garam masala

This may come as a shock to many of you (well, maybe just to four of my Indian friends - out of five total friends - who actually check out my blog), but I just started really liking Indian food.

WHAT?!?

It's true...well, mostly. I've always liked it okay throughout my childhood, but when you grow up eating Indian food almost every night for dinner for 18 years you lose the love of the flavor. Back then, it was just the same rice/lentils/chicken/veggies or rice/lentils/fish/different veggies or curry/curry/curry/curry and maybe spaghetti once a month.

But even more shocking, I disliked YOUR mom's Indian cooking. Now, I had nothing against your mom's cooking...except it wasn't EXACTLY like MY mom's cooking, because I was THAT picky. Really! Stupid, prepubescent-phase girl I was! I couldn't handle spicy food, and my mom cooked fairly mild to moderately spicy food. I was the most non-Indian Indian I ever knew. I'm deathly allergic to nuts, and moms who are not my own often cooked with nuts, so I couldn't eat certain dishes. AND, I hated (and let me emphasize that I still ABHOR) cilantro. Nasty, stinky, pungent, gag-inducing cilantro. The taste of it literally makes me gag, and I have uprooted my dinner because of it on more than one occasion. I can't even handle the best Mexican salsa if it has cilantro leaves deflowering it. Clay can't even taste it in food. I think my caucasian husband is just trying to be more Indian than me by being all cool about cilantro. "I don't even taste it, Nan...you're crazy. May I have some more please, and by the way, let me teach you some new Bengali words. In fact, let me tell you how to say "cilantro" in Bengali AND Hindi."

(SIDENOTE: Tina (she's the fifth friend I mentioned at the top), I'm typing this while listening to Prince..."You don't have to watch Dynasty to have an attitude." I sooooo wanted to go to that concert with you guys, but I didn't want to attend with certain people in that group. I was jealous you all went!)

Anyway, it took me about 10 years of eating college food, fast food, and a lot of American/European food to gain a true appreciation of the amazing flavors of Indian food. Now, don't get me wrong. During those 10+ years, I cooked very healthy foods and loved experimenting with culinary flavors from around the globe, but it was just recently that I've been craving Indian food. And, I knew how to cook most of the "family" dishes, but I didn't really cook them often enough and tweak it all to taste as fabulous as mom's food. I always watched her cook and helped her in the kitchen, but I didn't completely pay attention to the fine details. So, not too long ago I started asking Mom about certain spices and why she added them at particular times in the dish...or even point-blank, "How do you make rice?" Okay, I'm not THAT stupid, honestly! You have to boil water for the rice? That's way too much work...I do work full-time and write blog entries for FIVE people, you know.

And the cool thing was that I wasn't ashamed to not know how to perfectly emulate mom's cooking. I'm soooo enjoying learning everything all over again, down to the non-cilantro, nutless details.

(SIDENOTE 2: Tina, my favorite Prince song is on...I still have the cassette single somewhere. I don't think I feel comfortable writing the name of the song, because parents have the power to find out you have a blog and then read all of your secrets like how much you didn't like Indian food during your childhood or that you nibble on babies because they smell good and have expired meat in the fridge in addition to listening to Prince songs with inappropriate titles. So, the five of you can just ask me later. Yes, I'm still scared of my parents punishing me...I'm not ashamed. I still squirm while watching rated R movies with them - what ARE those naked people doing? Is there a name for that, because I wouldn't know what it is...)

Oh yeah, back to food. I DO like your mom's food now, because I'm not a whiny, picky Indian food eater anymore...unless there's cilantro or nuts involved. And, in that case, your mom BETTER have something chocolate for dessert to make up for it.

P.S. Tina had a beautiful, precious, nearly 10 lb. baby boy just a few weeks ago. Congratulations, Tina!!! He did smell good enough to gobble up, but I'll behave...I promise.