VEGETARIAN DISHES WITH STYLE
British cookbook author Meera Sodha enjoys a cult following
Maybe my mother and grandmother should have been the ones to teach me their repertory of satisfying vegetarian dishes from Gujarat, in western India.
But they never measure or write anything down.
So instead, I learned to make my everyday comfort foods — dals seasoned with fried garlic and spices, lively single-subject vegetable dishes — from the British author Meera Sodha.
Sodha, 35, has written two cookbooks with cult followings, and recently started writing a column for The Guardian about vegan cooking. Though her recipes take inspiration from all over, they express what Sodha describes in her latest book, “Fresh India” (Fig Tree, 2016; Flatiron, 2018, in the United States) as her own Gujarati sensibility: “creative, fresh and always vegetable first.”
On a trip to London, looking for a cooking lesson, I travelled east to the northern end of the Victoria line and met Sodha at her home in Walthamstow, where we rolled chapatis side by side as her Airedale terrier trotted around the kitchen. My chapatis were slow to come together, imperfectly shaped, but Sodha was a patient, precise instructor.
While researching vegetarian dishes for the book, in India, she had run into cooks who wouldn’t share what they knew, who had said she couldn’t possibly replicate their food at home. But one of Sodha’s gifts is that she can not only recreate and improve on the familiar — she can also streamline techniques and edit flavours, then clearly instruct others how to do the same.
Sodha showed me how to make bharela ringan, the baby eggplant cooked on the stovetop until thoroughly tender, with a mixture of blitzed coconut, peanuts and chilies inside. It wasn’t as time-consuming or as complex as my grandmother had led me to believe.
By the time I got back to Brooklyn, I wanted to make Sodha’s vegetarian recipes part of my weekly routine. To make her summery recipe for a Gujarati corn-on-the-cob curry, a simple sauce of yogurt thickened with chickpea flour, I hunted down the sugary corn that made its way to Brooklyn markets in mid-September.
Stranded with two small heads of broccoli and no inspiration, I turned to her recipe for malai broccoli. Her adaptation of the cream sauce was a lean, bright and intensely delicious update: a mix of ground almonds with cream cheese and Greek yogurt, spiked with nutmeg and squished into every last crevice of the broccoli florets. Roasted on high heat for about 20 minutes, the mixture became golden brown in places, and the broccoli charred, expanding its flavour.
Sodha got the idea after trying a similar dish in Goa.
“You know when you realize what you’re eating is just so magnificent, and there’s a sort of rip in the atmosphere?” she said. “My brain started racing and I thought, how do I make this?”
Back in her London kitchen, she tinkered until she figured it out.
“To develop a recipe, I have to trust my tongue,” she said.
In “Fresh India,” Sodha traces a line from the variety and sophistication of seasonal Gujarati cooking back to the third century B.C., when the emperor Ashoka banned the slaughter of animals. The region’s vegetarian cuisine has flourished over many centuries, and as families have left the region with their foods, they have adapted their dishes in new homes all over the world.
Sodha’s grandfather and greatgrandfather left India for Uganda. When her parents were exiled from that country in 1972, along with many thousands of Ugandan-Asians, they settled in England.
Sodha was born and raised there, in a farming village in Lincolnshire, down the road from fields of potatoes and rainbow chard. She watched as her mother took to these new local ingredients and rearranged them like a musician. Sodha came to understand how spontaneity, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt define good home cooking.
Andaz is a Hindi word meaning “style,” and to say a cook has andaz is a great compliment, Sodha said. Some people may use the term to mean a gift for making a dish one’s own, or the ability to make food with a special harmony.
Sodha describes andaz as a kind of knowledge, particular to a cuisine that is rooted in oral tradition, that can only be learned through observation and apprenticeship, mistakes and repetition.
“It’s a sense of judgment that’s built up through doing,” she said.
I thought that following Sodha’s recipes could help speed the process a little. But still, there is only way to get there: cook.
Sri Lankan Dal with Coconut and Lime Kale MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
1 pound red lentils 3 green cardamom pods 3 tablespoons coconut oil 1 cinnamon stick 3 whole cloves 2 small white onions, thinly sliced 4 cloves garlic, crushed ¾ inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated (about 1 tbsp) 2 green finger chilies or Serrano chilies, stemmed and finely sliced Scant ½ teaspoon ground turmeric 1 large bunch kale (about 9 ounces) ½ tsp mustard seeds 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut 2 tsp kosher salt 1 lime, juiced 7 ounces (3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp) canned coconut milk Yogurt, for serving Rice, for serving
Active time: 55 minutes
1: Wash the lentils in a strainer in cold water until the water runs clear, then place in a medium bowl, cover with water and set aside. Bash the cardamom pods with the side of a knife so they crack open.
2: Put 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil into a large pot over medium heat. When hot, add the cardamom pods, cinnamon stick and cloves. Fry for a minute, then add the onions. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are browning and soft. Add the garlic, ginger and green chilies and stir-fry for one to two minutes, then remove a third of the mixture from the pot and set aside. (Leave the cinnamon stick behind.)
3: Drain the lentils and add to the pot, along with the turmeric and 4¼ cups of hot water. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once they are boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft and creamy.
4: While the lentils are simmering, chop the kale into thin strips and discard the thicker stems. Put the remaining tablespoon of coconut oil into a lidded frying pan (keep the lid off for now) over medium heat and, when hot, add the mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to pop, add the reserved onion mixture and fry for one to two minutes. Add the kale, shredded coconut and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Stir-fry for one minute, add ¼ cup of hot water and put the lid on to steam the kale for two minutes, or until soft and tender. Add the lime juice and stir.
5: When the lentils are soft and creamy, add the coconut milk and remaining salt and simmer for five more minutes. Remove from the heat, and pick out and discard the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. To serve, ladle into bowls and divide kale over the top. Serve with a side of yogurt and rice.
Roasted Broccoli with Almonds and Cardamom (Malai Broccoli) MAKES 6 SERVINGS
1 2/3 pounds broccoli florets (from 2 to 3 heads of broccoli) 8 ounces cream cheese, softened 4 tablespoons Greek yogurt 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 tsp ground black pepper ½ tsp ground cardamom ¼ tsp ground or freshly grated whole nutmeg ¾ cup ground almonds 3 tbsp lemon juice
Active time: 30 minutes 1: Heat the oven to 400 degrees and line two large baking trays with parchment paper. Break the broccoli into bite-size pieces. Place all the other ingredients into a large bowl and mix well, using a spatula, spoon or electric mixer to combine. Add the broccoli and mix using clean hands, making sure the mixture gets into all the nooks and crannies of the florets.
2: Divide the broccoli between the baking sheets and roast for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces over and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender, crunchy and charred in places. Pile into a bowl and serve.