Reconnecting With My Indian Roots, Through Food

Hey everybody, you'll be happy to know that I actually followed through on my promise to start making Indian dishes. I began with a relatively simple dish to make (at least that's what I initially thought): Khaman Dhokla. I'm going to guess that most of you probably don't know what that is. Simply put, Khaman Dhola is a savory cake made with a batter of chickpea flour and a leaving agent. The batter is steamed in a mold and topped with a flavorful tempering made with mustard seeds, green chilies, sesame seeds, asafoetida, and curry leaves. It looks a little something like this:  Now, getting into my own experience with making Khaman Dhokla. At first, it seemed easy enough: I combined the chickpea flour, some seasonings/aromatics, baking soda, and water. Then, when it came to placing the batter in a mold and steaming it, things started to go downhill. I, for one, have never steamed anything in my life. Consequently, I had to "phone a friend" aka ask my mom for...

Anybody who knows me, probably also knows that I love to bake and cook. What began as an attempt to cure my endless boredom during the pandemic, has transformed into a passion. I love both the process of baking/cooking- measuring out the ingredients and seeing how they interact with one another - as well as witnessing the looks of enjoyment on people's faces as they taste what I've made. For some reason, however, despite having made countless recipes from a diverse pool of cultures and cuisines, I've never found myself trying to make Indian dishes. I consume Indian food constantly- whereas I can make anything but  Indian food, it seems to be the only thing my mom can  make- but I think deep down I'm scared to experiment with the cuisine. I'm scared to ruin what I've grown up eating, to, in some way, tarnish the cuisine.  But, now, with college looming over me, I think it's time to get over that fear. I won't always be living with my parents, so if I want...