Chef Chat:
Changing up Indian cuisine.
Deepa Thomas, who grew up in India, had never even cooked a meal before she moved to California as a 21-year-old newlywed in 1972. Over four decades, she built a career running a textile company while her husband, Thampy, worked in Silicon Valley.
After retiring, the couple moved to San Francisco and she met with a new doctor, Bobby Baron. In an effort to connect with him, she asked him the secret to weight loss.
It was just meant as a conversation starter, but it was also his area of expertise. His answer sent her straight to the kitchen. What began as a personal experiment led to research, revamping recipes and shifting her cooking.
She lost 20 pounds, but more surprisingly, her diabetic husband was able to stop his daily insulin shots and keep his blood sugar stable. The more she learned, the more she cooked and wanted to share with others. She calls it “slow carb” and “new Indian” cuisine.
Taking readers on a personal journey, Thomas shares the story of her family and the doctors who inspired her to write “Deepa’s Secrets” (Skyhorse Publishing, $24.99).
Curt Ellis, the founder of FoodCorps, wrote the introduction to the cookbook. Thomas is donating all her proceeds from the book to the nonprofit organization, whose mission is to connect schoolkids to healthy food.
Q. You had a successful design business, an entirely different career before retirement. How did that lead to writing this cookbook?
A. Indian cuisine is now pretty much crossing borders. People seem to love the flavor of it, but who would believe that India was the diabetic capital of the world and that 3 million Indians in America are diabetic?
It was that coupled with meeting a new general physician and my concerns that my husband had developed type 2 diabetes. He did two insulin shots a day for 10 years, and it is a doubleedged sword. It regulates your blood sugar but increases your appetite.
I had the desire to be a good wife and help my husband get healthy, but more importantly I was dumbstruck by how Indian cuisine, the potatoes, the rice, beloved cuisine of the land of my birth, was a factor in blood sugar.
Q. How does your approach differ from traditional Indian cooking?
A. I call it "new Indian" cuisine to kind of separate from the traditional ways, not the flavor or the delicious mouth feel of Indian cuisine, but taking the spices and painting a new picture entirely.
The rule that I applied is that if I took an ingredient out, I bumped up the flavor. You can see the array of ingredients I recommend has to do with traditional ingredients, but no refined carbohydrates or oils. That was at the heart. Diabetes is spurred on by overly refined carbohydrates, things that are very prevalent in Indian cuisine even today.
Maybe if we had a book like “Deepa’s Secrets” when we got married, maybe my husband never would’ve been diagnosed with diabetes. I had to learn.
Q. Why take the time to write a cookbook, then donate the profits to FoodCorps?
A. It is a deeply personal answer. I recently wrote an article called “Thank you America.” In this incredible dialogue I hear a cacophony of misconceptions on immigrants. I felt the need to quell my anger with a response. This, too, is what immigrants go through.
My husband and I have led incredibly blessed lives, been given the opportunity and created the opportunity for employment. … I could always use money, but compared to the knowledge that one of five schoolkids goes to bed hungry, it is unconscionable that we not figure out a way to feed our children. This is my contribution.
Q. How did you approach creating new recipes, and deciding what to keep and what didn’t work?
A. Cooking had always fascinated me, but I never had the time or luxury while running a business and raising two boys. Once I had the time, I also understood the urgency of cooking and good health.
The food is there for us to reinvent. The challenge I gave to myself is it cannot be labor-intensive, it must be delicious and it has to be healthy. I shopped, I cooked and (the food) was shot in natural light in my own kitchen.
Q. Do you have a signature dish, one that you want to be known for?
A. The particular recipes based in Kerala, the southern area of India where my ancestors and my husband’s ancestors came from, are unique to Indian cuisine. It is where the trading route was with the Middle East and Portuguese. There tend to be savory coconut milk sauces, which are absolutely delicious.
Q. Curry powder is one of the first recipes you offer, yet you start by writing there is no such thing as curry powder. Can you explain?
A. My apologies to anyone who makes commercial curry powder, but it is a made-up thing. In the kitchens of India, it is whoever is cooking who will roast seeds like coriander, cumin, fennel and so on and powder them lovingly. It is a magic potion, and every kitchen has their own signature.
I grew up knowing that if there is this lovely aroma after lunch before dinner, it is likely someone making a curry powder.
I encourage people to make up their own blends. Some people might like smoky cumin seeds more than coriander. I adore chaat masala, a combination of dried green mango powder, cumin and other spices. A sprinkle of it on a sauté or on a Western salad can give it that X factor.
Q. What’s your advice for working with spices and blends?
A. Once you learn what you like, you make your own blend. Roast your own seeds, but don’t burn them. Once there’s a hint of a scent, remove them from the heat. I urge people who experiment not to keep spices forever. After three months you’ve pretty much got cardboard in a jar. Throw out old spices.
Q. What do you hope people take away from your story?
A. You have the power to heal your life. Let’s stay in the kitchen and help each other. This book is my personal struggle and learning. Many people came out of the woodwork to help me. Now it’s my turn to see if I can help others.