Introducing EasyIndianFood
Digital Desi Dad Demystifies Darn Good Indian Meals
An Easy Indian Cooking Vlog by a Digital Desi Dad
I love cooking. Ever since I was a kid, I have found myself in the kitchen. Not sure if it’s my Indian genes and inner-auntie, but I love feeding people too. Especially my little daughters. Cooking Indian food is complicated, intimidating, and difficult for a most people. But it can also be a rewarding, tantalizing, sensory experience. Depending on the dish, there is always a vibrant mix of flavors — savory, sweet, or spicy and sometimes all three at once.
As a second-generation Indian-American, Indian cooking roots me in my family’s increasingly distant traditions and culture. Making it easier and more approachable — Americanizing it in a way — is a syncretic act. Simplifying, adding, subtracting, and evolving Indian recipes allows me to reclaim this piece of my heritage, not just for me but also for my kids. Food is a conduit of culture and family history. Yet planting my fingerprints on traditional recipes makes them totally new and totally my own.
I’d like to share this culinary journey with you.
It’s time to make Indian cooking easier!
EasyIndianFood is a video-first podcast and newsletter that will fill your inboxes (and your tummies). I will regularly intersperse a camera into my daily cooking journeys, so you can see how I do it. I try to keep it simple, fast, and tasty. I don’t have time for complicated recipes. Most of the Indian cookbooks out there are hard to follow. Sure, some of them are beautiful. Gorgeous cookbooks with hundreds of recipes, full color pictures, long ingredient lists, and multi-page instructions. That’s not me, though. I don’t think it’s most people. I can appreciate a sumptuous cookbook, but Indian cooking does not need to be complicated. Busy Indian-American (and other) families with tight schedules just want simple, fast, and tasty Indian meals.
With EasyIndianFood, I aim to bring you recipes, techniques and a dose of my Digital Desi Dadness that will make your life easier. Tastier. And a little more healthful. We’ll de-mystify Indian cooking and bring you the home cooking shortcuts and techniques that really work.
Join me on this EasyIndianFood Journey
Send me your ideas. Cooking is a team sport. Tell me what you ate that one time you visited an Indian restaurant that you could die for. Give me suggestions for my next video. Want to learn how to make paneer? Tell me! How about daal (there are literally dozens of different varieties)? Or a perfect pot of simple basmati rice? I got all that down, and I’ll teach you. Just tell me what you like and what you’re hankering for. Send me recipes that are too complicated or you can never quite get right so I can send you back the EasyIndianFood version. Tell your friends. And, please, forward this newsletter (please, pretty please!)…
Entrepreneurship, Digital, and South Asian-American Media
As often as possible, I will post videos that show you how to make EasyIndianFood(s). Usually that will be on the weekends. As this launches in January 2025, I will get the ball rolling now, establish some momentum, and over time develop a regular rhythm of Vlog releases that you’ll come to expect.
The print newsletter is free. My full video lessons are part of the premium subscription, and I’ll release a super premium tier that includes live-streamed cooking classes where I take questions in real-time, in-your-home cooking lesson parties in the Bay Area, and personal 1-1 lessons.
I’ll get my merch going too. You know, Indian cooking merchandise. Imagine “Veev Masala” - a whole brand of “Veev Spices” and “Veev Stainless Steel Gear” specific to Indian cooking. Or maybe the brand will be “Digital Desi Dad”. Maybe I’ll import all this from Rajasthan or (probably) Varanasi. Or maybe it’ll just get shipped from Edison, New Jersey — home of the largest population of Indian-Americans in the U.S.
This is an experiment, like all my entrepreneurial endeavors when they just begin liftoff. We’ll learn and adjust as we go. But God-willing, with your help, support, and cheerleading - this is going to blow up big, and I’m going to be on Good Morning America showing off EasyIndianFood recipes to millions of people. My video-first podcast and Vlog will spawn so much social media attention that you’ll see me everywhere from X to YouTube to Facebook, and more. No Truth Social though, definitely not that.
As you many of my friends know, I’m a dreamer. And I’m dreaming of bringing all my interests together: digital media tech, Indian cooking, family, and ethnic media entrepreneurship. Digital Desi Dad vlogging and podcasting are going to be my jam.
Roots of Inspiration
Here’s a few pictures of my second home town - Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, an ancient city on the Ganges River about halfway between Delhi and Calcutta where I lived at various times in the mid-to-late 1990’s. I spent my junior year in college there on the superb University of Wisconsin College Year in India Program. After college, I made my base in Varanasi again as I criss-crossed the subcontinent working for an NGO. I also spent some time in Jodhpur, Rajasthan running a college study abroad program where I got the desert taste (very different from the Ganges vibe).
I learned a lot about cooking in my travels. I also learned a lot here too - in the States - from my mom and all the aunties. My cooking vibe is to bring together the many cultures that have touched my life. How does Tandoori Pan-fried Salmon with Linguine Noodles and Lemongrass Coconut Thai sauce sound to you? I just invented that recipe two weeks ago and it was ahhmazing! I can’t wait to share it with you.
So please subscribe to EasyIndianFood, and share it with friends and family. Ask them to join. Help me get this thing off the ground. If you sign up as a Founding Member, I’ll come over and run a cooking lesson party for you and 7-8 of your best friends….. see you there!! :-)
