Aparita Bhandari shares 4 cookbooks that will change the way you think about cooking
The Next Chapter columnist Aparita Bhandari loves cooking, baking and all things food. She spoke with Shelagh Rogers about a few of her new favourite cookbooks, which would make great gifts this holiday season.
Cooking at Home by David Chang & Priya Krishna
"The first book I want to start with is a book called Cooking at Home by David Chang and Priya Krishna. The subtitle is 'how I learned to stop worrying about recipes and love my microwave.'
"Now this is my type of cookbook. As much as I love cooking for the family, there are days, honestly, when work just bled into our daily life. So I love this idea.
It tells you it's not your typical cookbook, and so don't come looking for recipes.
"It's an interesting book, right at the beginning. It tells you it's not your typical cookbook. So don't come looking for recipes. David Chang, whom a lot of people might know from his restaurants around the world as well as his various appearances on TV, is quite irascible and pure. Krishna has also made a name for herself, more recently with some Bon Appétit scandals and whatnot.
"These two are well-known cooks, and what they've given you is an idea of how to use staples in your kitchen, things that might be in your fridge, and put them together to make meals."
Diala's Kitchen by Diala Canelo
"Diala's Kitchen is by Diala Canelo, who is originally from Santo Domingo, and came to Canada to study nutrition and then eventually started working as a flight attendant. She's got an interesting perspective on cooking, which is inspired by her various travels and journeys.
"What I've also been trying to do is to be more vegetarian, not eating meat at home as much as possible. I have had a revelation discovering the many uses of eggplant. Apparently you can make roasted eggplant tacos. This is something that Canelo was inspired by after visiting the town of Puebla, Mexico, where there was a combination of Lebanese and Mexican cooking happening on the streets.
She's got an interesting perspective on cooking, which is inspired by her various travels and journeys.
"What I also love with these cookbooks is that along with their recipes, they're giving you a lot of these back stories, an insider look into these people's lives."
Kiin by Nuit Regular
"I love cooking at home, but I also love going out. There are a couple of favourite restaurants that I haven't been able to go to for a long time. I love Thai food, so there's this restaurant in Toronto called PAI and chef Nuit Regular, who's behind that, has released this [cookbook] called Kiin.
Her recipes always have so many nuances and layers to them.
"Typically I would go outside for this type of food because it is very complex. Her recipes always have so many nuances and layers to them. To take them up at home is a bit daunting. But nevertheless, she does have recipes in here that I quite enjoyed. There was this panang curry, which I absolutely adored. There's some chicken soup recipes here. Sour soup with chicken and coconut soup with chicken — super complex flavours. I'm really intrigued to try it out."
Eat, Habibi, Eat! by Shahir Massoud
"Eat, Habibi, Eat! is by Shahir Massoud, who's another Toronto celebrity chef. This is Egyptian cooking. I love baking. I remember when I was a kid, my mum used to make this Egyptian baked dessert called basbousa. I was thrilled to discover that there's a basbousa recipe in this particular book.
I'm just fascinated by how these different recipes are reminding me of things that I've grown up with.
"There's also this other recipe for baked sweet potato. But it reminds me of a type of baked sweet potato dish that I used to have growing up in the streets of New Delhi. I'm again just fascinated by how these different recipes are reminding me of things that I've grown up with."
Aparita Bhandari's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
