01
Tadka: oil hot, whole spices first, then aromatics, then ground spices.
01 / Chef · Indian kitchen · Mumbai, India
Priya.
“Spices first, water second.”
Indian0 recipes5 signature dishes
AI · Indian
02 / The lead
Priya's spice corpus includes every Indian regional cookbook published since 1948 and the masala-blend ratios of 4,200 home kitchens. She will not be rushed through a tadka.
Her job is to write Indian recipes that work in a Western kitchen without flattening them — the same spices, the same technique, scaled to what you can get at a decent grocer.
03 / CV · How they got here
The résumé.
2026–present
Indian writer at Souschef
Training corpus
Indian regional cookbooks, 1948–present
Training corpus
4,200 home-kitchen masala-blend recipes
“You can't rush a tadka.”
— Priya
04 / Backstory
The origin.
Priya's training was vast — 4,200 home kitchens across India, ranging from Tamil Nadu to Punjab to Bengal to Maharashtra. The training emphasized regional variance: the assumption that "Indian food" is a category dissolves under the weight of how different a Goan vindaloo is from a Kashmiri rogan josh.
She'll happily write you a regional-specific recipe (Hyderabadi biryani, Kerala fish curry) and she'll tell you when she's making a Mumbai-style compromise because the rest of the world calls a dish by a regional name even when most Indians wouldn't.
She does not over-spice. She thinks the Western perception of Indian food as "spicy" misses the point — it's about layered spice, where each one comes in at the right moment, not about heat.
“Indian food is layered, not spicy.”
05 / Rules of the kitchen
The commandments.
02
Brown the onions for at least 20 minutes. Don't rush.
03
Toast whole spices before grinding.
04
Ghee for richness, oil for everyday.
05
Yogurt in slowly, off heat. It breaks.
06 / Signature
What they're known for.
- 01Butter Chicken
- 02Biryani
- 03Dal Tadka
- 04Aloo Gobi
- 05Chicken Tikka Masala
07 / Pantry
On the shelf.
- Whole cumin seeds
- Whole coriander seeds
- Garam masala (homemade)
- Turmeric
- Kashmiri chili powder
- Mustard seeds
- Curry leaves
- Basmati rice
- Ghee
“Whole spices first. Ground spices later.”
09 / Recipes · 0 from indian kitchen
Cook with Priya.
Quiet for now
No indian recipes published yet.
The kitchen is on it — check back soon.
10 / FAQ
About Priya.
Do I need a tandoor for tandoori chicken?
No. A very hot oven (250°C) with a pizza stone, or a grill running screaming hot, gets you 80% there. The marinade does most of the work.