This is yet another great recipe from Entice with Spice, an Indian cookbook from Shubhra Ramineni. Aloo Gobiis one of the most popular vegetable dishes in Indian cuisine: If you’ve eaten at Indian restaurants, you’ve probably seen this yellow-tinged medley of potato and cauliflower on the menu or listed as one of the specials of the day. In this dish the vegetables are sautéed rather than cooked in a curry base, making it a perfect food to pick up with torn pieces of fresh Indian flatbread. Its dry consistency also makes it a practical travel or lunchbox food. In the introduction to her recipe, Ms. Ramineni mentions that her mother sometimes makes an “Indian burrito” with Aloo Gobi and Indian flatbreads for her father’s lunch. (No worries about a turmeric-laden curry sauce dribbling on and staining your best office clothes.) And because this subtly spiced dish is relatively mild¾it has a lovely tingle of chili heat¾it is a great choice when deciding what to serve to friends or family who are new to Indian cuisine. If you serve this with Ms. Ramineni’s recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala, you will have some converts on your hands.

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Our British friends James and Laura Perry love curry, a euphemism for Indian food. James and Laura say in Britain, every town, even the smallest villages, will have at least one “curry house.” (That’s “Indian restaurant” to you and me.) What a lovely notion. Can you imagine a small town in America, like the one I live in, with a population of 5,000, having not one but two Indian restaurants to choose from? I can dig it.

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On a beautiful early September day, following a late summer swim, my friend Kristina and I found ourselves in one of those classic general stores that are still to be found in Vermont, selling local handicrafts, artisanal cheeses,  hand-scooped cones, everyday necessities like scouring powder and laundry detergent, and one remaining apple pie, looking very handmade and beautiful. We would have that pie for dessert that evening. Why not make some ice cream to go with it, I suggested. My favorite flavor is vanilla (or even just sweet cream), but Kristina wanted something more exciting, something with things in it. She suggested rum raisin, a good idea for apple pie.

Kristina had just been telling me about a trip to India she had taken with her brother and sister-and-law, where every dessert she’d tried had cardamom in it, and not a little  bit, but a lot. She was sick of cardamom-flavored desserts. I like challenges. This was a perfect opportunity to create something with cardamom that she will like.   (more…)