Sunday, November 30, 2008

Lunch in Mumbai

I had lunch at my yoga teacher's house this afternoon. When I arrived it smelled so good and she told me that she was making an eggplant dish for lunch. I just bought an eggplant on the way over to her house because I was planning on making eggplant parmesean for dinner. So she invited me to stay for lunch. How could I say no to such an invitation?!

What I smelled when I arrived was her maid's masala, which contains Indian spices (tumeric, cumin, coriander, peppercorn are what I remember) and coconut and onions. Masalas are the basis of Indian cooking (as I learned in a cooking class I took in Houston in October). They're added to dishes along with water to make a gravy, which we would call a sauce. She fills the small eggplants (about the size of a thumb) with the masala and steams them in the masala and water sauce. She also added some potatoes.

Every Indian dish needs a dahl, which is lentils. She pressure cooked the lentils with some cumin and later added them to some tomatoes and onions along with water. It was soup like.

Some rice and roti (bread) rounded out the meal. We ate in the traditional manner with our hands. Even the rice. Everything was fabulous. And over the meal I learned about Indian culture. Every class I learn more and more. There's nothing better than spending time with a local to learn about a location, its traditions, and its food. I'm grateful for having found such a great teacher.

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