The Care Collective
Join Dr. Uwaila Oronsaye, Pharm.D. and Dr. Siddhi Chandra, OD as they launch The Care Collective—a monthly podcast dedicated to empowering and connecting individuals passionate about creating positive change. Through insightful conversations and shared knowledge, they foster a supportive and inclusive community that inspires growth, connection, and action. Together, they aim to cultivate care and amplify the power of collective impact. Tune in and be part of the movement!
The Care Collective
Cooking Chronicles: "Dish & Dine"
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.
The Care Collective Podcast | @sthopehealthcare
Hi, welcome to the Care Collective, a podcast brought to you by St Hope Healthcare.
Speaker 2:I'm Dr Uwaila Aranse and I'm Dr Siddhi Chandra. The Care Collective is a podcast dedicated to empowering and connecting individuals who are passionate about creating positive change. Our mission is to share valuable insights and knowledge, foster a supportive and inclusive community and provide engaging and entertaining. Foster a supportive and inclusive community and provide engaging and entertaining content that inspires growth and connection. Together, we aim to make caring contagious and amplify the power of collective action.
Speaker 1: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:Hi, and I'm your co-host, Dr Siddi Chandra. We're so excited to talk about food and culture today.
Speaker 1:Yes, Everybody loves to eat right.
Speaker 2:So when it comes to food, are you a big foodie.
Speaker 1:So I am a big foodie. Whenever I have time to go, I do go out. I haven't been to restaurants in a while, but I do love to eat. I love flavor. I have a. I'm Nigerian, a Nigerian American, so we love a lot of spices, flavors, layers to our food. So, and I appreciate other cultures, food as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, I can totally relate to that, especially with Indian food. It's very similar Lots of flavors, spices, and I'm definitely a big foodie. Yeah, did you know it's restaurant week this week. I did not, I know I heard it on the radio and I was like, oh shoot, I need to get out there.
Speaker 1:I do, because I know they always post like the different um houston restaurants or houston restaurant weeks where you can hop around.
Speaker 2:so yeah, that's good to know right, I guess I'm not that big of a foodie, hey I heard it on the radio on the way to work and I was like oh, how did I miss this? So I think it's still going on.
Speaker 1:So okay, check it out. I will okay. So are you a big cooker? Do you like to cook a lot?
Speaker 2:oh yes, I love to cook. I've been cooking since oh my gosh since I was a teenager, I would say um so many years under my belt. I love cooking different cuisines as well. Definitely cook a lot of Indian food, but I like to mix it up like Mexican, chinese, american, traditional American food as well. So love to cook, okay same here.
Speaker 1:I do enjoy cooking as well, um, especially when I get to try like a new recipe. Recently I haven't been trying a 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, I do like masal, like masalas and like, of course, like with curry. I know you guys use a lot of curry and I love curry and Nigerians use a lot of curry as well, but, yeah, those are my favorites that I like to rotate around.
Speaker 2:We'll have to share recipes. I've never tried Nigerian food like cooking it at least oh yes, have you heard of jalef rice?
Speaker 1:no okay, jalef rice is like. That's usually like um, like an intro food that a lot of people have tried, or they'll say fufu with like soups. So you haven't heard of any of those. Okay, I need to, I'm gonna have to introduce you at least to the jalef rice I know a lot of our watchers have probably heard of jalef rice. If you've heard of nigerian food, okay, because there's always like these things on social media going around about whose jalef rice is better. So there's like Nigerians against Ghanians.
Speaker 1:So, it's always like a fun little—.
Speaker 2: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're going to have to bring me some.
Speaker 1:I will, I will. Okay, so you're a big cooker.
Speaker 2:What are some of your favorite spices and ingredients to use in the kitchen? Good question. So I would say the one essential thing right now. It's so simple, but it's garlic powder. I swear I put garlic powder on everything. That's so funny. If it's eggs, if it's vegetables, if it's meat, I just think it's the most essential ingredient.
Speaker 1:I love garlic powder. Yes, I love. That's one of my faves too. And it's funny, because for me my mom didn't even cook with garlic.
Speaker 3:Yes, she doesn't like garlic, so when I'm cooking stuff.
Speaker 1:she's like oh, you're putting garlic, yes, Okay, yes, okay, I am so god.
Speaker 2: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, but garlic powder is different. So I never used garlic powder outside 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, favorite favorite.
Speaker 1:I love garlic powder for a dish of Nigerian stew so I like to put a little garlic in there, because for my Nigerians like when you know that tomato-y taste when you're trying to cook it out you don't want that tart tomato taste. Yes, like garlic really helps to kind of mask that tart.
Speaker 2:Neutralize it, yeah, neutralize it. So it's like, mm. Do you do fresh garlic or do you? I?
Speaker 1:do fresh garlic as well. Okay, so, but I don't know Whenever I'm like oh, I still need a little more. I do love the powder, Okay.
Speaker 2:Do you use fresh tomatoes or do you use canned tomatoes?
Speaker 1:So I do a mixture. Oh yeah, a mixture, oh yeah, so um, 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 and bell peppers we use red bell peppers in there. Some people do, some people don't um, if I have time I'll go ahead and do that um, but sometimes I'll do the canned tomatoes, um, and a little bit of fresh tomatoes and then fresh bell peppers. Always that's a good idea.
Speaker 2: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 coming from and everything. I just haven't gotten great tomatoes in where we live, it gets that tart taste right. So I've switched over to tomato paste which has been incredible and doesn't have that bitter taste, but I love the idea of mixing the two together.
Speaker 1:I'm going to try that. I think that could be it, because that taste of the fresh tomato is a little different than the canned. But of course, when I'm trying to do something really quick, I'll do canned tomatoes, and then I'll still put my fresh bell peppers.
Speaker 2:So how do you feel like food can support people living with conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol?
Speaker 1:Yes, so I know a lot of people have. When you're first diagnosed, or if you're first diagnosed with diabetes, you have high blood sugar, or if your blood pressure is something you have to watch and you have to watch your sodium amount. So there are diets that are that have been put out there for patients, like there's one called the DASH diet and that's really to help with people with high blood pressure, so it helps you to kind of watch how much salt you're taking. Or the Mediterranean diet. I've heard?
Speaker 3:I know you've probably heard of that, right? Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Mediterranean diet is also really good for people who have high cholesterol. It uses like more healthier fats and you eat a little. You're more veggies and more seafoods, so that's also a good diet. But it's always good to reach out to like a nutritionist or a dietitian, which we do have here at St Hope, um. That can help guide you, cause it's actually it's funny because I had a patient recently that had um a bypass surgery because his arteries were pretty much 95% clogged so he was so confused about what to eat he didn't know where to start or anything like that. So they do have diets that will guide you, depending on what conditions that you have, on what types of food to eat. So if you're ever confused about that or looking to change your diet, you can always meet up with a nutritionist or a dietitian.
Speaker 2: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:It is Especially I mean because when you're growing up you're so used to however your mother cooked or coming up with your own habits with cooking. Maybe you work so much and you have to figure out what are quick and easy ways to, you know, make something that's healthy and nutritious. So creating new habits is always hard, but there's always a place to start.
Speaker 2:It is unfortunately marketed as healthy. But you look at, the funny part is that actually I had to teach one of my friends this. You know, you look at the front of the product you're buying, the food you're buying, and it'll say all these healthy things, it might even say USD organic.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you're like yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Pick it up, this is great. But if you flip it around, don't even look at the nutritional information, skip that part too. I mean, look at it, great Sure, but look at the ingredients Right. Like all the labels will say green check, green check, green check, green check.
Speaker 1: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, right despite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, learning how to read um nutrition facts is a game changer, so don't matter. Like, like you said, all those um, what do they call them? I guess they try to catch you with your attention grabbers. That they try to catch you on the front of the boxes is that just flip it over. Flip it over and read the facts and if you don't know how to, like a nutritionist or a dietitian can help you learn how to, absolutely OK. So, since you say you're always in the kitchen or you love to cook, what are some of your favorite gadgets in the kitchen and why?
Speaker 2: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 and it's an onion chopper okay so in indian cooking it's like I would say 50 percent onions okay your whole meal. It's like I would say 50% onions. Okay, your whole meal. It's very heavy For one pound of meat.
Speaker 1:it's one onion oh wow.
Speaker 2:So it's pretty heavy and imagine sitting there chopping onions. It's a lot okay. I feel you, and then my eyes are sensitive, like even if I have on contacts, I'm like always watery, it's like very painful, it's not a fun experience. So this little gadget, you just throw it in and just chop it up.
Speaker 1:It chops it up for you perfectly and it has saved me so much time when I tell you I couldn't like I. I couldn't agree more because it's so funny. That's one of my favorites too. My mother-in-law actually got it 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 the kitchen, but I don't know, is yours one of those where, like cool yeah, it's the street.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the same thing it's the street and it's like a workout, yeah because I make four to five pounds of meat almost every weekend. Yeah, that's five onions for one day.
Speaker 1: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 spicy food, so we do habaneros and we do a lot of onions as well, so I'll put them all in there.
Speaker 2: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's done. The great news is so it did break. And I was like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? You know, you can find it on Amazon.
Speaker 1:Oh, really yes, and it's like very affordable.
Speaker 2:So, if yours ever breaks you got to back up Okay.
Speaker 1:I will definitely cherish that forever. So thank you to my mother-in-law for that?
Speaker 2:What would you say? Is your favorite comfort food and have you found a healthier twist on it?
Speaker 1:My favorite comfort food being for me, I love carbs and I love a fresh pot of rice Nice anything with rice. As a Nigerian-American, we do of rice.
Speaker 2:Nice Anything with rice as a Nigerian.
Speaker 1:American. We do love rice. It's okay. I love a good bowl of rice, but rice 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 of rice and make sure I'm adding veggies with it, if I do want my white rice, or, of course, um, switching it out for, uh, quinoa. Have you had quinoa? Yes, okay, so quinoa is a good. It doesn't taste exactly like rice.
Speaker 1:You can trick yourself right but it does the job for me. Yeah, um, so I do switch it out with uh, quinoa. So that's what I've been trying to do. But sometimes I'm just like, okay, I can still have my rice some days. It's just you have to portion it. But my problem is that I love it so much that when it's there, you just have to. It's hard to yeah I just can't say no, so yeah.
Speaker 2: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 still doing keto, so I'm doing low carb and that eliminates rice, but I don't think that's my like big thing.
Speaker 3:I would say more so would be like roti with it. I would love to have roti with it yeah.
Speaker 2:But I think I'm doing okay. I'm grateful that, like I would say, 70% of Indian food is low carb.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good, so it falls within it and you know a few indulgences here and there.
Speaker 2:when I can I? Think you know what I would really love, though, if I could eat anything right now, would be a pizza. I love like a really nice Napoleon pizza. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I don't have a replacement for that. I'm sorry you guys don't have a replacement. Have you heard of the? What is it? The cauliflower, have you ever tried? 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:If I'm gonna have, pizza.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna eat pizza exactly you know.
Speaker 2:Speaking of yummy food and comfort food, I'm really excited to introduce our guest speaker. Chef monk is well from my favorite indian restaurant restaurant in Houston, mustafa. If you haven't been there, you need to run on over and try it out.
Speaker 1:Yes, I will be going there today. Okay, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2:So let's go ahead and get on the call All right. Hi Chef Mayank.
Speaker 3:Hi, how are you?
Speaker 2:Great, great Thank you for joining us. Yes, thank you Welcome. How are you? Great, great Thank you for joining us. Yes, thank you Welcome. Welcome my pleasure Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:You know, we're honored to welcome you. Chef Mayank Iswal, executive Chef of the acclaimed Moustapha in Houston and a Michelin Star Culinary Master known for his bold innovation and deep reverence for Indians' diverse regional flavors. For his bold innovation and deep reverence for Indians' diverse regional flavors, chef Mayank crafts immersive dining experiences that are artistic as they are unforgettable. From the foothills of the Himalayas to the heart of Houston, his journey is one of passion, precision and purpose. Join us as we dive into the story, inspiration and global impact of a chef who's redefining modern Indian cuisine. What a great introduction.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much. Inspiration and global impact of a chef who's redefining modern Indian cuisine what a great introduction.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much. Yes, and you know.
Speaker 3:first off, congratulations on being awarded your Michelin stars Very well deserved. Thank you very much. It means a lot. It means a lot. Thank you for supporting always Me too, yeah.
Speaker 2:Of course, you know, the biggest thing that I love about Mustafa is your story, and that's what I would love for our viewers to know. First is you know, tell us about your journey through India and your inspiration.
Speaker 3:So, actually, like, I grew up in a caterer's family. My father was, you know, a caterer, he had a catering business. So I remember, like I was eight years old when I was thrown into the kitchen, uh, very early. Uh, then my summer vacation and my winter vacation was always around food. Um, it was, uh, you know like, I never used to like it, to be very frank, in the beginning, because it it was a little forceful, like you know, because he wanted me to, you know like, uh, you know, start like working in the business very early so that I can take care of the business in the future. That was the whole idea and it was first to you, right. But you know, when I turned like 12 or 13, uh, I started liking it. So I was very attracted towards fire as an element in the kitchen. And you know, now I know why I used to like fire was because I opted for the hot kitchen later. That was something, um, you know that that used to attract me a lot.
Speaker 3:And then, um, you know, I started with very basic things in the beginning, making little chutneys, you know like, with my grandmother sometimes. And then I started like, really like cooking, cooking. When I made momos, like because momo is something it's like a dumpling it. You know, if you track the roots from it's from Tibet and Nepal, then you know, because I come from a state it's for the foothills of the Himalayan mountains and we share borders in Nepal, so there was a lot of cross culture and you know like. So that was something that I grew up eating and then making it as well. 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:He was very upset, excited I'm like I'm sure he was excited because you know he used.
Speaker 3:Tell me because you spend a lot of time with the cooks. Now you want to become a cook right.
Speaker 3:But you know, my mom supported me and then I had, you know, then I did my bachelor's in physics, chemistry and math. I was a science student and then my father thought after that I went for MBA, so, but I did not. I actually went to the culinary school. That was my mom For two years. He had no clue that. You know that in which college I am. He always thought, oh, he's doing the management and like, again, he got upset when he got to know, like, oh my God, this little rebel you know, in the house you know.
Speaker 3:But you know, like, that was my calling right, this is what I really wanted to do. And then, you know, know, went to a professional culinary school in india itself. Uh, you know, I won a chef competition, all india level that happens in, you know like, because these culinary schools are in every single state and we are 29 states in india. So, uh, set the bar really high when I won this competition and then then I started, uh, professionally, got trained in India. Then I went abroad, worked in Australia for a few years and I traveled all over, like South Pacific and New Zealand, french Polynesia. It was a great journey and learning about the cuisine and, uh, the different cultures there as well. And then I came back, uh, worked in India for like so many years in like different group of hotels Taj group of hotels, taj group of hotels, lallu group of hotels and then, finally, I was in Bangalore and it was in the year 2016 when I met Shamian Mithu. They are the, you know, like founders of Womusafir. So basically, they were looking for a chef and then, you know, they were staying in the hotel and then I gave them a chef tasting meal, a fooding course meal, and they were really impressed and they said, like, okay, we found a guy like. You know ourselves like a trio, like all three of us, so this was our combined vision. You know, like about the journey of all 29 states of India.
Speaker 3:And then musafir happened. You know, because it's based on a journey, uh, and in this journey was fabulous because I went to like, I got a chance, I was very lucky to go to entire India. You know, taking inspiration from, like, small towns, small villages. You know like cooking with the home cooks, like grandmothers, it's, it's, it's a dream. You know like, and you know, traveling by road. You know like stopping into these like small towns and then going for fishing in the Arabian Sea with the fishermen and then coming back with the fresh fish and then fisherman's wife cooking this amazing meal because she had a small eatery at the coastline and like. You know like all these beautiful adventures from the journey, all these beautiful adventures from the journey.
Speaker 3:And then we opened Masafir in the middle of pandemic. That is again very unfortunate, but a blessing in disguise. We got time to like, sell now and like it's been a new restaurant, a huge restaurant, started training people remotely because we were not able to train people you know in person, because we were about to open the restaurant and then just complete lockdown, shut down, and then we could not do our trainings Right, so I made videos sitting in my apartment and then sending them you know, all these videos to all these like servers, managers, so they can actually like see my videos. And then you know they can. And then we also send them packets of like spices and everything. So I was talking about the spices this is a green cardamom, this spices and everything. So I was talking about the spices this is green cardamom, this is a cooling spice, this is how it tastes like and they were also tasting at the same time.
Speaker 3:So we a kit to them with yes yes, that's what we did, uh, for the training, um, and then, you know, then I used to record all these like voice notes for them. Basically, uh, you know, because we also have like hispanic like speakers in the kitchen, and then, uh, so like for every single ingredient, like, we recorded this small like voice notes like turmeric is in english and in hindi it's haldi and in spanish it's like, uh, kurkuma, so like for every single ingredient, I made these voice notes so that we send it to them so that they can at least know what ingredient is what. Uh, so they can understand in their native language. So it's, it's, it's, it's so we use the technology, basically right. And uh, you know, with 25 occupancy to 50, and in no time, because we were in texas, so it's quite liberal that way so we were like in 100 occupancy in like six months. So that's great good for the business. And you know, I have to always like thank houstonians because they supported us since day one. And uh, we are here now.
Speaker 3:Like you know, the michelin star journey is, uh, is, uh, it's kind of like, with a lot of like leaps and bound, I would say, and you know, a lot of hard work, uh, but we knew that. You know, when we were coming to houston that we always had a dream. Uh, so dream initiated when I got married. My wife said win me a star one day. And I told her, like I don't know, like, because there's no mission guide in India, so I really don't know whether we'll be I'll be able to do that or not. And when we came to Texas, we realized there is no mission guide in Texas. 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 lot of speculations going around that the Michelin inspectors are coming around. You know, like, there will be a Michelin Guide in Texas. A lot of people were talking about it, but it was never official. So then it got official in 2024 and, uh, then a lot of publications mentioned that, okay, musafir could get a michelin star. So so we were doing our homework right since day one and, uh, we know it was coming.
Speaker 3:And and we received an email, and this email comes from the guide. And then we thought is it a real email? Is it a scam, spam email? I, I don't know. Because, like, because there were a lot of like stories going on.
Speaker 3:People said, oh, this restaurant received an email and you cannot tell. If you receive an email, you have to keep it to yourselves till the day of the event. You cannot tell. It is basically, you have to keep it to yourselves till the day of the event. You cannot tell. It is basically you have to keep it to yourself. This is how it works. You cannot tell anybody.
Speaker 3:So, um, so we received this email. We had this email in the in the spam box like for so many months, almost for a month, and then they were they. They keep, they keep sending us email, right? Okay, please respond like, whether you got our email or not, and you're thinking like, is it the right email? It took us one month to just figure it out. It's a real email. And then we check it is real. Okay, this is happening.
Speaker 3:So now, if you get an email, they ask for information, they ask for like, okay, upload the photos. Okay, we have uh, written a little uh write-up about your restaurant. Do you think this is right? If you want to change it? So, um, uh, we, we rectified it a little bit, you know, like it was very well written, so we uploaded the pictures.
Speaker 3:Send them that send them all the information about the restaurant, the timings of the restaurant, what time it opens, and then then still you don't know, like, what you're getting, because you only get to know at the day of the ceremony. So either you can, either you can get uh like a michelin recommended restaurant or like a bib gurman. We knew that we are not in the category of bib gurman, because that is something uh on, like uh the pricing is uh okay and like our pricing is high. We know that. And at a good quality food you get that pricing. We know, we knew that our pricing pricing is high. So we'll never be qualified for that. Either we are a michelin michelin recommended restaurant or winning a star. So we had no clue, like you did, because and this suspense is on for like almost five, six months- oh, my God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then we knew that. You know I knew inside, because it was 11-11. Many station. That was the day for the ceremony, and you will not believe what I used to do every single day. I used to wear a cap that I wear on the ceremony. That is from my culture, where I come from, because I'm a Bahari. I come from because I'm a Bahari, I come from the mountains. So I, you know, we, that's a traditional cap that we wear. I used to every single day, act in front of the mirror wearing that cap that I want to start every single day for like almost few months.
Speaker 3:And then at the day of ceremony, you know like, they started announcing the awards. The first thing that they do is right, they do the Michelin. First thing that they do is right, um, they do the michelin recommended restaurant. And they do it alphabetically. So it was the m alphabet, and then we were praying it should not be us. It should not be us because we want to win a star for sure. Mom and m paused in the another alphabet and then then we realized oh, I think now, and then me, shami and me too, started talking to each other I think we are winning a star because we are not Bib Gurman, 100%. We are not Bib Gurman, that is, we knew it inside. And then, but there's a whole ceremony, there's a whole buildup, right, because this is like an Oscar for a chef. That is the biggest, that is the highest honor. So, yeah, that was the journey. Well, here you are.
Speaker 2:Definitely well-deserved. I'm not going to lie, just you know, in the excuse of using research for the podcast, I was there on Tuesday and my husband and I had the Nihari lamb tacos. They were incredible, it was so delicious.
Speaker 1:She was telling me about it. I'm like, okay, I'm going to be going tonight to try it out.
Speaker 2:Truly delicious.
Speaker 3:You know we also respect the culture, like you know, because taco is something that Houston is very big on and we are bordering Mexico. So we also respect the, the local uh cuisine and you know we try to blend in instead of like creating boundaries. Why not build bridges between like different, like you know cultures? You know it's it's important you need to embrace where you are. You can only be authentic if you're sustainable and you're. You're looking at the local cuisine and you're not trying to adapt uh. I think that is authenticity for me. And you cannot find what musafir do in houston or in new york anywhere. So musafir in houston will be musafir houston, always kind, because all these ingredients are local, the kind of air they breathe, the kind of water used.
Speaker 2:Right, it's different back in india, it's different in new york, so it'll be always be musafir houston the original, the og okay so musafir has a special place in our heart because when I moved here it was about five years ago, which is when I think musafir opened. Actually, it was during the pandemic. Yes, um, it's where my husband and I everything was closed and he was working that day and it was our one-year wedding anniversary and Chef Mike was kind enough to keep the restaurant open just for us to have dinner.
Speaker 3:Yes, I remember that Absolutely Very very Okay, chef.
Speaker 1:So I do have a question for you. You know us working at St Hope Healthcare and our patients are busy, or even for ourselves we're pretty busy. What are some good tips that you have that people who are busy that can make a nice nutritious but quick meal?
Speaker 3:Yes. So you know, nice, nutritious, quick meal need to. So what? What I'll do is just the preparation should be right. So you know, on your off day, you know you can just like boil the rice, keep it aside, boil the pasta, take care of your carbs first right. Proteins, you know, if you don't have time to go get roast chicken, go to costco, just grab some roast chicken, like, keep it in the fridge. Proteins, like get some fish shrimps. You know you have to do the preparation right for this entire week. And you know, like, just just you 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 rice I will not say stale rice if you you, because you know it's in the refrigerator, right, you will not believe it drops down to 54 yeah, oh, it's so good it's so good you can, you don't eat fresh rice, do not eat fresh pasta.
Speaker 3:I always tell people that's so pretty.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3:You can check it online like I'm not even kidding, that's, that's crazy, right. So, specifically specifically for 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 vegetables or anything. Try the frozen vegetables from costco. It's fine, you know, uh. And then then now you have to do the combinations.
Speaker 3:Either you are making a salad or you're making a pasta with a lot of vegetables. Then you have the roast chicken. Just slice the chicken, you know, just quickly toss it right. Or you're making a salad. Let's say you have the roast chicken, right, if you want to do a pasta salad with that, or you want to throw in some rice. I always have some lot of crispies in my pantry, like crispy shallots, uh, crispy garlic. Then I have like toasted sesame seeds and you know I have all these crunchy different elements right there. You can make a gourmet meal in no time. I'm telling you, just have the combinations right. That's what I always tell people.
Speaker 3:The most nutritious thing that I always make at home is like I'll just buy the butternut squash. Know, on the day of the prep, as I said, on my off day, I will throw in these like butternut squash in the oven. In no time it's roasted, like almost 40 minutes it's done and then just make a puree out of it and then you quickly make a soup, toss some pumpkin seeds, throw in that. You know it's nutty, flavorful soup. If you want to put a dollop of cream, a little butter in there, that's it. You know like it's fabulous. You know I think you're also using all these, like the seeds that you're putting in the food. Sometimes I do the chia seeds or, like you know, all these crispies on top like toasted seeds. It's like omega-3 acids. Right there, you know it's like omega-3 acids. Right there, you know it's family. A lot of minerals, not of nutrients in there.
Speaker 3:Why not quick meals, like you know you can do it. You know, just you have to plan your day. Okay, you can have soup one day. You can have pasta one day with some chicken, or you're gonna. You can have like a one bowl meal in which you have some rice, some chicken, you know, like a fried rice, or whatever you can. You can do like a ramen one day. You know like always have some miso at home. I'll always tell people have some miso. You know, like people so underrated, right, so underrated so you always think about like miso card or like miso this. But people don't go and buy miso. It's a miso paste. It's fermented. It's very good for your health, gut health I don't have any.
Speaker 3:Yeah see, you can just just get the three different kind of miso. 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're starting to explore miso, just get the white one. It's easy, right? You know, like any soup that you're making, throw in a little spoon of of miso in there, the soup will be delicious. Umami, it's like a punch of umami right there. You know, delicious, healthy at the 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 for your gut health, so why not?
Speaker 2:I'm adding it right, okay, I'm getting me so immediately 100.
Speaker 3:Get it like you know anything you're making. You're making a like a any. Apply some miso paste, like anything you know. Like in the soup, you just put in some miso paste. You're making a dressing, just like the vinegar. Like just put some miso paste in the beginning. You will see you're like you are cooking like a pro chef at home. I'm not even kidding.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're going to eat it, okay, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I know you touched base on miso and I was going to ask are there any other ingredients you think is underrated? What's the most underrated spice or ingredient?
Speaker 3:So I would also say mushrooms, dried mushrooms. You know you don't have to dry mushrooms, some dried mushrooms. Keep it in your pantry, like some dried mushrooms. Keep it. Keep it in your pantry like some dried mushrooms. Oh my god, you can do so much rehydrate. When you're rehydrating it, that water becomes a stock, a flavorful stock, of that mushroom. People throw it away. I will never do that. You know, if you're making a risotto, use that water to cook your rice yeah it's so delicious.
Speaker 3:You know like and also like you're using these mushrooms and you know every single vegetable or ingredient. They have glutamates. Now, to understand, glutamates is like. It is the natural umami punch in any ingredient and every ingredient. Some has like very high amounts, some has less, like tomatoes, very high amount of umami in there and you know like it's like, like sweet, like a little sour, like it. Then you know like. Umami is something the combination of taste buds on your tongue and when it takes like a sweet, sour, salty or sometimes like bitter like combination, it's a blast of flavor, right. So every ingredient has that. So these are the flavor enhancer as well. As a natural farmer. You don't have to like go for MSG. These are natural umami. Go for that. Like mushroom tomatoes. I also keep like tomato paste in my face sometimes you know, tomato paste.
Speaker 3:Right, it's easy, right, just throw in a little tomato paste. These mushroom like a bunch of umami, uh, these mushrooms like a bunch of umami. And you know like, and you know like I always have, as I said, these like seeds, like chia seeds, flax seeds, uh, pumpkin seeds, like always there, you want to make a little, uh, let's say you want to make a quick chicken curry. You know like, if cashews are too heavy for you, I would say just throw in some pumpkin seeds or any seeds, it's so delicious, and instead of putting like a heavy cream or anything, put the coconut milk in it.
Speaker 3:Yes, I do coconut milk A healthier version, delicious at the same time, nuttier as well. And yeah, that's what I do all the time, you know, just making some healthy meals at home but so 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 try to get the fresh mushrooms. You know, like imagine these are like dried, intensified, so much flavor in it and then so many different applications that you can do.
Speaker 3:Uh, kokum I don't know if you've heard 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. It's a very good digestive, very cooling. So let me give you a little context. It's it's a mangosteen fruit, so when, when it's in the young palm, uh, local people on the coastal belt of india, specifically the western coastal belt in the state of maharashtra, they dry it and the outer skin and they make a extract out of it. So that is called kokum and there are different applications of kokum. From the seeds of the kokum they make moisturizer. That is so good for your skin. It's a potent moisturizer, so good for your skin. You know, I have at home as well. I use it. I got it from mumbai last time when I was there, so it's so good. Uh.
Speaker 3:Then uh also uh, with the kokum you can make a dressing out of it. You know, like for salads, it's, it's amazing, it's sour in nature. For the fish curries, like you can do it. Uh, you can make a sherbet out of it. It's like a nice uh squash sherbet. You just put in the water some salt, 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 the same time.
Speaker 1:I need to add that into my, and you know, like people in India.
Speaker 2:Yes, I was saying, what's really cool about India is like there's different parts um, 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 north part of india, he's from delhi, and kokum is from where I'm from, which is kind of west india by marascha area, and I introduced him to kokum for the first time oh and he just fell in love with it because he's never had it before.
Speaker 3:Yeah amazing ingredient, one of my favorite ingredients in terms of Indian ingredients. Right, I just love kokum. I mean, it's so versatile. I do my ceviches with that, I cure my fish with the kokum, it's's so good. You know, it's like lechadi tagre, but like Indian lechadi tagre, like you know, just like you know, like curry or thing. And the hemp seeds so underrated the hemp seeds, guys, I'm telling you I do like so many things with hemp seeds, believe me, like you can toast and make a chutney.
Speaker 1: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:You know we're not at the level as a chef, but what are some things that are some mistakes that some home cooks make at home when it comes to putting a dish together so it starts with simple things like the dull knives or like the blunt knives oh my god, I've seen like a lot of time they cut their fingers because they don't sharpen their knives. Very, very, very basic. But it happens overcrowding a pan with, like so many things. Like sometimes they don't realize the ratios of, like putting stuff in a pan always, you know. So, for all that, you have to do your mise en place right. So mise en place is is a word for the prep, it's a french term, so you have to do your prep right. That's so important. You need to know the ratios right.
Speaker 3:Overcooking the vegetables, always, always, I see. So I'll just give you two basic tips, like not to overcook your leafy vegetables or the vegetables. If you're doing the leafy vegetables, always salt water when it's boiling, put in your leafy vegetables in one minute, remove it. And you should have an ice bath ready on the side because you're retaining the chlorophyll, the green pigment of the vegetable. It should not look dull, it should be vibrant, right. So that's what I do. Uh, always, like salted water, boiling, put the leafy vegetables, retain the chlorophyll in one minute. You have ice bath ready, throw it in the ice bath. You stop the cooking right there.
Speaker 3:Perfect, uh, if you're doing the root vegetables, always start with the cold water. Like potatoes, put in the like carrots, you're cooking carrots or potatoes, any root vegetables always start with the cold water. Two basic thumb rule but I see people doing anything and everything, like at home and in boiling water, putting potatoes and the carrots and like doesn't work like that. You know, like we could have to. Uh, because that's the right way that, as I told you, this is how you do it. You have to retain the pigments. Uh, in the like in the carrots you have carotenoids, so there is a way to retain it and you have 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:Me too, because the ice like I've always seen it like on the cooking shows, but I'm like, okay, maybe I need to actually do it because I do a lot of broccoli.
Speaker 3:So uh-huh, so broccoli also, like in in salted water, but boiling water.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, always, always green vegetables in boiling water, always. That's the thumb rule. Never start with the cold water and then it is salted via to retain the chlorophyll, always. Even you're doing the green peas, 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, if you're cooking green peas as well, or let's not be like, for that matter, you know, like no peaceful market or asparagus, anything. Always boiling water, salted, yes, oh, okay, incredible tips.
Speaker 3:I've learned so much, yes and you know, like this, I, I do it every day when I'm cooking at home, these basics now, but it comes naturally to me. But I've seen like, uh, the home cooks how they do it. I'm not saying that it's it's a terrible mistake, but you know, you can actually, if you can see the final product, how appealing the product you eat with your eyes right, it should like the appearance, the textures are so important. So overcooking is a very common thing that happens at home, like overcooking the chicken or like overcooking the proteins, like or like not resting your steak, right, you know like. You know like they, just immediately, when it's hot from the pan, people slice it. Because you know like they don't realize all, all all the juices are like concentrated in the center because you're applying heat from all around the steak. The moment you cut it oozes out immediately. You know, once you rest it, you know it's, it's so, all these juices that it's concentrated in the center, it's going all around every grain of the steak and 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? Like cooking your proteins, right.
Speaker 3:I've seen like sometimes people the seasoning. I would start with the seasoning first. Let's say you're making a roast chicken. You know the seasoning has to be done right, because they are like layers of flavor that you put in. You know, if you try to season it at the last moment you'll not achieve it. It's so bland, right, it's only us.
Speaker 3:You have to marinate it right, like, your seasoning is done right. Sometimes people do two marinades right, first marination, second marination. And then do marinades right, first marination, second marination. Um, and then, you know, you know, roast it in the oven nicely, and then you have a nice butter that you apply, hot, you know like, and then you slice it. It's so good, you know. Uh, even for the soups, you know like, people try to season it at the last moment, when you're sauteing the, you know, sauteing the vegetables, let's say 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 onions will sweat faster, right, and you're also decreasing the cooking time of the onions by putting some salt in there. Little tip, uh, you know like. And and if you're doing, let's say if you're making a blend of spices. And if you're doing, let's say if you're making a blend of spices, right, common mistake People throw in a bunch of spices, whole spices, on a pan and they say, okay, first of all you have to realize that different surface area of different spices Cumin is very small, then black pepper is very small, but cinnamon is a big, then bay leaf is a big spice.
Speaker 3:So what happens is a stampede on a pan. Poor small spices. They die On the pan right there like they burn, poor guys, you know. And then you blend it with the heat of the blender. The blade rotates so fast that it kills the spices again. It's very hard to kill a dead body again, but you kill it again. You know it's a pretty common thing that we do do, right, uh, and then we preserve these ashes in a bottle and we saw we tell people it's a garam masala or it's a this masala. You know, like, again, to avoid all this, you can also put some salt, a little bit of the salt, while you're doing these spices. It's, you know, because you know it controls the heat easy on a pan while making a blend.
Speaker 3:But I generally do it under a lamp because you know it controls, uh, the heat easy on a pan while you're making a blend. But I generally do it under a lamp because, you know, back in the days people used to put spices under the sun. You know that was a common practice. But I know we live in this world, we don't, we don't have access to the sun, we just can't put, like, spice in the sun, but we have some heat lamps in the kitchen, so I put another heat lamps. But if you're doing it home, do do one spice at a time to make a, because you want to preserve that spice for longer. You want to use this spice for in, like so many dishes, like for a soup, for stews, or like for gravies curries. You know like. You know like do it right, otherwise there's no flavor, it, it dies a sweet death really good tips that I will be incorporating definitely.
Speaker 2:I learned so much yeah well. Thank you so much for joining us on our episode today. We were very grateful to have all this information and I can't wait to come eat again at misafir please.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you guys are welcome. We're changing the menu very soon, so we'll be launching our spring menu. So on, on this thursday, uh, we are doing a spring menu launch. We do it at a farm, actually. We take people at a farm and it's like a beautiful event, uh, between three locations. It's a blackwood farm. We use all the produce from the farm, so it's a beautiful dinner that we do there, so and then we launch it in the restaurant after like two weeks. So, yeah, the new menu is coming very nice.
Speaker 2:I'll definitely have to come check it out same.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you very much, guys.
Speaker 1: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 was awesome. I really love when someone has all their love in what they do and you can tell he loves food, he loves to cook and we saw that come out in the interview.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's definitely very passionate. And you know his food. It shows in his food. So I'm excited for you to try it.
Speaker 1:Yes, I cannot wait, because he was talking about a lot of flavors, so I'm excited.
Speaker 2:And he has so many amazing tips. I'm definitely going to be adding salt to kind of slow down the cooking process a little bit with heat, that was excellent. And yeah, with the green leafy vegetables all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'll be doing that with my broccoli. I'm like, okay, have my ice bath. I was doing everything except the ice bath. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to incorporate that.
Speaker 2:My husband makes like the spinach curry. It's called balut veneer and he does the ice bath and I never knew why. I was just like watching, I was like oh, okay. You're right.
Speaker 1:It's actually like pretty good behind it. Okay, so now you can go and tell them like, oh, so you knew what you were doing. Yeah, well, what a great episode. Yes, I really loved it me too. I'm hungry now. I'm ready to go eat same same here. But yes, thank you all for tuning in to our third episode of the care collective podcast.
Speaker 2:I hope you enjoyed it with that being being said, please, if you have any questions, go to offeringhopeorg, and we look forward to our next episode.
Speaker 1:Yes, we'll see you then. Bye.
Speaker 3:You've been watching and listening to the Care Collective, a production of St Hope Healthcare. Join us monthly for new episodes as we explore the latest thoughts and ideas on living your best life.