Chana (Chick-pea) Blueberry Chaat
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Chana (Chick-pea) Blueberry Chaat

Chaat are sweet, sour, tangy, spicy, crunchy, Indian snacks served from food carts, roadside stalls, and restaurants. Recipes for chaat are numerous, but the basic elements are fairly consistent: a carbohydrate base, a vegetable, an umami element, a sauce, and a crunch. My thanks to London based, Angela Malik for the inspiration and permission to…

Barbara Tropp’s Tangy Cold Noodles
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Barbara Tropp’s Tangy Cold Noodles

My friend, Barbara Tropp, left us all too soon. Barbara was a Princeton Chinese scholar studying Chinese poetry when she arrived in Taiwan in the 1970s. Her experience there transformed her into an avid taster and translator of Chinese cuisine. My copy of her 1982 cookbook, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, is stained, marked, and worn….

How to Cook an Artichoke
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How to Cook an Artichoke

I have to thank my husband, David, for this entry. He’s the one who discovered this cooking method for artichokes. I came to love artichokes when I lived in Northern California. Artichokes can’t be grown just anywhere. They need certain soil and the right growing conditions. Those conditions exist in Southern Europe and, fortunately, in…