Sometimes, cultural heritage is something we inherit through our lineage. Other times, it’s something we have the pleasure of picking up along the way through our chosen family.
WAC Content Strategist Kristin Gole is celebrating Indian-American culture and history this AAPI month with her multicultural household — her husband, a first-generation Indian-American, and their two children.
Kristin, who herself is of Italian and Irish descent, is the directorial force behind the rich storytelling and culinary experience that goes along with being a Wild Alaskan Company member. This week, Kristin is also pinch-hitting as the recipe developer behind a new Indian-inspired dish up on our blog, Tamarind Coconut Curry with Pacific Rockfish.
A little creamy, a little tangy, and layered with warm spices, it’s a curry that she’s made after learning to cook some more traditional Indian dishes with her mother-in-law, and with her own unique heritage in mind. “I remember cooking with my grandmother, who immigrated from Italy when she was 20. Nothing was measured except in handfuls or eyeballs. We talked as we cooked, and focused more on the time together than the final outcome (although when my grandmother was cooking it was always perfect). Cooking with my mother-in-law and now my daughter — and, eventually, my son when he’s old enough — feels like that.”
To help her chosen fish family celebrate AAPI month, Kristin talked to us about how the Gole household celebrates their Indian-American heritage through food.
What are your ties to the Indian-American identity?
My husband’s family is from Mumbai. They immigrated to the US in the 1970s, going back and forth between the US and India a few times before settling down in Buffalo in the mid-1980s. My husband was born in Miami, but lived in India for a portion of his childhood.
Can you talk about your family’s connection to Indian-American culture and heritage through the lens of food?
After having kids, I watched my mother-in-law make some of her favorite childhood dishes for my daughter and my son. Very basic things like daal with turmeric and sugar, or sugar and ghee on a roti, white rice with plain yogurt and milk. They love them! These types of dishes were nutritious and perfect for their growing tummies. I learned how to recreate these dishes — they are now definitely a staple in the house.
Watching my mother-in-law cook also makes me feel more connected to how she grew up and how my husband grew up. It’s one of my favorite pastimes. I’m always so impressed by her knowledge of flavors, her ability to make a delicious meal out of my empty pantry and scraps from my fridge when I’ve forgotten to properly grocery shop. She’s also an artist so she has an eye for putting a spin on a dish that makes it delicious to look at too!
Speaking of pantries, what does your pantry/fridge/freezer look like?
My pantry is a mix of everything. I’ve got mac and cheese to feed the kids, spiced and pickled lemon, pakoras, rotis, a ton of rice, pasta, every type of canned tomato product — and always garlic, onions, and plain yogurt. These staples are great compliments to our Wild Alaskan box. Our freezer is full of white fish right now because we always eat the salmon from our combo box first! That might change now with this recipe for tangy curry.
Where do you shop for Indian groceries?
I’ve found that everywhere I live, there is a local Indian grocery store where you can source great frozen favorites like samosas, and pantry staples like lime sweet pickle, and even some of the more interesting vegetables like tindora. But I’m also surprised at how often our chain grocery stores can do the trick when I can’t make a special trip.
We’ve come a long way since the ‘70s when my in-laws first immigrated and used Wonder Bread from the grocery store to soak up their flavorful curries. Now I can get naan, ginger, cilantro, and masala spices all in the same place I get my other groceries!
What’s your favorite Indian dish? How about your kids’?
I love pumpkin bhaji — which is a coconut, peanut and sesame seed curry over pumpkin or butternut squash (I use what I can find). We always serve our curries with roti, rice and some kind of raita or yogurt salad.
We joke that the kids could live on rice and pasta — the Indian and the Italian coming together! They love “yellow rice” aka their Aaji’s daal and rice.
What has been your favorite part about learning to cook Indian food? Any advice for other home cooks who are exploring Indian recipes and flavors?
Cooking Indian food gives you a vast appreciation for layers of flavor. I am usually very imprecise with my cooking, and one day when making chana masala, I forgot to put the spices in the pan first to toast them. It was so apparent. The dish fell flat and was not as flavorful as the other times I’d made it. The order that you put in each ingredient, and the time you let it take to develop the flavors, is so important and adds a depth to the dish.
There are so many spices and ingredients that it’s easy to overlook a crucial step. Plus, I’m often cooking with one eye on my kids and one eye on the recipe so my advice is prep all your ingredients before you start cooking!
Are there any comparisons that you’ve drawn between Italian-American and Indian cuisine?
First, I’ll just say that my daughter doesn’t think of the food we eat as coming from two different families. It’s just all delicious (or yucky depending on the mood of a 3-year-old).
When my husband and I first started dating, it became very apparent that cooking together was one of our favorite pastimes and we quickly discovered that the smell of garlic and onion in a pan smelled like home for both of us. The flavors disperse from there, but that anchor of key ingredients lives in our hearts and on our plates.
I’ll also add that I love a messy plate and a carb. Both cuisines offer the chance to grab a crusty piece of italian bread or a warm roti and soak up a delicious sauce.
What do you hope will get passed down through food to your children and even future generations of the Gole family?
The recipes we’re making together are about the journey: the journey from one country to another, from one generation to the next, and the time spent together while cooking and eating around a shared table.
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Live Wild,
Monica
Pictured above: Clockwise from left: A fragrant pan of Pacific rockfish simmering in a tangy tomato-coconut curry. The Gole family on Diwali 2020. Elena and her Aaji peeling garlic. Elena shelling cardamom.
P.S. You may have noticed we've been featuring cultural awareness months in our Anchor Points newsletters. It's part of our ongoing commitment to celebrate and promote diversity, inclusion and equity — which we aim to lovingly foster in our workplace and among our community. We invite you to read more of Monica's Anchor Points here and in your inbox every week.
