It triggers emotions and evokes deep-rooted memories. I personally love a long recipe, a recipe with steps, because it gives me time to put my heart into it, making it a meal to enjoy with my loved ones. It can be therapeutic for the mind and soul. It is an experience: The prepping, chopping, tempering, smells and colors awaken our senses. My kitchen and my dishes are inspired by what I get from the farmers’ market. After years of hard work and love, “Mumbai Modern,” my debut cookbook, was published last year. When my mom passed, I had made her a promise that one day I would write a cookbook that would be dedicated to her, preserving her recipes and sharing stories about her and all the delicious food I grew up with. I was known by my followers as a “flavor queen” because I would come up with beautiful flavor combinations that would weave together in my bakes. I told stories about my childhood, living in Mumbai at Juhu Beach, because food relates to our background and family, and food brings us together in unimaginable ways. I offered unique flavors, inspired by my heritage and my family. I wanted to have a place where I could share and preserve these recipes. Courtesy Amisha Gurbaniīeing thousands of miles away from my homeland, my food blog Jam Lab was born as a way to showcase Indian and Gujarati food and baking, which has been an integral part of my life. I can proudly say that my kids are generally not picky eaters and are open to trying new dishes that I make for them.Īmisha Gurbani is an engineer in Fremont, the food blogger behind the Jam Lab and the author of “Mumbai Modern” (Countryman Press). I had my son shortly after, and feeding my children fresh produce, even as babies, in puree form, became my norm - my way of life. “Eat seasonally, eat reasonably” became my motto. It was my ritual, my me time to be able to visualize, feel and taste the produce at the market. With my intent of providing fresh seasonal meals to her on a daily basis, I started visiting the farmers’ market religiously every Sunday. I got married, and had my firstborn - my dear daughter - in 2009. I landed a job in Northern California after my graduation and fell in love with the fresh produce at the farmers’ markets. I came to America in 1999 to work on my master’s degree in computer science. That is how cooking was taught and passed down generation after generation, and there is really nothing like a simple home-cooked meal made lovingly by mothers. There were no measurements whatsoever it was a taste-and-go, put-more-spices-if-required kind of learning. “Put a little bit of the cumin powder, then a little bit of the coriander, then the turmeric, and red chile powder, and finally a pinch of the garam masala,” she would say. My mother would show me how to make shaaks, or stir-fried masala vegetables. Gujarati food comes from the Western part of India, and it’s a beautiful amalgamation, a sensory experience of sweet, salty, spicy, bitter and sour - all in a bite. I have the fondest memories of holding the end of her sari as a little girl, watching her work her magic in the kitchen, getting the whiffs and fragrances of the freshly ground spices, the aromas of daals and curries being prepared, and her swift hands, rolling out a stack of rotlis or flatbreads within mere minutes. Thali, which literally translates to plate in Hindi, means a plate filled with curries, vegetables, flatbreads, savories and sweets, alongside a salad and pickles. I learned to make a full Gujarati thali meal when I was in my single digits. My love for cooking and baking started in her kitchen, by her side. It has been my greatest loss - to lose my confidante, my cheerleader, my teacher, my best friend, my kitchen partner who taught me everything she knew about cooking and baking. She had a reputation for being an amazing cook! She could whip up dishes for a party in no time, serving anywhere from five to 25 people. Having received her education in home science, she was well versed in making all the so-called “exotic” dishes from the Western world in the 1980s: pastas, baked dishes, pizzas, souffles, eggless cakes, puddings, ketchups and shrubs from scratch.
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