Cooking For Joy
My Last Panic Buy Was Asafetida
It’s a good time to tackle Indian cuisine
Heated has asked contributors to write about a dish they’re cooking that cuts through bleak headlines, forced isolation, and limited ingredients to bring them joy; we’ll be running at least one contribution a day through this social-distancing stretch.
My final act before committing to indefinite social distancing was to venture to a Patel Brothers store in a Pittsburgh suburb to procure asafetida.
As previously established, I had pretty much everything else on hand — beans and lentils, rice and grains, spices and alliums. But I now have basically all the ingredients I need to cook my way through Priya Krishna’s “Indian-ish.”
I’ve been doing #wfhbeans for years now; I needed a challenge. I love Indian cuisine but rarely make it at home. So my last shopping list for a while contained curry leaves and fenugreek and chickpea flour so I could make Krishna’s roasted aloo gobhi, dals, and kadhi.
The aloo gobhi used up my last lime, and I didn’t have the cilantro, an herb I don’t love but think would’ve brightened the dish a lot. I’ll make it again when I don’t have to think twice about whether it’s safe to run to the store for garnishes.
I picked up the asafetida because Krishna describes it as “optional, but really great” throughout the recipes in her book.
I’m not inclined to argue with her. We need things that are “really great” right now.
