Kitchens, Equipment, and the Basics

Kitchens in India have changed a lot since my grandparents’ generation, when they were smoky places ruled over by the family cook. Even now, the average Indian kitchen would look primitive to American eyes. Yet the quality of the food that comes out of these kitchens on a daily basis is nothing short of astounding. It really does’t take more than three bricks and a fire to cook a meal, a sobering reminder that it’s the individual who makes the food, not the equipment. Indian family cooks I’ve known have been ingenious in finding ways to meet their needs. Faced with my aunt’s shrinking appetite, her cook devised a method for making tiny amounts of food: he used an empty sardine tin with a coat-hanger wire wrapped around it to make a handle. As a spatula and mini-whisk, he used a chicken’s wing feather. Young Dharamraj Madai, who watches over my friend Mehlli Gobhai, has the best garlic crusher imaginable, a beautiful rough beach pebble that fits his hand exactly.