Mango lassi

Introducing 'A recipe for', a new series for paid subscribers

There are five Tuesdays in April and I fancy a week off. So this will be the last post for this month. I’ll resume my schedule from 7 May.

I have been on the record denouncing writing recipes for this newsletter, given it takes a lot of discipline to commit to. I am (and always have been) an instinctive cook. Not because I want to give into the trope of romanticising the intuition required in cooking Asian food or eyeballing measurements for an authentic end result, but because I truly thrive when I’m not tied down measuring the amount of salt or whatever. I cook as I live — chaotically — but in a way that still makes sense to me. This is how I’ve learnt how to cook since I was 13, adding whatever made sense to me, at that time, even if I was consulting recipes.

When I cook, I find that I don’t regret or worry, I simply live. And at the end of the process, I eat, which gives me more will to live. It’s as simple and stupid as that. Writing this newsletter has been a joy(!) but working on essays every week has burnt me out. And whenever a deadline looms, I find myself turning to cooking: to destress, to stimulate the way I think, and to, well, feed myself.

Recipes also involve a lot of labour: from thinking about what to eat, to procuring ingredients, prepping, and actually cooking. And to record them in a written method means it’s doubly laborious, including taking decent photographs and noting down measurements. Which is why I hope — if you’re a free subscriber and have been enjoying my work — you’ll think about become a paid subscriber. The money will go towards sustaining me and my newsletter, which involves planning, researching, thinking, and writing. Nonetheless, I also understand not being able to afford a paid subscription, so no matter what I’m glad and grateful to have you reading my words. Thank you for being here.

Here’s introducing a new series called ‘A recipe for’ where every month or two, I’ll send out a small recipe of a dish or a drink that I’ve enjoyed continuously, which I think you’ll enjoy too. Recipes that may be indulgent, unforgiving, and simple. They’re not authentic in any absolute way, except that they’re authentic to me and my palate — but that also doesn’t mean they won’t be rooted in any context. Some might have an unconscious bias towards South Asian flavours because they’re flavours I grew up with and flavours that I always seek when I’m looking for comfort.

I’m also looking at this series as a ‘diary cookbook’, in the vein of Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who really knows me. Essentially, it’ll be an account of a day in the kitchen and eventually I hope to trace my life in it, like I do with my essays. “It is both cookbook and chronicle” as Slater himself says. It’s about joy, pleasure, and living — which I fail to do sometimes and end up just existing. Not anymore!