SLOANE: What was the process of creating these recipes?
PADMA: It sounds funny, but I really just sit and daydream about what would taste good to me. Like all of us, I open the fridge 40 times and day and stare into it as if it’s going to tell me something new. Then I open the spice drawer and look in there. Then I open both the fridge and spice drawer and look at them simultaneously for inspiration: I call it MacGyvering.
SLOANE: You seem to have a great sense of play, and I think home cooks forget to play. For someone that has never played with spices before, where can they start?
PADMA: We’ve all had candied pecans or honey roasted peanuts before. But with just some pecans, maple syrup and chili powder you can make roasted pecans at home and see how easy it is rather than buying a can of packaged glazed nuts.
The act of creating this simple dish is very satisfying; there’s something cool about making it yourself. When you do, you can really see how adding the chili powder gives the pecans another dimension to its overall taste. The more flavor you can pack into the smallest cubic unit of volume the better.
SLOANE: What is the overall message of Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet?
PADMA: We are all connected and all touched by each other. We are a product of all the people we’ve come into contact with. These recipes are a real cross section of my identity and I think like many of us, all of our experiences inform our palates.
PADMA LAKSMI is an award-winning cookbook author, an internationally renowned actress and model, and the host of Bravo’s highly acclaimed Top Chef. She is the author of Easy Exotic, recipes for a delicious low-fat diet. She lives in New York.
ALL RECIPES: From Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet, published by Weinstein Books (October 2007).
You can find many of these spices mentioned in the interview at Kalustyan’s in New York.
More:
- Get Padma's recipe for Pan-Seared Flounder in Chipotle Yogurt Sauce
- Get Padma's recipe for Tuna and Red Bean Salad
- Get Padma's recipe for Francesco Clemente’s Amazing Hot Sauce
