If one recipe could explain Khushbu Shah’s approach to cooking, Breakfast Cereal Chevvdo would be it.
Chevvdo, she writes in “Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora” (Norton, $35), refers to Indian snack mixes that traditionally owe their crunch to ingredients such as fried lentils and flattened rice. When her mom arrived in the United States from the Indian state of Gujarat in the 1970s, she adapted those formulas with what American supermarkets had to offer, and passed that ingenuity on to her daughter.
Like the famous DIY party cereal mix, Rice Chex is included in Shah’s customized combo. So are four other cereals, plus cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, raisins and several Indian spices. “I like the sweetness and color that Froot Loops add — but feel free to customize the cereal selection with whatever you want to use up,” she advises.
“Amrikan,” pronounced “UM-ree-kan,” is a word Indians use to describe all things American, Shah explains in her debut book’s introduction. A native of Michigan who now lives in Los Angeles, she has crisscrossed the U.S. as a restaurant editor of Food & Wine magazine and contributor to numerous other publications. She embraces new flavors wherever she goes, while holding on to those of her heritage.
The fusion goes both ways. Her recipe for Gulab Jamun, the ubiquitous saffron syrup-soaked doughnuts found on Indian menus, calls for Bisquick and milk powder — an innovation of her mom’s that Shah claims produces a texture even better than the traditional versions.
She devotes a whole chapter to pizza based on the pies served in Indian-owned shops in San Francisco and New York, with toppings such as Butter Chicken and Tandoori Vegetable Supreme. In confessing her love of Cinnabon (“the pinnacle of American mall food court dining”), she shares her recipe for Carrot Halwa Sticky Buns, inspired by an idea from her friend Farhan Momin, a former “MasterChef” contestant.
This, to Shah, is what “Amrikan” all about. “It’s America, with a desi accent.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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