Last week, Kim Severson had an inspiring piece in The Times about the influential cookbook author and teacher Raghavan Iyer, who, Kim reported, by some estimations has taught more Americans how to cook Indian food than anyone else. He wrote his recently published book, “On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World in 50 Recipes,” after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which has now spread to his vital organs.
Mr. Iyer’s debilitating cancer treatment gave him the idea for the Revival Project, a searchable database of comfort-food recipes, with the goal of nourishing patients with dishes suited to their specific origins, preferences and medical conditions. For example, fermented rice idli and bowls of rasam particularly helped bolster Mr. Iyer’s strength after his multiple surgeries.
But to him, cooking is medicine in more ways than one. “If I control the kitchen,” he said, “I feel I have control over my life.”
Accompanying the article are two stellar recipes adapted from “On the Curry Trail” — a pungent red curry paste and a pan-fried tofu (above) to use it in. Make them for anyone who needs some spicy uplifting.
You can also use Mr. Iyer’s recipe for homemade red curry paste in any recipe that calls for a store-bought jar. This includes Ali Slagle’s kua kling (Southern Thai-style red curry with ground chicken) and Kay Chun’s coconut curry chicken tacos, both ready in under 30 minutes. I recently simmered up a pot of Yewande Komolafe’s brothy Thai curry with silken tofu when I felt a cold coming on. It helped immediately.
If your idea of comfort food is a bowl of soft, nubby rice, you should try Naz Deravian’s Iranian dami-yeh gojeh nokhod farangi (tomato-egg rice), scented with cinnamon and turmeric. Her clever trick is to cook whole eggs on top of the rice, making it an adaptable one-pot meal. Or, there’s Kay’s Instant Pot chicken juk with its gingery-scallion sauce.
On the sweet side of rice, there’s rice pudding — which I adore with a big handful of golden raisins stirred in it. Chocolate lovers could whip up Samantha Seneviratne’s bittersweet cocoa-laced version, topped with whipped cream.
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For a nice break while your comforting chicken juk is simmering away in its pot, I recommend one of the exquisite short documentaries on Folkstreams. These independent films, hundreds of them and most under a half-hour, are about ordinary Americans living their lives. Each one is full of close observations and inspirations on topics like yodeling and Mardi Gras, although some of my favorites are the winsome adaptations of Grimms’ folk tales to American settings. The films, as the site says, “offer direct experience of unfamiliar worlds.” Sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered.
Sam’s back on Friday, and I’ll see you on Monday.
