Rocky Book Club: Food for talk

Indians' generational, cultural conflicts stimulate conversation, appetites

By Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 8, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Eggplant with potatoes is served with luchi, a fried puffy bread.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Mukhwas are often eaten after dinner to freshen the breath and aid digestion. The dish can be made with fennel seeds or anise seeds, betel nuts and little bits of candy.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Mango lassi is a sweet yogurt drink that tastes similar to a mango smoothie.

The book

The title is off-putting, the author's name is difficult to pronounce and - let's face it - short-story collections aren't usually the first to fly off store shelves these days.

But there's a reason Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth rocketed to the top of the New York Times best-seller list in an era when literature- lite names like James Patterson and Nora Roberts predominate.

Simply put: It's a stunning show of a writer at peak control, which is why we picked it as the newest Rocky Book Club title (well, that and the delicious dal you can eat while discussing it).

For those who don't recognize the name, Lahiri was raised in America by Indian-born parents. She leapt onto the literary scene in 1999 with her sparkling collection of short stories titled Interpreter of Maladies. The book of tales, many centering on immigrants from India, won a Pulitzer Prize and was later followed by a novel, The Namesake, recently made into a movie.

In Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri explores the lives of Bengali immigrants to America, mining the tensions between Indian parents and their American-born children. But there are universal dilemmas here as well.

In the title story, for example, the author brings us a young woman feeling guilty for not inviting her father to live with her after the death of her mother, as is the custom in India. In the end, though, her father surprises her with his own independence. The subtleties of the story have as much to do with generational differences as with any cultural ones.

In Only Goodness, a woman grapples with her brother's alcoholism, eventually having to choose between the safety of her young family and loyalty to her brother. While their Bengali parents have contributed to the brother's ability to hide his problem, anyone dealing with a difficult sibling will understand the inherent tensions Lahiri describes.

Lahiri is a master craftsman, building her stories one detail at a time. She isn't flashy but goes about the task with precision, until, by story's end, she opens the door to quiet but important revelations.

This collection can't help but spawn rich discussion - and with Marty's food as a complement, this should be a book-club meeting to remember. So don't worry about the title. And if you need to know how to pronounce the name, it's joom-pa.

Now dive in. A savory book - and meal - await.

- Patti Thorn

The food

Because of the strong food traditions in India, many of the conflicts in Unaccustomed Earth revolve around differences between the new American ways and the old Bengali ways. At an American Thanksgiving, one of the younger characters says: "Two turkeys were brought out, one stuffed with sausage and one without. My mouth watered at the food, but I knew that afterward, on our way home, my mother would complain that it was all tasteless and bland."

The characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories are from Kolkata (Calcutta), in the Indian state of West Bengal. The fertile Bengal region is known for rice production, a puffy bread called luchi, a sweet-and-sour lentil dish Bengali dal and chana dal (similar to a chickpea), the five-spice mixture panch phoron and a national propensity for sweets.

Kris Kapoor of India's restaurant in Tamarac Square says the cuisine is predominantly vegetarian, although fish also is common. Meals are served family-style, Kapoor says, with each person taking a portion on his plate and scooping the food with bread, always with the right hand. Dishes are mixed with basmati rice and a raita, which can be as simple as yogurt, to cool the spices.

Serve dessert with chai tea, always hot, never iced. Cool mango lassis soothe the heat of the spicy dishes.

Kapoor and India's chef Mohinder Singh prepared the food pictured here; manager Gurmit Singh showed us the proper way to scoop the food. We found similar recipes, based on their recommendations, in Indian cookbooks.

- Marty Meitus

Discussion questions

* In many ways, these stories are about obligation: parents' feelings of obligation to their native culture, children's feelings of obligation to uphold their parents' expectations (and the resentment this causes). Discuss each point of view. How important do you think each of these obligations should be?

* In what ways are these families' struggles the same as yours? In what ways do they differ?

* Each story ends on a subtle note, intended to provoke thought. Discuss each story and your interpretation of its overall meaning.

* How does Lahiri's writing style complement her stories? How does it compare with the work of other short- story writers?

The menu

* Iced Mango Lassi

* Curried Chickpeas

* Luchis

* Silky Eggplant Mash with Potatoes

* Sweet and Sour Dal

* Chicken Biryani

* Rice Pudding With Pistachios

Some terms to know before you prepare your Bengali meal from the wonderful book Mangoes & Curry Leaves, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, and India's Vegetarian Cooking, by Monisha Bharadwaj:

* Panch phoron (five spice): You'll find different combinations and proportions of spices in this mixture depending on a cook's preferences. The authors' favorite combination is a tablespoon each of five seeds: nigella, cumin, black mustard, fenugreek and fennel.

* Nigella seeds are a black spice with an oniony flavor.

* Black (or brown) mustard seeds are a different variety from the yellow. When toasted in oil, they have a nutty flavor. In Bengal, they're sometimes ground in curry paste.

* Chana dal: Dal is the name of both the split legume, such as lentils and chickpeas, and the cooked legume dishes. Chana is the name of several types of legumes. Whole chana is called Bengal gram and is often sold split; the most common type of chana is smaller than a chickpea, but chickpeas are an acceptable substitute.

* Luchis: Deep-fried puffy Bengali breads; often known by other names in other parts of the country.

* Lassi: Sweet yogurt drink; tastes similar to a smoothie.

Many of these ingredients can be found at supermarkets, others at specialty markets or spice shops. If you can't find the ingredients for the Indian five-spice combo, experiment with the spice garam masala, which contains cumin, cardamom and other spices and is found in spice aisles.

• July 9, 2008

  6:29 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  lynnrook writes:

  Hi Marty,
  I am trying to make the recipe called Rotini with Lemon, Broccolini and Sausage. Where do I find Broccolini? I've asked several clerks in grocery stores and nobody knows what I'm taking about. Also, on the front page of today's spotlight, is the recipe included. Thanks for the good food ideas. Lynn

• July 9, 2008

  9:14 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  dandelion writes:

  Lynn: See wikipedia's definition of broccolini here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccolini

  You can usually find it at Sunflower Markets, Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods and sometimes even your local farmer's market. Call ahead at specialty stores (WF, VC, etc.) to see if they're stocking it today, if they expect it in soon and/or if they can special-order it for you.

  Good luck! ~dandelion

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