From Awadh with Love: The Savory History of Indian Slow Cooking

From Awadh with Love: The Savory History of Indian Slow Cooking
Cover of Anupy Singla's "The Indian Slow Cooker" (detail) CHC/file
From Awadh with Love: The Savory History of Indian Slow Cooking
Cover of Anupy Singla's "The Indian Slow Cooker" (detail) CHC/file

From Awadh with Love: The Savory History of Indian Slow Cooking

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Listen in as Anupy Singla discusses the history of dum pukht, the original slow cooking style of Indian cuisine. Only about two centuries old, this style of cooking centers on stewed meats and beans cooked over a very low flame in a container sealed with dough. The process enables meats to cook in their own juices and bone marrow. The region of Awadh introduced this style of cooking, and now it is used in many areas of India. Anupy will also tell us how her background influenced her culinary passion. She was born in India but her family settled outside of Philadelphia when she was three years old. Yet every year she visited her family in Punjab. It was Anupy’s grandfather who gave her her first cooking lesson at the age of ten. A landowner from a small village, he appreciated the spicy, authentic tastes of Punjabi cuisine and insisted on passing along his love of food to his grandchildren. Anupy went on to work on Capitol Hill, earned her graduate degree in Japanese studies, and became a reporter for Bloomberg News, WGN, and CLTV in Chicago. It wasn’t until her daughters were born that she realized her commitment to family, food, and cultural history. This realization led Anupy to quit her on camera job to write her first cookbook, The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes, which was published late last year.

Recorded Saturday, May 21, 2011 at Barbara’s Bookstore.