September 7, 2025 • 33 mins
Have you ever wondered what makes Bangladeshi cuisine distinctive in a world where "curry" often becomes the default descriptor for South Asian food? This week, we learn about the vibrant food culture of Bangladesh with Anika Chowdhury, food blogger and contestant from PBS's The Great American Recipe.
(01:04) Anika shares her Bangladesh – "a country obsessed with food" – where she grew up surrounded by passionate food conversations and deeply seasonal cooking. Unlike our American supermarkets where ingredients appear year-round, Anika describes the special anticipation of waiting for tomatoes in winter or mangoes before monsoon season.
(16:17) Anika is on a mission to showcase Bangladeshi cuisine beyond curry dishes. She explains how the simple techniques of her culinary heritage make seemingly complex flavors accessible to home cooks everywhere. As proof, she walks us through preparing tomato bhorta, a versatile dish perfect for summer's tomato bounty. Find more Bangladeshi dishes on Anika's blog, Kitchen Gatherings.
(23:53) We also welcome Karen Hoang as our newest contributor! This Vietnamese-American transplant shares her journey from rarely dining out as a child of immigrants to becoming one of Pittsburgh's most enthusiastic food explorers. And she has the social media content to prove it.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Doug (00:01):
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
How well do you knowBangladeshi cuisine?
This week we get a first-handlesson from blogger and Great
American Recipe alum, AnikaChowdhury, and later in the show
we get to know a little bitmore about our latest
contributor, foodie and contentcreator, Karen Hoang, and where
(00:25):
she's dining out.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
The Pittsburgh Dish issupported by Family Table, where
they have a mission of bringingfamilies back to the dinner
table without all the hassle ofcooking.
Check out their latest menu atfamilytablepghcom and use code
DISH20 to save on your firstorder.
(00:47):
And now we're going to give acall to Anika Chowdhury, who
lives in New York City, but wewere still able to find a
Pittsburgh connection.
Anika (00:59):
Hello Hi.
Doug (01:00):
Anika.
Anika (01:02):
Hey Doug, how are you?
I'm great, how are?
Doug (01:03):
you, I'm great.
How are you?
Anika (01:05):
I'm good.
Doug (01:07):
Thank you so much for taking some time to be on The
Pittsburgh Dish and to talk withus.
I have to say you know I'm soexcited to see your journey.
You were featured on seasonfour of The Great American
Recipe on PBS and I also have tosay I've gotten to know you on
social media and you have themost beautiful blog.
Can you remind us what the nameof that blog is?
Anika (01:29):
Yes, it's Kitchen Gatherings.
Doug (01:31):
Yes, kitchen Gatherings, and there are so many In one
word yes all one word.
Anika (01:37):
Yeah, so I started the blog for two reasons.
One was I wanted to representBangladeshi food and cuisine and
especially here in the US, forpeople to be able to learn about
it and cook the dishes easily.
So I highlight usually simple,easy, replicable dishes.
And the other one was I hadlost both my parents to cancer
(01:57):
and I was grieving at the timewhen I started the blog actually
, and I didn't really thinkabout it, but I think it was
part of my grieving processbecause I wanted to share the
stories of my bringing thebeautiful life that they'd given
us, and I'm like my husband andI don't have children, so I'm
like who will I pass this on to?
(02:17):
So you know their legacy right?
So that was part of the reasonI started the blog to share
their stories, share the storiesof my culture and the food.
Doug (02:26):
Thank you so much for that .
You're passing it along toeveryone and thank you so much
for sharing all of thatinspiration behind it.
Anika (02:33):
Thank you it is so touching.
Doug (02:35):
Thank you, anika.
Could you just sort of remindour listeners your background,
and you know where a lot of yourcooking comes from.
Anika (02:45):
I grew up in Bangladesh.
I was brought up in Bangladeshand I came to the US for college
.
I went to Brandeis Universityin Massachusetts.
So I've spent, you know, moreof my life in the US.
But given that I was born there, I grew up there, that's where
my ancestral you know all theties that you have, right, so
it's's my all my formative years, childhood memories, everything
(03:08):
are associated with Bangladesh,right, and I still go back and
it's you know, at this point Ifeel like I'm a multicultural
person, right.
Karen (03:16):
It's not.
Anika (03:17):
Bangladesh.
It's New York.
I'm American, I'm Bangladeshiin both, so, anyways, food has
always been a very deep part ofmy family, actually is a very
big part of Bangladeshi cultureyou know it is for everyone
around the world, but Bangespecially, are extremely
passionate about food.
We can talk for hours about food, debating the finer points of
(03:40):
each dish, having arguments, so,and and the whole country is
like that.
It's a country like, obsessedwith food.
I will say, our rituals, ourholidays all revolve around food
.
Even our daily life.
People will be talking about oh, what should we have for
breakfast tomorrow, for lunch,for dinner?
It's exciting, you know.
So, coming from that culture,that background, and my family,
(04:03):
it was part of our family too,so it's experiencing the food
and enjoying it.
Right, and our food is veryseasonal as well.
In the US, part of the luxury ofbeing, you know, a rich country
, you get food all year roundkinds of food, whereas in
Bangladesh, when I was growingup, things are changing
obviously now as the world getsmore modernized and globalized.
(04:26):
But when I was growing up overthere, food would be super
seasonal in one or two months ofthe year, right?
So certain things likeespecially staple vegetables
here, like tomatoes or newpotatoes, tomatoes would be
available only in the winter.
So you look forward to the twodifferent parts months of the
(04:48):
year, right.
So you know.
So, before monsoon comes,you're excited about, oh my God,
mangoes will be in season,lychees will be in season, so
it's extra special, exciting.
You have to savor it at thattime, otherwise it's gone.
Same thing with, like, there'sso many greens, and you know
that's one of the things thatpeople don't realize.
You know, one of the, I think,beauties of Bangladesh is the
(05:10):
type, many types of greens wehave.
So, geographically, bangladeshis a very fertile part of the
world.
It's the plains by the Bay ofBengal.
So all the big rivers of SouthAsia, the Himalayas, all the big
rivers of South Asia, theHimalayas, flow through the rest
of South Asia and they all gothrough Bangladesh to end up in
the Bay of Bengal, and so, likeall the flooding that happens,
(05:33):
you know, every year, justbecause the rivers, when they're
going through, with the rainsand the monsoon, they flood and
they, you know.
Doug (05:42):
It like re.
Anika (05:44):
I'm gonna say it adds nutrition back to the soil every
year exactly, exactly thatwould be the natural process.
The land would become morefertile with the, you know, with
the soil, and then, as a resultof that, we are able to grow in
a small amount of land allkinds of stuff.
So we do have a huge variety ofgreens and other vegetables
(06:05):
that happen throughout the year.
We have all kinds of fishes,because it is yeah it's a land
of rivers, basically right.
So fish is a very big part ofBangladeshi food and it's one of
our staples.
You know it's a predominantlyMuslim country, so about 80% or
more it's Muslim.
So meat, obviously you know weeat meat beef, chicken but for
(06:28):
the average Bangladeshi the meatisn't that huge part of the
staple diet because it'sexpensive.
So it's sort of just anadditional ingredient and even
sometimes like a flavoring, notlike the main event ingredient
and even sometimes like aflavoring, not like the main
event, right, except, you know,obviously, people who have the
money, then it is a staple, youknow, in the household.
But yeah, for a large number ofpeople it's not right, so it's
(06:51):
like.
So it is like, uh, youcelebrate the occasions with the
.
You know, vegetables, lentils,grains, rice, you, those are the
more featured ingredientsactually.
Doug (07:04):
Yeah, I'm g oing to bring us back a little bit, Anika,
because I want to make sure thatwe're talking about you too.
Anika (07:11):
Yes, I get so excited about Bangladesh, sorry oh no, I
love it.
Doug (07:16):
You've given us such a robust description of the food
you know, of your culture, whereyou've come from, then you've
been able to marry into thisworld of the States where food
is, you know, strangely not asseasonal as you were used to
when you were competing on theshow.
You know what were somecultural things.
(07:36):
You wanted to bring on TheGreat American Recipe, to bring
on The Great American Recipe.
Anika (07:39):
Well, going into the show , one of the big things was I
did want to highlight aBangladeshi cuisine and the
diversity of Bangladeshi cuisineright, the breadth of it.
So if you watch the episodes,you'll see I'm not making
curries every episode, right,and there's two dishes each
episode.
I've only, in all of those, I'veonly made one curry dish, which
(08:01):
is the chicken curry and mydad's specialty right.
Everything else is not a curryand most people, I think, when
they think of that part of theworld, they only think of
curries, so they think, oh,India and Bangladesh, because
it's right next door, verysimilar as curries, but no that
we have many other kinds of foodand I actually did not other
than chana dal and luchi, whichwas one of the things I made in
(08:22):
the one episode because of thethemes of the episode I didn't
really focus heavily on, youknow, like a simple vegetable
dish.
But, as I said, like those aresome of the stars and those are
the ones that are like very mucheasy crossover foods that you
know Americans can make very,very easily, and I use actually
most of my blog I dedicate tosimple recipes that can be
(08:44):
replicated very easily in the USby, you know, anyone and
Bangladeshi cuisine.
Actually, one of the things is,if you know the basic tricks
right, or the tips rather andtechniques, then it's super easy
to cook right.
It's just all about thetechnique, because a lot of it.
Once you know the technique,you get it and then you can make
a lot of dishes and you'll getthe right flavor.
(09:06):
And it's not hard, it'sactually quite simple at the end
of the day.
Doug (09:11):
I love that you went into the competition, really thinking
about broadening the commonperson's view of what
Bangladeshi cuisine can be viewof what Bangladeshi cuisine can
be.
Anika (09:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, when PBS reached outto me first of all, I never
imagined being on TV.
My blog is just millions andmillions of food bloggers out
there, right, I thought it'sonly my friends and people I
know who read my blog.
I've never imagined somethinglike this.
Now that I've been on it, I'mdefinitely more comfortable with
putting myself out there, and Ilove to do, you know, more
things to get people to know andunderstand.
(09:45):
You know cuisine and you knowthere's so many other parts of
it.
Right, but going into the show,I did think about it because,
like, here's this opportunity torepresent Bangladeshi food to
Americans, and the great thingabout The Great American Recipe
and PBS is it's not a normalcooking show.
That you think of cookingcompetitions, right, where it's
(10:07):
like it's pure competition, thisis a competition.
But I think that there's thingsabout the show that make it
much beyond a competition, right, because here, right, you're
understanding, like America is afabric of so many different
cultures.
You know, people think ofAmerican food as the traditional
(10:27):
food that has been brought overby Europeans, eastern Europeans
, right, like 100 years ago.
But America keeps changing it's.
It's like a very vibrant.
I mean, that's one of theexciting things about America,
right, it's such a vibrantcountry and the country is
always changing, the mix ofpeople are changing and it's
(10:48):
always regenerating in a way,right, so I think that, yeah, so
that that by itself was superexciting.
Like, here we are, we'reBangladeshis, we are part of
America and you know, new Yorkalone, there's about 100,000
Bangladeshis.
So it's not, we're not a smallpopulation anymore.
We're growing, right, andBangladeshis offer so much to
(11:10):
the US, yet we never have anyrepresentation in US media.
If you think about it, younever see Bangladeshis on US TV,
right, you never come acrossBangladeshi food on us tv, right
, you never come acrossbangladeshi food on us tv.
So that's why, when pbs reachedout, like this is a really
great opportunity for my fellowamericans to understand here we
are, we are part of america, weexist and we have a lot of
(11:34):
beautiful things to offer, right, like you know, check out
bangladeshi's, check out ourculture, and I'm sure you know
if you try it you'll enjoy it,right.
So that was part of my goals and, like you know, being on The
Great American Recipe.
Doug (11:50):
An ika, thank you so much for that.
I don't know if I gave thatmuch thought when I went on the
show, but really you've done.
You know such good forethoughtto what you were going to bring
to the show.
I did want to just add you knowsuch good forethought to what
you were going to bring to theshow, I did want to just add.
You know, I've been watchingthe show and of course I fell in
love with all of you.
(12:10):
Your personality comes acrossas so chill.
You seemed very relaxedthroughout all the competitions.
Anika (12:18):
Oh my God, oh, I don't really know what to say about
that.
Oh my God, I don't really knowwhat to say about that.
Doug (12:23):
Well, I will just say you put out a demeanor that just
seems like okay, I've got this,I know what's going on, let's
roll with it.
Anika (12:43):
Yeah, well, part of it is , I think, professionally.
You know I've been doingproject management for years,
right, so it's a lot of highstress situations, you know,
because at the end of the day,you know when you're in charge
of managing projects that willhave huge impacts and lots of
things can go wrong, right.
So A it's planning, but it'salso being able to pivot always
right, and able to findsolutions.
Where there are problems, youfind solutions.
I think, having been doing thatfor years and years in my
career, like you, find solutions.
I think, having been doing thatfor years and years in my
career, like you know, itdefinitely allows you to deal
(13:07):
with high stress situations.
Doug (13:09):
It really helped you on the show, I think, several times
.
I do want to bounce around alittle bit too.
I want to let, if you don'tmind, I want to let our
listeners know there is aPittsburgh connection right with
you.
Do I understand this correctly?
Your husband went to CarnegieMellon?
Anika (13:25):
Yes, he did so, my husband Chuck.
He went to Carnegie Mellon forhis undergrad program.
Here's the interesting thingyou know, people think of
Carnegie Mellon so much as ascience-y, you know tech school,
right, but he did creativewriting over there.
And so, yes, when I met him andwe were both in graduate school
(13:49):
at Syracuse at that point, hewas also over there in the
creative writing program, likeas a poet.
You know, now he's inadvertising, another creative
field, but transitioning intomore of a practical life.
But yes, so he went to CarnegieMellon.
I heard a lot about CarnegieMellon, obviously in our young
(14:12):
days, and then, once we moved toNew York, we did a trip to
Carnegie Mellon with a wholebunch of his friends who had
also gone to Carnegie Mellon.
You know, because one of hisbest friends who used to live
very close to us.
We saw him literally almostevery other day and now he just
moved to upstate New Yorkrecently.
But he's my husband's bestfriend and the two of them had
met in Carnegie Mellon.
So that just kind of like tellsyou a little bit about how deep
(14:33):
those friendships can go right.
And it seemed like, oh, such agreat city.
We, how deep those friendshipscan go right, and it seemed like
, oh, such a great city.
We did a road trip.
I think it was like a whole carfull of people, right, this was
years ago and we went there andI was just like, wow, it's
beautiful.
Doug (14:50):
You know I love the hilly aspect of it.
Yes, we definitely have those.
There's a lot of separation ofneighborhoods in a good way.
Like you, you know, I've livedhere for many decades and I
still discover a newneighborhood just over a hill or
across a bridge or something.
And we're actually recordingright now.
You and I are recording not toofar away from CMU itself.
Anika (15:10):
Yeah, so it's like I remember the hills, the views,
the rivers, the bridges.
You know, there's so manyinteresting things and I think
one of the things I remember theAndy Warhol Museum.
Karen (15:22):
Oh yeah, Wasn't that that's?
Anika (15:25):
true, we went there.
We had such a great time overthere, you know.
So it's like a lot of us loveart, so that was one of the
things we did.
Doug (15:35):
We obviously ate a lot of good food as well.
Anika (15:37):
Oh, good to hear.
Yeah, we had.
I remember them, as this wasyears ago.
I remember them as somethinglike a cheesesteak, like a
Philly cheesesteak, but itwasn't a Philly cheesesteak, it
was like the Pittsburgh versionand my husband told me it was
very famous and they used to eata lot of it when they were in
college.
Doug (15:53):
Was this the Primanti sandwich?
Did it have French fries on it?
Anika (16:05):
I think so.
It was a bit odd, but it wastasty.
Oh good, good, yeah.
So I remember that I was likeit's not something I would have
ever imagined or thought of, butit was definitely tasty.
Doug (16:10):
Well, Anika, speaking of tasty, I was wondering if you
could give our Pittsburgh Dishlisteners a recipe of yours.
I know the gardens are justbursting with a lot of items.
Could we talk about a recipethat you might have up on your
blog right now?
Anika (16:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Oddly enough, this week istomato week.
I don't know if you know.
In the farmer's markets near methey were all saying tomato
week.
So I don't know if it's anational tomato week or just New
York state.
Karen (16:40):
Yeah.
Anika (16:40):
But tomatoes are all over at this time, obviously, you
know, and especiallynortheastern United States and
Pittsburgh, even central, mostplaces, right, it's like the
height of the tomato season.
Karen (16:50):
Yes.
Anika (16:51):
And I love farmer's markets.
I actually do some gardening ina community garden and my
neighbor is growing tomatoes inhis plot, so tomatoes are the
right thing at this point.
I think that's right.
So I have a very simple tomatorecipe on my blog.
Karen (17:07):
Okay.
Anika (17:07):
It's called tomato bhortha and I'll just give you a
little bit of background.
It's a Bangladeshi dish.
Bhortas are very, I would say,ubiquitous all over Bangladesh
and it's one of those thingsthat everyone eats, you know,
rich, poor, whatever, like.
It's very affordable, very easy, and bhorta basically means
(17:29):
it's a smashed vegetable usuallybut, you can make it out of
fish as well.
The whole concept around theporta is you take a vegetable,
you either cook it or even theraw vegetable you know, depends
on the type of vegetable, rightand if it's fish, you cook it,
you smash it and it's likecrumbled, smashed, and then you
mix it with shallots, a littlebit of mustard oil.
(17:49):
We love mustard oil in bamboos,yes, bengali saying it adds a
little zing.
But, you know, if you don'thave mustard oil or you know you
don't like the zinginess of it,you can use olive oil, and then
it's just salt and a little bitof pepper, and the pepper I'll
talk about.
So it's very simple and we, asI said, we make bortas from all
(18:09):
kinds of things and tomato borta.
It's, I think, very easy tomake, obviously in the US, and
it's one of those things thattranslates well across cultures,
right?
The way I would describe it.
It's a bit similar to salsabecause, again, it's smashed,
but it's different from salsa.
So, while it's similar, you canuse it, you know, as kind of a
(18:32):
dip with your tortilla chips.
If you want, you can have it asan accompaniment to whatever
you have on your plate, likewith fish or grilled chicken.
It'll go with a whole bunch ofthings.
Traditionally in Bangladesh, wejust eat it with plain rice,
and we have other food items onthe plate as well.
Right, it just goes with somany different things.
Doug (18:52):
It's very versatile.
Anika (18:54):
Yeah, so it's tomatoes.
Shallots you can use red onions.
I like to use shallots, becausewe actually call shallots
onions in Bangladesh, but, yeah,I love the taste of shallots.
Red chilies, the dried redchilies.
If you don't have dried redchilies, you can use green
chilies as well, doesn't matter,but the dried red chilies
actually will add more flavor,and I'll describe that Cilantro,
(19:16):
as I said mustard oil, a littlebit of vegetable oil and then
salt and a tiny bit of sugar.
That's it.
Doug (19:22):
So it's super simple.
Let me just ask a quickquestion, Anika, Would you in
this application with likereally ripe tomatoes this week,
would you cook the tomatoes orwould you leave them raw?
What would you prefer?
Anika (19:34):
I would cook them.
Doug (19:34):
You would yeah.
Anika (19:37):
Yes, them raw.
What would you prefer?
I would cook them.
You would, yeah, yes, and I'lltell you what.
So you know, you start off withjust charring the red peppers,
the dried red peppers, and thatit's important, because you just
char it on dry, like take asmall pan.
Doug (19:49):
Yes, heat it up, toast them a bit.
Anika (19:51):
And just, yes, toast them , right, like toast them on each
side till they're charred,because that will give you a
very smoky flavor and that'swhat makes it super delicious,
right.
So it's a little bit of heatbut more of the smokiness.
Then you move that in the samepan.
You could add the garlic cloves, peel the garlic cloves and
also, like, put in like a littleteaspoon of oil.
(20:11):
So you're like kind of cookingit in the oil for a few minutes
till it browns on each side, butdon't smash it, because
smashing you know, like, changesthe whole flavor.
It'll make it more intense.
You just want it to becaramelized garlic, yes, and
then, once you remove the garlicalso, now you put your tomatoes
in and those tomatoes like addanother spoon of oil.
(20:33):
Then you cover the pan and youkeep cooking the tomatoes till
it starts disintegrating, right.
And that process actuallycaramelizes the tomatoes.
Like covering and cooking itover the heat on each side
caramelizes it and also makes itlike much sweeter than it
normally is, becomes moreconcentrated, right.
(20:53):
So that's why, like it's niceto cook it that way, and then,
once, like it starteddisintegrating, I help it along
to speed up the process.
At that point, first I likejust, uh, take a fork and remove
the skin as it's cooking,because it's easier than waiting
for it to cool down, you know,and then just like, smash it.
So which helps, like helps itcook, right, like you just smash
(21:14):
, because ultimately you'll haveto smash it anyway, and then
smash it and then, like wait forthe liquid to evaporate,
because that's what makes itconcentrated.
So if you like start with likefive large tomatoes, then you'll
end up with about a cup of thehuerta.
Doug (21:27):
Okay.
Anika (21:28):
Then at that point you remove it, wait for it to cool
down and then add shallots.
So you can add shallots.
You can do like minced andsliced I like to do sliced but
you can do raw, or you can do amix of raw and cooked.
I like to do a mix of raw andcooked.
So, like, once I remove thetomatoes, I'll cook the shallots
a little bit, half the shallots, so I'll have slightly, like
(21:48):
you know, more of like agolden-y taste of the shallots,
right, which is like nice, but Iwant to have the sharp raw
taste of the shallots, a littlebit of a mix.
And then at that point, likeyou have the shallots, you add
in crumble the dried chilies,add that in, add in the garlic,
smash that, mix it all welltogether, put in some chopped
cilantro on top salt and thenyou're done.
(22:10):
That's easy.
Doug (22:11):
Sounds so delicious.
Thank you so much and you'vegiven us such a good step by
step.
But folks can also find thisrecipe right now on your blog
and let's just remind them again, it's kitchengatheringscom.
All one word.
Anika (22:26):
But I also have a whole bunch of recipes.
You can click on recipes on theblog and I'm also, if people
want to find me on Instagram.
It's the same thing kitchengatherings.
I love it and I called my blogkitchen gatherings because
usually over the years as I cookdinners for my friends you know
(22:46):
I live in Manhattan, so it'snot a huge house or anything,
it's an apartment and peoplealways gather around as I'm
cooking in my kitchen.
In the kitchen, yes, in thekitchen, part right.
So it's like, oh my God, theseare my kitchen gatherings.
I love that.
So that's how the blog namecame about, Anika Chowdhury.
Doug (23:05):
it has been such a pleasure to talk with you about
your culture, your time on theGreat American Recipe, and this
recipe sounds delicious.
I cannot wait to make it.
Anika (23:16):
Oh, thank you, Doug.
I hope you do, and I hope yourlisteners will try it as well.
It's really delicious and it'ssuper easy.
Doug (23:23):
Oh, I'm looking forward to it.
Anika, thanks so much forspending time with us today and
thanks for being on ThePittsburgh Dish.
Anika (23:31):
Thank you, Doug, for having me on the show.
It really has been an honor andI'm so excited to be on PBS on
The Great American Recipe.
Thank you for everything.
Doug (23:40):
Thanks again.
Anika (23:41):
Thank you Bye.
Doug (23:43):
Bye, bye.
We'll put a link to Anika'srecipe for tomato bhorta on our
blog at wwwpittsburghdishcom.
Up next, let's get to know ourlatest Pittsburgh Dish
contributor, Karen Hoang.
So why don't we just do acouple of getting to know
questions and then we'll go intosome recommendations?
(24:05):
Okay, sounds good.
Thank you so much for comingover and for being on the show.
Karen (24:09):
Oh my gosh, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Doug (24:12):
Yeah, would you introduce yourself to our listeners and
what you have going on in theworld of food?
Karen (24:19):
Okay, so hello everyone.
My name is Karen Hoang.
A little background about me.
So I'm Vietnamese American, Iwas born here but my parents
were immigrants.
They came over during theVietnam war so that really
shaped my palate, I think, andkind of like my viewpoint with
food.
But I was born on the West sideof Cleveland.
I came here for school went to.
(24:40):
Pittsburgh.
Doug (24:41):
Yes, hail to Pitt.
Karen (24:42):
I know you went to Penn State, that's okay.
Hail to Pitt.
I'm a Pitt girly, what can Isay?
And I kind of stayed here andin the last few years I would
say I really started toappreciate food a bit more, Like
growing up.
You know, my parents were veryfrugal.
Doug (24:58):
And that's totally fair.
Karen (25:03):
Immigrants not a lot of money?
Doug (25:04):
Sure, first generation, exactly, so they're learning the
culture fresh.
Karen (25:07):
Yeah, so growing up you know we definitely ate more at
home than like eating out.
I didn't really eat out until Ibecame an adult with adult
money.
Anika (25:14):
Really.
Karen (25:15):
Yes, wow, yeah, so we ate out like occasionally,
especially when we visited, likemy mom's side of the family.
So they my mom's side immigrateto Montreal actually.
So my mom's side of the family,so they, my mom's side
immigrate to Montreal actuallyso my mom's side of the family.
Doug (25:29):
She's the youngest of eight, so I have 18 first
cousins, which is that's areally fun family yes, but
overwhelming.
Karen (25:36):
And uh yeah, we definitely ate out when we went
to Montreal.
And oh Montreal, if you haven'tbeen beautiful place, so much
good food that French influenceup there.
Doug (25:45):
I love French food.
Can I just rewind, though?
I would love to know a littlebit about your family food or
home food.
Are there some dishes that yougrew up with that are you know
really from your culture thatyou still you crave like if
you're going home?
This is the dish I want.
Karen (26:00):
Oh sure, this is so basic , uh, but everyone loves pho.
There's nothing like a warmbowl of pho on a cold, blistery
day, um, so that is one of mygo-tos.
But if you want to get on adifferent level, uh, you have
Bun Bo Hue, which is I don'tknow this.
Doug (26:18):
Can you say that again?
Karen (26:19):
Bun Bo Hue Bun Bo Hue it is um like pho, but elevated and
better.
If you like spice and I lovespice.
I'm a spicy girl.
I highly recommend trying BunBo Hue if you haven't, I really
like Bang Xiao, which is almostlike a Vietnamese pancake, so
that's so good.
(26:39):
I also love Bung, which is, Iguess, like vermicelli noodles,
so perfect for a hot day.
Doug (26:45):
They're served chilled.
Yes, exactly so.
That's why they're perfect fora hot day, because when it's 92
degrees out Right now, we arerecording on a hot day and Karen
graciously walked over to thestudio.
Karen (26:57):
You're so grateful.
I brave the mother nature.
Doug (27:01):
for you, it's warm out.
Karen (27:01):
yeah, it's spicy out here .
Doug (27:03):
Since you've got to Pittsburgh, is there a Vietnam
spot that you will visit now?
Karen (27:09):
So I really like Banh Mi and Ti in Lawrenceville.
I think that's a go-to for mypeople.
I like their Banh my.
I'm so salty though, becauseobviously there's not like a
huge Vietnamese population in.
Pittsburgh, but you can go tolike Seattle and get like a good
bánh mì for like six dollars,which is definitely not the case
(27:30):
here, unfortunately, but I amgrateful they exist, because I
will not be making my own bánhmì and making my own, like you
know, bread and everything likethat Now.
Doug (27:40):
do you like to cook at home to any degree?
Karen (27:44):
So not really.
I joke with everyone.
I haven't cooked at home since2021.
Like I made like basic stuff,like fried rice which.
I think doesn't count.
So, like before 2020, I didn'treally cook.
But then pandemic hit and thenI was like I have so much time,
I'm going to make all this stuff.
And I made some stuff.
I made homemade crab cakes, Imade chicken noodle soup from
(28:07):
scratch, simmered the stock forlike four hours and it's fun,
but very labor intensive andalso, you know, cooking for one,
it's kind of like not to eatchicken noodle soup for like the
next, like two weeks of my life.
Doug (28:18):
Yeah, you either need to cut recipes in half or be able
to I don't know freeze it orsomething.
Karen (28:23):
Exactly.
Doug (28:24):
So you can cook.
Karen (28:25):
I can cook.
Doug (28:26):
But you choose to go out often.
I choose to be a hometown heroand support my local businesses
which is why I've met up withyou in real life, but also see
that your Instagram feed is thatmainly where you live is
Instagram.
Karen (28:42):
Yeah, and basically I do do some TikTok.
A lot of my TikTok content issimilar to my Instagram content,
except, you know, I I have aninteresting unhinged sense of
humor at times, and sometimes Isupplement that on my TikTok.
Doug (28:56):
I got you, it seems much more.
This girl's going out andhaving a lot of great food on
Instagram.
Karen (29:02):
Yes, that is correct, which is how we have connected
and, karen, speaking of howwe've met.
Doug (29:07):
I'm also big on Instagram in terms of like, following
everyone that's into food, therestaurants, the people that
like to go to the restaurants.
Your handle is simply your name, karenhuang.
Am I saying that right?
Okay, yes, I've noticed that,especially in the last few weeks
, I feel like you're justposting, and posting, and
(29:28):
posting.
When did that all really getstarted, where you started to
focus on creating content aroundfood?
Karen (29:36):
It actually kind of started when I met our mutual
friend, Alex.
Alex eats too much.
Oh yeah, Alex Goodstein,exactly.
So we met at a Pittsburgh YoungProfessionals event and we
looked at each other and we'relike wait a second, I think I
follow you on Instagram.
And then he was like I'm goingto turn you into a food blogger.
I got this Because before that Iposted casually.
(29:56):
I'd be like oh look, here'ssome food, but no consistency,
no, any sort of like.
This is what I like.
This is not what I didn't like.
Here's some descriptions.
So I started getting more, alittle bit more, into the foodie
world in Pittsburgh, which hasbeen a blast.
Like just meeting people likeyou and everyone I've met has
been lovely, and I love whenfoodie friends become real
(30:18):
friends.
Exactly, which is amazing.
So love that for me and Ialways have people to go out to
eat with now.
Doug (30:24):
Yes, and we actually like to eat yes.
Like you go somewhere and it'snot like, oh, I'm just going to
have that one piece of theappetizer.
No, we're going to fight forthat.
No, no, no, no, no.
Karen (30:32):
The plate is clean, no, so Alex hates this.
Most of my other friends haveresigned themselves to this fate
, or they're they love it.
I usually make everyone familystyle, so I like to eat like a
little bit of everything, like Iwant to try everything.
When I go to a new restaurantI'm like, yeah, oh, my gosh,
everything looks so good but Ican't eat just like a ton of one
dish.
Therefore, it behooves myfriends to let me order for the
(30:56):
table and we all get a littlebit of everything and, honestly,
it's the way I do it.
You get to try so many thingsand it's like a lot less
expensive per person than youthink it will be.
Doug (31:05):
It certainly can be Right.
All right.
So we know that the name of theshow is The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm going to put you on thespot.
Karen (31:13):
Okay.
Doug (31:13):
Because you do like to go out often.
What was the best dish you haveeaten this past week?
Karen (31:20):
Oh, this past week you caught me on an off week, oh
gosh.
Okay, well, this is slightlypast one week, um, but we went
to UMI um, which is in Shadyside.
It's above Soba and Mr Shu, whoruns it.
What have you?
Um, fantastic, like we did.
(31:42):
The Omakase is 18 courses.
Wow, it was amazing.
I loved it.
I loved everything about it.
And there was this uh, roastedblack cod, I believe oh just so
flavorful, and then you feelhealthy because it's just fish,
right, it's just protein yeah,each course is kind of
reasonably smaller, so you caneat a lot exactly which we know
(32:03):
I love to do.
Um, but yeah, I reallyappreciate trying like all these
different types of fish andit's like amazing what you can
do with like different cuts offish, but also like different
sauces, different plating andpresentation um so the whole
meal was fantastic, but I thinkabout that all the time.
Doug (32:19):
Well, umi is has been killing it for years, so I'm
glad to hear that you just had agreat experience again.
Exactly, karen, thanks so muchand thanks for being on The
Pittsburgh Dish.
Karen (32:30):
No problem, thank you.
Doug (32:33):
We're looking forward to more of Karen's recommendations
on future episodes, and be sureto give her Instagram handle a
follow.
That's Karen Hoang.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
(32:54):
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm your host, Doug Heilman.
How well do you knowBangladeshi cuisine?
This week we get a first-handlesson from blogger and Great
American Recipe alum, AnikaChowdhury, and later in the show
we get to know a little bitmore about our latest
contributor, foodie and contentcreator, Karen Hoang, and where
(00:25):
she's dining out.
All that ahead, stay tuned.
The Pittsburgh Dish issupported by Family Table, where
they have a mission of bringingfamilies back to the dinner
table without all the hassle ofcooking.
Check out their latest menu atfamilytablepghcom and use code
DISH20 to save on your firstorder.
(00:47):
And now we're going to give acall to Anika Chowdhury, who
lives in New York City, but wewere still able to find a
Pittsburgh connection.
Anika (00:59):
Hello Hi.
Doug (01:00):
Anika.
Anika (01:02):
Hey Doug, how are you?
I'm great, how are?
Doug (01:03):
you, I'm great.
How are you?
Anika (01:05):
I'm good.
Doug (01:07):
Thank you so much for taking some time to be on The
Pittsburgh Dish and to talk withus.
I have to say you know I'm soexcited to see your journey.
You were featured on seasonfour of The Great American
Recipe on PBS and I also have tosay I've gotten to know you on
social media and you have themost beautiful blog.
Can you remind us what the nameof that blog is?
Anika (01:29):
Yes, it's Kitchen Gatherings.
Doug (01:31):
Yes, kitchen Gatherings, and there are so many In one
word yes all one word.
Anika (01:37):
Yeah, so I started the blog for two reasons.
One was I wanted to representBangladeshi food and cuisine and
especially here in the US, forpeople to be able to learn about
it and cook the dishes easily.
So I highlight usually simple,easy, replicable dishes.
And the other one was I hadlost both my parents to cancer
(01:57):
and I was grieving at the timewhen I started the blog actually
, and I didn't really thinkabout it, but I think it was
part of my grieving processbecause I wanted to share the
stories of my bringing thebeautiful life that they'd given
us, and I'm like my husband andI don't have children, so I'm
like who will I pass this on to?
(02:17):
So you know their legacy right?
So that was part of the reasonI started the blog to share
their stories, share the storiesof my culture and the food.
Doug (02:26):
Thank you so much for that .
You're passing it along toeveryone and thank you so much
for sharing all of thatinspiration behind it.
Anika (02:33):
Thank you it is so touching.
Doug (02:35):
Thank you, anika.
Could you just sort of remindour listeners your background,
and you know where a lot of yourcooking comes from.
Anika (02:45):
I grew up in Bangladesh.
I was brought up in Bangladeshand I came to the US for college
.
I went to Brandeis Universityin Massachusetts.
So I've spent, you know, moreof my life in the US.
But given that I was born there, I grew up there, that's where
my ancestral you know all theties that you have, right, so
it's's my all my formative years, childhood memories, everything
(03:08):
are associated with Bangladesh,right, and I still go back and
it's you know, at this point Ifeel like I'm a multicultural
person, right.
Karen (03:16):
It's not.
Anika (03:17):
Bangladesh.
It's New York.
I'm American, I'm Bangladeshiin both, so, anyways, food has
always been a very deep part ofmy family, actually is a very
big part of Bangladeshi cultureyou know it is for everyone
around the world, but Bangespecially, are extremely
passionate about food.
We can talk for hours about food, debating the finer points of
(03:40):
each dish, having arguments, so,and and the whole country is
like that.
It's a country like, obsessedwith food.
I will say, our rituals, ourholidays all revolve around food
.
Even our daily life.
People will be talking about oh, what should we have for
breakfast tomorrow, for lunch,for dinner?
It's exciting, you know.
So, coming from that culture,that background, and my family,
(04:03):
it was part of our family too,so it's experiencing the food
and enjoying it.
Right, and our food is veryseasonal as well.
In the US, part of the luxury ofbeing, you know, a rich country
, you get food all year roundkinds of food, whereas in
Bangladesh, when I was growingup, things are changing
obviously now as the world getsmore modernized and globalized.
(04:26):
But when I was growing up overthere, food would be super
seasonal in one or two months ofthe year, right?
So certain things likeespecially staple vegetables
here, like tomatoes or newpotatoes, tomatoes would be
available only in the winter.
So you look forward to the twodifferent parts months of the
(04:48):
year, right.
So you know.
So, before monsoon comes,you're excited about, oh my God,
mangoes will be in season,lychees will be in season, so
it's extra special, exciting.
You have to savor it at thattime, otherwise it's gone.
Same thing with, like, there'sso many greens, and you know
that's one of the things thatpeople don't realize.
You know, one of the, I think,beauties of Bangladesh is the
(05:10):
type, many types of greens wehave.
So, geographically, bangladeshis a very fertile part of the
world.
It's the plains by the Bay ofBengal.
So all the big rivers of SouthAsia, the Himalayas, all the big
rivers of South Asia, theHimalayas, flow through the rest
of South Asia and they all gothrough Bangladesh to end up in
the Bay of Bengal, and so, likeall the flooding that happens,
(05:33):
you know, every year, justbecause the rivers, when they're
going through, with the rainsand the monsoon, they flood and
they, you know.
Doug (05:42):
It like re.
Anika (05:44):
I'm gonna say it adds nutrition back to the soil every
year exactly, exactly thatwould be the natural process.
The land would become morefertile with the, you know, with
the soil, and then, as a resultof that, we are able to grow in
a small amount of land allkinds of stuff.
So we do have a huge variety ofgreens and other vegetables
(06:05):
that happen throughout the year.
We have all kinds of fishes,because it is yeah it's a land
of rivers, basically right.
So fish is a very big part ofBangladeshi food and it's one of
our staples.
You know it's a predominantlyMuslim country, so about 80% or
more it's Muslim.
So meat, obviously you know weeat meat beef, chicken but for
(06:28):
the average Bangladeshi the meatisn't that huge part of the
staple diet because it'sexpensive.
So it's sort of just anadditional ingredient and even
sometimes like a flavoring, notlike the main event ingredient
and even sometimes like aflavoring, not like the main
event, right, except, you know,obviously, people who have the
money, then it is a staple, youknow, in the household.
But yeah, for a large number ofpeople it's not right, so it's
(06:51):
like.
So it is like, uh, youcelebrate the occasions with the
.
You know, vegetables, lentils,grains, rice, you, those are the
more featured ingredientsactually.
Doug (07:04):
Yeah, I'm g oing to bring us back a little bit, Anika,
because I want to make sure thatwe're talking about you too.
Anika (07:11):
Yes, I get so excited about Bangladesh, sorry oh no, I
love it.
Doug (07:16):
You've given us such a robust description of the food
you know, of your culture, whereyou've come from, then you've
been able to marry into thisworld of the States where food
is, you know, strangely not asseasonal as you were used to
when you were competing on theshow.
You know what were somecultural things.
(07:36):
You wanted to bring on TheGreat American Recipe, to bring
on The Great American Recipe.
Anika (07:39):
Well, going into the show , one of the big things was I
did want to highlight aBangladeshi cuisine and the
diversity of Bangladeshi cuisineright, the breadth of it.
So if you watch the episodes,you'll see I'm not making
curries every episode, right,and there's two dishes each
episode.
I've only, in all of those, I'veonly made one curry dish, which
(08:01):
is the chicken curry and mydad's specialty right.
Everything else is not a curryand most people, I think, when
they think of that part of theworld, they only think of
curries, so they think, oh,India and Bangladesh, because
it's right next door, verysimilar as curries, but no that
we have many other kinds of foodand I actually did not other
than chana dal and luchi, whichwas one of the things I made in
(08:22):
the one episode because of thethemes of the episode I didn't
really focus heavily on, youknow, like a simple vegetable
dish.
But, as I said, like those aresome of the stars and those are
the ones that are like very mucheasy crossover foods that you
know Americans can make very,very easily, and I use actually
most of my blog I dedicate tosimple recipes that can be
(08:44):
replicated very easily in the USby, you know, anyone and
Bangladeshi cuisine.
Actually, one of the things is,if you know the basic tricks
right, or the tips rather andtechniques, then it's super easy
to cook right.
It's just all about thetechnique, because a lot of it.
Once you know the technique,you get it and then you can make
a lot of dishes and you'll getthe right flavor.
(09:06):
And it's not hard, it'sactually quite simple at the end
of the day.
Doug (09:11):
I love that you went into the competition, really thinking
about broadening the commonperson's view of what
Bangladeshi cuisine can be viewof what Bangladeshi cuisine can
be.
Anika (09:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, when PBS reached outto me first of all, I never
imagined being on TV.
My blog is just millions andmillions of food bloggers out
there, right, I thought it'sonly my friends and people I
know who read my blog.
I've never imagined somethinglike this.
Now that I've been on it, I'mdefinitely more comfortable with
putting myself out there, and Ilove to do, you know, more
things to get people to know andunderstand.
(09:45):
You know cuisine and you knowthere's so many other parts of
it.
Right, but going into the show,I did think about it because,
like, here's this opportunity torepresent Bangladeshi food to
Americans, and the great thingabout The Great American Recipe
and PBS is it's not a normalcooking show.
That you think of cookingcompetitions, right, where it's
(10:07):
like it's pure competition, thisis a competition.
But I think that there's thingsabout the show that make it
much beyond a competition, right, because here, right, you're
understanding, like America is afabric of so many different
cultures.
You know, people think ofAmerican food as the traditional
(10:27):
food that has been brought overby Europeans, eastern Europeans
, right, like 100 years ago.
But America keeps changing it's.
It's like a very vibrant.
I mean, that's one of theexciting things about America,
right, it's such a vibrantcountry and the country is
always changing, the mix ofpeople are changing and it's
(10:48):
always regenerating in a way,right, so I think that, yeah, so
that that by itself was superexciting.
Like, here we are, we'reBangladeshis, we are part of
America and you know, new Yorkalone, there's about 100,000
Bangladeshis.
So it's not, we're not a smallpopulation anymore.
We're growing, right, andBangladeshis offer so much to
(11:10):
the US, yet we never have anyrepresentation in US media.
If you think about it, younever see Bangladeshis on US TV,
right, you never come acrossBangladeshi food on us tv, right
, you never come acrossbangladeshi food on us tv.
So that's why, when pbs reachedout, like this is a really
great opportunity for my fellowamericans to understand here we
are, we are part of america, weexist and we have a lot of
(11:34):
beautiful things to offer, right, like you know, check out
bangladeshi's, check out ourculture, and I'm sure you know
if you try it you'll enjoy it,right.
So that was part of my goals and, like you know, being on The
Great American Recipe.
Doug (11:50):
An ika, thank you so much for that.
I don't know if I gave thatmuch thought when I went on the
show, but really you've done.
You know such good forethoughtto what you were going to bring
to the show.
I did want to just add you knowsuch good forethought to what
you were going to bring to theshow, I did want to just add.
You know, I've been watchingthe show and of course I fell in
love with all of you.
(12:10):
Your personality comes acrossas so chill.
You seemed very relaxedthroughout all the competitions.
Anika (12:18):
Oh my God, oh, I don't really know what to say about
that.
Oh my God, I don't really knowwhat to say about that.
Doug (12:23):
Well, I will just say you put out a demeanor that just
seems like okay, I've got this,I know what's going on, let's
roll with it.
Anika (12:43):
Yeah, well, part of it is , I think, professionally.
You know I've been doingproject management for years,
right, so it's a lot of highstress situations, you know,
because at the end of the day,you know when you're in charge
of managing projects that willhave huge impacts and lots of
things can go wrong, right.
So A it's planning, but it'salso being able to pivot always
right, and able to findsolutions.
Where there are problems, youfind solutions.
I think, having been doing thatfor years and years in my
career, like you, find solutions.
I think, having been doing thatfor years and years in my
career, like you know, itdefinitely allows you to deal
(13:07):
with high stress situations.
Doug (13:09):
It really helped you on the show, I think, several times
.
I do want to bounce around alittle bit too.
I want to let, if you don'tmind, I want to let our
listeners know there is aPittsburgh connection right with
you.
Do I understand this correctly?
Your husband went to CarnegieMellon?
Anika (13:25):
Yes, he did so, my husband Chuck.
He went to Carnegie Mellon forhis undergrad program.
Here's the interesting thingyou know, people think of
Carnegie Mellon so much as ascience-y, you know tech school,
right, but he did creativewriting over there.
And so, yes, when I met him andwe were both in graduate school
(13:49):
at Syracuse at that point, hewas also over there in the
creative writing program, likeas a poet.
You know, now he's inadvertising, another creative
field, but transitioning intomore of a practical life.
But yes, so he went to CarnegieMellon.
I heard a lot about CarnegieMellon, obviously in our young
(14:12):
days, and then, once we moved toNew York, we did a trip to
Carnegie Mellon with a wholebunch of his friends who had
also gone to Carnegie Mellon.
You know, because one of hisbest friends who used to live
very close to us.
We saw him literally almostevery other day and now he just
moved to upstate New Yorkrecently.
But he's my husband's bestfriend and the two of them had
met in Carnegie Mellon.
So that just kind of like tellsyou a little bit about how deep
(14:33):
those friendships can go right.
And it seemed like, oh, such agreat city.
We, how deep those friendshipscan go right, and it seemed like
, oh, such a great city.
We did a road trip.
I think it was like a whole carfull of people, right, this was
years ago and we went there andI was just like, wow, it's
beautiful.
Doug (14:50):
You know I love the hilly aspect of it.
Yes, we definitely have those.
There's a lot of separation ofneighborhoods in a good way.
Like you, you know, I've livedhere for many decades and I
still discover a newneighborhood just over a hill or
across a bridge or something.
And we're actually recordingright now.
You and I are recording not toofar away from CMU itself.
Anika (15:10):
Yeah, so it's like I remember the hills, the views,
the rivers, the bridges.
You know, there's so manyinteresting things and I think
one of the things I remember theAndy Warhol Museum.
Karen (15:22):
Oh yeah, Wasn't that that's?
Anika (15:25):
true, we went there.
We had such a great time overthere, you know.
So it's like a lot of us loveart, so that was one of the
things we did.
Doug (15:35):
We obviously ate a lot of good food as well.
Anika (15:37):
Oh, good to hear.
Yeah, we had.
I remember them, as this wasyears ago.
I remember them as somethinglike a cheesesteak, like a
Philly cheesesteak, but itwasn't a Philly cheesesteak, it
was like the Pittsburgh versionand my husband told me it was
very famous and they used to eata lot of it when they were in
college.
Doug (15:53):
Was this the Primanti sandwich?
Did it have French fries on it?
Anika (16:05):
I think so.
It was a bit odd, but it wastasty.
Oh good, good, yeah.
So I remember that I was likeit's not something I would have
ever imagined or thought of, butit was definitely tasty.
Doug (16:10):
Well, Anika, speaking of tasty, I was wondering if you
could give our Pittsburgh Dishlisteners a recipe of yours.
I know the gardens are justbursting with a lot of items.
Could we talk about a recipethat you might have up on your
blog right now?
Anika (16:25):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Oddly enough, this week istomato week.
I don't know if you know.
In the farmer's markets near methey were all saying tomato
week.
So I don't know if it's anational tomato week or just New
York state.
Karen (16:40):
Yeah.
Anika (16:40):
But tomatoes are all over at this time, obviously, you
know, and especiallynortheastern United States and
Pittsburgh, even central, mostplaces, right, it's like the
height of the tomato season.
Karen (16:50):
Yes.
Anika (16:51):
And I love farmer's markets.
I actually do some gardening ina community garden and my
neighbor is growing tomatoes inhis plot, so tomatoes are the
right thing at this point.
I think that's right.
So I have a very simple tomatorecipe on my blog.
Karen (17:07):
Okay.
Anika (17:07):
It's called tomato bhortha and I'll just give you a
little bit of background.
It's a Bangladeshi dish.
Bhortas are very, I would say,ubiquitous all over Bangladesh
and it's one of those thingsthat everyone eats, you know,
rich, poor, whatever, like.
It's very affordable, very easy, and bhorta basically means
(17:29):
it's a smashed vegetable usuallybut, you can make it out of
fish as well.
The whole concept around theporta is you take a vegetable,
you either cook it or even theraw vegetable you know, depends
on the type of vegetable, rightand if it's fish, you cook it,
you smash it and it's likecrumbled, smashed, and then you
mix it with shallots, a littlebit of mustard oil.
(17:49):
We love mustard oil in bamboos,yes, bengali saying it adds a
little zing.
But, you know, if you don'thave mustard oil or you know you
don't like the zinginess of it,you can use olive oil, and then
it's just salt and a little bitof pepper, and the pepper I'll
talk about.
So it's very simple and we, asI said, we make bortas from all
(18:09):
kinds of things and tomato borta.
It's, I think, very easy tomake, obviously in the US, and
it's one of those things thattranslates well across cultures,
right?
The way I would describe it.
It's a bit similar to salsabecause, again, it's smashed,
but it's different from salsa.
So, while it's similar, you canuse it, you know, as kind of a
(18:32):
dip with your tortilla chips.
If you want, you can have it asan accompaniment to whatever
you have on your plate, likewith fish or grilled chicken.
It'll go with a whole bunch ofthings.
Traditionally in Bangladesh, wejust eat it with plain rice,
and we have other food items onthe plate as well.
Right, it just goes with somany different things.
Doug (18:52):
It's very versatile.
Anika (18:54):
Yeah, so it's tomatoes.
Shallots you can use red onions.
I like to use shallots, becausewe actually call shallots
onions in Bangladesh, but, yeah,I love the taste of shallots.
Red chilies, the dried redchilies.
If you don't have dried redchilies, you can use green
chilies as well, doesn't matter,but the dried red chilies
actually will add more flavor,and I'll describe that Cilantro,
(19:16):
as I said mustard oil, a littlebit of vegetable oil and then
salt and a tiny bit of sugar.
That's it.
Doug (19:22):
So it's super simple.
Let me just ask a quickquestion, Anika, Would you in
this application with likereally ripe tomatoes this week,
would you cook the tomatoes orwould you leave them raw?
What would you prefer?
Anika (19:34):
I would cook them.
Doug (19:34):
You would yeah.
Anika (19:37):
Yes, them raw.
What would you prefer?
I would cook them.
You would, yeah, yes, and I'lltell you what.
So you know, you start off withjust charring the red peppers,
the dried red peppers, and thatit's important, because you just
char it on dry, like take asmall pan.
Doug (19:49):
Yes, heat it up, toast them a bit.
Anika (19:51):
And just, yes, toast them , right, like toast them on each
side till they're charred,because that will give you a
very smoky flavor and that'swhat makes it super delicious,
right.
So it's a little bit of heatbut more of the smokiness.
Then you move that in the samepan.
You could add the garlic cloves, peel the garlic cloves and
also, like, put in like a littleteaspoon of oil.
(20:11):
So you're like kind of cookingit in the oil for a few minutes
till it browns on each side, butdon't smash it, because
smashing you know, like, changesthe whole flavor.
It'll make it more intense.
You just want it to becaramelized garlic, yes, and
then, once you remove the garlicalso, now you put your tomatoes
in and those tomatoes like addanother spoon of oil.
(20:33):
Then you cover the pan and youkeep cooking the tomatoes till
it starts disintegrating, right.
And that process actuallycaramelizes the tomatoes.
Like covering and cooking itover the heat on each side
caramelizes it and also makes itlike much sweeter than it
normally is, becomes moreconcentrated, right.
(20:53):
So that's why, like it's niceto cook it that way, and then,
once, like it starteddisintegrating, I help it along
to speed up the process.
At that point, first I likejust, uh, take a fork and remove
the skin as it's cooking,because it's easier than waiting
for it to cool down, you know,and then just like, smash it.
So which helps, like helps itcook, right, like you just smash
(21:14):
, because ultimately you'll haveto smash it anyway, and then
smash it and then, like wait forthe liquid to evaporate,
because that's what makes itconcentrated.
So if you like start with likefive large tomatoes, then you'll
end up with about a cup of thehuerta.
Doug (21:27):
Okay.
Anika (21:28):
Then at that point you remove it, wait for it to cool
down and then add shallots.
So you can add shallots.
You can do like minced andsliced I like to do sliced but
you can do raw, or you can do amix of raw and cooked.
I like to do a mix of raw andcooked.
So, like, once I remove thetomatoes, I'll cook the shallots
a little bit, half the shallots, so I'll have slightly, like
(21:48):
you know, more of like agolden-y taste of the shallots,
right, which is like nice, but Iwant to have the sharp raw
taste of the shallots, a littlebit of a mix.
And then at that point, likeyou have the shallots, you add
in crumble the dried chilies,add that in, add in the garlic,
smash that, mix it all welltogether, put in some chopped
cilantro on top salt and thenyou're done.
(22:10):
That's easy.
Doug (22:11):
Sounds so delicious.
Thank you so much and you'vegiven us such a good step by
step.
But folks can also find thisrecipe right now on your blog
and let's just remind them again, it's kitchengatheringscom.
All one word.
Anika (22:26):
But I also have a whole bunch of recipes.
You can click on recipes on theblog and I'm also, if people
want to find me on Instagram.
It's the same thing kitchengatherings.
I love it and I called my blogkitchen gatherings because
usually over the years as I cookdinners for my friends you know
(22:46):
I live in Manhattan, so it'snot a huge house or anything,
it's an apartment and peoplealways gather around as I'm
cooking in my kitchen.
In the kitchen, yes, in thekitchen, part right.
So it's like, oh my God, theseare my kitchen gatherings.
I love that.
So that's how the blog namecame about, Anika Chowdhury.
Doug (23:05):
it has been such a pleasure to talk with you about
your culture, your time on theGreat American Recipe, and this
recipe sounds delicious.
I cannot wait to make it.
Anika (23:16):
Oh, thank you, Doug.
I hope you do, and I hope yourlisteners will try it as well.
It's really delicious and it'ssuper easy.
Doug (23:23):
Oh, I'm looking forward to it.
Anika, thanks so much forspending time with us today and
thanks for being on ThePittsburgh Dish.
Anika (23:31):
Thank you, Doug, for having me on the show.
It really has been an honor andI'm so excited to be on PBS on
The Great American Recipe.
Thank you for everything.
Doug (23:40):
Thanks again.
Anika (23:41):
Thank you Bye.
Doug (23:43):
Bye, bye.
We'll put a link to Anika'srecipe for tomato bhorta on our
blog at wwwpittsburghdishcom.
Up next, let's get to know ourlatest Pittsburgh Dish
contributor, Karen Hoang.
So why don't we just do acouple of getting to know
questions and then we'll go intosome recommendations?
(24:05):
Okay, sounds good.
Thank you so much for comingover and for being on the show.
Karen (24:09):
Oh my gosh, thanks so much for having me.
I appreciate it.
Doug (24:12):
Yeah, would you introduce yourself to our listeners and
what you have going on in theworld of food?
Karen (24:19):
Okay, so hello everyone.
My name is Karen Hoang.
A little background about me.
So I'm Vietnamese American, Iwas born here but my parents
were immigrants.
They came over during theVietnam war so that really
shaped my palate, I think, andkind of like my viewpoint with
food.
But I was born on the West sideof Cleveland.
I came here for school went to.
(24:40):
Pittsburgh.
Doug (24:41):
Yes, hail to Pitt.
Karen (24:42):
I know you went to Penn State, that's okay.
Hail to Pitt.
I'm a Pitt girly, what can Isay?
And I kind of stayed here andin the last few years I would
say I really started toappreciate food a bit more, Like
growing up.
You know, my parents were veryfrugal.
Doug (24:58):
And that's totally fair.
Karen (25:03):
Immigrants not a lot of money?
Doug (25:04):
Sure, first generation, exactly, so they're learning the
culture fresh.
Karen (25:07):
Yeah, so growing up you know we definitely ate more at
home than like eating out.
I didn't really eat out until Ibecame an adult with adult
money.
Anika (25:14):
Really.
Karen (25:15):
Yes, wow, yeah, so we ate out like occasionally,
especially when we visited, likemy mom's side of the family.
So they my mom's side immigrateto Montreal actually.
So my mom's side of the family,so they, my mom's side
immigrate to Montreal actuallyso my mom's side of the family.
Doug (25:29):
She's the youngest of eight, so I have 18 first
cousins, which is that's areally fun family yes, but
overwhelming.
Karen (25:36):
And uh yeah, we definitely ate out when we went
to Montreal.
And oh Montreal, if you haven'tbeen beautiful place, so much
good food that French influenceup there.
Doug (25:45):
I love French food.
Can I just rewind, though?
I would love to know a littlebit about your family food or
home food.
Are there some dishes that yougrew up with that are you know
really from your culture thatyou still you crave like if
you're going home?
This is the dish I want.
Karen (26:00):
Oh sure, this is so basic , uh, but everyone loves pho.
There's nothing like a warmbowl of pho on a cold, blistery
day, um, so that is one of mygo-tos.
But if you want to get on adifferent level, uh, you have
Bun Bo Hue, which is I don'tknow this.
Doug (26:18):
Can you say that again?
Karen (26:19):
Bun Bo Hue Bun Bo Hue it is um like pho, but elevated and
better.
If you like spice and I lovespice.
I'm a spicy girl.
I highly recommend trying BunBo Hue if you haven't, I really
like Bang Xiao, which is almostlike a Vietnamese pancake, so
that's so good.
(26:39):
I also love Bung, which is, Iguess, like vermicelli noodles,
so perfect for a hot day.
Doug (26:45):
They're served chilled.
Yes, exactly so.
That's why they're perfect fora hot day, because when it's 92
degrees out Right now, we arerecording on a hot day and Karen
graciously walked over to thestudio.
Karen (26:57):
You're so grateful.
I brave the mother nature.
Doug (27:01):
for you, it's warm out.
Karen (27:01):
yeah, it's spicy out here .
Doug (27:03):
Since you've got to Pittsburgh, is there a Vietnam
spot that you will visit now?
Karen (27:09):
So I really like Banh Mi and Ti in Lawrenceville.
I think that's a go-to for mypeople.
I like their Banh my.
I'm so salty though, becauseobviously there's not like a
huge Vietnamese population in.
Pittsburgh, but you can go tolike Seattle and get like a good
bánh mì for like six dollars,which is definitely not the case
(27:30):
here, unfortunately, but I amgrateful they exist, because I
will not be making my own bánhmì and making my own, like you
know, bread and everything likethat Now.
Doug (27:40):
do you like to cook at home to any degree?
Karen (27:44):
So not really.
I joke with everyone.
I haven't cooked at home since2021.
Like I made like basic stuff,like fried rice which.
I think doesn't count.
So, like before 2020, I didn'treally cook.
But then pandemic hit and thenI was like I have so much time,
I'm going to make all this stuff.
And I made some stuff.
I made homemade crab cakes, Imade chicken noodle soup from
(28:07):
scratch, simmered the stock forlike four hours and it's fun,
but very labor intensive andalso, you know, cooking for one,
it's kind of like not to eatchicken noodle soup for like the
next, like two weeks of my life.
Doug (28:18):
Yeah, you either need to cut recipes in half or be able
to I don't know freeze it orsomething.
Karen (28:23):
Exactly.
Doug (28:24):
So you can cook.
Karen (28:25):
I can cook.
Doug (28:26):
But you choose to go out often.
I choose to be a hometown heroand support my local businesses
which is why I've met up withyou in real life, but also see
that your Instagram feed is thatmainly where you live is
Instagram.
Karen (28:42):
Yeah, and basically I do do some TikTok.
A lot of my TikTok content issimilar to my Instagram content,
except, you know, I I have aninteresting unhinged sense of
humor at times, and sometimes Isupplement that on my TikTok.
Doug (28:56):
I got you, it seems much more.
This girl's going out andhaving a lot of great food on
Instagram.
Karen (29:02):
Yes, that is correct, which is how we have connected
and, karen, speaking of howwe've met.
Doug (29:07):
I'm also big on Instagram in terms of like, following
everyone that's into food, therestaurants, the people that
like to go to the restaurants.
Your handle is simply your name, karenhuang.
Am I saying that right?
Okay, yes, I've noticed that,especially in the last few weeks
, I feel like you're justposting, and posting, and
(29:28):
posting.
When did that all really getstarted, where you started to
focus on creating content aroundfood?
Karen (29:36):
It actually kind of started when I met our mutual
friend, Alex.
Alex eats too much.
Oh yeah, Alex Goodstein,exactly.
So we met at a Pittsburgh YoungProfessionals event and we
looked at each other and we'relike wait a second, I think I
follow you on Instagram.
And then he was like I'm goingto turn you into a food blogger.
I got this Because before that Iposted casually.
(29:56):
I'd be like oh look, here'ssome food, but no consistency,
no, any sort of like.
This is what I like.
This is not what I didn't like.
Here's some descriptions.
So I started getting more, alittle bit more, into the foodie
world in Pittsburgh, which hasbeen a blast.
Like just meeting people likeyou and everyone I've met has
been lovely, and I love whenfoodie friends become real
(30:18):
friends.
Exactly, which is amazing.
So love that for me and Ialways have people to go out to
eat with now.
Doug (30:24):
Yes, and we actually like to eat yes.
Like you go somewhere and it'snot like, oh, I'm just going to
have that one piece of theappetizer.
No, we're going to fight forthat.
No, no, no, no, no.
Karen (30:32):
The plate is clean, no, so Alex hates this.
Most of my other friends haveresigned themselves to this fate
, or they're they love it.
I usually make everyone familystyle, so I like to eat like a
little bit of everything, like Iwant to try everything.
When I go to a new restaurantI'm like, yeah, oh, my gosh,
everything looks so good but Ican't eat just like a ton of one
dish.
Therefore, it behooves myfriends to let me order for the
(30:56):
table and we all get a littlebit of everything and, honestly,
it's the way I do it.
You get to try so many thingsand it's like a lot less
expensive per person than youthink it will be.
Doug (31:05):
It certainly can be Right.
All right.
So we know that the name of theshow is The Pittsburgh Dish.
I'm going to put you on thespot.
Karen (31:13):
Okay.
Doug (31:13):
Because you do like to go out often.
What was the best dish you haveeaten this past week?
Karen (31:20):
Oh, this past week you caught me on an off week, oh
gosh.
Okay, well, this is slightlypast one week, um, but we went
to UMI um, which is in Shadyside.
It's above Soba and Mr Shu, whoruns it.
What have you?
Um, fantastic, like we did.
(31:42):
The Omakase is 18 courses.
Wow, it was amazing.
I loved it.
I loved everything about it.
And there was this uh, roastedblack cod, I believe oh just so
flavorful, and then you feelhealthy because it's just fish,
right, it's just protein yeah,each course is kind of
reasonably smaller, so you caneat a lot exactly which we know
(32:03):
I love to do.
Um, but yeah, I reallyappreciate trying like all these
different types of fish andit's like amazing what you can
do with like different cuts offish, but also like different
sauces, different plating andpresentation um so the whole
meal was fantastic, but I thinkabout that all the time.
Doug (32:19):
Well, umi is has been killing it for years, so I'm
glad to hear that you just had agreat experience again.
Exactly, karen, thanks so muchand thanks for being on The
Pittsburgh Dish.
Karen (32:30):
No problem, thank you.
Doug (32:33):
We're looking forward to more of Karen's recommendations
on future episodes, and be sureto give her Instagram handle a
follow.
That's Karen Hoang.
If you enjoyed the show,consider buying us a coffee for
this episode or supporting theshow monthly.
You can find links to thoseoptions at the bottom of our
show description, and if youwant to follow my own food
(32:54):
adventures, you can find me onsocial media at Doug Cooking.
That's our show for this week.
Thanks again to all of ourguests and contributors and to
Kevin Solecki of CarnegieAccordion Company for providing
the music to our show.
We'll be back again next weekwith another fresh episode.
Stay tuned.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.