The 3 Recipes Worth Buying My Book For

plus book tour, life, and newsletter updates!!

Hello!

I half started this newsletter as practice in consistency, especially once leaving my staff job (not that that job had any real disciplined schedule built into it). I liked the idea of having to get something down weekly (I still do!), and I was doing really well until the ramp up to the release of my cookbook, AMRIKAN, happened. Transparently: I fell into a giant pit of overwhelm. I always thought writing the cookbook would be the hardest part. Turns out marketing and promoting a book is even harder. (I have plans to run a mini series about the behind-the-scenes of all things cookbook making in this newsletter, so if you are curious about anything in particular, please leave a comment or shoot me a message.)

I embarked on the first leg of my book tour over June and July. I got to talks with incredible friends like Tejal Rao,

Andrea Nguyen

, and

Sohla El-Waylly

in LA, New York, Washington DC, SF, Santa Cruz, Napa, Chicago, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and even my hometown of Okemos, Michigan at the bookstore I grew up dreaming in. I did a really fun ice cream collaboration with Malai, where we transformed the Mango Cardamom Tres Leches cake from my book into a stunning pint. I got to have two launch parties, thanks to OpenTable: I am still dreaming about the samosa lumpia from the party at Lasita in Los Angeles, and the Tandoori Paneer sliders from the party at Gertie’s in Brooklyn. I had several fun Indian pizza parties with chefs I love across the country, all tied to recipes from the book (with more to come this fall!) and I had the best time on multiple NPR shows and podcasts.

I am really floored that the cookbook is one of Amazon’s best of the year so far, and that the book has gotten a really rare and coveted starred review from Publishers Weekly. Perhaps the wildest thing was flipping through a PEOPLE mag issue at the airport and seeing a recipe for the naan pizza (and a cut out of my face).

But truly the best thing is seeing people actually cook from the book. There is no bigger honor than seeing a copy of AMRIKAN with several pages tabbed with recipes people want to make or getting tagged on instagram with people cooking from the book. The liminal space between turning in your finished manuscript and the actual publication of the book is one hell of place to occupy. It’s hard to watch potential, undefined and limitless, calcify into metrics, sales, and measures of “success.” Anyways, I am perhaps most thankful for my therapist.

BOOK TOUR UPDATES

I am doing a second leg of tour in cities like Seattle, Portland, Austin, Houston, Nashville, and NYC again, with more info to come soon!

If you are in LA, I am doing a Thai Taco Tuesday collab at Anajak Thai this Tuesday (8/6) with one of my all time favorite human and chefs, Justin Pichetrungsi. It takes place in the alley outside of the restaurant and there will be some fun tacos, tostadas, and more inspired by the book (and a few solid bollywood songs on the playlist fingers crossed.)

My book, AMRIKAN, has officially been out for two months and if you haven’t bought it yet, hopefully the promise of these three recipes will convince you too. If you have bought it, a huge thank you, and would really appreciate if you left a review on Amazon.

SAAG PANEER LASAGNA

I refuse to be humble about this recipe. I am truly brilliant for coming up with this recipe and I promise it will quickly become one of your favorite recipes. I made it for my family last Thanksgiving and my mom pulled me aside to tell me that it is “actually good” — is there a higher compliment than that from an immigrant parent?? The recipe looks really impressive but is actually quite simple in its components. Leftovers also freeze incredibly well.

CHILI CHEESE TOAST

I don’t know why avocado toast gets all the attention, when chili cheese toast exists. It comes together incredibly quickly and is one of those rare dishes that makes a great quick solo lunch or snack but is still impressive enough to whip up for last minute guests that need to be fed.

SHRIKHAND

For the uninitiated, Shrikhand is the best dessert ever, but requires straining yogurt, often for days, before whipping it with sugar, cardamom and saffron. I stole my mom’s incredible straining technique that saves so much time and cleverly requires some bath towels. It’s the best version i’ve ever had. Anyone who just adds some sugar and saffron to greek yogurt and calls it a day has no idea what they are talking about.

BONUS: Tamarind Chutney (2 versions without tamarind)
I have 3 different recipes for tamarind chutney, two of which don’t require any tamarind and yet taste exactly the same.

NEWSLETTER UPDATE

This newsletter is coming back with a very regular cadence, with a more expanded version that is focused on food, travel, and sustainability — the guides will still be there, but there will also be more deep dives into specific topics and a lot more recommendations.

More soon!