May 1, 2025 • 49 mins
In this episode of The Care Collective, Michelin-starred Chef Mayank Iswal joins hosts Dr. Uwaila Oronsaye, Pharm.D., and Dr. Siddhi Chandra, OD, for a vibrant conversation about the intersection of food, culture, and health. Chef Mayank shares his inspiring journey from the Himalayas to culinary excellence, revealing how he mastered authentic Indian flavors across 29 states. The discussion blends cultural storytelling with practical nutrition tips, including how refrigerated rice can lower glycemic impact and the right techniques for cooking different vegetables. Tune in to discover how intentional eating, small cooking adjustments, and cultural appreciation can transform your health—and your kitchen.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, welcome to the Care Collective, a podcast
brought to you by St HopeHealthcare.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Dr Uwaila Aranse and I'm Dr Siddhi Chandra.
The Care Collective is apodcast dedicated to empowering
and connecting individuals whoare passionate about creating
positive change.
Our mission is to sharevaluable insights and knowledge,
foster a supportive andinclusive community and provide
engaging and entertaining.
Foster a supportive andinclusive community and provide
engaging and entertainingcontent that inspires growth and
(00:29):
connection.
Together, we aim to make caringcontagious and amplify the
power of collective action.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Hi everyone, welcome to the Care Collective Podcast
and we are on our third episode,dish and Dine.
I'm your host, dr Uwala Ronseye.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hi, and I'm your co-host, Dr Siddi Chandra.
We're so excited to talk aboutfood and culture today.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yes, Everybody loves to eat right.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So when it comes to food, are you a big foodie.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So I am a big foodie.
Whenever I have time to go, Ido go out.
I haven't been to restaurantsin a while, but I do love to eat
.
I love flavor.
I have a.
I'm Nigerian, a NigerianAmerican, so we love a lot of
spices, flavors, layers to ourfood.
So, and I appreciate othercultures, food as well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, I can totally relate to that, especially with
Indian food.
It's very similar Lots offlavors, spices, and I'm
definitely a big foodie.
Yeah, did you know it'srestaurant week this week.
I did not, I know I heard it onthe radio and I was like, oh
shoot, I need to get out there.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I do, because I know they always post like the
different um houston restaurantsor houston restaurant weeks
where you can hop around.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
so yeah, that's good to know right, I guess I'm not
that big of a foodie, hey Iheard it on the radio on the way
to work and I was like oh, howdid I miss this?
So I think it's still going on.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So okay, check it out .
I will okay.
So are you a big cooker?
Do you like to cook a lot?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
oh yes, I love to cook.
I've been cooking since oh mygosh since I was a teenager, I
would say um so many years undermy belt.
I love cooking differentcuisines as well.
Definitely cook a lot of Indianfood, but I like to mix it up
like Mexican, chinese, american,traditional American food as
well.
(02:22):
So love to cook, okay same here.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I do enjoy cooking as well, um, especially when I get
to try like a new recipe.
Recently I haven't been tryinga lot of new things, but just
more like rotating things.
But, yes, mexican, asian,nigerian, of course and I don't
do a lot of Indian food well, Ido like masal, like masalas and
(02:46):
like, of course, like with curry.
I know you guys use a lot ofcurry and I love curry and
Nigerians use a lot of curry aswell, but, yeah, those are my
favorites that I like to rotatearound.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We'll have to share recipes.
I've never tried Nigerian foodlike cooking it at least oh yes,
have you heard of jalef rice?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
no okay, jalef rice is like.
That's usually like um, like anintro food that a lot of people
have tried, or they'll say fufuwith like soups.
So you haven't heard of any ofthose.
Okay, I need to, I'm gonna haveto introduce you at least to
the jalef rice I know a lot ofour watchers have probably heard
of jalef rice.
If you've heard of nigerianfood, okay, because there's
(03:24):
always like these things onsocial media going around about
whose jalef rice is better.
So there's like Nigeriansagainst Ghanians.
So, it's always like a funlittle—.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do you think you've mastered it?
Yeah, I think I have.
Oh, okay, I will say so.
Actually, I want to try yours.
I don't want to go out, you'regoing to have to bring me some.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I will, I will.
Okay, so you're a big cooker.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
What are some of your favorite spices and ingredients
to use in the kitchen?
Good question.
So I would say the oneessential thing right now.
It's so simple, but it's garlicpowder.
I swear I put garlic powder oneverything.
That's so funny.
If it's eggs, if it'svegetables, if it's meat, I just
think it's the most essentialingredient.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I love garlic powder.
Yes, I love.
That's one of my faves too.
And it's funny, because for memy mom didn't even cook with
garlic.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes, she doesn't like garlic, so when I'm cooking
stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
she's like oh, you're putting garlic, yes, Okay, yes,
okay, I am so god.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The thing is I find it different.
So a lot of indian cooking,most of it, has garlic in it,
like ginger.
Garlic is the base, uh, butgarlic powder is different.
So I never used garlic powderoutside of I mean, I don't even
use it in indian cooking.
That's, it's still different,like I use fresh garlic but,
garlic powder I.
It's my favorite, favoritefavorite.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I love garlic powder for a dish of Nigerian stew so I
like to put a little garlic inthere, because for my Nigerians
like when you know that tomato-ytaste when you're trying to
cook it out you don't want thattart tomato taste.
Yes, like garlic really helpsto kind of mask that tart.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Neutralize it, yeah, neutralize it.
So it's like, mm.
Do you do fresh garlic or doyou?
I?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
do fresh garlic as well.
Okay, so, but I don't knowWhenever I'm like oh, I still
need a little more.
I do love the powder, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Do you use fresh tomatoes or do you use canned
tomatoes?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So I do a mixture.
Oh yeah, a mixture, oh yeah, soum, sometimes I'll like if I
have times it depends on my time, so if I have time to like
blend up the tomatoes or um andbell peppers we use red bell
peppers in there.
Some people do, some peopledon't um, if I have time I'll go
ahead and do that um, butsometimes I'll do the canned
(05:40):
tomatoes, um, and a little bitof fresh tomatoes and then fresh
bell peppers.
Always that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I was just asking because with a lot of my cooking
I used to use fresh tomatoes,but you know how the produce,
depending on where it's comingfrom and everything.
I just haven't gotten greattomatoes in where we live, it
gets that tart taste right.
So I've switched over to tomatopaste which has been incredible
(06:08):
and doesn't have that bittertaste, but I love the idea of
mixing the two together.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I'm going to try that .
I think that could be it,because that taste of the fresh
tomato is a little differentthan the canned.
But of course, when I'm tryingto do something really quick,
I'll do canned tomatoes, andthen I'll still put my fresh
bell peppers.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So how do you feel like food can support people
living with conditions like highblood pressure, diabetes or
high cholesterol?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yes, so I know a lot of people have.
When you're first diagnosed, orif you're first diagnosed with
diabetes, you have high bloodsugar, or if your blood pressure
is something you have to watchand you have to watch your
sodium amount.
So there are diets that arethat have been put out there for
(06:54):
patients, like there's onecalled the DASH diet and that's
really to help with people withhigh blood pressure, so it helps
you to kind of watch how muchsalt you're taking.
Or the Mediterranean diet.
I've heard?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I know you've probably heard of that, right?
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So Mediterranean diet is also really good for people
who have high cholesterol.
It uses like more healthierfats and you eat a little.
You're more veggies and moreseafoods, so that's also a good
diet.
But it's always good to reachout to like a nutritionist or a
(07:29):
dietitian, which we do have hereat St Hope, um.
That can help guide you, causeit's actually it's funny because
I had a patient recently thathad um a bypass surgery because
his arteries were pretty much95% clogged so he was so
confused about what to eat hedidn't know where to start or
(07:52):
anything like that.
So they do have diets that willguide you, depending on what
conditions that you have, onwhat types of food to eat.
So if you're ever confusedabout that or looking to change
your diet, you can always meetup with a nutritionist or a
dietitian.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And I think that's a great suggestion because it can
get really, really confusing,Right?
I think I've spent so much time, you know, researching and
learning about eating healthy,but it's a practice, it is
Especially.
I mean, it's a practice.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It is Especially I mean because when you're growing
up you're so used to howeveryour mother cooked or coming up
with your own habits withcooking.
Maybe you work so much and youhave to figure out what are
quick and easy ways to, you know, make something that's healthy
and nutritious.
So creating new habits isalways hard, but there's always
(08:45):
a place to start.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It is unfortunately marketed as healthy.
But you look at, the funny partis that actually I had to teach
one of my friends this.
You know, you look at the frontof the product you're buying,
(09:13):
the food you're buying, andit'll say all these healthy
things, it might even say USDorganic.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Okay, and you're like yes.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Pick it up, this is great.
But if you flip it around,don't even look at the
nutritional information, skipthat part too.
I mean, look at it, great Sure,but look at the ingredients
Right.
Like all the labels will saygreen check, green check, green
(09:42):
check, green check.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But if you go and look at the actual ingredients
in the food, it's like okay,this really isn't that good,
despite all the labels, rightdespite.
Yeah, so yeah, learning how toread um nutrition facts is a
game changer, so don't matter.
Like, like you said, all thoseum, what do they call them?
I guess they try to catch youwith your attention grabbers.
(10:04):
That they try to catch you onthe front of the boxes is that
just flip it over.
Flip it over and read the factsand if you don't know how to,
like a nutritionist or adietitian can help you learn how
to, absolutely OK.
So, since you say you're alwaysin the kitchen or you love to
cook, what are some of yourfavorite gadgets in the kitchen
(10:26):
and why?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
so there's this one that I cannot live without, okay
, um, and I'll say that you know, thanks to my mom, because she
brought it over from india andit's an onion chopper okay so in
indian cooking it's like Iwould say 50 percent onions okay
your whole meal.
It's like I would say 50%onions.
Okay, your whole meal.
(10:47):
It's very heavy For one poundof meat.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
it's one onion oh wow .
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So it's pretty heavy and imagine sitting there
chopping onions.
It's a lot okay.
I feel you, and then my eyesare sensitive, like even if I
have on contacts, I'm likealways watery, it's like very
painful, it's not a funexperience.
So this little gadget, you justthrow it in and just chop it up
.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It chops it up for you perfectly and it has saved
me so much time when I tell youI couldn't like I.
I couldn't agree more becauseit's so funny.
That's one of my favorites too.
My mother-in-law actually gotit for me, um, and you know I
was.
When she bought it I was like,oh wow, I always like something
that can speed up my time in thekitchen, but I don't know, is
(11:29):
yours one of those where, likecool yeah, it's the street.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, it's the same thing it's the street and it's
like a workout, yeah because Imake four to five pounds of meat
almost every weekend.
Yeah, that's five onions forone day.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yes, when I tell you I was like I love this thing,
Essential Because I put my,because I use a lot of like
Nigerians like a lot of spicyfood, so we do habaneros and we
do a lot of onions as well, soI'll put them all in there.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Chop it up and I'm like, oh my God, so I'll put
them all in there.
Chop it up.
And I'm like, oh my God, it'sdone.
The great news is so it didbreak.
And I was like, oh my gosh,what am I going to do?
You know, you can find it onAmazon.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Oh, really yes, and it's like very affordable.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So, if yours ever breaks you got to back up Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I will definitely cherish that forever.
So thank you to mymother-in-law for that?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
What would you say?
Is your favorite comfort foodand have you found a healthier
twist on it?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
My favorite comfort food being for me, I love carbs
and I love a fresh pot of riceNice anything with rice.
As a Nigerian-American, we doof rice.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Nice Anything with rice as a Nigerian.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
American.
We do love rice.
It's okay.
I love a good bowl of rice, butrice is not.
It's not.
You can't have it in excess,you know.
So it's carby.
So I have been trying to.
Either I will half my amount ofrice and make sure I'm adding
veggies with it, if I do want mywhite rice, or, of course, um,
switching it out for, uh, quinoa.
(13:13):
Have you had quinoa?
Yes, okay, so quinoa is a good.
It doesn't taste exactly likerice.
You can trick yourself right butit does the job for me.
Yeah, um, so I do switch it outwith uh, quinoa.
So that's what I've been tryingto do.
But sometimes I'm just like,okay, I can still have my rice
some days.
It's just you have to portionit.
(13:34):
But my problem is that I loveit so much that when it's there,
you just have to.
It's hard to yeah I just can'tsay no, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I understand.
Yes, do you have any food?
I was just thinking about that.
What would be my comfort foods?
I love Indian food.
Right now, you know, I'm stilldoing keto, so I'm doing low
carb and that eliminates rice,but I don't think that's my like
big thing.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I would say more so would be like roti with it.
I would love to have roti withit yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But I think I'm doing okay.
I'm grateful that, like I wouldsay, 70% of Indian food is low
carb.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Okay, that's good, so it falls within it and you know
a few indulgences here andthere.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
when I can I?
Think you know what I wouldreally love, though, if I could
eat anything right now, would bea pizza.
I love like a really niceNapoleon pizza.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I don't have a replacement for that.
I'm sorry you guys don't have areplacement.
Have you heard of the?
What is it?
The cauliflower, have you evertried?
The cauliflower, exactly.
No, it doesn't do it for me.
It's not exactly.
No, it doesn't do it for me,the cauliflower does not do it
for me.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
If I'm gonna have, pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I'm gonna eat pizza exactly you know.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Speaking of yummy food and comfort food, I'm
really excited to introduce ourguest speaker.
Chef monk is well from myfavorite indian restaurant
restaurant in Houston, mustafa.
If you haven't been there, youneed to run on over and try it
out.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yes, I will be going there today.
Okay, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
So let's go ahead and get on the call All right.
Hi Chef Mayank.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Hi, how are you?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Great, great Thank you for joining us.
Yes, thank you Welcome.
How are you?
Great, great Thank you forjoining us.
Yes, thank you Welcome.
Welcome my pleasure Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
You know, we're honored to welcome you.
Chef Mayank Iswal, executiveChef of the acclaimed Moustapha
in Houston and a Michelin StarCulinary Master known for his
bold innovation and deepreverence for Indians' diverse
regional flavors.
For his bold innovation anddeep reverence for Indians'
diverse regional flavors, chefMayank crafts immersive dining
experiences that are artistic asthey are unforgettable.
(15:50):
From the foothills of theHimalayas to the heart of
Houston, his journey is one ofpassion, precision and purpose.
Join us as we dive into thestory, inspiration and global
impact of a chef who'sredefining modern Indian cuisine
.
What a great introduction.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you very much.
Inspiration and global impactof a chef who's redefining
modern Indian cuisine what agreat introduction.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Thank you very much.
Yes, and you know.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
first off, congratulations on being awarded
your Michelin stars Very welldeserved.
Thank you very much.
It means a lot.
It means a lot.
Thank you for supporting alwaysMe too, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Of course, you know, the biggest thing that I love
about Mustafa is your story, andthat's what I would love for
our viewers to know.
First is you know, tell usabout your journey through India
and your inspiration.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So, actually, like, I grew up in a caterer's family.
My father was, you know, acaterer, he had a catering
business.
So I remember, like I was eightyears old when I was thrown
into the kitchen, uh, very early.
Uh, then my summer vacation andmy winter vacation was always
around food.
Um, it was, uh, you know like,I never used to like it, to be
(16:59):
very frank, in the beginning,because it it was a little
forceful, like you know, becausehe wanted me to, you know like,
uh, you know, start likeworking in the business very
early so that I can take care ofthe business in the future.
That was the whole idea and itwas first to you, right.
But you know, when I turnedlike 12 or 13, uh, I started
liking it.
So I was very attracted towardsfire as an element in the
(17:21):
kitchen.
And you know, now I know why Iused to like fire was because I
opted for the hot kitchen later.
That was something, um, youknow that that used to attract
me a lot.
And then, um, you know, Istarted with very basic things
in the beginning, making littlechutneys, you know like, with my
grandmother sometimes.
And then I started like, reallylike cooking, cooking.
(17:44):
When I made momos, like becausemomo is something it's like a
dumpling it.
You know, if you track theroots from it's from Tibet and
Nepal, then you know, because Icome from a state it's for the
foothills of the Himalayanmountains and we share borders
in Nepal, so there was a lot ofcross culture and you know like.
So that was something that Igrew up eating and then making
it as well.
(18:05):
You know, at a very early stage, uh, of my life and then, uh,
when I turned, like I remember,like 17, I told my dad that this
is what I want to do.
I want to be a chef.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
He was very upset, excited I'm like I'm sure he was
excited because you know heused.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Tell me because you spend a lot of time with the
cooks.
Now you want to become a cookright.
But you know, my mom supportedme and then I had, you know,
then I did my bachelor's inphysics, chemistry and math.
I was a science student andthen my father thought after
that I went for MBA, so, but Idid not.
I actually went to the culinaryschool.
(18:44):
That was my mom For two years.
He had no clue that.
You know that in which collegeI am.
He always thought, oh, he'sdoing the management and like,
again, he got upset when he gotto know, like, oh my God, this
little rebel you know, in thehouse you know.
But you know, like, that was mycalling right, this is what I
(19:07):
really wanted to do.
And then, you know, know, wentto a professional culinary
school in india itself.
Uh, you know, I won a chefcompetition, all india level
that happens in, you know like,because these culinary schools
are in every single state and weare 29 states in india.
So, uh, set the bar really highwhen I won this competition and
then then I started, uh,professionally, got trained in
(19:30):
India.
Then I went abroad, worked inAustralia for a few years and I
traveled all over, like SouthPacific and New Zealand, french
Polynesia.
It was a great journey andlearning about the cuisine and,
uh, the different cultures thereas well.
And then I came back, uh,worked in India for like so many
years in like different groupof hotels Taj group of hotels,
taj group of hotels, lallu groupof hotels and then, finally, I
(19:53):
was in Bangalore and it was inthe year 2016 when I met Shamian
Mithu.
They are the, you know, likefounders of Womusafir.
So basically, they were lookingfor a chef and then, you know,
they were staying in the hoteland then I gave them a chef
tasting meal, a fooding coursemeal, and they were really
impressed and they said, like,okay, we found a guy like.
(20:16):
You know ourselves like a trio,like all three of us, so this
was our combined vision.
You know, like about thejourney of all 29 states of
India.
And then musafir happened.
You know, because it's based ona journey, uh, and in this
journey was fabulous because Iwent to like, I got a chance, I
was very lucky to go to entireIndia.
(20:37):
You know, taking inspirationfrom, like, small towns, small
villages.
You know like cooking with thehome cooks, like grandmothers,
it's, it's, it's a dream.
You know like, and you know,traveling by road.
You know like stopping intothese like small towns and then
going for fishing in the ArabianSea with the fishermen and then
coming back with the fresh fishand then fisherman's wife
(21:00):
cooking this amazing mealbecause she had a small eatery
at the coastline and like.
You know like all thesebeautiful adventures from the
journey, all these beautifuladventures from the journey.
And then we opened Masafir inthe middle of pandemic.
That is again very unfortunate,but a blessing in disguise.
We got time to like, sell nowand like it's been a new
restaurant, a huge restaurant,started training people remotely
(21:22):
because we were not able totrain people you know in person,
because we were about to openthe restaurant and then just
complete lockdown, shut down,and then we could not do our
trainings Right, so I madevideos sitting in my apartment
and then sending them you know,all these videos to all these
like servers, managers, so theycan actually like see my videos.
(21:42):
And then you know they can.
And then we also send thempackets of like spices and
everything.
So I was talking about thespices this is a green cardamom,
this spices and everything.
So I was talking about thespices this is green cardamom,
this is a cooling spice, this ishow it tastes like and they
were also tasting at the sametime.
So we a kit to them with yes yes, that's what we did, uh, for
the training, um, and then, youknow, then I used to record all
these like voice notes for them.
(22:03):
Basically, uh, you know,because we also have like
hispanic like speakers in thekitchen, and then, uh, so like
for every single ingredient,like, we recorded this small
like voice notes like turmericis in english and in hindi it's
haldi and in spanish it's like,uh, kurkuma, so like for every
single ingredient, I made thesevoice notes so that we send it
(22:24):
to them so that they can atleast know what ingredient is
what.
Uh, so they can understand intheir native language.
So it's, it's, it's, it's so weuse the technology, basically
right.
And uh, you know, with 25occupancy to 50, and in no time,
because we were in texas, soit's quite liberal that way so
we were like in 100 occupancy inlike six months.
(22:45):
So that's great good for thebusiness.
And you know, I have to alwayslike thank houstonians because
they supported us since day one.
And uh, we are here now.
Like you know, the michelin starjourney is, uh, is, uh, it's
kind of like, with a lot of likeleaps and bound, I would say,
and you know, a lot of hard work, uh, but we knew that.
(23:06):
You know, when we were comingto houston that we always had a
dream.
Uh, so dream initiated when Igot married.
My wife said win me a star oneday.
And I told her, like I don'tknow, like, because there's no
mission guide in India, so Ireally don't know whether we'll
be I'll be able to do that ornot.
And when we came to Texas, werealized there is no mission
guide in Texas.
(23:27):
Yeah, oh, my God.
Then we said, okay, you know,we trust ourselves, one day it's
going to happen.
And then 2022, there are a lotof speculations going around
that the Michelin inspectors arecoming around.
You know, like, there will be aMichelin Guide in Texas.
A lot of people were talkingabout it, but it was never
(23:47):
official.
So then it got official in 2024and, uh, then a lot of
publications mentioned that,okay, musafir could get a
michelin star.
So so we were doing ourhomework right since day one and
, uh, we know it was coming.
And and we received an email,and this email comes from the
(24:08):
guide.
And then we thought is it areal email?
Is it a scam, spam email?
I, I don't know.
Because, like, because therewere a lot of like stories going
on.
People said, oh, this restaurantreceived an email and you
cannot tell.
If you receive an email, youhave to keep it to yourselves
(24:28):
till the day of the event.
You cannot tell.
It is basically, you have tokeep it to yourselves till the
day of the event.
You cannot tell.
It is basically you have tokeep it to yourself.
This is how it works.
You cannot tell anybody.
So, um, so we received thisemail.
We had this email in the in thespam box like for so many
months, almost for a month, andthen they were they.
(24:49):
They keep, they keep sending usemail, right?
Okay, please respond like,whether you got our email or not
, and you're thinking like, isit the right email?
It took us one month to justfigure it out.
It's a real email.
And then we check it is real.
Okay, this is happening.
So now, if you get an email,they ask for information, they
ask for like, okay, upload thephotos.
(25:09):
Okay, we have uh, written alittle uh write-up about your
restaurant.
Do you think this is right?
If you want to change it?
So, um, uh, we, we rectified ita little bit, you know, like it
was very well written, so weuploaded the pictures.
Send them that send them all theinformation about the
restaurant, the timings of therestaurant, what time it opens,
and then then still you don'tknow, like, what you're getting,
(25:32):
because you only get to know atthe day of the ceremony.
So either you can, either youcan get uh like a michelin
recommended restaurant or like abib gurman.
We knew that we are not in thecategory of bib gurman, because
that is something uh on, like uhthe pricing is uh okay and like
(25:53):
our pricing is high.
We know that.
And at a good quality food youget that pricing.
We know, we knew that ourpricing pricing is high.
So we'll never be qualified forthat.
Either we are a michelinmichelin recommended restaurant
or winning a star.
So we had no clue, like you did, because and this suspense is
on for like almost five, sixmonths- oh, my God.
Yeah, and then we knew that.
You know I knew inside, becauseit was 11-11.
(26:16):
Many station.
That was the day for theceremony, and you will not
believe what I used to do everysingle day.
I used to wear a cap that Iwear on the ceremony.
That is from my culture, whereI come from, because I'm a
Bahari.
I come from because I'm aBahari, I come from the
mountains.
So I, you know, we, that's atraditional cap that we wear.
I used to every single day, actin front of the mirror wearing
that cap that I want to startevery single day for like almost
(26:39):
few months.
And then at the day of ceremony,you know like, they started
announcing the awards.
The first thing that they do isright, they do the Michelin.
First thing that they do isright, um, they do the michelin
recommended restaurant.
And they do it alphabetically.
So it was the m alphabet, andthen we were praying it should
(27:01):
not be us.
It should not be us because wewant to win a star for sure.
Mom and m paused in the anotheralphabet and then then we
realized oh, I think now, andthen me, shami and me too,
started talking to each other Ithink we are winning a star
because we are not Bib Gurman,100%.
We are not Bib Gurman, that is,we knew it inside.
(27:21):
And then, but there's a wholeceremony, there's a whole
buildup, right, because this islike an Oscar for a chef.
That is the biggest, that isthe highest honor.
So, yeah, that was the journey.
Well, here you are.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Definitely well-deserved.
I'm not going to lie, just youknow, in the excuse of using
research for the podcast, I wasthere on Tuesday and my husband
and I had the Nihari lamb tacos.
They were incredible, it was sodelicious.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
She was telling me about it.
I'm like, okay, I'm going to begoing tonight to try it out.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Truly delicious.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
You know we also respect the culture, like you
know, because taco is somethingthat Houston is very big on and
we are bordering Mexico.
So we also respect the, thelocal uh cuisine and you know we
try to blend in instead of likecreating boundaries.
Why not build bridges betweenlike different, like you know
cultures?
You know it's it's importantyou need to embrace where you
(28:23):
are.
You can only be authentic ifyou're sustainable and you're.
You're looking at the localcuisine and you're not trying to
adapt uh.
I think that is authenticityfor me.
And you cannot find whatmusafir do in houston or in new
york anywhere.
So musafir in houston will bemusafir houston, always kind,
because all these ingredientsare local, the kind of air they
(28:45):
breathe, the kind of water used.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Right, it's different back in india, it's different
in new york, so it'll be alwaysbe musafir houston the original,
the og okay so musafir has aspecial place in our heart
because when I moved here it wasabout five years ago, which is
when I think musafir opened.
Actually, it was during thepandemic.
Yes, um, it's where my husbandand I everything was closed and
(29:10):
he was working that day and itwas our one-year wedding
anniversary and Chef Mike waskind enough to keep the
restaurant open just for us tohave dinner.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yes, I remember that Absolutely Very very Okay, chef.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
So I do have a question for you.
You know us working at St HopeHealthcare and our patients are
busy, or even for ourselveswe're pretty busy.
What are some good tips thatyou have that people who are
busy that can make a nicenutritious but quick meal?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yes.
So you know, nice, nutritious,quick meal need to.
So what?
What I'll do is just thepreparation should be right.
So you know, on your off day,you know you can just like boil
the rice, keep it aside, boilthe pasta, take care of your
carbs first right.
Proteins, you know, if youdon't have time to go get roast
chicken, go to costco, just grabsome roast chicken, like, keep
(30:09):
it in the fridge.
Proteins, like get some fishshrimps.
You know you have to do thepreparation right for this
entire week.
And you know, like, just justyou know also the the glycemic
index for rice.
If you eating the fresh rice,cooked rice, the glycemic index
is 76.
If you're eating the stale riceI will not say stale rice if
(30:30):
you you, because you know it'sin the refrigerator, right, you
will not believe it drops downto 54 yeah, oh, it's so good
it's so good you can, you don'teat fresh rice, do not eat fresh
pasta.
I always tell people that's sopretty.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You can check it online like I'm not even kidding
, that's, that's crazy, right.
So, specifically specificallyfor the carbs, you know, uh, you
know that's what I do.
And then vegetables you know,if you don't have plan, you know
like time to blanch vegetablesor anything.
Try the frozen vegetables fromcostco.
It's fine, you know, uh.
And then then now you have todo the combinations.
(31:06):
Either you are making a salad oryou're making a pasta with a
lot of vegetables.
Then you have the roast chicken.
Just slice the chicken, youknow, just quickly toss it right
.
Or you're making a salad.
Let's say you have the roastchicken, right, if you want to
do a pasta salad with that, oryou want to throw in some rice.
I always have some lot ofcrispies in my pantry, like
crispy shallots, uh, crispygarlic.
(31:28):
Then I have like toasted sesameseeds and you know I have all
these crunchy different elementsright there.
You can make a gourmet meal inno time.
I'm telling you, just have thecombinations right.
That's what I always tellpeople.
The most nutritious thing that Ialways make at home is like
I'll just buy the butternutsquash.
Know, on the day of the prep,as I said, on my off day, I will
(31:54):
throw in these like butternutsquash in the oven.
In no time it's roasted, likealmost 40 minutes it's done and
then just make a puree out of itand then you quickly make a
soup, toss some pumpkin seeds,throw in that.
You know it's nutty, flavorfulsoup.
If you want to put a dollop ofcream, a little butter in there,
that's it.
You know like it's fabulous.
(32:14):
You know I think you're alsousing all these, like the seeds
that you're putting in the food.
Sometimes I do the chia seedsor, like you know, all these
crispies on top like toastedseeds.
It's like omega-3 acids.
Right there, you know it's likeomega-3 acids.
Right there, you know it'sfamily.
A lot of minerals, not ofnutrients in there.
(32:35):
Why not quick meals, like youknow you can do it.
You know, just you have to planyour day.
Okay, you can have soup one day.
You can have pasta one day withsome chicken, or you're gonna.
You can have like a one bowlmeal in which you have some rice
, some chicken, you know, like afried rice, or whatever you can
.
You can do like a ramen one day.
You know like always have somemiso at home.
(32:57):
I'll always tell people havesome miso.
You know, like people sounderrated, right, so underrated
so you always think about likemiso card or like miso this.
But people don't go and buymiso.
It's a miso paste.
It's fermented.
It's very good for your health,gut health I don't have any.
Yeah see, you can just just getthe three different kind of miso
(33:20):
.
Like there is like a white miso, a yellow miso and the red miso
.
Red miso is very intense,yellow is like midway and the
white one is like.
You know, if you're just you'restarting to explore miso, just
get the white one.
It's easy, right?
You know, like any soup thatyou're making, throw in a little
spoon of of miso in there, thesoup will be delicious.
(33:41):
Umami, it's like a punch ofumami right there.
You know, delicious, healthy atthe same time.
You know, you know, always,like I always have miso in my ns
, shelf life is great.
It's a fermented bean paste.
Uh, as I said, very good foryour gut health, so why not?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
I'm adding it right, okay, I'm getting me so
immediately 100.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Get it like you know anything you're making.
You're making a like a any.
Apply some miso paste, likeanything you know.
Like in the soup, you just putin some miso paste.
You're making a dressing, justlike the vinegar.
Like just put some miso pastein the beginning.
You will see you're like youare cooking like a pro chef at
home.
I'm not even kidding.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Okay, we're going to eat it, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So I know you touched base on miso and I was going to
ask are there any otheringredients you think is
underrated?
What's the most underratedspice or ingredient?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
So I would also say mushrooms, dried mushrooms.
You know you don't have to drymushrooms, some dried mushrooms.
Keep it in your pantry, likesome dried mushrooms.
Keep it.
Keep it in your pantry likesome dried mushrooms.
Oh my god, you can do so muchrehydrate.
When you're rehydrating it,that water becomes a stock, a
flavorful stock, of thatmushroom.
People throw it away.
I will never do that.
You know, if you're making arisotto, use that water to cook
(35:07):
your rice yeah it's so delicious.
You know like and also likeyou're using these mushrooms and
you know every single vegetableor ingredient.
They have glutamates.
Now, to understand, glutamatesis like.
It is the natural umami punchin any ingredient and every
(35:27):
ingredient.
Some has like very high amounts, some has less, like tomatoes,
very high amount of umami inthere and you know like it's
like, like sweet, like a littlesour, like it.
Then you know like.
Umami is something thecombination of taste buds on
your tongue and when it takeslike a sweet, sour, salty or
sometimes like bitter likecombination, it's a blast of
flavor, right.
So every ingredient has that.
(35:47):
So these are the flavorenhancer as well.
As a natural farmer.
You don't have to like go forMSG.
These are natural umami.
Go for that.
Like mushroom tomatoes.
I also keep like tomato pastein my face sometimes you know,
tomato paste.
Right, it's easy, right, justthrow in a little tomato paste.
These mushroom like a bunch ofumami, uh, these mushrooms like
(36:10):
a bunch of umami.
And you know like, and you knowlike I always have, as I said,
these like seeds, like chiaseeds, flax seeds, uh, pumpkin
seeds, like always there, youwant to make a little, uh, let's
say you want to make a quickchicken curry.
You know like, if cashews aretoo heavy for you, I would say
just throw in some pumpkin seedsor any seeds, it's so delicious
, and instead of putting like aheavy cream or anything, put the
(36:34):
coconut milk in it.
Yes, I do coconut milk Ahealthier version, delicious at
the same time, nuttier as well.
And yeah, that's what I do allthe time, you know, just making
some healthy meals at home butso underrated, right People?
You know, people know about mis, miso paste, but they don't use
it.
People know about, like, uh,mushrooms, but they use, they
(36:54):
try to get the fresh mushrooms.
You know, like imagine theseare like dried, intensified, so
much flavor in it and then somany different applications that
you can do.
Uh, kokum I don't know if you'veheard about kokum amarati, you
know that you know my wife is a,so you will know right, so
underrated, like uh.
So it is so good.
(37:16):
It's a very good digestive,very cooling.
So let me give you a littlecontext.
It's it's a mangosteen fruit,so when, when it's in the young
palm, uh, local people on thecoastal belt of india,
specifically the western coastalbelt in the state of
maharashtra, they dry it and theouter skin and they make a
extract out of it.
So that is called kokum andthere are different applications
(37:38):
of kokum.
From the seeds of the kokumthey make moisturizer.
That is so good for your skin.
It's a potent moisturizer, sogood for your skin.
You know, I have at home aswell.
I use it.
I got it from mumbai last timewhen I was there, so it's so
good.
Uh.
Then uh also uh, with the kokumyou can make a dressing out of
it.
You know, like for salads, it's, it's amazing, it's sour in
(38:00):
nature.
For the fish curries, like youcan do it.
Uh, you can make a sherbet outof it.
It's like a nice uh squashsherbet.
You just put in the water somesalt, some uh digestive, like
cumin seeds.
It's so good.
Salt sugar, like amazing.
You can do so much.
You can make sorbets out of it.
You can do so much with coconut, so underrated but delicious at
(38:20):
the same time.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
I need to add that into my, and you know, like
people in India.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yes, I was saying, what's really cool about India
is like there's different partsum, there's different states.
That's what he's talking about,that you journey through and
they cook entirely different.
Like there's different spices,they use different recipes.
So my husband is from the northpart of india, he's from delhi,
and kokum is from where I'mfrom, which is kind of west
india by marascha area, and Iintroduced him to kokum for the
(38:50):
first time oh and he just fellin love with it because he's
never had it before.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Yeah amazing ingredient, one of my favorite
ingredients in terms of Indianingredients.
Right, I just love kokum.
I mean, it's so versatile.
I do my ceviches with that, Icure my fish with the kokum,
it's's so good.
You know, it's like lechaditagre, but like Indian lechadi
tagre, like you know, just likeyou know, like curry or thing.
(39:15):
And the hemp seeds sounderrated the hemp seeds, guys,
I'm telling you I do like somany things with hemp seeds,
believe me, like you can toastand make a chutney.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Like where I come from, we make a chutney.
Like we are where I come from,we make a chutney out of hemp
seeds.
So underrated, again delicious.
Okay.
So for some of our home cooks.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
You know we're not at the level as a chef, but what
are some things that are somemistakes that some home cooks
make at home when it comes toputting a dish together so it
starts with simple things likethe dull knives or like the
blunt knives oh my god, I'veseen like a lot of time they cut
their fingers because theydon't sharpen their knives.
Very, very, very basic.
But it happens overcrowding apan with, like so many things.
(40:02):
Like sometimes they don'trealize the ratios of, like
putting stuff in a pan always,you know.
So, for all that, you have todo your mise en place right.
So mise en place is is a wordfor the prep, it's a french term
, so you have to do your prepright.
That's so important.
You need to know the ratiosright.
Overcooking the vegetables,always, always, I see.
(40:22):
So I'll just give you two basictips, like not to overcook your
leafy vegetables or thevegetables.
If you're doing the leafyvegetables, always salt water
when it's boiling, put in yourleafy vegetables in one minute,
remove it.
And you should have an ice bathready on the side because
you're retaining the chlorophyll, the green pigment of the
(40:43):
vegetable.
It should not look dull, itshould be vibrant, right.
So that's what I do.
Uh, always, like salted water,boiling, put the leafy
vegetables, retain thechlorophyll in one minute.
You have ice bath ready, throwit in the ice bath.
You stop the cooking rightthere.
Perfect, uh, if you're doing theroot vegetables, always start
(41:04):
with the cold water.
Like potatoes, put in the likecarrots, you're cooking carrots
or potatoes, any root vegetablesalways start with the cold
water.
Two basic thumb rule but I seepeople doing anything and
everything, like at home and inboiling water, putting potatoes
and the carrots and like doesn'twork like that.
You know, like we could have to.
Uh, because that's the rightway that, as I told you, this is
(41:27):
how you do it.
You have to retain the pigments.
Uh, in the like in the carrotsyou have carotenoids, so there
is a way to retain it and youhave to start with the cold
water, not destroy it right away, just throwing it in the boiled
water okay, I'm learning a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Me too, because the ice like I've always seen it
like on the cooking shows, butI'm like, okay, maybe I need to
actually do it because I do alot of broccoli.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
So uh-huh, so broccoli also, like in in salted
water, but boiling water.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah, always, always green vegetables in boiling
water, always.
That's the thumb rule.
Never start with the cold waterand then it is salted via to
retain the chlorophyll, always.
Even you're doing the greenpeas, let's say, if you're, I
know it's so convenient world,we just get the green peas like
pre-cooked it's fine.
But I'm just saying like, ifyou're cooking green peas as
(42:18):
well, or let's not be like, forthat matter, you know, like no
peaceful market or asparagus,anything.
Always boiling water, salted,yes, oh, okay, incredible tips.
I've learned so much, yes andyou know, like this, I, I do it
(42:39):
every day when I'm cooking athome, these basics now, but it
comes naturally to me.
But I've seen like, uh, thehome cooks how they do it.
I'm not saying that it's it's aterrible mistake, but you know,
you can actually, if you cansee the final product, how
appealing the product you eatwith your eyes right, it should
like the appearance, thetextures are so important.
(43:00):
So overcooking is a very commonthing that happens at home,
like overcooking the chicken orlike overcooking the proteins,
like or like not resting yoursteak, right, you know like.
You know like they, justimmediately, when it's hot from
the pan, people slice it.
Because you know like theydon't realize all, all all the
juices are like concentrated inthe center because you're
(43:21):
applying heat from all aroundthe steak.
The moment you cut it oozes outimmediately.
You know, once you rest it, youknow it's, it's so, all these
juices that it's concentrated inthe center, it's going all
around every grain of the steakand you rest it for some time
and then you slice it.
The results are phenomenal,like very basic little things.
You're resting your steak,right, you know?
(43:43):
Like cooking your proteins,right.
I've seen like sometimes peoplethe seasoning.
I would start with theseasoning first.
Let's say you're making a roastchicken.
You know the seasoning has tobe done right, because they are
like layers of flavor that youput in.
You know, if you try to seasonit at the last moment you'll not
achieve it.
It's so bland, right, it's onlyus.
(44:06):
You have to marinate it right,like, your seasoning is done
right.
Sometimes people do twomarinades right, first
marination, second marination.
And then do marinades right,first marination, second
marination.
Um, and then, you know, youknow, roast it in the oven
nicely, and then you have a nicebutter that you apply, hot, you
know like, and then you sliceit.
It's so good, you know.
Uh, even for the soups, youknow like, people try to season
it at the last moment, whenyou're sauteing the, you know,
(44:28):
sauteing the vegetables, let'ssay like, onion garlic.
Uh, in the beginning, you know,just to, just for the base
flavors, right, put in some salt, a little bit salt, you know,
because your, your, your onionswill sweat faster, right, and
you're also decreasing thecooking time of the onions by
putting some salt in there.
Little tip, uh, you know like.
And and if you're doing, let'ssay if you're making a blend of
(44:49):
spices.
And if you're doing, let's sayif you're making a blend of
spices, right, common mistakePeople throw in a bunch of
spices, whole spices, on a panand they say, okay, first of all
you have to realize thatdifferent surface area of
different spices Cumin is verysmall, then black pepper is very
(45:09):
small, but cinnamon is a big,then bay leaf is a big spice.
So what happens is a stampede ona pan.
Poor small spices.
They die On the pan right therelike they burn, poor guys, you
know.
And then you blend it with theheat of the blender.
The blade rotates so fast thatit kills the spices again.
It's very hard to kill a deadbody again, but you kill it
(45:31):
again.
You know it's a pretty commonthing that we do do, right, uh,
and then we preserve these ashesin a bottle and we saw we tell
people it's a garam masala orit's a this masala.
You know, like, again, to avoidall this, you can also put some
salt, a little bit of the salt,while you're doing these spices
.
It's, you know, because youknow it controls the heat easy
on a pan while making a blend.
But I generally do it under alamp because you know it
(45:52):
controls, uh, the heat easy on apan while you're making a blend
.
But I generally do it under alamp because, you know, back in
the days people used to putspices under the sun.
You know that was a commonpractice.
But I know we live in thisworld, we don't, we don't have
access to the sun, we just can'tput, like, spice in the sun,
but we have some heat lamps inthe kitchen, so I put another
heat lamps.
But if you're doing it home, dodo one spice at a time to make
(46:15):
a, because you want to preservethat spice for longer.
You want to use this spice forin, like so many dishes, like
for a soup, for stews, or likefor gravies curries.
You know like.
You know like do it right,otherwise there's no flavor, it,
it dies a sweet death reallygood tips that I will be
incorporating definitely.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
I learned so much yeah well.
Thank you so much for joiningus on our episode today.
We were very grateful to haveall this information and I can't
wait to come eat again atmisafir please.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Yeah, you guys are welcome.
We're changing the menu verysoon, so we'll be launching our
spring menu.
So on, on this thursday, uh, weare doing a spring menu launch.
We do it at a farm, actually.
We take people at a farm andit's like a beautiful event, uh,
between three locations.
It's a blackwood farm.
We use all the produce from thefarm, so it's a beautiful
(47:11):
dinner that we do there, so andthen we launch it in the
restaurant after like two weeks.
So, yeah, the new menu iscoming very nice.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
I'll definitely have to come check it out same.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Thank you, thank you very much, guys.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Thank you, yeah, yeah but yeah, that was really um
great with chef mayank.
Is that how you say his name?
Mayank, right?
Yeah, so Chef Mayank wasawesome.
I really love when someone hasall their love in what they do
and you can tell he loves food,he loves to cook and we saw that
(47:46):
come out in the interview.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Oh, he's definitely very passionate.
And you know his food.
It shows in his food.
So I'm excited for you to tryit.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yes, I cannot wait, because he was talking about a
lot of flavors, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
And he has so many amazing tips.
I'm definitely going to beadding salt to kind of slow down
the cooking process a littlebit with heat, that was
excellent.
And yeah, with the green leafyvegetables all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Yes, I'll be doing that with my broccoli.
I'm like, okay, have my icebath.
I was doing everything exceptthe ice bath.
So I'm like, okay, I'm going toincorporate that.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
My husband makes like the spinach curry.
It's called balut veneer and hedoes the ice bath and I never
knew why.
I was just like watching, I waslike oh, okay.
You're right.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
It's actually like pretty good behind it.
Okay, so now you can go andtell them like, oh, so you knew
what you were doing.
Yeah, well, what a greatepisode.
Yes, I really loved it me too.
I'm hungry now.
I'm ready to go eat same samehere.
But yes, thank you all fortuning in to our third episode
of the care collective podcast.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
I hope you enjoyed it with that being being said,
please, if you have anyquestions, go to offeringhopeorg
, and we look forward to ournext episode.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yes, we'll see you then.
Bye.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
You've been watching and listening to the Care
Collective, a production of StHope Healthcare.
Join us monthly for newepisodes as we explore the
latest thoughts and ideas onliving your best life.
Hi, welcome to the Care Collective, a podcast
brought to you by St HopeHealthcare.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Dr Uwaila Aranse and I'm Dr Siddhi Chandra.
The Care Collective is apodcast dedicated to empowering
and connecting individuals whoare passionate about creating
positive change.
Our mission is to sharevaluable insights and knowledge,
foster a supportive andinclusive community and provide
engaging and entertaining.
Foster a supportive andinclusive community and provide
engaging and entertainingcontent that inspires growth and
(00:29):
connection.
Together, we aim to make caringcontagious and amplify the
power of collective action.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Hi everyone, welcome to the Care Collective Podcast
and we are on our third episode,dish and Dine.
I'm your host, dr Uwala Ronseye.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Hi, and I'm your co-host, Dr Siddi Chandra.
We're so excited to talk aboutfood and culture today.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yes, Everybody loves to eat right.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So when it comes to food, are you a big foodie.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So I am a big foodie.
Whenever I have time to go, Ido go out.
I haven't been to restaurantsin a while, but I do love to eat
.
I love flavor.
I have a.
I'm Nigerian, a NigerianAmerican, so we love a lot of
spices, flavors, layers to ourfood.
So, and I appreciate othercultures, food as well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, I can totally relate to that, especially with
Indian food.
It's very similar Lots offlavors, spices, and I'm
definitely a big foodie.
Yeah, did you know it'srestaurant week this week.
I did not, I know I heard it onthe radio and I was like, oh
shoot, I need to get out there.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I do, because I know they always post like the
different um houston restaurantsor houston restaurant weeks
where you can hop around.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
so yeah, that's good to know right, I guess I'm not
that big of a foodie, hey Iheard it on the radio on the way
to work and I was like oh, howdid I miss this?
So I think it's still going on.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So okay, check it out .
I will okay.
So are you a big cooker?
Do you like to cook a lot?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
oh yes, I love to cook.
I've been cooking since oh mygosh since I was a teenager, I
would say um so many years undermy belt.
I love cooking differentcuisines as well.
Definitely cook a lot of Indianfood, but I like to mix it up
like Mexican, chinese, american,traditional American food as
well.
(02:22):
So love to cook, okay same here.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I do enjoy cooking as well, um, especially when I get
to try like a new recipe.
Recently I haven't been tryinga lot of new things, but just
more like rotating things.
But, yes, mexican, asian,nigerian, of course and I don't
do a lot of Indian food well, Ido like masal, like masalas and
(02:46):
like, of course, like with curry.
I know you guys use a lot ofcurry and I love curry and
Nigerians use a lot of curry aswell, but, yeah, those are my
favorites that I like to rotatearound.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We'll have to share recipes.
I've never tried Nigerian foodlike cooking it at least oh yes,
have you heard of jalef rice?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
no okay, jalef rice is like.
That's usually like um, like anintro food that a lot of people
have tried, or they'll say fufuwith like soups.
So you haven't heard of any ofthose.
Okay, I need to, I'm gonna haveto introduce you at least to
the jalef rice I know a lot ofour watchers have probably heard
of jalef rice.
If you've heard of nigerianfood, okay, because there's
(03:24):
always like these things onsocial media going around about
whose jalef rice is better.
So there's like Nigeriansagainst Ghanians.
So, it's always like a funlittle—.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Do you think you've mastered it?
Yeah, I think I have.
Oh, okay, I will say so.
Actually, I want to try yours.
I don't want to go out, you'regoing to have to bring me some.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I will, I will.
Okay, so you're a big cooker.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
What are some of your favorite spices and ingredients
to use in the kitchen?
Good question.
So I would say the oneessential thing right now.
It's so simple, but it's garlicpowder.
I swear I put garlic powder oneverything.
That's so funny.
If it's eggs, if it'svegetables, if it's meat, I just
think it's the most essentialingredient.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I love garlic powder.
Yes, I love.
That's one of my faves too.
And it's funny, because for memy mom didn't even cook with
garlic.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes, she doesn't like garlic, so when I'm cooking
stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
she's like oh, you're putting garlic, yes, Okay, yes,
okay, I am so god.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The thing is I find it different.
So a lot of indian cooking,most of it, has garlic in it,
like ginger.
Garlic is the base, uh, butgarlic powder is different.
So I never used garlic powderoutside of I mean, I don't even
use it in indian cooking.
That's, it's still different,like I use fresh garlic but,
garlic powder I.
It's my favorite, favoritefavorite.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I love garlic powder for a dish of Nigerian stew so I
like to put a little garlic inthere, because for my Nigerians
like when you know that tomato-ytaste when you're trying to
cook it out you don't want thattart tomato taste.
Yes, like garlic really helpsto kind of mask that tart.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Neutralize it, yeah, neutralize it.
So it's like, mm.
Do you do fresh garlic or doyou?
I?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
do fresh garlic as well.
Okay, so, but I don't knowWhenever I'm like oh, I still
need a little more.
I do love the powder, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Do you use fresh tomatoes or do you use canned
tomatoes?
Speaker 1 (05:19):
So I do a mixture.
Oh yeah, a mixture, oh yeah, soum, sometimes I'll like if I
have times it depends on my time, so if I have time to like
blend up the tomatoes or um andbell peppers we use red bell
peppers in there.
Some people do, some peopledon't um, if I have time I'll go
ahead and do that um, butsometimes I'll do the canned
(05:40):
tomatoes, um, and a little bitof fresh tomatoes and then fresh
bell peppers.
Always that's a good idea.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
I was just asking because with a lot of my cooking
I used to use fresh tomatoes,but you know how the produce,
depending on where it's comingfrom and everything.
I just haven't gotten greattomatoes in where we live, it
gets that tart taste right.
So I've switched over to tomatopaste which has been incredible
(06:08):
and doesn't have that bittertaste, but I love the idea of
mixing the two together.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
I'm going to try that .
I think that could be it,because that taste of the fresh
tomato is a little differentthan the canned.
But of course, when I'm tryingto do something really quick,
I'll do canned tomatoes, andthen I'll still put my fresh
bell peppers.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So how do you feel like food can support people
living with conditions like highblood pressure, diabetes or
high cholesterol?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yes, so I know a lot of people have.
When you're first diagnosed, orif you're first diagnosed with
diabetes, you have high bloodsugar, or if your blood pressure
is something you have to watchand you have to watch your
sodium amount.
So there are diets that arethat have been put out there for
(06:54):
patients, like there's onecalled the DASH diet and that's
really to help with people withhigh blood pressure, so it helps
you to kind of watch how muchsalt you're taking.
Or the Mediterranean diet.
I've heard?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I know you've probably heard of that, right?
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
So Mediterranean diet is also really good for people
who have high cholesterol.
It uses like more healthierfats and you eat a little.
You're more veggies and moreseafoods, so that's also a good
diet.
But it's always good to reachout to like a nutritionist or a
(07:29):
dietitian, which we do have hereat St Hope, um.
That can help guide you, causeit's actually it's funny because
I had a patient recently thathad um a bypass surgery because
his arteries were pretty much95% clogged so he was so
confused about what to eat hedidn't know where to start or
(07:52):
anything like that.
So they do have diets that willguide you, depending on what
conditions that you have, onwhat types of food to eat.
So if you're ever confusedabout that or looking to change
your diet, you can always meetup with a nutritionist or a
dietitian.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
And I think that's a great suggestion because it can
get really, really confusing,Right?
I think I've spent so much time, you know, researching and
learning about eating healthy,but it's a practice, it is
Especially.
I mean, it's a practice.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
It is Especially I mean because when you're growing
up you're so used to howeveryour mother cooked or coming up
with your own habits withcooking.
Maybe you work so much and youhave to figure out what are
quick and easy ways to, you know, make something that's healthy
and nutritious.
So creating new habits isalways hard, but there's always
(08:45):
a place to start.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
It is unfortunately marketed as healthy.
But you look at, the funny partis that actually I had to teach
one of my friends this.
You know, you look at the frontof the product you're buying,
(09:13):
the food you're buying, andit'll say all these healthy
things, it might even say USDorganic.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Okay, and you're like yes.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Pick it up, this is great.
But if you flip it around,don't even look at the
nutritional information, skipthat part too.
I mean, look at it, great Sure,but look at the ingredients
Right.
Like all the labels will saygreen check, green check, green
(09:42):
check, green check.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But if you go and look at the actual ingredients
in the food, it's like okay,this really isn't that good,
despite all the labels, rightdespite.
Yeah, so yeah, learning how toread um nutrition facts is a
game changer, so don't matter.
Like, like you said, all thoseum, what do they call them?
I guess they try to catch youwith your attention grabbers.
(10:04):
That they try to catch you onthe front of the boxes is that
just flip it over.
Flip it over and read the factsand if you don't know how to,
like a nutritionist or adietitian can help you learn how
to, absolutely OK.
So, since you say you're alwaysin the kitchen or you love to
cook, what are some of yourfavorite gadgets in the kitchen
(10:26):
and why?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
so there's this one that I cannot live without, okay
, um, and I'll say that you know, thanks to my mom, because she
brought it over from india andit's an onion chopper okay so in
indian cooking it's like Iwould say 50 percent onions okay
your whole meal.
It's like I would say 50%onions.
Okay, your whole meal.
(10:47):
It's very heavy For one poundof meat.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
it's one onion oh wow .
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So it's pretty heavy and imagine sitting there
chopping onions.
It's a lot okay.
I feel you, and then my eyesare sensitive, like even if I
have on contacts, I'm likealways watery, it's like very
painful, it's not a funexperience.
So this little gadget, you justthrow it in and just chop it up
.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
It chops it up for you perfectly and it has saved
me so much time when I tell youI couldn't like I.
I couldn't agree more becauseit's so funny.
That's one of my favorites too.
My mother-in-law actually gotit for me, um, and you know I
was.
When she bought it I was like,oh wow, I always like something
that can speed up my time in thekitchen, but I don't know, is
(11:29):
yours one of those where, likecool yeah, it's the street.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, it's the same thing it's the street and it's
like a workout, yeah because Imake four to five pounds of meat
almost every weekend.
Yeah, that's five onions forone day.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yes, when I tell you I was like I love this thing,
Essential Because I put my,because I use a lot of like
Nigerians like a lot of spicyfood, so we do habaneros and we
do a lot of onions as well, soI'll put them all in there.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Chop it up and I'm like, oh my God, so I'll put
them all in there.
Chop it up.
And I'm like, oh my God, it'sdone.
The great news is so it didbreak.
And I was like, oh my gosh,what am I going to do?
You know, you can find it onAmazon.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Oh, really yes, and it's like very affordable.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
So, if yours ever breaks you got to back up Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I will definitely cherish that forever.
So thank you to mymother-in-law for that?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
What would you say?
Is your favorite comfort foodand have you found a healthier
twist on it?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
My favorite comfort food being for me, I love carbs
and I love a fresh pot of riceNice anything with rice.
As a Nigerian-American, we doof rice.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Nice Anything with rice as a Nigerian.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
American.
We do love rice.
It's okay.
I love a good bowl of rice, butrice is not.
It's not.
You can't have it in excess,you know.
So it's carby.
So I have been trying to.
Either I will half my amount ofrice and make sure I'm adding
veggies with it, if I do want mywhite rice, or, of course, um,
switching it out for, uh, quinoa.
(13:13):
Have you had quinoa?
Yes, okay, so quinoa is a good.
It doesn't taste exactly likerice.
You can trick yourself right butit does the job for me.
Yeah, um, so I do switch it outwith uh, quinoa.
So that's what I've been tryingto do.
But sometimes I'm just like,okay, I can still have my rice
some days.
It's just you have to portionit.
(13:34):
But my problem is that I loveit so much that when it's there,
you just have to.
It's hard to yeah I just can'tsay no, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I understand.
Yes, do you have any food?
I was just thinking about that.
What would be my comfort foods?
I love Indian food.
Right now, you know, I'm stilldoing keto, so I'm doing low
carb and that eliminates rice,but I don't think that's my like
big thing.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
I would say more so would be like roti with it.
I would love to have roti withit yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
But I think I'm doing okay.
I'm grateful that, like I wouldsay, 70% of Indian food is low
carb.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Okay, that's good, so it falls within it and you know
a few indulgences here andthere.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
when I can I?
Think you know what I wouldreally love, though, if I could
eat anything right now, would bea pizza.
I love like a really niceNapoleon pizza.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I don't have a replacement for that.
I'm sorry you guys don't have areplacement.
Have you heard of the?
What is it?
The cauliflower, have you evertried?
The cauliflower, exactly.
No, it doesn't do it for me.
It's not exactly.
No, it doesn't do it for me,the cauliflower does not do it
for me.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
If I'm gonna have, pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I'm gonna eat pizza exactly you know.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Speaking of yummy food and comfort food, I'm
really excited to introduce ourguest speaker.
Chef monk is well from myfavorite indian restaurant
restaurant in Houston, mustafa.
If you haven't been there, youneed to run on over and try it
out.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yes, I will be going there today.
Okay, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
So let's go ahead and get on the call All right.
Hi Chef Mayank.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Hi, how are you?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Great, great Thank you for joining us.
Yes, thank you Welcome.
How are you?
Great, great Thank you forjoining us.
Yes, thank you Welcome.
Welcome my pleasure Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
You know, we're honored to welcome you.
Chef Mayank Iswal, executiveChef of the acclaimed Moustapha
in Houston and a Michelin StarCulinary Master known for his
bold innovation and deepreverence for Indians' diverse
regional flavors.
For his bold innovation anddeep reverence for Indians'
diverse regional flavors, chefMayank crafts immersive dining
experiences that are artistic asthey are unforgettable.
(15:50):
From the foothills of theHimalayas to the heart of
Houston, his journey is one ofpassion, precision and purpose.
Join us as we dive into thestory, inspiration and global
impact of a chef who'sredefining modern Indian cuisine
.
What a great introduction.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Thank you very much.
Inspiration and global impactof a chef who's redefining
modern Indian cuisine what agreat introduction.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Thank you very much.
Yes, and you know.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
first off, congratulations on being awarded
your Michelin stars Very welldeserved.
Thank you very much.
It means a lot.
It means a lot.
Thank you for supporting alwaysMe too, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Of course, you know, the biggest thing that I love
about Mustafa is your story, andthat's what I would love for
our viewers to know.
First is you know, tell usabout your journey through India
and your inspiration.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So, actually, like, I grew up in a caterer's family.
My father was, you know, acaterer, he had a catering
business.
So I remember, like I was eightyears old when I was thrown
into the kitchen, uh, very early.
Uh, then my summer vacation andmy winter vacation was always
around food.
Um, it was, uh, you know like,I never used to like it, to be
(16:59):
very frank, in the beginning,because it it was a little
forceful, like you know, becausehe wanted me to, you know like,
uh, you know, start likeworking in the business very
early so that I can take care ofthe business in the future.
That was the whole idea and itwas first to you, right.
But you know, when I turnedlike 12 or 13, uh, I started
liking it.
So I was very attracted towardsfire as an element in the
(17:21):
kitchen.
And you know, now I know why Iused to like fire was because I
opted for the hot kitchen later.
That was something, um, youknow that that used to attract
me a lot.
And then, um, you know, Istarted with very basic things
in the beginning, making littlechutneys, you know like, with my
grandmother sometimes.
And then I started like, reallylike cooking, cooking.
(17:44):
When I made momos, like becausemomo is something it's like a
dumpling it.
You know, if you track theroots from it's from Tibet and
Nepal, then you know, because Icome from a state it's for the
foothills of the Himalayanmountains and we share borders
in Nepal, so there was a lot ofcross culture and you know like.
So that was something that Igrew up eating and then making
it as well.
(18:05):
You know, at a very early stage, uh, of my life and then, uh,
when I turned, like I remember,like 17, I told my dad that this
is what I want to do.
I want to be a chef.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
He was very upset, excited I'm like I'm sure he was
excited because you know heused.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Tell me because you spend a lot of time with the
cooks.
Now you want to become a cookright.
But you know, my mom supportedme and then I had, you know,
then I did my bachelor's inphysics, chemistry and math.
I was a science student andthen my father thought after
that I went for MBA, so, but Idid not.
I actually went to the culinaryschool.
(18:44):
That was my mom For two years.
He had no clue that.
You know that in which collegeI am.
He always thought, oh, he'sdoing the management and like,
again, he got upset when he gotto know, like, oh my God, this
little rebel you know, in thehouse you know.
But you know, like, that was mycalling right, this is what I
(19:07):
really wanted to do.
And then, you know, know, wentto a professional culinary
school in india itself.
Uh, you know, I won a chefcompetition, all india level
that happens in, you know like,because these culinary schools
are in every single state and weare 29 states in india.
So, uh, set the bar really highwhen I won this competition and
then then I started, uh,professionally, got trained in
(19:30):
India.
Then I went abroad, worked inAustralia for a few years and I
traveled all over, like SouthPacific and New Zealand, french
Polynesia.
It was a great journey andlearning about the cuisine and,
uh, the different cultures thereas well.
And then I came back, uh,worked in India for like so many
years in like different groupof hotels Taj group of hotels,
taj group of hotels, lallu groupof hotels and then, finally, I
(19:53):
was in Bangalore and it was inthe year 2016 when I met Shamian
Mithu.
They are the, you know, likefounders of Womusafir.
So basically, they were lookingfor a chef and then, you know,
they were staying in the hoteland then I gave them a chef
tasting meal, a fooding coursemeal, and they were really
impressed and they said, like,okay, we found a guy like.
(20:16):
You know ourselves like a trio,like all three of us, so this
was our combined vision.
You know, like about thejourney of all 29 states of
India.
And then musafir happened.
You know, because it's based ona journey, uh, and in this
journey was fabulous because Iwent to like, I got a chance, I
was very lucky to go to entireIndia.
(20:37):
You know, taking inspirationfrom, like, small towns, small
villages.
You know like cooking with thehome cooks, like grandmothers,
it's, it's, it's a dream.
You know like, and you know,traveling by road.
You know like stopping intothese like small towns and then
going for fishing in the ArabianSea with the fishermen and then
coming back with the fresh fishand then fisherman's wife
(21:00):
cooking this amazing mealbecause she had a small eatery
at the coastline and like.
You know like all thesebeautiful adventures from the
journey, all these beautifuladventures from the journey.
And then we opened Masafir inthe middle of pandemic.
That is again very unfortunate,but a blessing in disguise.
We got time to like, sell nowand like it's been a new
restaurant, a huge restaurant,started training people remotely
(21:22):
because we were not able totrain people you know in person,
because we were about to openthe restaurant and then just
complete lockdown, shut down,and then we could not do our
trainings Right, so I madevideos sitting in my apartment
and then sending them you know,all these videos to all these
like servers, managers, so theycan actually like see my videos.
(21:42):
And then you know they can.
And then we also send thempackets of like spices and
everything.
So I was talking about thespices this is a green cardamom,
this spices and everything.
So I was talking about thespices this is green cardamom,
this is a cooling spice, this ishow it tastes like and they
were also tasting at the sametime.
So we a kit to them with yes yes, that's what we did, uh, for
the training, um, and then, youknow, then I used to record all
these like voice notes for them.
(22:03):
Basically, uh, you know,because we also have like
hispanic like speakers in thekitchen, and then, uh, so like
for every single ingredient,like, we recorded this small
like voice notes like turmericis in english and in hindi it's
haldi and in spanish it's like,uh, kurkuma, so like for every
single ingredient, I made thesevoice notes so that we send it
(22:24):
to them so that they can atleast know what ingredient is
what.
Uh, so they can understand intheir native language.
So it's, it's, it's, it's so weuse the technology, basically
right.
And uh, you know, with 25occupancy to 50, and in no time,
because we were in texas, soit's quite liberal that way so
we were like in 100 occupancy inlike six months.
(22:45):
So that's great good for thebusiness.
And you know, I have to alwayslike thank houstonians because
they supported us since day one.
And uh, we are here now.
Like you know, the michelin starjourney is, uh, is, uh, it's
kind of like, with a lot of likeleaps and bound, I would say,
and you know, a lot of hard work, uh, but we knew that.
(23:06):
You know, when we were comingto houston that we always had a
dream.
Uh, so dream initiated when Igot married.
My wife said win me a star oneday.
And I told her, like I don'tknow, like, because there's no
mission guide in India, so Ireally don't know whether we'll
be I'll be able to do that ornot.
And when we came to Texas, werealized there is no mission
guide in Texas.
(23:27):
Yeah, oh, my God.
Then we said, okay, you know,we trust ourselves, one day it's
going to happen.
And then 2022, there are a lotof speculations going around
that the Michelin inspectors arecoming around.
You know, like, there will be aMichelin Guide in Texas.
A lot of people were talkingabout it, but it was never
(23:47):
official.
So then it got official in 2024and, uh, then a lot of
publications mentioned that,okay, musafir could get a
michelin star.
So so we were doing ourhomework right since day one and
, uh, we know it was coming.
And and we received an email,and this email comes from the
(24:08):
guide.
And then we thought is it areal email?
Is it a scam, spam email?
I, I don't know.
Because, like, because therewere a lot of like stories going
on.
People said, oh, this restaurantreceived an email and you
cannot tell.
If you receive an email, youhave to keep it to yourselves
(24:28):
till the day of the event.
You cannot tell.
It is basically, you have tokeep it to yourselves till the
day of the event.
You cannot tell.
It is basically you have tokeep it to yourself.
This is how it works.
You cannot tell anybody.
So, um, so we received thisemail.
We had this email in the in thespam box like for so many
months, almost for a month, andthen they were they.
(24:49):
They keep, they keep sending usemail, right?
Okay, please respond like,whether you got our email or not
, and you're thinking like, isit the right email?
It took us one month to justfigure it out.
It's a real email.
And then we check it is real.
Okay, this is happening.
So now, if you get an email,they ask for information, they
ask for like, okay, upload thephotos.
(25:09):
Okay, we have uh, written alittle uh write-up about your
restaurant.
Do you think this is right?
If you want to change it?
So, um, uh, we, we rectified ita little bit, you know, like it
was very well written, so weuploaded the pictures.
Send them that send them all theinformation about the
restaurant, the timings of therestaurant, what time it opens,
and then then still you don'tknow, like, what you're getting,
(25:32):
because you only get to know atthe day of the ceremony.
So either you can, either youcan get uh like a michelin
recommended restaurant or like abib gurman.
We knew that we are not in thecategory of bib gurman, because
that is something uh on, like uhthe pricing is uh okay and like
(25:53):
our pricing is high.
We know that.
And at a good quality food youget that pricing.
We know, we knew that ourpricing pricing is high.
So we'll never be qualified forthat.
Either we are a michelinmichelin recommended restaurant
or winning a star.
So we had no clue, like you did, because and this suspense is
on for like almost five, sixmonths- oh, my God.
Yeah, and then we knew that.
You know I knew inside, becauseit was 11-11.
(26:16):
Many station.
That was the day for theceremony, and you will not
believe what I used to do everysingle day.
I used to wear a cap that Iwear on the ceremony.
That is from my culture, whereI come from, because I'm a
Bahari.
I come from because I'm aBahari, I come from the
mountains.
So I, you know, we, that's atraditional cap that we wear.
I used to every single day, actin front of the mirror wearing
that cap that I want to startevery single day for like almost
(26:39):
few months.
And then at the day of ceremony,you know like, they started
announcing the awards.
The first thing that they do isright, they do the Michelin.
First thing that they do isright, um, they do the michelin
recommended restaurant.
And they do it alphabetically.
So it was the m alphabet, andthen we were praying it should
(27:01):
not be us.
It should not be us because wewant to win a star for sure.
Mom and m paused in the anotheralphabet and then then we
realized oh, I think now, andthen me, shami and me too,
started talking to each other Ithink we are winning a star
because we are not Bib Gurman,100%.
We are not Bib Gurman, that is,we knew it inside.
(27:21):
And then, but there's a wholeceremony, there's a whole
buildup, right, because this islike an Oscar for a chef.
That is the biggest, that isthe highest honor.
So, yeah, that was the journey.
Well, here you are.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Definitely well-deserved.
I'm not going to lie, just youknow, in the excuse of using
research for the podcast, I wasthere on Tuesday and my husband
and I had the Nihari lamb tacos.
They were incredible, it was sodelicious.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
She was telling me about it.
I'm like, okay, I'm going to begoing tonight to try it out.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Truly delicious.
Speaker 3 (28:01):
You know we also respect the culture, like you
know, because taco is somethingthat Houston is very big on and
we are bordering Mexico.
So we also respect the, thelocal uh cuisine and you know we
try to blend in instead of likecreating boundaries.
Why not build bridges betweenlike different, like you know
cultures?
You know it's it's importantyou need to embrace where you
(28:23):
are.
You can only be authentic ifyou're sustainable and you're.
You're looking at the localcuisine and you're not trying to
adapt uh.
I think that is authenticityfor me.
And you cannot find whatmusafir do in houston or in new
york anywhere.
So musafir in houston will bemusafir houston, always kind,
because all these ingredientsare local, the kind of air they
(28:45):
breathe, the kind of water used.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Right, it's different back in india, it's different
in new york, so it'll be alwaysbe musafir houston the original,
the og okay so musafir has aspecial place in our heart
because when I moved here it wasabout five years ago, which is
when I think musafir opened.
Actually, it was during thepandemic.
Yes, um, it's where my husbandand I everything was closed and
(29:10):
he was working that day and itwas our one-year wedding
anniversary and Chef Mike waskind enough to keep the
restaurant open just for us tohave dinner.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yes, I remember that Absolutely Very very Okay, chef.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
So I do have a question for you.
You know us working at St HopeHealthcare and our patients are
busy, or even for ourselveswe're pretty busy.
What are some good tips thatyou have that people who are
busy that can make a nicenutritious but quick meal?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
Yes.
So you know, nice, nutritious,quick meal need to.
So what?
What I'll do is just thepreparation should be right.
So you know, on your off day,you know you can just like boil
the rice, keep it aside, boilthe pasta, take care of your
carbs first right.
Proteins, you know, if youdon't have time to go get roast
chicken, go to costco, just grabsome roast chicken, like, keep
(30:09):
it in the fridge.
Proteins, like get some fishshrimps.
You know you have to do thepreparation right for this
entire week.
And you know, like, just justyou know also the the glycemic
index for rice.
If you eating the fresh rice,cooked rice, the glycemic index
is 76.
If you're eating the stale riceI will not say stale rice if
(30:30):
you you, because you know it'sin the refrigerator, right, you
will not believe it drops downto 54 yeah, oh, it's so good
it's so good you can, you don'teat fresh rice, do not eat fresh
pasta.
I always tell people that's sopretty.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
You can check it online like I'm not even kidding
, that's, that's crazy, right.
So, specifically specificallyfor the carbs, you know, uh, you
know that's what I do.
And then vegetables you know,if you don't have plan, you know
like time to blanch vegetablesor anything.
Try the frozen vegetables fromcostco.
It's fine, you know, uh.
And then then now you have todo the combinations.
(31:06):
Either you are making a salad oryou're making a pasta with a
lot of vegetables.
Then you have the roast chicken.
Just slice the chicken, youknow, just quickly toss it right
.
Or you're making a salad.
Let's say you have the roastchicken, right, if you want to
do a pasta salad with that, oryou want to throw in some rice.
I always have some lot ofcrispies in my pantry, like
crispy shallots, uh, crispygarlic.
(31:28):
Then I have like toasted sesameseeds and you know I have all
these crunchy different elementsright there.
You can make a gourmet meal inno time.
I'm telling you, just have thecombinations right.
That's what I always tellpeople.
The most nutritious thing that Ialways make at home is like
I'll just buy the butternutsquash.
Know, on the day of the prep,as I said, on my off day, I will
(31:54):
throw in these like butternutsquash in the oven.
In no time it's roasted, likealmost 40 minutes it's done and
then just make a puree out of itand then you quickly make a
soup, toss some pumpkin seeds,throw in that.
You know it's nutty, flavorfulsoup.
If you want to put a dollop ofcream, a little butter in there,
that's it.
You know like it's fabulous.
(32:14):
You know I think you're alsousing all these, like the seeds
that you're putting in the food.
Sometimes I do the chia seedsor, like you know, all these
crispies on top like toastedseeds.
It's like omega-3 acids.
Right there, you know it's likeomega-3 acids.
Right there, you know it'sfamily.
A lot of minerals, not ofnutrients in there.
(32:35):
Why not quick meals, like youknow you can do it.
You know, just you have to planyour day.
Okay, you can have soup one day.
You can have pasta one day withsome chicken, or you're gonna.
You can have like a one bowlmeal in which you have some rice
, some chicken, you know, like afried rice, or whatever you can
.
You can do like a ramen one day.
You know like always have somemiso at home.
(32:57):
I'll always tell people havesome miso.
You know, like people sounderrated, right, so underrated
so you always think about likemiso card or like miso this.
But people don't go and buymiso.
It's a miso paste.
It's fermented.
It's very good for your health,gut health I don't have any.
Yeah see, you can just just getthe three different kind of miso
(33:20):
.
Like there is like a white miso, a yellow miso and the red miso
.
Red miso is very intense,yellow is like midway and the
white one is like.
You know, if you're just you'restarting to explore miso, just
get the white one.
It's easy, right?
You know, like any soup thatyou're making, throw in a little
spoon of of miso in there, thesoup will be delicious.
(33:41):
Umami, it's like a punch ofumami right there.
You know, delicious, healthy atthe same time.
You know, you know, always,like I always have miso in my ns
, shelf life is great.
It's a fermented bean paste.
Uh, as I said, very good foryour gut health, so why not?
Speaker 2 (33:59):
I'm adding it right, okay, I'm getting me so
immediately 100.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Get it like you know anything you're making.
You're making a like a any.
Apply some miso paste, likeanything you know.
Like in the soup, you just putin some miso paste.
You're making a dressing, justlike the vinegar.
Like just put some miso pastein the beginning.
You will see you're like youare cooking like a pro chef at
home.
I'm not even kidding.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Okay, we're going to eat it, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So I know you touched base on miso and I was going to
ask are there any otheringredients you think is
underrated?
What's the most underratedspice or ingredient?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
So I would also say mushrooms, dried mushrooms.
You know you don't have to drymushrooms, some dried mushrooms.
Keep it in your pantry, likesome dried mushrooms.
Keep it.
Keep it in your pantry likesome dried mushrooms.
Oh my god, you can do so muchrehydrate.
When you're rehydrating it,that water becomes a stock, a
flavorful stock, of thatmushroom.
People throw it away.
I will never do that.
You know, if you're making arisotto, use that water to cook
(35:07):
your rice yeah it's so delicious.
You know like and also likeyou're using these mushrooms and
you know every single vegetableor ingredient.
They have glutamates.
Now, to understand, glutamatesis like.
It is the natural umami punchin any ingredient and every
(35:27):
ingredient.
Some has like very high amounts, some has less, like tomatoes,
very high amount of umami inthere and you know like it's
like, like sweet, like a littlesour, like it.
Then you know like.
Umami is something thecombination of taste buds on
your tongue and when it takeslike a sweet, sour, salty or
sometimes like bitter likecombination, it's a blast of
flavor, right.
So every ingredient has that.
(35:47):
So these are the flavorenhancer as well.
As a natural farmer.
You don't have to like go forMSG.
These are natural umami.
Go for that.
Like mushroom tomatoes.
I also keep like tomato pastein my face sometimes you know,
tomato paste.
Right, it's easy, right, justthrow in a little tomato paste.
These mushroom like a bunch ofumami, uh, these mushrooms like
(36:10):
a bunch of umami.
And you know like, and you knowlike I always have, as I said,
these like seeds, like chiaseeds, flax seeds, uh, pumpkin
seeds, like always there, youwant to make a little, uh, let's
say you want to make a quickchicken curry.
You know like, if cashews aretoo heavy for you, I would say
just throw in some pumpkin seedsor any seeds, it's so delicious
, and instead of putting like aheavy cream or anything, put the
(36:34):
coconut milk in it.
Yes, I do coconut milk Ahealthier version, delicious at
the same time, nuttier as well.
And yeah, that's what I do allthe time, you know, just making
some healthy meals at home butso underrated, right People?
You know, people know about mis, miso paste, but they don't use
it.
People know about, like, uh,mushrooms, but they use, they
(36:54):
try to get the fresh mushrooms.
You know, like imagine theseare like dried, intensified, so
much flavor in it and then somany different applications that
you can do.
Uh, kokum I don't know if you'veheard about kokum amarati, you
know that you know my wife is a,so you will know right, so
underrated, like uh.
So it is so good.
(37:16):
It's a very good digestive,very cooling.
So let me give you a littlecontext.
It's it's a mangosteen fruit,so when, when it's in the young
palm, uh, local people on thecoastal belt of india,
specifically the western coastalbelt in the state of
maharashtra, they dry it and theouter skin and they make a
extract out of it.
So that is called kokum andthere are different applications
(37:38):
of kokum.
From the seeds of the kokumthey make moisturizer.
That is so good for your skin.
It's a potent moisturizer, sogood for your skin.
You know, I have at home aswell.
I use it.
I got it from mumbai last timewhen I was there, so it's so
good.
Uh.
Then uh also uh, with the kokumyou can make a dressing out of
it.
You know, like for salads, it's, it's amazing, it's sour in
(38:00):
nature.
For the fish curries, like youcan do it.
Uh, you can make a sherbet outof it.
It's like a nice uh squashsherbet.
You just put in the water somesalt, some uh digestive, like
cumin seeds.
It's so good.
Salt sugar, like amazing.
You can do so much.
You can make sorbets out of it.
You can do so much with coconut, so underrated but delicious at
(38:20):
the same time.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
I need to add that into my, and you know, like
people in India.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yes, I was saying, what's really cool about India
is like there's different partsum, there's different states.
That's what he's talking about,that you journey through and
they cook entirely different.
Like there's different spices,they use different recipes.
So my husband is from the northpart of india, he's from delhi,
and kokum is from where I'mfrom, which is kind of west
india by marascha area, and Iintroduced him to kokum for the
(38:50):
first time oh and he just fellin love with it because he's
never had it before.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Yeah amazing ingredient, one of my favorite
ingredients in terms of Indianingredients.
Right, I just love kokum.
I mean, it's so versatile.
I do my ceviches with that, Icure my fish with the kokum,
it's's so good.
You know, it's like lechaditagre, but like Indian lechadi
tagre, like you know, just likeyou know, like curry or thing.
(39:15):
And the hemp seeds sounderrated the hemp seeds, guys,
I'm telling you I do like somany things with hemp seeds,
believe me, like you can toastand make a chutney.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Like where I come from, we make a chutney.
Like we are where I come from,we make a chutney out of hemp
seeds.
So underrated, again delicious.
Okay.
So for some of our home cooks.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
You know we're not at the level as a chef, but what
are some things that are somemistakes that some home cooks
make at home when it comes toputting a dish together so it
starts with simple things likethe dull knives or like the
blunt knives oh my god, I'veseen like a lot of time they cut
their fingers because theydon't sharpen their knives.
Very, very, very basic.
But it happens overcrowding apan with, like so many things.
(40:02):
Like sometimes they don'trealize the ratios of, like
putting stuff in a pan always,you know.
So, for all that, you have todo your mise en place right.
So mise en place is is a wordfor the prep, it's a french term
, so you have to do your prepright.
That's so important.
You need to know the ratiosright.
Overcooking the vegetables,always, always, I see.
(40:22):
So I'll just give you two basictips, like not to overcook your
leafy vegetables or thevegetables.
If you're doing the leafyvegetables, always salt water
when it's boiling, put in yourleafy vegetables in one minute,
remove it.
And you should have an ice bathready on the side because
you're retaining the chlorophyll, the green pigment of the
(40:43):
vegetable.
It should not look dull, itshould be vibrant, right.
So that's what I do.
Uh, always, like salted water,boiling, put the leafy
vegetables, retain thechlorophyll in one minute.
You have ice bath ready, throwit in the ice bath.
You stop the cooking rightthere.
Perfect, uh, if you're doing theroot vegetables, always start
(41:04):
with the cold water.
Like potatoes, put in the likecarrots, you're cooking carrots
or potatoes, any root vegetablesalways start with the cold
water.
Two basic thumb rule but I seepeople doing anything and
everything, like at home and inboiling water, putting potatoes
and the carrots and like doesn'twork like that.
You know, like we could have to.
Uh, because that's the rightway that, as I told you, this is
(41:27):
how you do it.
You have to retain the pigments.
Uh, in the like in the carrotsyou have carotenoids, so there
is a way to retain it and youhave to start with the cold
water, not destroy it right away, just throwing it in the boiled
water okay, I'm learning a lot.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Me too, because the ice like I've always seen it
like on the cooking shows, butI'm like, okay, maybe I need to
actually do it because I do alot of broccoli.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
So uh-huh, so broccoli also, like in in salted
water, but boiling water.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:57):
Yeah, always, always green vegetables in boiling
water, always.
That's the thumb rule.
Never start with the cold waterand then it is salted via to
retain the chlorophyll, always.
Even you're doing the greenpeas, let's say, if you're, I
know it's so convenient world,we just get the green peas like
pre-cooked it's fine.
But I'm just saying like, ifyou're cooking green peas as
(42:18):
well, or let's not be like, forthat matter, you know, like no
peaceful market or asparagus,anything.
Always boiling water, salted,yes, oh, okay, incredible tips.
I've learned so much, yes andyou know, like this, I, I do it
(42:39):
every day when I'm cooking athome, these basics now, but it
comes naturally to me.
But I've seen like, uh, thehome cooks how they do it.
I'm not saying that it's it's aterrible mistake, but you know,
you can actually, if you cansee the final product, how
appealing the product you eatwith your eyes right, it should
like the appearance, thetextures are so important.
(43:00):
So overcooking is a very commonthing that happens at home,
like overcooking the chicken orlike overcooking the proteins,
like or like not resting yoursteak, right, you know like.
You know like they, justimmediately, when it's hot from
the pan, people slice it.
Because you know like theydon't realize all, all all the
juices are like concentrated inthe center because you're
(43:21):
applying heat from all aroundthe steak.
The moment you cut it oozes outimmediately.
You know, once you rest it, youknow it's, it's so, all these
juices that it's concentrated inthe center, it's going all
around every grain of the steakand you rest it for some time
and then you slice it.
The results are phenomenal,like very basic little things.
You're resting your steak,right, you know?
(43:43):
Like cooking your proteins,right.
I've seen like sometimes peoplethe seasoning.
I would start with theseasoning first.
Let's say you're making a roastchicken.
You know the seasoning has tobe done right, because they are
like layers of flavor that youput in.
You know, if you try to seasonit at the last moment you'll not
achieve it.
It's so bland, right, it's onlyus.
(44:06):
You have to marinate it right,like, your seasoning is done
right.
Sometimes people do twomarinades right, first
marination, second marination.
And then do marinades right,first marination, second
marination.
Um, and then, you know, youknow, roast it in the oven
nicely, and then you have a nicebutter that you apply, hot, you
know like, and then you sliceit.
It's so good, you know.
Uh, even for the soups, youknow like, people try to season
it at the last moment, whenyou're sauteing the, you know,
(44:28):
sauteing the vegetables, let'ssay like, onion garlic.
Uh, in the beginning, you know,just to, just for the base
flavors, right, put in some salt, a little bit salt, you know,
because your, your, your onionswill sweat faster, right, and
you're also decreasing thecooking time of the onions by
putting some salt in there.
Little tip, uh, you know like.
And and if you're doing, let'ssay if you're making a blend of
(44:49):
spices.
And if you're doing, let's sayif you're making a blend of
spices, right, common mistakePeople throw in a bunch of
spices, whole spices, on a panand they say, okay, first of all
you have to realize thatdifferent surface area of
different spices Cumin is verysmall, then black pepper is very
(45:09):
small, but cinnamon is a big,then bay leaf is a big spice.
So what happens is a stampede ona pan.
Poor small spices.
They die On the pan right therelike they burn, poor guys, you
know.
And then you blend it with theheat of the blender.
The blade rotates so fast thatit kills the spices again.
It's very hard to kill a deadbody again, but you kill it
(45:31):
again.
You know it's a pretty commonthing that we do do, right, uh,
and then we preserve these ashesin a bottle and we saw we tell
people it's a garam masala orit's a this masala.
You know, like, again, to avoidall this, you can also put some
salt, a little bit of the salt,while you're doing these spices
.
It's, you know, because youknow it controls the heat easy
on a pan while making a blend.
But I generally do it under alamp because you know it
(45:52):
controls, uh, the heat easy on apan while you're making a blend
.
But I generally do it under alamp because, you know, back in
the days people used to putspices under the sun.
You know that was a commonpractice.
But I know we live in thisworld, we don't, we don't have
access to the sun, we just can'tput, like, spice in the sun,
but we have some heat lamps inthe kitchen, so I put another
heat lamps.
But if you're doing it home, dodo one spice at a time to make
(46:15):
a, because you want to preservethat spice for longer.
You want to use this spice forin, like so many dishes, like
for a soup, for stews, or likefor gravies curries.
You know like.
You know like do it right,otherwise there's no flavor, it,
it dies a sweet death reallygood tips that I will be
incorporating definitely.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
I learned so much yeah well.
Thank you so much for joiningus on our episode today.
We were very grateful to haveall this information and I can't
wait to come eat again atmisafir please.
Speaker 3 (46:48):
Yeah, you guys are welcome.
We're changing the menu verysoon, so we'll be launching our
spring menu.
So on, on this thursday, uh, weare doing a spring menu launch.
We do it at a farm, actually.
We take people at a farm andit's like a beautiful event, uh,
between three locations.
It's a blackwood farm.
We use all the produce from thefarm, so it's a beautiful
(47:11):
dinner that we do there, so andthen we launch it in the
restaurant after like two weeks.
So, yeah, the new menu iscoming very nice.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
I'll definitely have to come check it out same.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Thank you, thank you very much, guys.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Thank you, yeah, yeah but yeah, that was really um
great with chef mayank.
Is that how you say his name?
Mayank, right?
Yeah, so Chef Mayank wasawesome.
I really love when someone hasall their love in what they do
and you can tell he loves food,he loves to cook and we saw that
(47:46):
come out in the interview.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
Oh, he's definitely very passionate.
And you know his food.
It shows in his food.
So I'm excited for you to tryit.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Yes, I cannot wait, because he was talking about a
lot of flavors, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
And he has so many amazing tips.
I'm definitely going to beadding salt to kind of slow down
the cooking process a littlebit with heat, that was
excellent.
And yeah, with the green leafyvegetables all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
Yes, I'll be doing that with my broccoli.
I'm like, okay, have my icebath.
I was doing everything exceptthe ice bath.
So I'm like, okay, I'm going toincorporate that.
Speaker 2 (48:17):
My husband makes like the spinach curry.
It's called balut veneer and hedoes the ice bath and I never
knew why.
I was just like watching, I waslike oh, okay.
You're right.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
It's actually like pretty good behind it.
Okay, so now you can go andtell them like, oh, so you knew
what you were doing.
Yeah, well, what a greatepisode.
Yes, I really loved it me too.
I'm hungry now.
I'm ready to go eat same samehere.
But yes, thank you all fortuning in to our third episode
of the care collective podcast.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
I hope you enjoyed it with that being being said,
please, if you have anyquestions, go to offeringhopeorg
, and we look forward to ournext episode.
Speaker 1 (49:00):
Yes, we'll see you then.
Bye.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
You've been watching and listening to the Care
Collective, a production of StHope Healthcare.
Join us monthly for newepisodes as we explore the
latest thoughts and ideas onliving your best life.
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