Meeru Dhalwala on weaving together recipes and family stories
Meeru Dhalwala is one half of the team (with Vikram Vij) behind popular Vancouver restaurants Vij's and Rangoli. Their latest cookbook, Vij's Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished Recipes, features recipes for meals that they cook in their restaurants and at home.
Shelagh Rogers spoke to Meeru Dhalwala in Vancouver.
Cookbook realism
For me, our cookbooks are not just recipes. Recipes are just 50 per cent of what I do. The other half is telling the stories of our family with the world. It's an all-encompassing project of sharing myself, our restaurants, Vikram, my family. So for this third cookbook, I felt I had to be honest. I have this fear that a lot of cookbooks put on this unrealistic, rosy picture of cooking at home, what the dinner table looks like, how everybody is happy and perfect. And I thought, you know what? That's just not where I want to go.
Making meatless meals the norm
I was vegetarian from the age of 17 until about 35. But in my household when I was growing up, we would eat meat once a week as a family, and I really enjoyed that. It was a big deal — Mom would make this big curry and our mouths would be watering the night before. When I started eating meat again, it was that once-a-week meat. If I had one dream come true, I would transform the world into once-a-week meat. But you have to make sure that on the other six days you're not pining for the meat, that you're getting proteins from other sources. My whole thing with dieting is that you don't pine for the thing you're dieting away from. You're as happy eating what you are eating as you were eating what you used to be eating.
ZUCCHINI, SQUASH AND POTATO SAUTÉ
One evening when Meeru and Vikram were both working, each thought the other had made dinner for the girls. Nanaki was fifteen at the time and she made some plain long-grain rice, which she topped with a bit of crumbled toasted nori (the dried seaweed used to make sushi rolls). In the fridge she found leftovers of this sauté, which she reheated and poured over the rice. She added some soy sauce, and it was apparently "the best dinner ever — and Mom should sell it at Rangoli." Sure enough, now we always have some version of this easy and mild-tasting vegetable dish on our menus — minus the nori and soy sauce!
The uses of this dish are limited only by your imagination. Mix and match as much or as little of each vegetable as you wish.
3 pounds total of zucchini, yellow squash and/or Yukon Gold or new potatoes, unpeeled
1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 tablespoon black mustard seeds
10 to 12 fresh curry leaves (optional)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh spinach (optional)
SERVES 6
PREP & COOKING TIME: 30 MINUTES
CUT ALL the vegetables in rounds of the same thickness. If you're using Yukon Gold potatoes, first cut them in half length-wise and then slice them (you'll have half-moon pieces). Place the potatoes in a bowl and set aside the other vegetables.
Heat the coconut oil in a medium frying pan on high heat for 45 seconds to 1 minute. Sprinkle in the mustard seeds and allow them to sizzle until you hear the very first pops, 30 to 45 seconds. Turn off the heat. Keeping your face away from the pot, add the curry leaves (they may splatter with the heat). They will shrivel up. Add the coriander, turmeric, salt and black pepper; stir gently. If the spices are sizzling, add the potatoes. If they are not, turn on the heat to medium and cook the spices for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, or until soft and cooked through. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the zucchini and squash and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the spinach and remove from the heat.
TO SERVE Scoop the vegetables into a large serving bowl and serve family style. Serve immediately.
Excerpted from Vij's Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished Recipes by Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij. Recipes Copyright ©2016 Meeru Dhalwala and Vikram Vij. Text copyright © 2016 Meeru Dhalwala. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.