Latest news with #MeeraSodha
Wall Street Journal
11-04-2025
- General
- Wall Street Journal
Lost Your Cooking Mojo? She's Been There—and Wants to Help
Everyone's heard of writer's block—but what about cook's block? In her new book, 'Dinner,' the British cookbook author Meera Sodha chronicles her comeback from just that sort of culinary rut. After years of feeding a family and creating recipes for a living, she writes, the spark petered out: 'I lost my love for food. I didn't want to shop. I didn't want to cook. I ate for necessity, not pleasure.'
Washington Post
06-04-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Depression stole her drive to cook. Recipes like this brought it back.
Someone in my family once told me, 'I don't believe in depression.' It was a startling statement, insulting to those of us who have experienced depressive episodes, and my reply was quick and sharp: 'Depression doesn't require you to believe in it. It exists whether you want it to or not.' I'm a believer, and so is Meera Sodha. The London-based cookbook author and newspaper columnist had what she calls a 'breakdown' several years ago, severe enough to force her to step away from her Guardian column for a bit. Then one day her husband, Hugh, started to crack under the pressure of taking care of their baby and toddler along with his wife and himself. 'He said, 'Please, I'd really love it if you cooked me a meal,'' Sodha told me in a Zoom call from New York City, where she was on book tour. Get the recipe: Matar Paneer It was all she needed to hear, and it woke her up, literally and figuratively. 'I had always shown him love by cooking, and I think that's what he needed,' she said. She went from bed to kitchen, gathered ingredients, and made her version of one of their favorite dishes, a Malaysian dal. As she felt herself returning to life, she also realized that as a professional food writer, she had been doing this cooking thing all wrong. 'I'd cooked because it was a particular season or I was working on a particular vegetable,' subjects she was tackling for her column, she said. 'It's like, what would other people like for Easter? I didn't really think about myself.' Even her family was typically eating the results of her testing rather than, as she put it, 'the types of foods I had grown up eating myself,' or what she might crave in the moment. She paved her path back from depression with a determination to change. As she writes in her new cookbook, 'I would cook for pleasure, not work. I wanted to try to become more aware of my mood and feelings and work out what I wanted to eat, and slowly but surely, like kindling catching, I started to feel the fire in my belly again.' The orange notebook she kept in the kitchen, where she recorded thoughts about her day and her feelings — along with descriptions of dishes she made for her family — wasn't intended to become a cookbook. Eventually, she thought, it would be a keepsake for her girls. But when her editor and agent checked in on her, she told them she was coming up for air and might have the makings of her next project. The result, 'Dinner,' is Sodha's ode to the kind of simple family meal that rejuvenated her during and after a dark period. I've always loved Sodha's recipes — I'm particularly fond of her 2020 book, 'East' — but her newfound sense of freedom comes across in 'Dinner.' The recipes have a breezy, no-pressure vibe that feels like exactly what we all need in such a stressful, uncertain period. Think spicy sesame noodles with peanuts and Brussels sprouts, Sichuan-style charred green beans with crumbled tofu and mushrooms, and an herby fried-egg salad. Sodha has a way of bringing just the right fresh touches to even traditional recipes. The one I couldn't resist sharing after I tested it is Matar Paneer, an Indian pea and paneer curry that she enriches with a cashew puree and brightens with crunchy snow peas. To add even more depth, you blister the snow peas — and some cherry tomatoes — in a skillet before building the rest of the dish. The combination of textures and flavors makes the curry something you don't want to stop eating, which also makes it a particularly appropriate example of Sodha's other big message in 'Dinner': that lingering over the evening meal can help you press the reset button on a stressful day. As someone who has also struggled to keep in touch with my own cravings and my own household cooking obligations even as I pursue new recipes for this column and for cookbooks, I adore any dish that can meet all those needs. I made the Matar Paneer for work colleagues first, then took leftovers home, where my teenage son was too occupied by his current fixation on red meat to notice them. I heated them up for my husband and myself, and over a satisfying dinner we exchanged workday recaps and brainstormed weekend plans. Reset accomplished. Get the recipe: Matar Paneer
Telegraph
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Discover recipes by Diana Henry's favourite female food writers
I hold the female food writers I most admire not just close to my heart, but at my core. That's because they're not, of course, 'just' writing about food. When I pondered whose cookbooks I'd be reading and cooking from in 20 years' time, the answer came easily: Ravinder Bhogal, Meera Sodha and Olia Hercules. Every so often you hear the phrase 'food is their language' and don't quite know what it means, but when I look at the work of these three, it's as clear as day. They recognise that food writing is a form of social history, a way of connecting to places and a way of connecting with you. All these women were separated from their homes or their heritage, and cooking was the path back. 'I'm Kenyan by birth and spirit, Indian in heritage and heart,' Ravinder told me. 'And a Londoner through and through.' In 1987 she came to London with her parents and was bullied at school. Anxiety about how her parents would survive in this new country made her withdraw and food became central. 'Cooking was a portal to what I was pining for, what I'd left behind. Mealtimes – when I could smell spices – became a coping mechanism. You got through one meal at a time.' She's also the fourth daughter in a family that wanted sons: 'Educating girls was likened to planting a seed in your neighbour's garden: a pointless pursuit.' Despite what she had to cope with, it was hard to crush her. She kept cooking, doing pop-ups and catering until the restaurant critic Fay Maschler told her to stop being a coward and open a place of her own. She describes her London restaurant, Jikoni, as 'an immigrant kitchen', because her life has crossed so many borders. Meera Sodha also feels that she is 'the product of many places' and comes from a family that has known poverty, division and losing everything because of political upheavals. She describes herself as part-Gujarati as that's where her family is from, part-Ugandan as her parents grew up there, and part-Scunthorpian because that's where she was born. As with Ravinder, cooking helped Meera feel 'more at home in all of these places'. Meera wrote her first book, Made in India – a bestseller – because she wanted to record the Gujarati family recipes she grew up with. Her huge work ethic has resulted in three more books. Her inspiration comes from all over the world, partly because she has known so many places and partly because of her love of flavour. 'A new recipe can originate from seeing two ingredients in the fridge that might not typically go together,' she says. Success was expected in her family: 'Work came first and everything and everyone else came second.' Perfectionism and long hours led to burnout – she stepped back from work for several months, then published her best book yet, Dinner. Her recipe introductions reveal the whirring of her thoughts as she explains why you too can cook this, and why it works. Olia Hercules, who moved here in 2011, was already known for her books on Ukrainian cooking ('I wanted everyone to know that it was full of colour and joy') when Russia invaded her home country. If you follow her on Instagram, you will know how raw her posts can be. I worried she was so traumatised she was breaking down before our eyes. She used her platform to get proper boots for men such as her brother, who chose to stay and fight, and urged us to hold dinners, lunches and cake sales to raise funds. Cooking in the face of such brutality seemed almost hopeless but the #CookForUkraine initiative has raised more than £2 million and kept Ukraine at the front of our minds. Olia told me recently that she is even more interested in food than she was before the war. She recognises that food writing is a way to understand – and hold close – countries you've never been to. Food binds us. We all fry onions.
The Guardian
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bored kids and empty cupboards? Try these child-friendly recipes this half-term
This is an extract from our weekly Feast newsletter, written by Felicity Cloake, Meera Sodha, Rachel Roddy and others. Sign up here to get it free to your inbox every Thursday. Happy half-term everyone! If you are a parent reading this, the chances are you are in desperate need of a snack/strong coffee/stiff drink. I start these school breaks with great intentions – lots of wholesomeness, baking, arts and crafts, and so forth. But the snack cupboard is now bare, the kids have had a side of cucumber sticks with every meal as a token bit of 'green' and there are only so many episodes of Bluey I can take (actually, that's a lie, but you know, we can't have it playing all day). To go out with a bang, I've got a few last-minute treats up my sleeve. First are these ham and mozzarella rice cakes from Yotam Ottolenghi, which look fun to make and eat. All three of the recipes in this article look great and would go down a treat with my small people. The same goes for this cracking collection of six kid-friendly recipes, including a stew with dumplings from yours truly. Uyen Luu's recipe for egg-fried noodles with broccoli and runner beans is a big hit in our house, a real weeknight staple – I just replace the veg with whatever I have to hand. I cannot wait to try David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl's halloumi veggie burgers: they sound right up our street. I've got Alice Zaslavsky's traybake pizza lined up for Saturday night; the kids will love getting messy making that. We'll tuck into it with a movie or Gladiators – our regular Saturday night treat – and if I don't have too much guilt about the amount of sugar consumed, I'll get them to make these fun Willy Wonka chocolate pops for afters. I'm also keen to give this cupcake caterpillar by David Atherton a try. I love the idea of using banana, spinach and courgette in the cake batter; it's fun and wholesome, and my kids will be thrilled with the vibrant green colour. And finally, as Stuart Heritage explains in this lockdown article that features 15 tips for cooking with kids, the most important thing is to make food they'll actually want to eat. It's all well and good being aspirational and getting them to try something new, but for the best results try offering new dishes alongside the familiar. A new vegetable they haven't had before? Serve it alongside their favourite pasta. I'm planning on getting the girls to make Yotam's rainbow-layered dip (pictured top) tonight alongside some more familiar cheesy quesadillas. It can take a few attempts before something becomes a win. But if they can help you in the preparation, then there is even more chance they will give it a try. You've got them to experience something new and incorporated an educational activity into your day. If that isn't a half-term win, I don't know what is. Unexpected item in the bagging area | If you live in a big city, you probably have your pick of artisanal food shops, piled high with chilli oils and sauces. As a suburban dweller, I often get FOMO on the condiment front, so I am a big fan of Delli's online food haven. My current obsession is the crispy chicken skin sambal from Mirin, and I always try to grab a jar of croissant butter from Mancunian bakery Pollen. But you have to be quick, because that stuff is more sought after than a ticket to Glastonbury. Sign up to Feast Recipes from all our star cooks, seasonal eating ideas and restaurant reviews. Get our best food writing every week after newsletter promotion What I've been reading | It's not a new release, but I have just started reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang, who won the Nobel prize in literature in 2024. First published in 2007, in South Korea, with an English translation released in 2015, The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, an artist and homemaker whose decision to become vegetarian leads to devastating consequences. Her story is told in three parts by various family members; the first being her husband, Mr Cheong. It is captivating, uncomfortable, eye-opening and I am totally gripped. Top marks for a student dinner | A few weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Ulster University in Belfast. My day started by talking to some of the culinary arts students, followed by hosting a Greekish dinner at their awe-inspiring Academy restaurant. Academy not only looks like a swish eatery, but it is a great opportunity for the uni students to gain priceless cheffing experience, both front and back of house. If you are visiting this brilliant city, make a beeline for their student menus or Culinary Salon events. It's great seeing the next generation in action. Don't get our Feast newsletter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to get our free food newsletter in full every Thursday
