Today we’re publishing Indian for Everyone, the third book by Anupy Singla, the bestselling Indian cookbook author of this decade. Here is a Q&A with Anupy to mark this publication date, where she talks about the new book, her earlier titles, and her new TV cooking show.
Why did you write Indian for Everyone?
I wanted to create the go-to Indian cookbook—the one you come home to once you’ve eaten that amazing meal at an Indian restaurant and you want to figure out how to replicate it. This is also a cookbook that I tried hard to design for everyone, regardless of eating preferences or dietary restrictions. My home is typically Indian-American in that we have lots of different dietary points of views. I am largely vegan-vegetarian. My husband eats meat. My kids are somewhere in the middle. Our friends are all over the place with their food choices. I wanted to write a cookbook that brings us all together, rather than one that divides us based on those kinds of food choices. This book celebrates diversity at the dinner table. Every recipe that typically showcases meat is also presented with a vegan alternative, along with tested cooking times and ingredient swaps. I wrote the book basically to fit with my own and my family’s lifestyle. I hope it’s one that many other families will also benefit from for years to come.
How do you think this book fits in with your previous two cookbooks, The Indian Slow Cooker and Vegan Indian Cooking?
I somehow wrote the niche books before writing this more general one. I like to think that this is the more evolved cookbook, the one that helps you deconstruct everyone’s favorite Indian recipes, shows you how to make them well, and then shows you ways to make them healthier. There are tips on making recipes vegan and even gluten-free. The other two books are definitely complementary. If you think about it, no day is truly exactly the same as the previous day. Maybe you uphold meatless Mondays in your home; maybe Tuesdays are extra-hectic, so you need to throw something into a slow cooker; and maybe, come the weekend, you want to sit down to a more elaborate meal. I like to think that my books will help you be any kind of cook you want to be on any given day, and help you get healthy, home-style Indian food on that dinner table for you, your family, and your friends.
What is the most common misconception about cooking Indian food that you’ve heard, and why is it wrong?
So many people think Indian food is complicated to make. This is truly not the case. The learning curve primarily has to do with getting your arms around the various spices and spice blends. Though some recipes have more steps or seem more complicated, the processes are similar. Once you figure out how to make a basic stir-fry or a curry, you often simply swap out key ingredients and a few spices for different dishes.
What advice can you offer to novice cooks of Indian food?
Leave behind your preconceived notions about Indian food. It has very little to do with curry powder or layers of cream. Indian food is flavorful, light, and incredibly healthy. I think most Americans are just beginning to discover how amazing it is. The health aspects of the spices alone are a great reason to include Indian food into your regular diet.
What role does food play in your own life? In your daughters’ lives?
I’m the kind of person who wakes up planning what I will eat for lunch and dinner. My girls are the same way. We are rarely satisfied with quick fixes from the supermarket—we like to enjoy homemade Indian food all the time. The fact that my girls like to take leftover dal (beans and lentils) to their teachers says a lot about how they feel about our cuisine and about their cultural roots. It’s something they take a lot of pride in—which was very much not the case with me when I was growing up as one of three Indian-Americans in my town outside of Philadelphia in the 1980s. For that reason alone, it’s been well worth developing my interest in traditional Indian cooking and writing these books.
What’s next for you?
I am developing my own cooking show, one that not only highlights great Indian food, but that does so from the specifically Indian-American point of view. As the Indian-American community has continued to grow, in numbers and prominence, I think there is a real opportunity there. I want to continue to develop more authentic Indian spices, spice blends, and simmering sauces and get them on grocery shelves across the country. All in all, my aim is to inspire everyone to cook and enjoy great, healthful Indian food at home.