I spent seventeen years in India, in a home where we cooked vegetables, lentils, and rice — and I grew up vegetarian. Chicken was not part of my childhood language. I learned it later — in America, in a small apartment I shared with my college roommate. Her mother, Kusum-aunti, would send her back from visits with containers of food.Old yogurt tubs, sour cream tubs — washed, saved, filled without ceremony. The kind of food meant to nourish, not impress. Her chicken dish was our favorite. We didn’t have much furniture then.We sat on the floor, Indian style, plates in front of us.We ate with our hands and licked our fingers clean. No pretending. No performing.Two girls far from where we began, held by food we shared from home. I asked her many times how she made it.Her answer never changed: “Whole chicken, ginger, garlic, onions… and coriander.” Simple. Certain.Must have been remembered by the muscles in her wrist because Kusum-aunti never even tasted it — she’s a lifelong vegetarian. 😊 I’ve eaten chicken in many places and countries since — restaurants, homes, cities that never quite became mine. And still, that taste is the one I return to. A warmth and feeling I wish I could bottle. I’ve been trying ever sincenot to copy it exactly,but to honor it. This is the closest I’ve come. Chicken Bhuna @backyard.buffalo Slow-cooked onions and tomatoes.Ginger and garlic cooked till they mellow.Spices to support, not steal the show. No cream.No sugar. Just comfort — steady and true. And yes — it still comes in a tub.Because that is how home-cooked food travels when it is meant for someone specific. It’s one of my favorite things we make.I hope you try it. 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 🙏🏽 Find us in stores: Cowfeathers, Native Sun, Grassroots, Diane’s, Ward’s Gainesville, Spinster Abbotts, Boeing, 1748 Bakehouse Now Shipping Nationwide
