Food

In the colorful tapestry of Gujarati cuisine, shaaks stand out as the heart and soul of everyday meals. These dishes, primarily vegetable-based, form an integral part of the Gujarati diet and are cherished for their simplicity and ease of preparation.  Unlike the elaborate celebration shaaks reserved for special occasions, the daily shaaks are all about […]

Dal and lentils are the comfort foods of Indian cuisine, offering a myriad of preparation methods. The many regions of India offer unique variations, imparting distinct flavors to these dishes. Gujarat’s dal showcases a delightful blend of sweetness and sourness, while Goa offers a coconut-infused version, and South India serves the beloved Sambar. Indian cuisine […]

These Indian fusion dessert recipes combine the rich, aromatic flavors of India with the sweet and indulgent creations of the Western dessert world. Indian fusion desserts are all about breaking the boundaries of traditional taste, infusing fun and creativity into each delectable bite.  These dishes blend the vibrant spices, tropical fruits, and aromatic herbs of […]

When I teach people how to make Indian food, I strive to give them a full understanding of the ingredients they are using. In Indian food, Basmati rice is so fundamental, at a minimum, you should have these four methods of cooking it in your bag of tricks. Methods 1 & 2: Simple Stovetop Rice […]

What is an Indian Side Dish? “Side dish” is a term in Indian food, but when it comes down to it, different people have different ideas about what a side dish is. My definition of an Indian side dish is any small dish that isn’t meat, flatbread, appetizer, or sweet. In Western Cuisine, a meal […]

This weekend is the San Diego International Kids Film Festival. One of the short films showing will be “Failure Groupies,” which explores the themes of racism and terrorism through the eyes of 12 year olds. I was very excited for the chance to speak with the film’s director, Mandira Chauhan. Mandira grew up in Mumbai […]

The Hundred Foot Journey captures the rise of Indian influence in the world’s culture. When an Indian family opens a restaurant across the street from her Michelin-starred restaurant in a village in France, Madam Mallory (Helen Mirren) disdainfully dismisses the food of these invaders– it’s much too spicy, she says. The movie is about a […]

Sholay opens to a train arriving at a station leading to a scene of two men riding on horseback across a rocky landscape that could easily be the old American Southwest. Interspersed with the horseback riding are shots of of a village that could also be from that time and place, but for an architectural […]

“Is she vamp or victim?” the gossip columnists Nayla asks, “which should I label her?” The Dirty Picture is based on the true story of South Indian softcore actress, Silk Smitha, who attained great popularity in the 1980s. She succeeds in the film industry by being neither fully in control nor fully controlled by the […]

To do this post, Puja and I went in the kitchen and alternately picked up an item we love to cook with. It actually turned out to be pretty difficult to choose only five each. But surprisingly we had little to fight over in terms of tools. We had very separate favorites, with the possible […]

Thank you to everybody who participated in our very first giveaway to celebrate our first blog anniversary! Shannon C. is our winner! Congratulations!! Enjoy your copy of Hari Nayak’s My Indian Kitchen: Preparing Delicious Indian Meals without Fear or Fuss. Related posts: Chicken Tikka Masala and First Anniversary Giveaway! Announcing DMBLGiT – April 2013 April […]

I think of picnics as a major part of Indian culture, so much so that school field trips were even known as “picnics.” We would picnic to “National Park” in Bombay, or my family would often picnic at the beach. I used to talk about having picnics a lot in Virginia but it took a […]

June is a big anniversary month for Steve and I. We got married two years ago, on June 4th, and started Indiaphile one year ago on June 10th. From the very beginning we’ve been talking about putting up a post about our wedding and I think now is the perfect month to finally get around […]

Puja was on a local news show this morning to promote a bake sale she is participating in for charity tomorrow! Indiaphile was one TV, how cool is that? She did a great job! (The video is no longer available) Here is a link to the bake sale website and the other people’s blogs who […]

First of all I want to thank everyone who participated in this month’s DMBLGiT food photography challenge. We had 44 great entries! I also want to thank Gail, Prerna, Eva and Karen for their time and effort in helping to judge this month’s contest. Go check out their awesome blogs and photography! If you are […]

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in this month’s DMBLGiT (Does my blog look good in this) contest. We’ve recieved 44 awesome entries! DMBLGiT is the web’s longest running monthly food photography contest and is open to any blogger interested in participating. The contest started back in 2005 and is still going! You can check […]

I’m really excited to be hosting this month’s DMBLGiT (Does My Blog Look Good in This?) contest for the first time. It is the web’s longest running monthly food photography contest and is open to any blogger interested in participating. The contest started back in 2005 and is still going! I was scheduled to host […]

The other day, I dug around our pantry and came up with this meal using some quinoa, a few vegetables we had on hand, and some Indian spices. My mom would make something like this but with rice. Quinoa makes for a tasty substitute with more protein and less starch. It’s healthy, hearty, and super easy to […]

I have always loved the little vegetable patties known as tikki. Traditionally the most common ones are aloo tikki (potato patties). My mom is the tikki queen and makes many variations of them including some with paneer and greens. The other night I had a friend coming over for dinner and less than an hour […]

To celebrate my 30th birthday, we went camping at Lake Cuyamaca with some friends. I love the idea of camping but have only ever done it once before. My camping inexperience combined with the food nerd that I am, contributed to an interesting mix of being woefully under-prepared for the outdoor survival aspect of it […]

When I was living in India, I couldn’t wait to get back to the US.  Now that I’ve been here a while, without being able to visit India in several years, there are some things that I really miss. 1.  Food.  Specifically, STREET FOOD! There is something magical about street food in India.  It tastes […]

When I heard about Narcopolis, I was immediately intrigued. Even though the author was talking about the same city I’d grown up in, Jeet Thayil’s Bombay was much darker, insidious and frankly more interesting than the extremely sheltered suburban life I was exposed to while living there. When I read the book it did not […]

Last weekend I got an unexpected lesson in food science when Puja and I went for lunch at her parents house. Sometimes I feel like a freak because I not only read ingredient lists on food packaging, but I make an effort to understand what the more mysterious products are and why they are in […]

The sitar is by far the most well known Indian instrument in the west. And the reason for that is Ravi Shankar. In 1966 American folk rock band, the Byrds, released the song “Eight Miles High” with the B-side of “Why”. Both were influenced by the sitar playing of Ravi Shankar. Some consider “Eight Miles […]