food & drink Masala Squash Galette: Flaky pastry topped with seasonal squash, fresh herbs, and Maya Kaimal’s Butter Masala.
SPICE OF LIFE
Authentic Indian fare breathes new life into pandemic-weary home kitchens By Kim Marshall
A
s we venture out less and cook at home more, even the most experienced athome chefs are striving to add new flavors into their meal rotation. While most Americans don’t typically incorporate Indian spices and dishes to the mix—often swayed by the preconception that traditional Indian cuisine’s bold and colorful flavors aren’t pleasurable for the American palate—two local entrepreneurs are challenging this culinary hurdle by presenting authentic Indian food in an approachable way. Aditi Goswami, founder of Calcutta Kitchens in Accord, and Maya Kaimal, of Maya Kaimal Foods in Rhinebeck, both pride themselves on bridging the gap between American and Indian cooking for those unfamiliar with authentic Indian flavors. And they are doing it with an unlikely lockdown food hero: simmering sauces that can be used to infuse Indian flair into just about any home-cooked meal. “[My sauces] make life a little more convenient and a little more exciting,” says Goswami. “People can easily get into a rut and get tired of eating the same food every day, and sometimes having these sauces handy is a good way to make something different.”
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Food Communities and Fresh Ingredients Goswami has fostered a lifelong love for food that she has since passed on to her two boys (Rohan, 20, and Nikhil, 19). She recalls the excitement of being in the kitchen at her home in Eastern India where she watched her mom, dad, and aunts prepare, cook, and talk about food. “It was very clear to me that food was a primary way of expressing your love and care for your family and friends,” says Goswami. “Every occasion, every celebration centered around food.” Inspired by memories of her and her family’s daily journey to the market, Goswami centers her life and business around the Indian traditions she learned early. “We had to go to the market in the morning to get the day’s vegetables, and it was usually local farmers who brought whatever they grew—eggs, produce, fish—so everything was very fresh. I remember the joy in seeing it. It was like a little treasure hunt for me as a child. What would I find in the market that day? That was the only way of life.” She finds the same sense of community and high-quality ingredients at the farmers’ markets in Westchester County and New York City, where she still sells her sauces alongside a small sampling of prepared frozen foods and spice
mixes. It’s also where her business initially started: One of the farm stands was throwing away a bushel of overripe tomatoes, so she took it home and made tomato chutney (a traditional Bengali dish). Two weeks later, she was selling her chutney at that same market, and customers requested sauces they could take home and cook with. Since then, her business has grown organically, centering around four Indian simmering sauces she’s developed over the course of 12 years: Makhani Tikka, a tangy tomato sauce with honey; Bengali Coconut Cardamom, with cardamom, coconut milk, and turmeric; Coconut and Fresh Coriander, a green sauce with coriander (cilantro), coconut milk, and raw almonds; and Parsi Cashew Ginger, a creamy cashew sauce enhanced with ginger. As Goswami grew her line of sauces, mostly by taking requests from her customers, she vowed to never compromise on the quality of ingredients or homemade experience of her foods, which she still makes in small batches. To keep up with demand, she also works with a family-owned copacker in New Haven, Connecticut, (and is looking for one in the Hudson Valley) who uses her recipes to make the sauces. Goswami sources
