Spring 2022: Cook-at-College Home Meals

This year, I started off college a little differently.  Not only were all my classes finally in person (gasp!), but I also had an apartment that comes with an open kitchen, which has become my dominion.  

There’s no way around it: food is fuel.  It’s also no secret that research has consistently found that eating a nutritious, varied diet can improve concentration, enhance memory, prolong attention span, and improve thinking. Students who regularly eat nutrient-rich foods also display more efficient problem-solving skills, greater fact comprehension, and stronger mental recall.  That’s why it’s so important to me to have the ability to exercise control on the ingredients I’m cooking with and their delicious mode of preparation.  

These are my staple, shelf-friendly ingredients I always have on hand:

  • apple cider vinegar
  • mild olive oil, for roasting and basic cooking
  • cold pressed organic extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • runny honey
  • tamari
  • rice
  • canned organic chickpeas
  • japanese sweet potatoes
  • tomato paste
  • miso paste
  • harissa paste
  • spices

Each week, I get a delivery from Misfits, a delivery service that provides fresh, mostly organic produce to my doorstep. I can choose which ingredients I’m in the mood for – once I even got funky ingredients like ramps. Extra bonus is that their cardboard boxes are 100% recyclable and made of recycled materials.

Onto the my three go-to dishes!

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You’re My Everything Harissa Sauce (GF + V)

This sauce is called “You’re My Everything” because it literally goes with everything and anything you can imagine.

With just a handful of shelf-friendly ingredients and cherry tomatoes, you’ve got yourself an astounding sauce that can be paired with whatever your heart desires. 

Let’s break down the ingredients:

  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Harissa paste
  • Tomato paste
  • Anchovies or miso paste for vegetarians/vegans
  • Salt
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Gobi Ghee “Pongal” (GF + V option)

For those that know me well, they are aware of my love affair with the Indian restaurant chain A2B.  Since I’ve worked in Princeton over the summer, I have been a loyal weekly customer (shout out to my #1 waiter Azan!), sampling the menu from medu vada to gobi 65.  One of my favorite foods comes from the mini tiffin combo (pictured below).  

Ghee pongal – pictured on the bottom right side – is a traditional South Indian dish made with rice, split yellow mung dal, ghee, cumin, ginger, pepper and curry leaves.  It’s like a soothing porridge.  After having tried cauliflower rice recently, I decided to cream it and turn it into a ghee-pongal-ish dish.  So here we are: cauliflower ghee pongal, or gobi ghee pongal.

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Italian Sauce-venture: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (GF + V)

I’ve been getting more and more into pasta lately – maybe it’s because I’ve been living with my Italian grandparents over the summer or because I’m feeling melancholy of my summers in Italy. It’s come to the point that I’ve even begun listening to cringey Italian music (shout out to Fedez).

The "pasta-eater" in the contemporary age: carbohydrate's apologia in Rome.  | Rome Central Magazine
Italian Film Star and Comedian Alberto Sordi eating spaghetti.

Anyways, it got me thinking: I’ve already done a “Around the World” sequence, but how about one on Italian pasta dishes? I decided to start with a simple, pantry and college-friendly plate: aglio e olio. Of course, I’ve added my own twists here and there (more on that later).

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Father’s Day Feast 2021 – Ottolenghi style

father's day feast

In my family, Mother’s Days and Father’s Days rival the celebrations of Thanksgiving.  And as Thomas Jefferson sings in the musical Hamilton, “I arranged the menu, the venue, the seating.”  This Father’s Day was no different.

As always, my biggest culinary inspiration is Ottolenghi.  Ever on a mission to expand my family’s palates, Ottolenghi’s recipes seem to hit an undeniable vibration with its tasters.  These were the dishes I whipped up:

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Parents’ 21st Anniversary Dessert: Creamy Lemony Almond Shortbread Dessert (GF + V)

My parents celebrated their 21st anniversary on June 3rd. Woohoo! While I’ve been looking at their wedding pictures for years, I had only recently learned that neither of my parents actually tasted their wedding cake in full. How could that be?! After hearing such blasphemy, I concluded on two things: 1) I will eat (and likely bake) my own wedding cake, and 2) I must recreate a dessert inspired by their wedding cake.

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