Amisha Dodhia Gurbani - Mumbai Modern: Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine

Mumbai Modern

Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by Indian Roots and California Cuisine

Amisha Dodhia Gurbani

Copyright 2021 by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani

All photography by the author except for the photographs by Iain Bagwell Photography on .

Decorative Frames iStock/hpkalyani on .

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Cover design: Allison Chi

Cover photographs: Amisha Dodhia Gurbani

Book design by Allison Chi

Production manager: Devon Zahn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

The Countryman Press

www.countrymanpress.com

A division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

www.wwnorton.com

978-1-68268-628-7

978-163149-797-1 (ebk.)

To my mum,

who I always aspired to be,

I miss you and I love you.

To my dad,

for always believing in me and supporting my dreams,

I love you.

To my dearest husband, Raj, and my kids, Anishka and Rishan,

for being my biggest fans and for bearing with the angry baker,

I love you forever and for always.

Contents

Food Is Memory, Food Is Communication, Food Is Love

My mums family, from the United Kingdom, was sharing stories and memories while gathered at my home in Mumbai to cook my mums favorite meal, undhiyoo.

It is a dish made with winter vegetables like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and eggplant, as well as flat beans, fried fenugreek dumplings, and raw bananas, all cooked in a green paste made with cilantro, green garlic, coconut, green chili, sugar, and salt. It is a feast of the senses, with sweet, salty, sour, tangy, and spicy flavors all in one bite. We ate it with hot puri and shrikhand, a sweetened strained yogurt with saffron, cardamom, pistachios, and almonds.

As we ate this meal together, I was reminded of why we were really gathered here. The food, laughter, and tears were for my mother. She had just passed away. And this meal tasted as if my mum had made it. Tears flooded my eyes as a lifetime of memories, triggered by this food, rushed to my head and heart. Fourteen years ago, I had no way of knowing this was just the start of my food journey.

I am a computer engineer by profession, a mother of two, and a recipe developer and food photographer for my blog, Jam Lab . I love sharing Indian flavors I have learned from my mother, my grandmother, and my Gujarati roots.

Indian Food, Gujarati Food, and Its Influence

India is a huge country, consisting of 28 states and eight union territories with a population of 1.3 billion people. Every region of India has its own culture, traditions, and religion that may influence the type of cuisine from that region, and there are more than 30 different types. Neighboring states influence each other with their foods. For example, Maharashtra and Gujarat border each other, so there are some common foods between them, such as vada pav, patra, and bhakri, with similar ingredients and spice levels as well.

Indian food dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization, roughly 2600 to 1700 BC. During archeological excavations, remains of pots, pans, and tawas (an Indian flat pan) were found, which indicated the preparation of grains and rotli (Indian flatbreads). Later, different vegetables, breads, dairy, and spices were introduced that made the food as flavorful as possible. More emphasis on lentils led to the creation of daal, flavored with spices. There are a variety of lentils consumed throughout the country, and each region prepares them with its own signature style.

Gujarat, the state where my grandparents hail from, has influenced my style of cooking. Located on the western coast of India, Gujarat opens to the Arabian Sea and has many major ports, which made it accessible to voyagers over the centuries. Rulers of many kinds, including Mauryan, Muslim, Rajput, or Maratha, have all invaded Gujarat at some point in its history. When the Parsis came over from Persia, they adopted Gujarat's culture, language, and food. Jainism is one of the major religions, and its vegetarian influence is important in Gujarati cuisine as well. Within different regions of Gujarat, the weather spans from cold winters to very hot and humid summers, which explains the variety of many cooking styles and dishes within the state. There are distinct flavors within the regions of Kutch, Kathiawar, Ahmedabad, Surat, and more. People in arid regions incorporate more lentils and potatoes into their dishes while more greens are used in the southern and western parts of Gujarat.

In the hot weather, when temperatures may reach 45C (113F), yogurt-based drinks such as mithi (sweet) or kathi (sour/savory) chaas (buttermilk) or shrikhand (sweetened yogurt), flavored with cardamom, saffron, and nuts, as well as tomatoes, lemons, salt, and sugar, help to prevent dehydration. In the cold weather, when temperatures may reach 5 to 10C (40 to 50F), Gujaratis tend to eat heavier foods to stay warm: jaggery, whole wheat flour, millet flour, and winter vegetables like yams, sweet potatoes, and bitter melon. Undhiyoo () are commonly consumed in the winter months.

The preparation of Gujarati food is mostly vegan. The vegetables are usually stir-fried, and the lentils boiled. Then a vaghar, or tempering, is done, with oil or ghee, along with whole spices, fresh/dried chilis, and fresh aromatics, which are poured into the boiled daal. Gujarati food provides for a well-balanced, healthy diet that is rich in nutrition and conducive to the farmland workers in Gujarat.

The food is popular in India, even outside the state of Gujarat, and the worldwide as well! Sweet, spicy, salty, sour, and bitter all combine to give the perfect harmony of flavors and textures in the different dishes that make up a Gujarati thali. The thali consists of a minimum of five to six dishes, but it can contain more as desired. It has daal (lentils), bhaat (rice or pulao), rotli or bhakri (some form of non-leavened bread), shaak or shaaks (one or more vegetables), farsan (snack such as dhokla), mithai (some form of sweet dish), and condiments such as chutneys, pickle, and papad. Gujarati thali will please everyone, and it is the perfect welcome for any guest that comes to your home. Thali were typically prepared on special occasions by my mum, and there was always so much love, attention to detail, and thought put into it. Thali makes for a meal to remember.