ASMA KHALID, HOST:
I often think of spring as the season of rebirth and renewal. But for the chef Asma Khan, growing up in India, it was always late summer that replenished the cracked earth and drove down the oppressive heat because late summer was monsoon season.
ASMA KHAN: Oh, when the rains came, it was as if the Earth was blessing you. For me, my father would always tell me that it is about hope and believing that all difficult periods will end.
KHALID: Asma Khan left India and moved to England with her husband in the early 1990s, and it was only then that she learned to cook. And it was only after she had gotten a Ph.D. in constitutional law that, at the age of 45, she opened Darjeeling Express. That's a London restaurant that has made her into something of a celebrity chef and an authority on Indian food.
Asma Khan has a new cookbook titled "Monsoon." She walks us through making a proper pot of rice or a basic spice blend, but she also includes recipes for simple midweek meals and date night spreads. She arranges the book by season, and when we spoke, she talked to us about why eating seasonally matters.
KHAN: Thirty years ago, when I came to this country, you only got strawberries at a certain time. You got asparagus at a certain time. And now you have things whole year-round. And eating seasonal is so important. It's the core of what all our traditional kind of food was, you know, back wherever your heritage is from. You always ate with the season. Festivals were linked to seasonal food and produce - harvest festival, spring festival.
Food for me is deeply spiritual. It's linked to my identity, my ethnicity, who I am. And the things that you cook - it should be what is in season, what is fresh, not some jet-lagged okra that has been flown across the oceans, wrapped in cling film, refrigerated lorry. Why do you want that carbon footprint on your table?
KHALID: I want to ask you about some of the specific recipes in your cookbook because sometimes, I will say, Indian food in restaurants can seem almost, like, unapproachably fancy, decorative. And yet, you talk about wanting to make this food that, you know, you can cook at a date night at home. So what is your favorite recipe in here that you would say is an easy first step if you are not familiar with cooking Indian food?
KHAN: The omelet curry...
KHALID: OK.
KHAN: ...Because everybody can make an omelet, even if it's a bad omelet. The omelet curry - the gravy is just really vibrant and tangy. It's a tomato-based gravy. And it's, you know - and, like, if you're intimidated by cooking chicken or, you know, dealing with spices, you don't want all that, that's a great way to start. There is a lovely potato dish with poppy seeds in it, very easy. And there's a rice with orange and cassia bark, which is like cinnamon. And once you make rice, it...
KHALID: I love that because I have Googled how to make rice. And this is embarrassing 'cause my family is South Asian. But I sit there watching these videos, which should be so basic, I think (laughter), to make rice, but I find it rather difficult to make the right rice.
KHAN: It is - it's not. And the thing is that - so because I've gone through this whole journey of not knowing how to cook, then learning how to cook, I understand what is it that I didn't understand. So I think that is - I've used that to my advantage. So I'm teaching you how to cook with your senses, the way I learned.
And even though - you know, if you're somebody who needs instructions, the instructions are there. But alongside with the instructions is the poetry, is the magic. I'm telling you what's happening in your pan. I'm telling you how things are going to transform, how you kind of make sure that nothing goes wrong. I'm troubleshooting for you.
I'm telling you alternatives because I understand that, you know, you can't follow a recipe and replicate it completely. Obviously, follow the basics, or you're not going to end up with that dish. But just tweak it, tweak it. Do things that make you comfortable. Do things that make you smile. Make yourself happy.
KHALID: You did write that despite your love for the artistry of Indian cooking, much of it is actually quite modular. Can you explain that? What do you mean by that?
KHAN: Because, first of all, that, you know, for us, food in the East was medicine, was medicinal. So when you start cooking a dish, the first thing you put in are the spices. These are normally whole spices. Their oil - there are oils in cinnamon, there's oils in clove, in cardamom - they get released into that oil.
So you build it up, so you - like an orchestra. Each flavor layering is like an instrument, and you're building it up one after the other till it becomes this beautiful melody, and then you come up with this great dish. It's this kind of layering of it. It's step by step, and you will recognize that modular kind of approach to cooking. Once you cook a couple of things in the book, you'll see.
KHALID: So you are not just a cookbook author, of course. You are a chef and you founded a popular Indian restaurant in London called Darjeeling Express. I want listeners to know that you started that restaurant after your Ph.D., in your 40s. I cannot imagine making a career change of that sort. Was that scary?
KHAN: No, it wasn't scary. And for anyone who's listening to this, and you're in your 40s, please believe in yourself first. When you believe in yourself, then you understand your second chance. There's a little voice inside us, a little flickering flame, that we ignore because we're trying to, you know, earn enough money to pay the mortgage, you know, doing the things that everyone does. You've got the same kind of car as your neighbor.
In this race for life, we ignore that little voice, that flickering flame, that desire to do something else. And I think 40 is really the best age to start. You know, you might have lost loved ones. You've had to leave the city. You've got to - you've been uprooted for other things. So whatever journey you've been through, you've survived. You're powerful. You're so powerful, you don't recognize it.
For a long time, if I was alone, I would open a box of cereal and just eat it without milk because I would think, you know, oh, I'm just alone in the house. Why would I cook? I want people to cook for themselves. Slow down for a minute. Embrace yourself. Hug yourself. Feed yourself. Nourish yourself.
KHALID: Your restaurant is in the Michelin Guide for its version of home-style cooking. It is also famous for having an all-women kitchen staff of all ages. Why did you make that commitment? Why was it so important for you to do that?
KHAN: Because we have lost out. When you look at around you, not just my - our - cuisine, South Asian cuisine, if you look around everywhere, who are the heroes? They're male chefs. And I wish them all success. But the feminine energy in all our culinary traditions has always been the mother, the grandmother. Somehow, it's only good enough if they're cooking for free at home.
When I wanted to open a restaurant, women in hospitality told me, oh, you're going to fail. I told them, watch me rise. I'm going to set the world on fire. This drives me, and this is why I'm so grateful that people are supportive, you know, come to my restaurant. You know, whether they're a celebrity or who they are, every person, I'm grateful for because you are allowing us to live our dreams. And hopefully, one day, I will see someone else opening a restaurant, an all-female restaurant, and I'll watch her rise, and I will applaud.
KHALID: Asma Khan is the chef and founder of Darjeeling Express in London. Her new cookbook is "Monsoon." Asma, it has been such a treat speaking with you, and I do hope I can one day travel to your restaurant and enjoy the food in person.
KHAN: Thank you very much. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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