Table for One
3 Indian-ish Toasts for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Priya Krishna on why bread is the perfect food for one.
Table for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and only himself—and seeks to celebrate the beauty of solitude in its many forms.
Cookbook author Priya Krishna and I share a handful of similar experiences:
- Our parents moved to the United States in the 1980s, during a wave of Indian and South Korean immigration.
- We grew up in the suburbs surrounded by "99 percent white people," but cushioned by an enormous family of aunts, uncles, and cousins.
- Only recently have we begun to realize just how cool our moms are.
"Remember when Sheryl Sandberg first started urging people to lean in, and people treated this like a brand-new idea?" Priya writes in the introduction to her just-released book, Indian-ish (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). "Far before that was happening, my mom was blazing the trail in our family for how to be a successful mom and working woman, all while pursuing many side hustles and being an awesome, creative force in the kitchen."
What I love most about Indian-ish is that it doesn't seek to be an explainer for Indian cuisine as a whole and its many regional specialties, but rather pinpoints one specific aspect of the American immigrant experience. As she tells it, the book "gives you a good idea of how many Indian immigrants in the United States eat today."
What this concession makes room for is a celebration of the kind of food we come to cook when we're far from home and forced to make do with what we have around us.
For Priya and her family in Dallas, Texas back in the '80s, that meant substituting feta for paneer because Indian groceries like Patel Brothers were just getting started. This is arguably the way L.A. galbi came to be in the days before H-Mart, when Korean immigrants in Los Angeles had to adapt with a cut of beef that was more readily available to them at their local supermarkets. As writer Irene Yoo says, "More than any other food, L.A. galbi is a Korean dish that is uniquely Korean-American."
So, too, are the recipes in Priya's book uniquely Indian-American.
"Some of my favorite restaurants in the country are ones that are born out of immigrants coming to a new country," Priya told Roads & Kingdoms earlier this week, "not finding all the ingredients they’re looking for, and discovering new ingredients—the wonderful marriages that are born out of that. I wanted the book to speak to the beautiful tension that exists between the first generation and the second generation, and how my mom used food as a way to bridge her home culture with this new culture that she found."
It's an exciting time to be a second-generation immigrant in food. As Priya confesses, "I have finally been able to come to terms with my roots. ... At some point, that deep shame and desire to hide who I was morphed into something resembling confidence." So to celebrate Indian-ish and its staggering confidence, I thought I'd collect three of the toasts in the "Breads" chapter (with the philosophy in mind that toast is the perfect meal for one).
"Toast is actually a very commonly found item in India," Priya tells me. "Among my family that lives there, it's the most popular breakfast. So when we were growing up, our house was never without that sliced bread stuffed in a plastic bag and sealed with a twist tie. It went with everything, from sabzi to dal. We could top it with endless ingredients, from bhujia (chickpea flour–based savory sprinkles) to butter and chaat masala. It felt right to have a section devoted to all the wonderful toast combinations we've come up with through the years!"
| 1 | slice bread (I like whole wheat) |
| 2 | tablespoons unsalted almond butter |
| 1/4 | teaspoon chaat masala, plus more if needed |
| 1 | slice bread (I like whole wheat) |
| 2 | tablespoons unsalted almond butter |
| 1/4 | teaspoon chaat masala, plus more if needed |
"Allow me to introduce you to the genius add-on of Indian cuisine’s pungent, MSG-like spice blend, chaat masala," Priya writes, "which turns an ordinary breakfast into an umami-filled salt-and-spice bomb that tastes like the most craveable nut mix in toast form." I'm grateful to her for introducing me to the wondrous magic of chaat masala, which makes breakfast just a little more savory.
| 2 | slices bread, any kind (I like a very grainy bread, but this combo tastes great on truly anything) |
| 1 | medium Roma tomato, diced into 1/2-inch pieces |
| 1/4 | cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (1 ounce) |
| 1/2 | teaspoon chaat masala, plus more if needed |
| 2 | slices bread, any kind (I like a very grainy bread, but this combo tastes great on truly anything) |
| 1 | medium Roma tomato, diced into 1/2-inch pieces |
| 1/4 | cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (1 ounce) |
| 1/2 | teaspoon chaat masala, plus more if needed |
"Nothing makes me happier than making my two tomato-cheese toasts, enjoying them with a glass of milk, and having lunch done and eaten in 20 minutes without a single dish to clean," Priya tells me. "It's very freeing." (Again, chaat masala saves the day—as does a cold glass of milk, which "cuts through all the salt and keeps you refreshed between bites.")
| 1/2 | cup leftover potato-based sabzi (Roasted Aloo Gobhi, recipe follows, is my personal favorite) |
| 2 | slices multigrain bread |
| 1/4 | cup grated cheddar cheese (1 ounce; optional) |
| Olive oil or butter, for cooking | |
| Ketchup, for serving |
| 1/2 | cup leftover potato-based sabzi (Roasted Aloo Gobhi, recipe follows, is my personal favorite) |
| 2 | slices multigrain bread |
| 1/4 | cup grated cheddar cheese (1 ounce; optional) |
| Olive oil or butter, for cooking | |
| Ketchup, for serving |
| 2 | medium russet potatoes, cut into 2-inch-long sticks |
| 1 | medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets |
| 5 | tablespoons olive oil, divided |
| 1 | teaspoon cumin seeds |
| 1/2 | teaspoon ground turmeric |
| 1 | small yellow onion, finely diced |
| 1 | pinch asafetida (optional, but really great) |
| 1 | pinch red chile powder |
| 1 | tablespoon julienned fresh ginger (see Tip below) |
| 1 | tablespoon fresh lime juice (from about half a lime), plus more if needed |
| 1 | teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed |
| 1/2 | cup chopped fresh cilantro (stems and leaves), for garnish |
| 2 | medium russet potatoes, cut into 2-inch-long sticks |
| 1 | medium head cauliflower, cut into small florets |
| 5 | tablespoons olive oil, divided |
| 1 | teaspoon cumin seeds |
| 1/2 | teaspoon ground turmeric |
| 1 | small yellow onion, finely diced |
| 1 | pinch asafetida (optional, but really great) |
| 1 | pinch red chile powder |
| 1 | tablespoon julienned fresh ginger (see Tip below) |
| 1 | tablespoon fresh lime juice (from about half a lime), plus more if needed |
| 1 | teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if needed |
| 1/2 | cup chopped fresh cilantro (stems and leaves), for garnish |
"FYI: Many Indians use the word 'toast' to describe both toasts and pressed sandwiches," Priya disclaims in the recipe's headnote. Even more than the sandwich, I want to point out the accompanying aloo gobhi recipe—which completely changed my mind about what an aloo gobhi could be. This one is an Indian-American home cook's take on the classic, calling for a sheet pan of roasted potatoes and cauliflower (versus stewed), cumin seeds that have been toasted to a "medium shade of brown" (which lends unprecedented savoriness), asafetida ("optional, but really great"), and a quick spritz of lime at the end to bring it all together.
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Eric Kim
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9 Comments
kitchen creativity. Thank you.
Chaat masala is a wonder spice. Sprinkle it on ANYTHING & you'll get a kick of your life. My morning breakfast these days, thanks to my husband, is toast spread with cream cheese topped with avocado slices ending with a liberal sprinkle of chaat masala. Avocado & chaat masala is a match made in heaven.
And here's one of my Indian-ish recipes, :) chutney + pesto = chesto
https://food52.com/recipes/37173-basil-chesto-chutney-pesto
Here's to uplifting a staid singleton main stay snack of tea and toast to spicy, new heights!
: )
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