North Indian

Rekha has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and works for the Bank of India. She loves reading and travelling. At present she is studying Vedanta. She lives with her husband in Mumbai.

When I got married in 1974 I hardly knew how to cook. I am basically a vegetarian, while Prakash, my husband, loves non-vegetarian food. Unlike many other young couples of those days, we moved into our own house immediately after our wedding.  So I had to feed my foodie husband by myself, but I knew I couldn't do it. Initially, we ate with my in-laws, but how long could this go on? So, I decided to cook.

I remember the first meal I cooked. It was a simple potato bhaji, and yet it was a total disaster. We dunked it in the garbage and went out for dinner!  How long could this go on?

I asked my mother-in-law, Dr. Shakuntala Rege, to teach me how to cook. Besides being a doctor, she was an excellent cook! I do not know how she found the time, but she wrote down her favourite - or rather my husband's favourite - recipes. All I had to do was follow them exactly, and they would turn out fine. And, yes, they did - just YUMMY.

Here is our family's all time favourite recipe.

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

I was born in Pittsburgh, PA but moved back to India with my parents when I was 4 years old. I did not know much cooking till I got married to Sanjiv, who is a gourmet cook. One of his hobbies is cooking. I was forced to compete with him! We moved to the US in 1998 and since then have been living in a suburb of Washington D.C. with our two daughters.

Sanjiv and I had been dating before we got married in Delhi in 1985. So, at the time of our wedding, I knew that Sanjiv was a diehard non-vegetarian, who did not care much for vegetarian food. And he did not like eggplant cooked in any Indian style.

Soon after our wedding, my Bhuaji (father's sister), Shrimati Sukesh Gugani, invited Sanjiv and me to her home for dinner. Bhuaji's family are strictly vegetarians, and I wondered whether Sanjiv would eat any dinner at all at her home because there would be no meat dishes. Even though there was a risk it would be an embarrassing evening, it was not possible for me to turn down my Bhuaji's invitation - I am very fond of her.