For this special issue, we wanted to tackle the cooking traditions of India, and how chefs and home cooks alike in America are both rooted in tradition, and reshaping what it means to be an Indian-American cook. According to the 2015 Census, some 4 million Americans identify as Indian in heritage. It’s a topic as large and diverse as India is!
In this lineup of stories and recipes, we’ve narrowed things down a bit. Andy Wang makes butter chicken with the unfiltered chefs behind Los Angeles hotspot Badmaash. Priya Krishna reveals why Indian bakers eschew eggs, and Gabriella Gershenson visits the Brooklyn home of cookbook author Chitra Agrawal. We cook lamb masala at a mountain house outside Asheville, North Carolina, learn how to make Asha Gomez’s incredible Kerala fried chicken, and pay homage to the groundbreaking cookbook My Bombay Kitchen. Plus, we’ve rounded up plenty of recipes to save for a rainy day—or, perhaps, dinner tonight. We hope you enjoy this special issue. We’ve had a blast putting it together. —Rachel Khong & Matt Rodbard
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Appalachian Masala
On a North Carolina mountainside, the chefs of Chai Pani introduce us to an exciting new era of Indian-American home cooking.
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If You Can Boil Water, You Can Make Kitchadi
There’s a reason everyone from Deepak Chopra to Jean-Georges Vongerichten is making this fragrant and fortifying rice and mung bean dish.
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Butter Chicken and Biggie Smalls at the Badmaash House
Meet the Mahendros, a Los Angeles restaurant family with big personalities and bold ambitions. Plus, the product is dope.
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Why Are There No Eggs in Some Indian Cakes?
Eggs, to most, might seem like a fundamental component of baked goods. But not to Priya Krishna. And not to a lot of Indians.
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In Hing We Trust
With roots in South India and South Brooklyn, a well-traveled cookbook author invites us into her home.
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It’s Called Kerala Fried Chicken. You Won’t Forget It.
Many have met Atlanta chef and cookbook author Asha Gomez through a plate of her South by South India fried chicken. Matt Rodbard gets the story behind it.
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Parsi Eggs and the Lasting Legacy of My Bombay Kitchen
Many years of eating, cooking, and writing about food have left Scott Hocker with an ever-growing cookbook collection. Here he cracks one open to re-create a dish tied to a distant, though fond, food memory.
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The Deal With Dal
Those dry kidney beans at the back of your cupboard might be destined for greatness.
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Vegetable Pulao
There’s a standard side of Indian rice, and then there’s vegetable pulao—a fragrant and fancy bowl of rice laced with almonds, raisins and Indian spices.
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Badmaash Butter Chicken
In this favorite grilled chicken dish from Los Angeles Indian-American restaurant Badmaash, spices are layered onto chicken—first as an overnight yogurt marinade, and then as a silky tomato sauce.
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Eggless Pineapple Cake
Lighter and less sweet than your average birthday cake, but still decadent and celebratory.