Big Apple Curry's "A Mother's Hands" now in BlogHer's book "ROOTS: Where Food Comes From & Where It Takes Us"

Big Apple Curry’s “A Mother’s Hands” now in BlogHer’s book “ROOTS: Where Food Comes From & Where It Takes Us”

ROOTS

The News

I’m thrilled to announce that my culinary essay “A Mother’s Hands” has just been published in a new anthology by BlogHer entitled “ROOTS: Where Food Comes from & Where It Takes Us.”  Big Apple Curry is a follower and long-time admirer of BlogHer, which is the largest community of women bloggers and host to 55 million unique visitors per month, so this is an especially meaningful honor for us.

The Background

In January, my sister Myna told me that BlogHer was calling for submissions for their new e-book. It was described as “a love story about food” and “a collection of great writing, thinking and photography about the roots of specific meals, the memories that food triggers, what is preserved about a culture in its recipes, how food and cooking are tied to travels, as well as the roots we call home.” This was right up my alley because after all, Big Apple Curry is a blog about sharing my family’s personal roots and traditions and how I taught my husband Sean the basics of Indian cooking. After much thought and reflection, I submitted my essay “A Mother’s Hands” describing the generations of women in my South Indian family who nurtured and comforted their families through the thoughtful preparation of food in their home kitchens. I wrote about how my love of cooking was indelibly shaped by my mother Geetha while I was growing up in Canada, who was in turn inspired by her upbringing in South India and my maternal grandmother Rajalakshmi.

The Book

BlogHer, the premium cross-platform media network and publisher for women, today announced the release of its second eBook anthology, “Roots: Where Food Comes From and Where It Takes Us.” As the press release says, “Roots is an exploration of food’s rich interconnection with culture, memory and discovery, and includes writings from 36 different personalities and cookbook authors from the culinary blogosphere, selected from hundreds of submissions. The anthology’s deeply personal essays serve up family history, local lore and tantalizing stories of worlds newly discovered through food, accompanied by original photography and a collection of recipes that, no matter how far flung, taste like home. Roots is divided into two sections: “Memory” illustrates the emotional beauty of food as it passes across generations and defines history; “Discovery” reveals the pathways down which food can take us, luring us into new cultures and experiences.”

Get the Book

If you or someone you know would love to sit down and sink into vignettes of deeply personal and thoughtful reflections on the roots and traditions of food, you can pick up the e-book online. Disclaimer: as a selected contributor to the anthology, I was paid $50 for my essay by BlogHer; neither I nor Big Apple Curry will benefit financially from sales of the book.

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Open Road

Big Apple Curry is proud to be part of BlogHer’s anthology. For all of our beloved followers, here is our entry and full recipe below!

A Mother’s Hands

Rajalakshmi

My maternal grandmother Rajalakshmi in India (1960s)

Sometimes when I’m cooking, I suddenly notice my hands as I’m chopping, whisking, and sautéing. Truth be told, I wasn’t born with the most attractive hands. Even with a salon manicure, my hands will win no beauty contest. I’m ok with that. Mine look strong and well worn, like the tanned, wind-burned hands of a country girl from Little House on the Prairie — or at least that’s what I like to think. However, although I grew up in Canadian winters, I never lived on a farm like Laura Ingalls; it’s just the way my hands look, passed down from generations of women in my Indian family. Dark-skinned and petite, with short, stout fingers, my hands look just like my mother’s hands, and her hands look just her mother’s hands.

My mother Geetha was born in a small town in India called Pavagada on the border of the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. She left India in 1969 after getting married and bidding a tearful farewell to my grandmother Rajalakshmi, a warm, soft-spoken woman and talented cook. Mom’s sisters carefully penned recipes in small ruled notebooks, which they packed snugly in her suitcases. Making her home in Canada at the tender age of 21, my mom worked and raised two daughters. She adored Mary Tyler Moore in the 1970s, and wanted nothing more than to dress up in a suit, go to a job, and read about world events in the newspaper. At the same time, she was just as proud to cook for us the way my grandmother had cooked for her.

Mom’s petite hands worked a typewriter and answered phones, held the rails on the bus and train in the bitter cold, wiped our tears, scolded us, sewed our clothes, and at the end of the day, made us dinner every night. Her hands took on a completely different form when she was cooking, especially when she was making homemade Indian flatbreads. I couldn’t help but watch as her hands worked the dough, deftly mixing, rolling, kneading with speed and dexterity. No matter how tired she was, mom suddenly had a burst of energy when she was making my grandmother’s whole wheat chapatis or rice rotis.

I have indelible memories of watching my aunts and great aunts in India sitting on the cool clay floors of their kitchens mixing, rolling, and kneading in just the same way. Attired in colorful saris, barefoot, with their long black hair tied up tightly, they gently blended silky flour, a sprinkling of spices, and drops of oil with the tips of their fingers into soft little mounds, pressing them expertly into flat round moons, and then onto a hot cast iron skillet. The hiss of the pan, the quick flip of the spatula, a smooth coating of glistening ghee, the chapatis would hit our plates while they were still piping hot. As in most homes in India, the children and men always ate first; the women of the house always dined last, after everyone else had pushed back from the table, contented, our tummies full of warm flatbreads, rice, stewed lentils, curried vegetables, yogurt, and pickled mango.

I love listening to my cousin Ram talk about the strength of the women in our family, especially my grandmother and great-grandmother. These weren’t women who were tall or commanding or educated. Most of them weren’t more than 5 feet tall, but they were strong, resilient, and loving. They were petite and vegetarian and spiritual, and raised their families to great heights from deep roots in the Indian countryside, sometimes against unspeakable odds. They cooked, mended, cared, and tended so many with those small, able, well-worn hands. Humbled by these women who came before me, today in my small New York City kitchen, I think of them often when I cook. Most of all, as I gently cradle my growing belly this evening I wonder what my unborn baby’s hands will look like.

 ~

Whole Wheat Chapatis

Ingredients

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • 1.5 teaspoons plain yogurt
  • 1 cup warm water

Preparation

  1. Place flour into a wide bowl and create a well in the middle with your hand.
  2. Add salt, oil, and yogurt to the flour and mix to combine by hand.
  3. Add 1/2 cup of warm water and continue combining by hand. Add a little more warm water (1/4 cup at a time) to moisten and achieve the right dough consistency (6-7 ounces of warm water total). When you touch the dough it shouldn’t be too soft or too tight – just right!
  4. Cover with saran wrap and let rest in a warm place for 1.5 hours – the more time you have, the better.

After 1.5 hours

  1. Remove saran wrap and place dough on counter or flat surface. Put some whole-wheat flour on a side plate for dusting. Knead the dough with both hands (no need to punch down because there is no yeast) for 2-3 minutes. Knead and roll.
  2. Form a log with the dough. Take a knife score the dough into equal segments (around 4-5 segments in total). Take each piece of dough and roll it in your hand to form a soft ball. Gently flatten the ball and place it in a bowl and keep covered. Continue with remaining segments.
  3. Lightly dip each ball in flour on both sides; place the piece of dough on the counter or a wooden board and roll quickly back and forth, turning as you go to create round smooth circle that is even across. Dip in flour again if necessary.
  4. Heat a cast iron or non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When it is hot, sprinkle a few drops of water to steam. Place the chapati on the pan and cook it for 30-40 seconds until brown spots appear, then turn it over and brush with 1/4 teaspoon of oil or ghee. Cook for another 30-40 seconds until cooked through.
  5. When the chapati is done, remove it from pan, spread little butter or ghee on it, and keep it covered. Repeat for remaining pieces of dough.

Tips & Tricks

  • Yogurt. Adding yogurt in the flour mix is optional, but we love it
  • Pitfalls for gluten-free rotis. You can’t add too much water; less water is better so that the dough isn’t too soft and you can’t roll it out
  • Water. Always use warm water when mixing dough
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Two cups of whole wheat flour

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From top to bottom: oil, salt, yogurt

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Create a well in the middle of the whole wheat flour with your hand…notice how my mother Geetha’s hands are similar to my grandmother Rajalakshmi’s hands in the photo above

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Add salt (sprinkle), oil, and yogurt to flour

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Mix to combine by hand

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Add 1/2 cup of warm water

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Continue combining by hand and add a little more warm water (1/4 cup at a time) to moisten

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Mix by hand until you achieve the right dough consistency

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When you achieve the right dough consistency, cover with saran wrap and let rest in a warm place for 1-5 hours

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After one hour, knead the dough with both hands for 2-3 minutes

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Form a log out of the dough — great pic of my mother Geetha’s hands at work!

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Take a knife score the dough in equal segments (around 4-5 segments)

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Take each piece and roll in your hand to form a soft ball. Gently flatten each ball and lightly dip the ball in flour on each side

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Place the flattened ball on the counter or a wooden board and roll quickly back and forth, turning as you go

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Heat a cast iron or non-stick frying pan over medium heat and place the chapati on the pan

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Cook it for 30-40 seconds until brown spots appear, then turn it and brush with 1/4 spoon of oil or ghee. Cook for another 30-40 seconds until cooked through.

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Voila! Your homemade chapati is done