Recipes: Curried banana flower & spinach peas curry

Wondering what to cook for dinner today, I peeked into my refrigerator. All I found were a few tomatoes staring sadly back at me.

It's obvious I need to visit Fresh Foods, our local fruit and vegetable store in Carbondale. But I didn't have the energy to do that today.

So I looked in the freezer, hoping there was something else and found a bag each of frozen spinach and peas. 

My virtual desi closet

Clothes by Sabyasachi Mukherjee            

I grew up in India and lived there for what seemed like my whole life then - until I was a quarter-century-old.

Then I moved to the United States in pursuit of a boy (and higher studies) and ended up making a life here. But that's another story for another day!

Nine years in the United States and I have become a true 'desi'. Pronounced 'they see', the term is an ethnic adjective of sorts, an identity marker, referring to a person or product from the Indian sub-continent who is now an immigrant in another part of the world.

As a desi, I often find myself looking back with untamed nostalgia at the food, fashions, music, language and culture I grew up with in India.

Hindus celebrate Rama Navami in Southern Illinois

What a beautiful, sunshine-y day to celebrate the birth of Lord Rama!

Hindu devotees showering rice grains on the Rama-Sita deities. 

The Hindu Temple and Cultural Society of Southern Illinois celebrated Sri Rama Navami this afternoon.

A holy festival spread over nine days, Rama Navami celebrates the birth of Lord Rama, considered to be the seventh avatar of the Supreme God Vishnu and the hero of the great Indian epic, The Ramayana.

A hundred or more Hindus joyously attended Sri Rama Kalyanam (ceremonial divine marriage ceremony of Lord Rama and Sita) performed by a priest who was brought to Carbondale all the way from The Hindu Temple of St. Louis.

Indian Spice Box

My Indian spice box or masala dabba  

For the past year or more, I've been looking for an authentic, Indian-style spice box.

For years we've been making do with a plastic version and I was just about ready to toss it into the recycle bin.

We tend to cook a LOT of desi food at home and I craved for an efficient and attractive spice box that would make all the difference.

So I looked high and low in Southern Illinois shops and online storefronts, but was unable to find the aluminium or steel spice box my heart desired.