State Of The Kitchen...

Several of you have asked about the kitchen and the farm changes...

Well, the kitchen re-model got somewhat finished in April, and since then, we have been using it and enjoying it thoroughly.

There are still a few details that need to get taken care of, but these are cosmetic and nothing to do with the fire-power or BTU's the kitchen has.

The details missing are skin deep and affect the looks, not how we cook and prep.

The range, ovens, refrigerator and freezers, the ice-machine, the convection-microwave oven and the cabinetry could not have been nicer. Actually, they could have - If I had these all my years in the US, I could have learned so much more already. But I have to be honest and say that working in very modest and sometimes less than modest kitchens has given me my best kitchen training. And now, having this kitchen years after I have cooked for hundreds in hours with little if anything special in a kitchen, I feel that experience is invaluable and something everyone must go through.

The soapstone we have on the counters is phenomenal. No worries anymore about pots and pans being too hot, or stains from foods oozing good stuff over... or any drama.... they clean easily and a little oil or a simple wash restores the stone back to its formal finish.

The sink is even better than I had dreamed of. Great size! Not too big, certainly not small at all. And all our big pots and pans, that always needed expert maneuvering and deft handling, get cleaned in a jiffy. The Viking garbage disposal makes clean up that much easier. And of course, our compost tin keeps the manure healthy, alive and rich for the plants.

The last couple of months have seen daily action beyond usual measure in our kitchen. My parents are visiting, in fact they leave later today, and the kitchen fed as many as a dozen or more several meals daily a few times... and has been used morning, afternoon and night, and of course, in typical Indian fashion, in between meal-times as well.

The griddle and grill are amazing stuff to have. Dosas, rotis, chapatis, parathas, papadam all get made so easily and with almost no cleaning required.

The two ovens underneath the 60 inch range make baking desserts, cooking savory stuff and prepping for fanciful dinners so easy and doable.

The ice machine makes life at the farm very city-like. With enough ice for cocktails, cold water and beverages and shockingly, a chef as non-fussy as I, have begun chilling my sauces on ice, using ice-baths and shocking my steamed and boiled veggies.... yes, I realize how the subtle changes are and now that I have the ability to do the drama without too much drama, I will and shall.

More images and details to come...But here, I shared a few... promise more in a few months.

Comments

[Smita]

May I de-lurk for a minute to just say OMG - Fabulous! Loved "Indian Home Cooking" and can't wait to see what other ideas you're cooking up!

Best,
Smita

[Suvir]

Thanks Smita!

All I can say is that I hope to enjoy the kitchen a great deal, but also promise never to lose touch with the very modest reality I have endured as far as kitchens go for over a decade.

It is that which has given me all my passion for cooking and to keep it as home-style as possible but never fussy or drama-ridden.

I hope you enjoy American Masala. It had the household, friends that are close to me and family members gripped in it's web for a few years now, and with Raquel, my co-writer, at my side, it seems the book found great strength, clarity and ease.

As I have traveled this last year, I have slipped a few recipes into every menu I have shared, taught or demonstrated, and the recipes have tested, delighted and stood my own test and that of others.

Whilst Indian Home Cooking was a home-sick boy's answer to not finding simple fare easily in the US, this book brings the recipes that we Indian and American's of the 21st century are happy to call ours. It cherry-picks recipes from cultures across the globe, recipes that have become American because of the people that call America their home. These recipes are at once home here in the US as they are in lands seas and oceans away from these shores.

Your kind words about Indian Home Cooking mean a lot to me. I always announce in my classes that it is the support, trust and encouragement given me by kind strangers such as yourself, which keeps me going and always ready to invest more time and energy into the sometimes tedious world of recipe testing and documenting.

Cooking is easy, especially it seems to us Desis from across the Sub-Continent. What our books and culinarians have missed often is the sharing of details that can make a cuisine doable even if learned through antlines in a book. That is what pushed me to leave everything and get into cooking. And that promise I made to myself, is what has kept my love in this business going.

Stephanie and Raquel are owed equal credit for any praise, you and others send me through praise given to Indian Home Cooking and if given to American Masala. Any faults and shortcomings, should only be ascribed to me. I would be remiss to not state this and ensure they get credit for their hard work and outstanding contributions to the world of cooking. They have invested invaluable time documenting a cuisine foreign to them, whilst never compromising their standards. And never feeling that changes be made to how they document recipes, in dealing with a cuisine that is often at crossroads with what is considered the norm in the worlds of French, Italian, American and other more familiar cuisines.

Thanks for de-lurking!

What are you cooking these summer days?

[Srivalli]

wow...its simply superb...very pleasing environment...

Srivalli
www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

[Gini]

That's a cool kitchen. A well equipped kitchen is a great thing.

[Suvir]

Thanks Srivalli and Gini!
most kind of you.
It is still being worked on.
Will post more sometime later.

[ElissaAltman]

Stunning kitchen Suvir!

[ElissaAltman]

Stunning kitchen, Suvir! Wonderful!

[roopa]

Hello Suvir, thats a lovely kitchen you have there:) I was reading through most of your posts, the pics have come out very well. I love the idea of staying in a farmhouse, seeing yours is tempted me even more:) Please continue posting more pics :)