Amidst coronavirus, I’m sticking to what I – and a lot of other people – love most: cooking and baking.  One challenge I’ve presented to myself is to make a dish (or dishes) of international cuisines every week, learn some words from the language, and e-visit some of the country’s landmarks.  Some of these dishes will be more complex than others, based on what ingredients I have available in the house. 

I didn’t have my first real experience of Indian cuisine until I went to Quilon in London. Since then, my mom and I have been on an Indian food craze: cultivating a colorful spice collection, signing up for a vegan Indian cooking class through Cozymeal (with Mukti Banerjee in Brooklyn), watching a Chef’s Table episode on Asma Khan, and eating at Masala Bay (in Somerset, NJ) a lot.

I’m going to be upfront: cooking Indian food can be time consuming and can sometimes require you to have an encyclopedia of spices. But once you collect some of the pantry staples, they’re perfect for times like these. I’ve tried to bring about three dishes that are simple with process and require only a few staple spices.

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