, and for me, my food has to be pretty. Being a picky eater I needed my food at least to be pretty, and I think that’s what I try and achieve with my photography for the blog.

On Her Blog:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her blog.

I think three years ago, that’s how nearly old it is, I had a ridiculous amount of time on my hands then. I’m trained as a graphic designer and I’m used to crazy hours and working really like crazy, and suddenly I was at a creative dead end, so to say. Again, food was not really that important to me then but design and photography are my life. So for me, I think the food kind of brought it all together, and why a food blog you might say? I think even at that point food was not really the deciding factor. I wanted to see if I could do food photography. So food was kind of by the way. It is only in the course of these three years that food has become  . . . it really is an obsession at this moment and photography as important as it is has taken somewhat of a back seat.

Food I feel is not so different than photography because both are . . . I think it’s a lifelong process of learning, and I love the fact that I don’t know it all. I love the fact that I have so much to learn and the excitement and the adventure in finding out. I think that’s what keeps me going with the blog.

Sometimes I look at an ingredient in the supermarket which is seasonal and I may say, “Hey, that looks interesting. I have never used that before, I wonder how I can use it.” I will then go back to my computer and research how many possible ways I can use that particular ingredient, which will be the star of the dish. I’m extremely close to my mother and she was a brilliant cook. So I want to revive the dishes that she used to make. With the ingredients that are available to me here I want to see how I can do that or change it around a little bit so that it becomes mine.

On Becoming More Adventurous with Food:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about being more adventurous with food.

I would still say I’m far from adventurous. I’m trying very hard and when it comes to trying anything vegetarian or even vegan I will try it absolutely. In the past it would have been a big no, but what I’m trying now is that even with meats I at least try it. I think that is something that is developed because of my daughter. Because that’s what I tell her. “At least try it.” If you hate it, we’ll put it aside, we’ll come back to it maybe a year later. I want to practice what I preach, so I do try but I’m definitely not there yet.

I have bad associations with meat, but I do eat chicken only if I make it at home. So yeah, it’s still a process. It’s baby steps.

I think in India we are kind of rice snobs, that’s what they call us. I would not eat any other rice but basmati rice. That’s a long grain, it really is fluffy when it’s ready and it’s just as beautiful rice. Risotto to me was just like . . . I looked at it and I was like “what is this rice?” It looks like it’s bad quality rice, but obviously that’s not true. And when I tried it, it’s one of my favorite dishes today.

How to Start Becoming More Adventurous with Food:

I think the people who are finicky are scared and I am scared and I think the biggest thing is to face your fear. It really is not that bad. I’ll give you an example. I recently tried cold cuts. For years I have looked at cold cuts and I thought I don’t understand what the deal is. It doesn’t look appetizing, but when I tried it, because this friend of mine said “try it for God’s sake, you may surprise yourself,” and I did and I have to tell you Gabriel, I was shocked because it was good.

So just go out on a limb and just put it in your mouth. What’s the worst that can happen? You hate it, or you spit it out, that’s really the worst that can happen.

And you never have to try it again. I can assure you that most often, at least in my case, I have tried it again, I want to try it again and it leads to other things.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I like to watch MasterChef just because I’m completely in awe of how the people are just able to make stuff out of nothing because that’s not my process. I think I would suck at that. So I love watching that, people who are so creative and just so brilliant. So yeah, I think that’s one show and I do like to watch Jamie Oliver Quick Meals.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

I did just stumble upon a new blog recently, it’s called Oatgasm. It has the most beautiful photography, and the writing is just poetic, and she is just 17. You have to look at this website.

And of course there is Linda Lomelino. She’s a hero for any baker out there. So she influences me a lot in terms of the kinds of things she puts together, the pairings and also the photography. And there’s one more – Smitten Kitchen. I admire her immensely because for her it’s not only about the photographs at all, it’s just the recipe and that’s just fantastic.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

I’m not a big social media person. I think I just got on Instagram a couple of months ago. I follow a few people but I don’t really watch out for any particular ones. I’m just drawn by a particular style of photography and I do that every day. So I look out for new people every day and I think because I’m so new to Instagram, I’m following new people every day. I don’t have anyone specific.

On Facebook I have a few like Will Frolic For Food, Our Food Stories. I think food blogs that are so organic, the ingredients are so beautiful, and the way they put it together is so beautiful. It’s not contrived, it all seems so natural. I like that about them.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I think it’s my handheld mixer. I refuse to buy a kitchen machine. I do every possible thing with that hand mixture. I go through them pretty fast, I have a new one every few months.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

Maybe it’s not an ingredient but a vegetable. I used to hate spinach, I’d refuse to eat spinach and I love it now.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

I don’t really read cookbooks. That may sound really odd, but I think most of my stuff comes from talking to my mother or online food blogs.

Every week I say I’m going to go out and buy a cookbook because I see a lot of the blogs doing that, and I know I can learn a lot but I just . . . remember Gabriel, this is very still new to me, so I’m still in the process of trying everything.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

It would of course be John Mayer’s newest album, Paradise Valley. I love every song on that album. I just want to have a glass of wine in my hand and be cooking away.

On Keeping Posted with Rakhee:

Rakhee Yadav of Boxofspice on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.

I think the best way is Facebook or Instagram. I’m also on Pinterest. I’m not that active. I’m trying to be. It’s just an effort for me, but the best way really is Facebook and Instagram.

 

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Adventure eating, Boxofspice, Designer, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Holland, India, Indian Food, Jamie Oliver Quick Meals, John Mayer, Linda Lomelino, MasterChef, Oatgasm, Our Food Stories, Paradise Valley, Photographer, Rakhee Yadav, Smitten Kitchen, Will Frolic for Food

059: Samantha Ferraro: How Her Diverse Background Influences Her Food

July 15, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast on how her family background influences the food she enjoys.
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Samantha Ferraro of The Little Ferraro Kitchen on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how her diverse background influences the foods she enjoys.

The Little Ferraro Kitchen

Samantha has a very diverse background. She’s a Brooklyn native, lived in Hawaii for 10 years, is a current California resident, she’s Jewish, and one of her favorite cuisines is Italian. All of this influences the foods she enjoys and shares on her blog, The Little Ferraro Kitchen.

I’m so thrilled to have Samantha Ferraro of The Little Ferraro Kitchen here on the show today.

(*All images below are Samantha’s.)

On How Her Family Background Influenced the Foods She Enjoys:

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast on how her family background influences the food she enjoys.

I grew up as a Jewish girl in Brooklyn, which is very common, but the funny thing about me is I come from a Jewish background that has both Sephardic and Ashkenazi backgrounds, and there’s a difference just in culture.

So my father’s side is Ashkenazi, which means they come from Eastern Europe, so a lot of the foods that I grew up with on my father’s side was like, matzo ball soup, briskets, really kind of stick to your ribs foods, comfort foods. And then my mom is part Turkish, and actually the ancestry comes from Spain, during the Spanish Inquisition they went from Spain to Turkey. So, a lot of the foods I grew up with on my mom’s side was maybe stuffed grape leaves, lots of things with saffron, and olive oil, and lemons. I grew up with something called fasolia, which is a green bean and tomato stew, so a lot of those foods I grew up with, so I kind of incorporate everything as an adult now.

On How Where She’s Lived has Influenced the Foods She Enjoys:

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how where she lives influences the foods she makes.

You have this Jewish girl from a big city, and then my mom and I decide, “Oh, let’s move to Hawaii, why not?” So when I was 14, we moved to Hawaii, not knowing anything, and I still had a thick Brooklyn accent. Nobody really knew probably what brisket was. But we just did it, and we embraced it, and what I learned living in Hawaii is the simplicity of food, the beautiful fruits and vegetables, and farmers thanking you with a bag of lettuce, or growing their own avocados. It’s just such a beautiful place, and the Aloha spirit is so true and alive. It’s just so honest, and it’s just such a beautiful place. I’m so happy that I lived there and experienced it.

(Today) I’m a five hour flight from New York and a five hour flight from Hawaii, so I have the best of both worlds, because California is kind of, you know, I live in a small beach town but if I want to go to a big city, I can have that, too. There’s a lot of people that I actually went to high school with in Hawaii that now live in California, and vice versa. People from here move to Hawaii, so, I’m so blessed to be able to go to both places and have an excuse, like, “Oh, I have family in Hawaii,” or, “I have family in New York.”

I live in Southern California, and we have such an awesome food mecca. When I moved here, I had never gone into a Mexican mercado before, a Mexican market. And when I moved here, you know, it was just so amazing that there’s such a huge Mexican culture here. And there’s different Asian markets here. There’s Vietnamese and Thai and Japanese. There’s a Jewish area in LA that I can go to if I really want good challah bread. It’s just such an awesome area. I went to Little Saigon, which is just 10 minutes away from me. I just live in a really cool area.

On a Food that Surprised Her:

I would have to say, living in Hawaii, I didn’t think I would try a lot of things that I did in Hawaii. For example, taro root, or poi, is this really, like, pounded until it’s kind of like gelatinous, kinda, and it doesn’t taste very good, but when paired with a salty lomi salmon, or pork, it’s actually delicious. And there are also some similarities, so, for example, lomi salmon you would find at a luau in Hawaii, which is diced up, cured salmon with tomatoes, which is very similar to a bagel and lox, like that cured salmon. So I saw some similarities there, but I mean, honestly, just the fruits that are grown there are just, nothing like it. Nothing like a mango from Hawaii.

On Foods That She Misses:

I miss New York bagels. When my cousin actually moved here, from New York to here, and I see him often, and whenever he goes back to visit my aunt and uncle, I’m like, “Can you please bring back bagels?” I mean, if you’ve ever had a New York bagel, there’s nothing like it, and they say that it’s because of the water, you know, that East Coast New York water. That’s the excuse. Nothing like it, so he always brings back bagels.

Another thing from Hawaii that I love is something called lilikoi, which is passionfruit. Lilikoi is the Hawaiian name for it, and it grows just everywhere. My mom has a lilikoi tree, and one time my mom sent me a box of lilikoi. She just took this mailing box and stuffed it. It must have been like 10 pounds of lilikoi. And you can’t ship things from Hawaii to . . . like you just can’t do it, it’s agriculture, you can’t do it. And one time it came through and I was like, “Oh my gosh! This is awesome!” The next time it came through, I got an empty box with a nasty letter from Agriculture saying, “Don’t do that!” Such a gorgeous flavor, it really is.

On Her Passion for Cooking:

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her passion for cooking.

You know, to be honest, I knew I liked food when I was little. My mom cooked, my grandmother cooked, but I was never mature enough to really ask them about it, or, you know, be mature enough to learn from it. So, it wasn’t until I got older and I was experiencing foods and traveling that really inspired me, and I just wanted a challenge. I love challenging myself in the kitchen. I’ll jump in and make a ramen dish that I’ve never made before, or a soufflé I’ve never done. I think it’s so fun to do that.

My mom cooked all the time when I was little, now she asks me recipe questions. But now that I’m older, I realize that I wish I took notes from my grandmother on my father’s side, I really do. For example, I remember her making a Jewish cookie called rugelach, and I remember it vividly when I was little. You know, she passed away since, but now that I’m older I make my own rugelach, and I think about her, like, “Oh, you know, this is what she would do.” So I think memories inspire me.

On Starting Her Blog:

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast talking about starting her blog.

I was going through a transition, I was changing majors in college, I was kind of confused, I didn’t really know what to do. But my outlet was cooking, that was what my outlet was. I loved it, I mean, it was a stress reliever for me, it was exciting, it was challenging, it was beautiful.

So, I was reading blogs, and I thought, “I can do that!” So, I kinda did. I’m spontaneous, so I said, “Oh, why not?” I just jumped in, and I said, “Oh, let’s see how long this goes.” I was enjoying the challenge, and I was enjoying learning, so I was learning, too, and it was fun, so I just kept doing it. Three years later, here I am.

On Her Culinary Bucket List:

I have a bucket list on my blog that I need to update. I’ve actually crossed off a few that I haven’t put on the blog yet. But, to be honest, the cuisine I’m least familiar with is Asian cuisine, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai. I’m least familiar with that and that is something I would love to learn.

I have the Momofuku cookbook, and I really want to do his ramen broth. I think that it’s a 48 hour broth and you reduce and add, and I just think that’s so awesome. I really, really want to do that.

I made pad thai once, and that came out horrible. So, I want to do that. It’s just a simple dish, but the flavor combination of that sour and sweet, it’s gorgeous. I really want to conquer that.

Cannolis, I’ve done cannolis once. It was okay. I want to give it another shot. Again, here I am, all different cultures.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I’ve been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain shows, like No Reservations. He has a few of them that are very similar to each other, love him.

I like some of Gordon Ramsay’s shows, like Master Chef, it’s fun and kind of creative what they do.

I love Ina Garten’s show, Barefoot Contessa. It’s really simple and clean, and to the point, I really like that.

And sometimes I watch Julia Child on YouTube.

What are some food blogs or food websites we have to know about?

So, well you’ve already talked to Amy. I love her blog What Jew Wanna Eat. She’s awesome, she does all these creative, fun Jewish recipes. Rainbow challah, like what? She has fun with it, and she’s fearless and I respect that.

I think she mentioned another one that I read, one of the first blogs was, she’s formerly known as the Shiksa in the Kitchen, but her name is Tori Avey. She’s really fascinating because she’s a convert to Judaism, and she loves history, so she does a lot of Jewish history and Jewish food, and that’s really fascinating.

One of the first blogs I also read was called Pass the Sushi. She is really interesting, she’s really creative, she designed my blog, and she’s a gorgeous photographer, food and outside of food.

I have a personal friend as well, it’s called Pineapple and Coconut, and her and I have a Hawaii connection. She loves all things Hawaii, so she does a lot of Hawaiian food, Kalua pig, or pineapple this, or coconut that.

Another good resource is called Just One Cookbook. She does a lot of Japanese food, and one time when I was going to a Japanese store, I was messaging her like, “Oh, should I get this?” She’s helped, guiding me, and she’s just awesome, just a wonderful resource for Japanese food.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook that make you happy?

I love dogs, so on Instagram I follow The Dogist, ’cause dogs make me happy and it’s all dog pictures and I love that, it’s awesome.

I follow WhatJewWannaEat on Instagram, ’cause I love her bagel lox photos, it makes me hungry.

TrumericandSaffron has an Instagram and a Facebook, and I think she’s a really great resource for Middle Eastern food, Persian food.

Can I do a YouTube one? I just started watching, it’s called Sweets and Beyond. And she does a lot of Puerto Rican food, which is fabulous, ’cause I’m not too familiar with that food, so I started watching her and that’s really cool.

What is the most unusual or treasured item in your kitchen?

I don’t know if it’s unusual to other people, or maybe not to me, but I have anchovies. Is that unusual? I always have anchovies on hand. When I was trying to learn about Korean food, a friend of mine gave me, I don’t know what it’s called but it’s like that red pepper that makes kimchi. (Gochugaru)

It’s a powder, and I guess you add it to your seasonings and it makes it spicy and red, and it’s a gorgeous color.

I have kind of random ingredients. Fish sauce, different kinds of fish sauces.

Name one ingredient you used to dislike but now you love.

I would have to say anchovies again. It was horrible, but now, I don’t eat it by itself, but I’ll add it to things, like to sauces.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

Well, like I said, The Art of French Cooking, that has just opened my mind, my taste buds, everything. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s old school, it’s to the point, it’s well written. That one is wonderful.

I also just recently got a cookbook called Jerusalem, which has become a very popular cookbook. But just gorgeous, inspiring Middle Eastern flavors, bright flavors, and just gorgeous photography. Those are probably two of my favorite books.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

I’m very diverse with my music tastes, I’ll listen to like Rolling Stones, or Bob Marley, or like Beastie Boys. I was in a Beastie Boys, Run DMC mood. Some kind of like hip-hop, like, get you going.

On Keeping Posted with Samantha:

Samantha Ferraro on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.

I’m on Facebook as the Little Ferraro Kitchen, and I absolutely love Instagram, as FerraroKitchen. You can find some behind the scenes, some things I put on the blog, other things I’m eating that I want to share.

 

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Anthony Bourdain, Ashkenazi, Barefoot Contessa, Beastie Boys, Bob Marley, Brooklyn, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Gordon Ramsay, Hawaii, Hawaiian Food, Ina Garten, Jerusalem, Jewish Food, Julia Child, Just One Cookbook, MasterChef, Momofuku, No Reservations, Pass the Sushi, Pineapple and Coconut, Rolling Stones, Run DMC, Samantha Ferraro, Sephardic, Sweets and Beyond, The Art of French Cooking, The Dogist, The Little Ferraro Kitchen, Tori Avey, What Jew Wanna Eat

029: Kristan Raines: Tips for Greater Baking Success

April 22, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about starting her food blog.
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Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast giving Tips for Greater Baking Success

The Broken Bread

The Broken Bread is where Kristan explores her creativity through cooking. It’s also where she shares her stories and the tales behind the dishes she makes. The Broken Bread was a 2014 finalist in Saveur’s Food Blog Awards for Best Baking and Desserts blog, and in 2015 is a finalist for Best-Designed Blog.

I’m so happy to have Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread, here on the show.

On Her Blog:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about starting her food blog.

I was eight or nine years old when I got my first Easy-Bake Oven. I just fell in love with baking. Even though it was just a little microwave, but it popped out a cake and I got to decorate it and I thought it was so much fun.

And then photography has always been my life. So I would say with those two components, it actually came together.

Three and a half years ago when my husband and I got married, we moved to Seattle. We didn’t really know anybody. It was this new environment for me to explore things I’ve always wanted to.

I made a few friends and they actually showed me for the first time cooking blogs. I really wasn’t familiar with them until about three and a half years ago. On these blogs, I would just see gorgeous pictures and recipes. Thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is what I want to do. I love baking. I love photography.” And then some of these stories would be so captivating and I could identify so much with that particular blog.

I would identify with what they were saying and I just thought, “John, this is what I want to do. Some of these women have cookbooks and they have these blogs that are actually generating some sort of income so that would be a dream.” So with that said, it was in Seattle when I first got there that I’m like, “Okay, I want to just explore this as a hobby.” It started as just a hobby.

I didn’t realize how much work would need to go into all this. I just thought food and pictures, this is great. But there are so many components that I was unaware of.

I would say baking of course comes the most natural to me because that is instinctively what I know and love to do. I would say that writing is probably the most difficult. My personality is very all over the place. I love activity and like going to the farmers’ market and cooking in the kitchen and making a mess. Sitting down and actually getting my words down collectively and organizing them, that probably takes the most time.

I think I’m also a very instant gratification type person so if I take a picture, I can see the image and I can correct it there. But writing takes a little more time and trying to get the emotion I want across is always and interesting struggle for me sometimes.

On Her Process for Getting Her Ideas onto Her Blog:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her process for getting her ideas onto her food blog.

Each recipe, I would test probably between two or three times, depends how many times it takes me to get it right. I also do a lot of research beforehand. I study the type of technique. I try to understand all components each time I make something. There is a lot of pre-prep and practice and research beforehand.

I wish I had an organized way of putting it all together. It’s just whatever I’m inspired by. My blog is seasonally based. I go to the farmers’ market and I see all these persimmons are in season and I just thought, “Okay, how can I use this in some kind of meal or baked good.” From there, something comes out. I wish I had a formula because I would pump out a lot more. But it just sort of feels right at the moment what comes to the blog.

Tips for People Wanting to Start Baking:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast giving tips for people who want to start baking.

Baking can definitely be overwhelming at times but I think pick something that you are really excited to make. I feel like from that point it will give you the motivation to nail it. But other than that, read the recipe. Read it four or five times, over and over so you have an idea of what’s going on because sometimes I’ve done this where I just start making it right away and I’m like, “Oh gosh, I forgot! This needs to be in room temperature,” or I kind of scramble.

I would say to make sure that you have all of your ingredients pre-measured, laid out on the table and maybe have an environment that’s not super distracting.

If you put too much of this and too much of that, that can sometimes end it something that doesn’t work out. Maybe it will taste great which is fine. As long as it tastes good, that’s the point. But just have everything organized and just take it slow. And if there is something in the recipe that you don’t know exactly what that means, just research it. It’s great with the Internet, you can actually pull up images to see what the texture will look like. So you feel like if you’re confident with that then it will lead to a successful baking adventure.

On Recipes Not Working Out:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about recipes not always working out.

So yeah, that happens. It can happen two ways for me.

Sometimes I won’t prepare ahead of time and I’ll forget something like sugar or the proper amount of lemon. It just doesn’t turn out right.

For a wedding for a friend last year, we were making pies and I made pastry cream a few times but I was in a kitchen at my mom’s house and two pies were baking and it’s like 98 degrees. I’m just stressed out making this. I’m like, “Okay, it’s done.” And I put it in the pie and I put all these berries on top of the pie and they just start sinking because it wasn’t set.

We walk outside because I’m like, “It will be fine.” Then the pie, you don’t even see any berries because they all sank to the bottom.

So I think it can be just bad preparation and just the process of experimenting, it’s not always going to be perfect.

On Baking for Beginners:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about baking for beginners.

I would recommend quick breads. That would be like cakes, cupcakes, scones, biscuits. You can find a lot of simple methods that are two bowl methods.

If you don’t even want to bring out your handheld mixer or your standing mixer, you just need your oil, your eggs and then all of your dry ingredients. I think those are really great to start because they are just simpler. I would say a pumpkin bread would be great. On my blog, I had this recipe for apple yogurt cake that I really love. And I find those to be pretty easy to figure out in terms of simplicity and accessibility.

The Pressure Cooker:

Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

I have to admit I haven’t had cable for 10 years. So it’s whatever I come across really intentionally.

The cooking show I’ve seen is MasterChef and MasterChef Junior. I really enjoyed those shows. I think they are really fun.

What are some food blogs or websites that we have to know about?

There are so, so many. I have a friend named Danielle she has Rustic. Joyful. Food. She is actually the first blogger I ever met face to face who had a food blog. So that was just an explosion of happiness for me. But she has a beautiful website that also is very much wholesome good meals, seasonally based, really beautiful pictures taken by her and her husband.

Another one would be Two Red Bowls. She, Cynthia, is really lovely. I actually got to meet her at the Saveur Awards and she is just lovely and her food photography is beautiful. Her food just always looks delicious. I think those are two fantastic blogs to visit absolutely.

Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter that make you happy?

I can probably only speak to Instagram the most. Tiffany Mitchell. She is from Offbeat and Inspired and I don’t know how she does it but every picture is just pure beauty on her Instagram page. You just look at it like, “I want to be there. I need to know where this place is. I need to order this exactly.” She has a really beautiful feed.

Then Adventures in Cooking. That’s the blog but it’s run by Eva. She has just this very moody beautiful gallery of images that make you feel so at peace and comfortable and inspired.

I mean those two girls just kill it.

What is something all home cooks should have in their pantry?

So basics. I think flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Just at any moments notice you can whip something together.

And spices, if you can have a few spices on hand, those are fantastic because you can always mix and make something taste almost brand new if you throw in a few fresh spices.

Name one ingredient you cannot live without.

It would probably be a jar of chili peppers. I eat chilis with everything. Little yellow or bright green chilis that I probably eat with almost every meal.

What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

One of the first cookbooks I bought when I moved up to Seattle was by Sur La Table and it was called The Art & Soul of Baking. I feel like that was really a profound book for me to have at the time because it is a wide range of recipes from quick breads to custards to pie crust.

If you want to bake, this is the book to go to. It also teaches you so much about the scientific components of what you’re making and how sugar works, and how lavender works. So it was teaching me how to become more confident as a baker.

You can’t just go in and be like, “Okay, I’ll just dump all these things in here and hope for the best.” It taught me the science of how to learn to do it on my own. That was a fantastic book.

Then What Katie Ate, her first cookbook that she released. That book for me visually was a huge inspiration as well as the recipes themselves. I just could sit in the corner and just flip through every single page and just fall in love with it.

So those two books fed me on two different levels but I love them both. Still do.

What song or album just makes you want to cook?

Is it funny that I say anything by Phil Collins?

Yeah, he’s wonderful. I just hear him and I’m like, “All right. What do you guys want?”

Just his voice. I don’t know. Whatever he’s in is just pure gold to me. I listen to him and it really puts me in a good mood.

Keep Posted on Kristan:

Kristan Raines of The Broken Bread on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted on her.

I would say head to the-broken-bread.com. On Instagram, The Broken Bread. It’s the best way to keep updated.

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    Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: 2014 Saveur Blog Awards, 2015 Saveur Blog Awards, Adventures in Cooking, Baking, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Kristan Raines, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior, Offbeat and Inspired, Phil Collins, Rustic. Joyful. Food, Sur La Table, The Art & Soul of Baking, The Broken Bread, Tiffany Mitchell, Two Red Bowls, What Katie Ate

    026: Becky Rosenthal: Inspiration from Her Grandmother’s Era

    April 15, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun.
    http://traffic.libsyn.com/thedinnerspecial/TDS026.mp3

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    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast on Inspiration from Her Grandmother

    Vintage Mixer

    On Vintage Mixer, Becky transports us back to her grandmother’s era. When folks cooked with fresh, local and seasonal ingredients and meaningful meals were shared around the table with good company. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and is deeply involved with the local food community there via her SLC Foodie website.

    I am so happy to have Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer here on the show.

    On Starting Her Blog:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about starting her food blog.

    I’ve been blogging since around 2008. Kind of a mixture of things. That’s the way I started it, too. I wanted to share some recipes. Some things around the house. Maybe some vintage clothing. It all boiled down to food in the end. It started as a conglomerate of lots of things. Inspired by my grandmother’s era of simple living.

    A simpler time of life.

    We’re bogged down by all of the technology. Connecting with social media, which I love. I think it also distracts us from relationships. I try to combine the two. Obviously I’m blogging. I’m online, but to put meaning back in that. To make it more relational. Like it was in that era.

    What comes the most naturally is probably coming up with ideas for the food. I always have a long list of different things I want to make.

    Writing can be natural for the most part. Writing the recipes can be difficult. Sometimes photographing. Depending on the time of day. That can be harder.

    On Her Interest in Cooking:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about her interest in cooking.

    Even as a child, I enjoyed playing around in the kitchen with my mom. Making cookies. Helping her flip the pancakes. Simple things like that. When I was in college, I was mentored by a lady who had her own fresh herb garden. I asked her to help me to learn a few more things.

    After college, I worked for a ski resort that focused on food, and all those things kind of come in together to enhance my love for food and cooking.

    Ruthie, my mentor in college. She cooked things really simply. Used fresh ingredients. I would say she was a big inspiration. More recently, online. People like Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks or even Gwyneth Paltrow of Goop. People like that who are sticking to simple eating with fresh healthy things.

    On Food Culture in Salt Lake City, Utah:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about the food culture in Salt Lake City, Utah.

    It’s actually really community driven. People are always helping each other. Wanting to see other people succeed. Although we’re seeing more and more great products come out of the city. It’s not competitive in the negative sense.

    A lot of local products and a lot of things that are back to the way things were done in grandmother’s era, like canning and old-fashioned cooking clubs, things like that, are popping up. Those are the things that have happened for a long time here in Utah. Now they’re becoming a little more popular again.

    Honey is one thing. We have a lot of high altitude locations where there’s beekeeping and honey farms.

    Cheese. We have several cheese makers that are highly valued around here. We have a salami maker called Creminelli who’s outstanding. He’s nationally known. We have a local hummus and Mediterranean spreads company called Laziz that we enjoy. Jams and things like that, as well. We have a lot of local products that are fun.

    On Places for Food Lovers in Salt Lake City:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about some places for food lovers in Salt Lake City, Utah.

    I would definitely say, sticking as close to downtown, the better. The suburbs around Salt Lake, you’re going to find all the regular chain restaurants. The closer you are to downtown, you’re going to find more diversity.

    If I’m answering just based on what I like, I would tell you you need to go to Finca. It’s a little Spanish tapas restaurant in downtown Salt Lake. Afterwards, you can go get churros next door.

    My husband and I own a little coffee shop called La Barba. We serve churros and chocolate. It’s right next to Finca. Biased, yes, but I would recommend that. Some other places. Pago. They serve seasonal fresh dishes. Copper Onion downtown has a famous burger. Then we have a lot of ethnic food that is really, really enjoyed around the city. Whether it’s Thai or Indian, we have our favorite places so…

    On Making Cooking More Fun:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to make cooking more fun.

    Turn on some music. Cook with people you enjoy.

    If you like cooking alone, just turn on some music. Keep it relaxed. Don’t try anything too difficult at first. Cook things you know that you’ll enjoy. If you’re trying something new, maybe have a back-up in the fridge. Just in case it doesn’t turn out.

    Don’t be too hard on yourself. Stick to the things you know you’ll enjoy.

    The Pressure Cooker:

    Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

    I only watch one and it’s MasterChef.

    What are some food blogs or websites that we have to know about?

    I have some friends here whose blogs I love. Completely Delicious and Two Peas & Their Pod. Also Foodie Crush and Mountain Mama Cooks. Nationally, I love 101 Cookbooks and I love Sprouted Kitchen, Goop. Blogs like that. That kind of have a similar feel to mine.

    Who do you follow on Pinterest, Instagram or Twitter that make you happy?

    Probably some of those same bloggers.

    Ones who give me inspiration. Who I feel like I can easily go home and make the same dishes that they’re making.

    What is something all home cooks should have in their pantry?

    A good supply of nuts, I would say. Nuts and dried fruit. Peanut butter or almond butter and honey.

    Name one ingredient you cannot live without.

    Maple syrup.

    Sometimes I will roast potatoes or squash with honey.

    I would say that and almond butter.

    What are a few cookbooks that make your life better?

    I like Heidi Swanson’s, Super Natural Every Day. The Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook. That was given to me by a friend. Vegetable Literacy. It was a good one. Bountiful, by a couple of popular bloggers. I like that one, too.

    Those are some of my favorites.

    What song or album just makes you want to cook?

    I always listen to Pandora. It kind of mixes up the genres but I might start with something like John Mayer. Something just easier to listen to. I know the words and songs.

    Loud Harp is a friend of ours. We enjoy his music.

    Keep Posted on Becky:

    Becky Rosenthal of Vintage Mixer on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how to keep posted with her.

    Definitely following just the two blogs. Specifically, Vintage Mixer, the one I keep updated the most. Others, I don’t keep them both updated as much as I would hope. Vintage Mixer and then on Instagram, also Vintage Mixer.

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      Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: 101 Cookbooks, Becky Rosenthal, Bountiful, Completely Delicious, Copper Onion, Creminelli, Finca, Food Blog, Food Blogger, Foodie Crush, Goop, Grandmother, Gwyneth Paltrow, Heidi Swanson, John Mayer, La Barba, Laziz, Loud Harp, MasterChef, Mountain Mama Cooks, Pago, Salt Lake City, SLC Foodie, Sprouted Kitchen, Super Natural Every Day, Two Peas & Their Pod, Utah, Vegetable Literacy, Vintage Mixer

      002: The Incredible Spice Men: How To Overcome The Fear Of Using Spices

      February 20, 2015 by Gabriel Leave a Comment

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about the idea behind The Incredible Spice Men.
      http://traffic.libsyn.com/thedinnerspecial/TDS002.mp3

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      Cyrus Todiwala and Tony Singh of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast on How To Overcome The Fear Of Using Spices

      The Incredible Spice Men

      I am so excited to have Cyrus Todiwala and Tony Singh, The Incredible Spice Men, here on the show today.

      Cyrus and Tony are award winning chefs and restaurateurs, stars of The Incredible Spice Men TV show, and authors of The Incredible Spice Men cookbook.

      That’s just naming a few of the things that they’re up to.

      They are truly incredible.

      On How They Met:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about how they met.

      Tony: It was 2000. I’d just won ITV Chef Of The Year and I’d heard about Cyrus doing amazing things with British produce and contemporary and traditional Indian food, and what I was doing up in Scotland was traditional Scottish food with an Indian twist. I came down and I met Cyrus and we’ve known each other ever since then. We were in the Academie Culinaire together, we’ve done Master Chef.

      We’ve come across each other in competitions and everything, so, since 2000.

      On The Idea Behind The Incredible Spice Men:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about the idea behind The Incredible Spice Men.

      Cyrus: I use a lot of British produce from different farmers dotted throughout the country and make Indian food with it. We did a program in the restaurant for a few weeks called The Twisted Brit and then a second program called The Twisted Scot. They became very popular, so I was talking to some people about how that would make a great series because we are taking Indian food but twisting it to be British and twisting it to be Scottish.

      The idea came about by asking how about if we take British food and twist it with a bit of spice? In the search for a partner, they came across Tony, they loved Tony, asked me if I knew Tony. I said, “Of course I knew Tony.” We did a little bit of a promo together.

      Tony: Yeah, we did a promo tape for them.

      Cyrus: Yeah, a very casual promo tape together. It worked like magic, the BBC approved, and bingo, we had a program.

      They thought of many, many names. They actually wanted to call us The Spice Boys.

      On Being Cooks:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about being cooks.

      Tony: We were always hungry and to sustain that hunger or to make it more bearable, you always helped your mother in the kitchen. From an early age, I always helped out in the house. My mom was a great cook and from then, I’ve always liked to cook.

      I’ve been cooking since I was 16, so I learned to be a good cook. I’ve always been a great eater.

      Cyrus: For me, in my community, I’m known in Bombay as Khaadraas which means greedy pigs. I even started here what is called a greedy pigs club, a Khaadraas club.

      Like Tony, always hungry. There was a big hole in the belly somewhere that needed filling up, but our moms, fortunately for us, were excellent cooks, so were our aunts and grand aunts and everyone else. I grew up around food all the time.

      Living in a joint family was a very good experience and then, of course, my uncle owned a hotel as well, so whilst I was in boarding school I could go visit his hotel and live with him for a while. That increased the desire to cook more food.

      Eventually, I went into catering school, passed out, got a job at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay.

      Tony: The rest is history.

      We’re so fortunate to have a hobby that’s our job and that is so pleasurable. You know what I mean? It’s just very, very, very fortunate.

      Cyrus: That is so true, isn’t it? The best part about our business is it is never consistent. It always changes. Every day is a new day and everyday there are new people and new customers.

      Tony: New challenges.

      Cyrus: New challenges.

      Tony: New ingredients.

      On Cooking With Spices:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about cooking with spices.

      Tony: The main thing is not to be afraid. That’s the biggest hindrance people have with spices, because they equate that to heat, which is not the spice. Well it is a spice, but it’s chili. Chili adds heat, spices add flavor and color.

      Cyrus: Flavor, color, body, but, you see it today if you look at most of the larders in the western world, most homes would have nutmeg, would have cardamom, would have cloves, would have peppercorns, would have cumin, would have coriander.

      Many people are keeping turmeric now, which is a very common ingredient in homes and you’ve got chilies. Actually, if you have cinnamon, cardamom and clove and peppercorn already in your house, and you’ve got chili, cumin, coriander and turmeric and that’s all you need, really. You don’t need many, many more.

      As your talent develops and as you get better, you can keep adding to it. Your experimentation value gets better and you get more spices and condiments into your larder. These are basic.

      Tony: It’s like the show shows. Do one of your traditional dishes that you’re comfortable with and just change one of them. If it’s got, say, cinnamon in there, try and take it out and put another spice in there that’s a dessert. Go for cardamom, go for ginger, or nutmeg, yes, star anise. Just add one spice or take one spice away and exchange it or use a spice in it.

      There’s a lot more spice than what you would call spice, because people say “Oh, nutmeg. That’s not a spice. I use that in my grandma’s rice pudding,” or peppercorns, the spice that changed travel. People went looking for pepper.

      Cyrus: Pepper, pepper was the one.

      Tony: These things just need changing but have no fear trying because anything you make, you’re going to eat the evidence anyway. If it’s not good, then you don’t do that again.

      Cyrus: The main thing is the fear. Once they get over that threshold, they will really enjoy their cooking. Really, really enjoy it. Most western food goes very, very well with a little bit of spice here and a little bit of spice there.

      On The Incredible Spice Men Cookbook:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talking about The Incredible Spice Men cookbook.

      Tony: Normally, you shoot the series and then you do the cookbook, and you have a few months to do it. We had to do it all in six weeks?

      Cyrus: Six weeks. In six weeks, while on the shoot. It was a nightmare.

      Tony: Writing the recipes, getting them checked. It was lucky we’ve got kitchens for the chefs to check everything but they’re dishes that we’ve used before.

      It goes back to the recipes. We made sure were accessible, they weren’t daunting, they were very familiar. That’s why we went with them.

      Cyrus: The publishers from Random House put in a lot of effort into it. They knew it was a deadline deal and they put a very good crew onto it. The crew was chatting with us all the time whilst we were on set filming.

      As soon as we came on a break, we’d get a phone call, “I’m making this. Tell me, something doesn’t look right over here. Can you help me with this?” and we could help on the phone.

      They re-adjusted the recipe so it would look easy for the home cook.

      The Pressure Cooker:

      Which food shows or cooking shows do you watch?

      Cyrus: Very few but Saturday Kitchen definitely on most Saturday mornings. Master Chef sometimes.

      Tony: I’m the other way. I’m a junk food fiend. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. It’s great because it’s loads of people eating hearty, sometimes a bit calorific, but hearty, rib-sticking dishes.

      Cyrus: Oh, right, okay. That’s the one where they eat the big portions.

      Tony: No, no, no. See, I don’t like that. That’s Man Vs. Food. I can’t stand that show.

      Cyrus: No? Okay. Yeah, very few actually. There’s no time, unfortunately, for us.

      You know what? I haven’t seen a single episode of our series yet.

      Last year, where did you have the best meal and what did you have?

      Tony: I’ve had so many. Assado. I was going to say, that was lovely because we had octopus. I’m still waiting for chef to give me the recipe. It was fantastic.

      Cyrus: Actually, we had a great meal at a place called Dabbous. A very creative chef. He only does course menus, so only fixed menus, only set menus. There is no a la carte there, but his food was really good.

      Dabbous in West London. Very good, excellent. That was one of the best meals we had this year.

      If you were to have dinner and movie with each other, what would be for dinner and what movie would you guys watch?

      Tony: Oh, that’s a hard one.

      Cyrus: Something funny, definitely.

      Tony: Yeah, Airplane! or Blazing Saddles. You know what I mean? It’s switch off kind of stuff and going back to the food, cheese and macaroni with lobster.

      Cyrus: Oh, yeah?

      Tony: Yeah.

      Cyrus: Something very simple. It could be a shwarma. It could be something like that, really easy.

      Good fish and chips. A very good fish and chips.

      Tony: Something that you don’t need to think about but you know is going to work.

      What are some cookbooks that have made your lives better?

      Tony: La Technique and La Methode by Pepin, the French guy in America. Fantastic. As a student, they were the best.

      Cyrus: I use a cookbook very often which is from a lady that cooks food from my community and she researched it very deeply.

      Bhicoo Manekshaw, her name is, and it’s not known everywhere in the world. She has gone to the depths of the villages and brought the food out that we city boys would never had got an experience of knowing. That’s the one I use all the time. It’s sitting on my desk even now.

      It’s called Parsi Food and Customs. Because I’m a Parsi.

      I pick up ideas from that and then I have to double up them to suit 50, 60, 100 portions.

      I am discovering things that my mother would have known, my grandmother would have known, but I, sadly, didn’t have the exposure to know.

      What is something all home cooks should have in their pantry?

      Cyrus: L-O-V-E.

      Tony: I would say sharp knives.

      Cyrus: A must have in the kitchen is a heat-resistant rubber spatula.

      Tony: That’s just being posh.

      Name one ingredient you cannot live without.

      Tony: Chili.

      Cyrus: Coriander for me, fresh coriander.

      Tony: Fresh green chili.

      Cyrus: I could live without it but I would be very depressed if I didn’t get to eat it regularly.

      What music album or song pairs best with The Incredible Spice Men cookbook?

      Cyrus: Space Odyssey.

      Tony: Yeah, exactly. I was going to say The Muppets. Animal’s drum rolls.

      Cyrus: How about Jungle Book, you know?

      Tony: Yeah.

      Cyrus: That song is one of my favorites.

      Tony: Yeah, it’s good.

      Cyrus: The Bare Necessities Of Life. And food is the bare necessity of life.

      Keep Posted on The Incredible Spice Men:

      Tony Singh and Cyrus Todiwala of The Incredible Spice Men on The Dinner Special podcast talk about how to keep in touch.

      Tony: We have a Twitter account, The Incredible Spice Men. Cyrus has his webpage, I have my webpage, TonySingh.co.uk. The Spice Men have a Facebook page as well.

      Cyrus: The Spice Men, we’ve got @MrTodiwala on Twitter or just log on to CafeSpice.co.uk. They can fire any amount of questions they want at me.

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        Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Academie Culinaire, Airplane!, Assado, BBC, Blazing Saddles, Cajun Food, Chef, Chef of the Year, Cookbook Author, Cooking Show Host, Cyrus Todiwala, Dabbous, Diners D, Indian Food, Indian Spices, ITV, Jacques Pepin, Khaadraas club, La Methode, La Technique, London, Man VS Food, MasterChef, Parsi Food and Customs, Saturday Kitchen, Scotland, Space Odyssey, Taj Mahal Hotel Bombay, The Incredible Spice Men, The Muppets, Tony Singh

        Hello! I'm Gabriel Soh, home cook, food enthusiast and your host of The Dinner Special podcast.
        Everything here on The Dinner Special is an experiment, just like with cooking. Thank you for listening and being part of the adventure.

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