This is my first blog post!
I’ve been blogging at The Botanical Kitchen for a few months now and while I’ve been out and about lots of people have asked me about my background which is Gujarati.
To be specific, my father is from Rajkot and from a ‘community’ of ‘Suthar’ which literally translated means ‘carpenter’. This is rather bizarre as I don’t know any carpenters in the family! I was born in Tanzania though, as was my mother, so a lot of the food you will find on this site also has influences from there.
Gujarati food is 100% vegetarian, despite having an extensive coastline for seafood, and this is mainly due to the influence of Hinduism. It varies widely in flavour and heat, depending on a given family’s tastes as well as the region of Gujarat they are from. The four major regions bring their own style to the food but meals often have sweet, salty, and spicy elements at the same time.
My family’s food is traditionally mild in the curry scale and uses little garlic or onions. This is partly because my Dad isn’t particularly partial to garlic or onions in food and partly because some of the family follow the Swaminarayan faith which forbids it. I love garlic and onions so I’ve adapted some of my family’s recipes to include them where I think they work well.
I hope you enjoy the recipes I’ll be posting on here and will have a go at making them.
Look forward to reading more, Urvashi. *hurls bottle of Champagne in direction of Gujerati Girl’s hull*
How exciting! A champagne hurl for my first ever comment! Thank you Matt x
I am so excited about this blog, I cannot tell you:) Please re-teach us the basics-I need a renewal lesson or two!
Thanks Kathy. I’ll do a basic spices post next!
Good luck with you new blogging adventure. Lots of love xxxx
Thanks Tracey xx
Brilliant blog idea! I love reading about the various different cultures and traditions (esp food related) from all over India! I knew some Hindus didn’t hv onions or garlic, which seems unthinkable when you read most recipes for “Indian” food!
Thanks Toddy x
Excited to see everything you post but “Gujarati” is spelled with an “a,” not an “e.”
Hi. I have seen it spelled that way too. I guess both are versions are out there and I prefer this one. Thanks for stoping by x
Very excited about the new blog, Urvashi. Look forward to seeing the recipes. 🙂
Thank you x
Love the idea for this blog, I know next to nothing about indian food or cooking, so looking forward to learning a few things. xx
Thanks lovely x
Would you consider making a post for the recipe of traditional chai?
Sure. I’ll ask my cousin in India for her recipe. It’s the only chai I really like.
Looking forward to your posts Urvashi!
Thanks Regula x
Hi there, I think your site might be having internet browser compatibility problems.
Whenever I take a look at your site in Safari, it looks fine however when
opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Aside from that, wonderful website!
OK. thank you for letting me know 🙂