Maya Kaimal, a renowned cookbook author, has the remarkable ability to transform broccoli into a dish that you’ll crave within minutes. Her latest cookbook, titled “Indian Flavor Every Day,” showcases this talent through the exquisite garlicky tadka broccoli recipe. This dish exemplifies her expertise in “applying the Indian touch” to ordinary ingredients.
To create the dish, Kaimal starts by making a tadka, a delectable spice-infused oil. She heats oil in a skillet and adds mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and black sesame seeds until they sizzle and pop. Next, she adds garlic and red chili flakes. Within three minutes, the oil is ready to be tossed with lightly stir-fried broccoli. This creation ingeniously combines Indian flavors with familiar ingredients, allowing you to elevate your cooking effortlessly.
Kaimal’s cookbook also offers inventive ways to incorporate Indian spices into non-Indian dishes. For instance, she suggests incorporating a pinch of garam masala into cookie dough or pie crusts, as well as brushing ghee and chai spices on pineapple before grilling it. These creative ideas empower home cooks to experiment with Indian flavors beyond traditional Indian cuisine.
Having been involved in the food scene for over 20 years, Kaimal has witnessed the growing comfort of American home cooks with global cooking. This trend inspired her and her husband, journalist Guy Lawson, to establish Maya Kaimal Foods in 2003. They noticed a gap in the U.S. market, which was flooded with Indian food products imported from the United Kingdom that contained excessive sugar and preservatives. Determined to offer homemade flavors and natural ingredients, Kaimal set out to provide high-quality Indian food products.
Currently residing in New York’s Hudson Valley with their two teenage daughters, Kaimal and Lawson employ a team of 13 individuals in their business. Their “speed-scratch” sauces, dals, chanas, and rice are sold in over 10,000 stores, including popular retailers like Target, Costco, and Whole Foods.
Kaimal reflects on how much has changed since the release of her first cookbook, “Curried Favors,” in 1996. At that time, it was challenging to find Indian ingredients, and her book served as an introduction to Indian cooking. Her second cookbook, “Savoring the Spice Coast of India,” published in 2000, focused on dishes from Kerala, her father’s birthplace. With her new cookbook, Kaimal aims to demonstrate how Indian flavors can seamlessly integrate into everyday meals with the right ingredients and minimal effort.
One of the recipes featured in her book, the Red Chili Shrimp, may appear daunting due to its extensive list of ingredients for the dry rub, sauce, and tadka. However, Kaimal showcases how this recipe comes together in just 30 minutes. By presenting accessible yet flavorful dishes like this, she hopes to inspire home cooks to explore Indian flavors and techniques without feeling overwhelmed.
Within her cookbook, Kaimal breaks down essential spice blends for tadkas and masalas into mini recipes. She provides detailed instructions on how to use these ingredients to enhance the flavor of various dishes. Tadkas, for instance, can be made at the beginning or end of cooking to infuse the dish with an extra burst of flavor. Additionally, she offers recipes for masalas, demonstrating how they can be utilized to layer flavor in a variety of ways.
Once home cooks have gathered the necessary ingredients and grasped these concepts, they can effortlessly infuse their meals with “the Indian touch.” Kaimal attributes her passion for Indian cooking to her father, Chandran Kaimal, who laid the foundation for her culinary career. Growing up, her father, a physicist, took charge of the kitchen on weekends, meticulously recording his experiments with flavors. As a result, Kaimal had the privilege of cooking from her father’s carefully curated collection of recipes, which eventually led to the publication of her first cookbook.
Cooking from her father’s recipes provides solace for Kaimal after his passing in 2021 and her mother’s in 2022. She cherishes the memories of her parents through their recipes, ensuring that she includes her father’s non-Indian creations, such as the Southeast Asian dish Tangy Mee Goreng, in her cookbooks. The recipe, discovered by her brother, Narayan Kaimal, showcases her father’s neat handwriting on an index card from the 1970s. Although not technically Indian, this dish holds sentimental value as it was a childhood favorite of her father, prepared by her grandmother during their time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.
Regardless of the dish he was cooking, Kaimal’s father always made a point to conduct a final taste test before serving. This commitment to refining the nuances of flavor and the art of time-tested cooking techniques influenced Kaimal’s approach to cooking and her desire to share it with others.
In conclusion, Maya Kaimal’s ability to infuse Indian flavors into familiar ingredients transcends mere culinary innovation; it is an art form. With her latest cookbook, she aims to simplify Indian cooking for home cooks, ensuring that Indian flavors are accessible to all. By incorporating her father’s recipes and techniques, Kaimal keeps his legacy alive and inspires others to explore the world of Indian cuisine.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
