Week One

My partner, Ena, started up an instagram account for this blog. “I’m going to look up what hashtags we should be using, I wonder if #meerasodha is one that people use.” She says, proceeding to check. What a gallery of photos that turned out to be, and what a terrifying standard to keep. It’s full of posts by people who probably make money either cooking or posting on instagram. This is fine. I thought our dishes were nice, but everyone online has fancy speckled clay stuff. I’m just going to go find the nicest looking item in our home and photograph it for the next post.

A Note on Noodles (Dish: Green Onion and Ginger Noodles, pg. 90)

Whole wheat noodles. What are these? I know that in general “whole wheat noodles” can be used to describe the makeup of a noodle, but I’m talking specifically the noodle variety called Whole Wheat Noodles. There is photographic evidence of their existence in East. Chef Sodha claims they are “widely available”. Well I looked, and I either looked poorly or in the wrong places because I did not locate them. I asked for help at the local Japanese grocer “Hi, I need some help. I’m looking for whole wheat noodles”. I received a puzzled look. “Is that not a thing? Ok, I want noodles but not udon, ramen, or soba”. Another look, and then he figured it out. “Ohh! Somen. You want somen noodles”. I was so happy, and I bought the somen noodles. It turns out Somen noodles are not whole wheat noodles. It also turns out that Green Onion and Ginger Noodles is delicious no matter the noodle.

Dish: Udon Noodles, pg. 88

What a home run. The ball is no longer in the stadium. If you have East and haven’t whipped this one up yet, go do it now. I did not leave any for lunch the next day. Chef Sodha mentions in her Introduction that these recipes are how she cooks for herself, her family and her friends. There’s something reassuring in that fact. These recipes are – I don’t know the proper word – simple in a way that isn’t basic. They come together in time for dinner, and I’m not left feeling inferior somehow if things aren’t exactly how I imagined. Like this dish did for me and Ena though, it makes you feel like a star when it turns out. Meera, you helped make our week.

Ena admitted that she was nervous when first seeing that I would be making this recipe because she doesn’t like cooked cabbage (I knew this and chose it anyway, shhhhh. We have to get through the whole book in the end, right?). I can now claim to have converted her. She said she like the crispy blakened edges on the roasted cabbage wedges, and that she didn’t know this was achievable. I’ll be bragging about that one to her folks. It’s a nice sense of accomplishment to have turned the dread into an enjoyable meal.

I didn’t not pickle my own ginger for this, but I will. It’s in the book after all.

Other dishes completed this week:

• Asparagus and Snow Peas pg. 59
• Summer Pilau pg. 140