TalkTime: A Delhi in Brooklyn
American-born Chitra Agrawal grew up eating Indian food, but it was only after she started cooking that she decided to document her recipes for posterity. As her food obsession grew, the New York-based entrepreneur quit her day job in marketing and launched Brooklyn Delhi, her line of all-natural achaars. With her business thriving, she’s come out with a cookbook.
How did you get interested in
cooking? What was your motivation
to make that the cornerstone
of your business?
Cooking was always a part
of the conversation in our home,
growing up. My parents included
my brother and me in their grocery
shopping and cooking rituals
from an early age and it just stuck.
In 2009, I started documenting my
family's recipes on my blog as a
way to keep a record. Eventually,
I started to make the recipes my
own by incorporating local produce
and ingredients I discovered
while living in New York. I started
to realize the importance of preserving
these recipes and kind of made it my mission
to learn as much as I could from my family members
so the traditions would not fade away. As I continued
to write, I was contacted to teach cooking classes and
cater events. All the while I had a day job in marketing.
One thing led to another and I was approached to
write a cookbook. Around the same time, I also decided
to launch Brooklyn Delhi and that was when I dove
into food full-time.
How does your cooking borrow from different
elements of Indian cooking and still make it uniquely
yours?
Most of my recipes are based in the home cooking
traditions of my family, but are heavily influenced by
local produce. I'm a CSA [Community
Supported Agriculture] member,
so much of my blog's content
was driven by the fruits and vegetables
I would get in my farm share
each week. Also growing up in Jersey
and living in California and
now New York City, I have been
exposed to so many cuisines from
around the world. I love blending
these influences into my cooking. I
have collaborated with chefs in the
past to take this concept further. I
hosted an Indian-Mexican supper
club called Masala Loca and more
recently an Indian-Chinese dinner
series called Tangra.
What were your favorite
childhood comfort foods?
Yogurt rice was definitely one of my favorites and
is still up there for me. My mother's rice and saaru, my
father's rajma and parathas. These are staples in my
kitchen now that remind me of home.
Why did you decide to launch Brooklyn Delhi,
your line of achaars? How have they fared so far?
From a young age, I've always loved achaars!
I would always bring back ones from family members
and markets in India. When my stash would
run out, though, I realized that many of the pickles
found in the shops were super salty and didn't really
taste homemade. I started making my own from
produce from my local farm share using rhubarb,
gooseberries, heirloom tomatoes, garlic, etc. I would
serve these to my students at classes and guests at
dinners and they were a hit. My husband, who is a
food packaging designer, offered to design the packaging
for me if I wanted to launch the line—and the
rest is history. Last year, we were chosen as a featured
local vendor with Whole Foods; this year, our products
will be distributed throughout Canada. Slowly,
but surely, we are spreading our products across the
country and beyond.
How difficult is it to have your work stand out in a
fairly crowded urban market like Brooklyn?
The funny thing is, the recipes I gravitate to are
usually of the home cooking variety, many of which are
not mainstream or found in restaurants. For instance,
South Indian cooking is still somewhat unfamiliar to
Americans, as well as achaar, but I feel compelled to
teach people about some of these undiscovered foods.
What is your favorite recipe from your new cookbook?
Why did you want to write one?
I love my fresh lettuce dosa wrap filled with potato
palya and coconut chutney. That was a recipe
I came up with for a pop
up dinner I had hosted
in the East Village. I partnered
with Evolutionary
Organics and at the time
they had an abundance
of butter lettuce which
worked perfectly. I wanted
to write the cookbook [Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian
Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn]
to teach people about South Indian cooking and at
the same time preserve a bit of my family's history and
traditions in a living document.
What first Indian food do you plan on introducing
to your new baby?
Definitely a rice and dal mixture like pongal
or khichdi.
Poornima Apte is a Boston-area freelance writer and editor. Learn more at WordCumulus.WordPress.com.
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