This Is Yu Podcast
This Is Yu Podcast
Ep 13 - This Is Yu - MasterChef Season 6 - Hetal Vasavada
Welcome to Episode 13 of This Is Yu Podcast.
This Is Carole Yu and Scott Stewart.
If you watched Season 6 of Masterchef in 2015, you would have been introduced to Hethal Vasavada. She is a whip smart scientist turned chef. She is one of only two Masterchef contestants who were not winners on the show with a published cookbook. It’s eponymous namesake comes from her website, Milk and Cardamom. Today, we talk to her about Indian desserts, the Sopranos, ways to use cardamom, some secret dirt about her season of Masterchef. Plus she divulges the secret to her rangoli eggless cheesecake with an absolutely gorgeous mandala pattern. We delve into her life as a scientist, a mom, and her unique East Indian American fusion baking and cooking that brings a modernist touch to her family’s cultural food history.
Hetal's Book - Milk and Cardamom
PLUS - 10 Ways to go from Inner Critic to Self-Compassion.
________________________________________________________________
Thank you so much to Hetal for joining us from San Francisco. Hetal has also joined us for a guest blog post which you can find in the recipes section of ThisIsYu.com. Check out her unique take on cheesecake, and make sure to put #thisisyufood and #milkandcardomom. We can’t wait to see your posts!
Did you already check out the Sticky Lollipop chicken Wings video. It’s hitting crazy numbers, catch them before they fly away!
Do you have any recipes you’d like us to try? You can always call us at the This Is Yu Hotline at 562-291-6037
Our home base is www.ThisIsYu.com
Instagram is @ThisIsYuOfficial
Gordon: 0:00
first up is peple already impressed, a 27 year old startup developer who's hoping to bring some added spice to the competition.
Carole: 0:08
This is Carol You and Scott Stewart. Welcome to Episode 13 of This Is You Podcast. If you watch Season six of Master Chef in 2015 you would have been introduced to Hoeffel Vasavada. She is a whip smart scientist turned chef. She is one of only two Master Chef contestants with a published cookbook who were not winners on the show. It's a paan amiss Namesake comes from her website, Milk and
Scott: 0:46
Cardamom. Today we talked to her about Indian desserts. The Sopranos ways to use cardamom, some secret dirt about her season on Master Chef. Plus, she divulge is the secret to her rang goalie eggless cheesecake with an absolutely gorgeous men Dalla pattern.
Carole: 1:04
We delve into her life as a scientist, a mom and her unique East Indian American fusion, baking and cooking that brings a modernist touch to her family's cultural food history.
Scott: 1:18
But 1st 10 ways to go from inner critic to self compassion,
Carole: 1:22
spending a lot of time at home the last two weeks due to the Corona virus has really given me some thought space. What I mean by that is I've had to readjust my daily living of being out of the house among many people and going toe work and being in many physical spaces. I've also had to adapt from an empty nest to having four of us living again in a 970 square foot house. There are many pressures and uncertainties that are constantly crossing my mind. We aren't sleeping well, are eating, and our shopping habits have all changed. I can't go to the gym or even go hiking up the hill anymore. All the trails have been closed in Los Angeles so that we maintain social distancing of six feet. This is the time that I can explore who I am, listen to podcasts, figure out what motivates me and work on my communication skills. Even though this time is one of uncertainty, we can look at this as the opportunity to do some self work. Here are some ideas I've had to try to quiet the voices in my head. One change how I perceive my feelings. Often people are considered to have a positive or a negative outlook on life. I've always tended to be more negative, but I've always wanted to be more positive. I owe the hat to my Chinese upbringing, where positive reinforcement was not something that was common. I'm learning to try to figure out why I have those negative thoughts. I not only think about how to fix problems, I get to learn about my values and my upbringing, to practice self care. I've been really trying to watch what I eat. I am notorious in this family, really bitchy. If I eat sugar, I am exercising daily, taking walks and doing weights and stretching. Plus the app. Relax has been helping me maintain my calmness. Three. Stop striving for perfection. This one's really hard because it's ingrained in me from my mom. But no one is perfect. And why should we hold ourselves to such an unattainable standard? We need to celebrate what makes each of us unique and appreciate ourselves for who we are, even if it's not perfection.
Scott: 3:29
For treat yourself as you would a close friend. Picture yourself as a close friend. How would you comfort them? How would you express love to them? Now? Do the same for yourself.
Carole: 3:41
Five. Except your faults. While working towards being a better person, this one has really been a challenge. I constantly make myself feel bad for being a certain way. Scott always tells me, Don't focus on the 20% that needs work. Focus on the 80% that is fully awesome. Work on the 20% and know that you can always be better.
Scott: 4:01
Six. Repeat positive affirmations in the mirror to yourself. You deserve to be happy. You are worthy. You are enough. There's a saying that if you say things or hear things seven times, it starts to become a part of your belief system.
Carole: 4:16
Seven. Celebrate your achievements. We don't do this enough, but it is something that is a goal. We should be proud and remember how hard we've worked and that we should make it happen. Go to a movie when they open back again. Go shopping, go for a walk to the beach, do something fun that you don't often D'oh,
Scott: 4:34
make a list of your good qualities and memorize it. When you're feeling down. Remind yourself why you think you're a good person. Be your own cheerleader.
Carole: 4:43
Nine. Stick up for yourself. This is really difficult for me. Also, I feel like I'm more of a follower. I do often let people walk all over me. I'm learning how to communicate more and be able to be, as my co worker says, I need to be savage. Once you know your value and what's important, then you can be true to yourself.
Scott: 5:03
10. Forgive yourself. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves forgiveness, including you. There's no need to dwell in the past. Instead, learn and move forward. Knowing you've taught yourself something positive about yourself,
Carole: 5:17
you are worthy during this challenging time of love. Give kindness to yourself. If you feel loved, then you can give love to others, and you can be more vulnerable and open to share what positivity can abound in your spirit. Welcome, Hoeffel from Master Chef Season six Hi. Hi. Hey. So Happy birthday. What did you do for your big day yesterday?
Hetal: 5:42
I rest be tested, some brownie, some eggless brownies and then proceeded to annihilate them with a big glass of milk and falafel from my favorite restaurant here. Because a lot of restaurants or struggle busing right now, spent the night watching national geographic and falling asleep.
Scott: 5:58
Would you watch the National Geographic?
Hetal: 6:00
So we got Disney Plus because as frozen, too. But we didn't know that a National Geographic was a part of it. To know what the floods theories about the floods in Africa, in the savannas, while my daughter pretended to somewhat pay attention,
Scott: 6:13
right? Just something uplifting during this Corona virus, right? Watching the floods?
Hetal: 6:17
Yes, exactly.
Scott: 6:19
All right, so I'm gonna paint a picture here. I go to the movies and I'm super excited because it's Marvel's latest superhero movie and it's starring you. What's your super power?
Hetal: 6:29
Oh, man, I guess the ability to cook things or season things without tasting it.
Carole: 6:35
That's actually really difficult. That
Hetal: 6:37
was the superpower on Master Chef, because I cooked a lot of meat without tasting and uh
Carole: 6:42
oh, my gosh, that's true,
Hetal: 6:43
which reached a lot of people out.
Scott: 6:45
So you didn't know you had that superpower very much like in the Marvel movies. You were thrown into it and then all of a sudden developed your superpower.
Hetal: 6:51
Yes, exactly like I didn't know I could do that really
Carole: 6:54
good. What was your last ah ha moment? And who was the first person you shared it With
Hetal: 6:59
who? Um, literally this week, I feel like this quarantine has really gotten me into this super creative mind set Just cause I have so much kind to sit and think to myself. One of the things I thought of is, you know, like the candy buttons that are out there like the little likeness, delicate candy buttons. So they always reminded me of, like, bendy packet. Oh, yeah, like the little you know, little stickers that we put on her forehead, part of like Hindu culture.
Carole: 7:25
What if I
Hetal: 7:26
need a little candy dots and, like, decorated them has been these and then got like a graphic designer to create little been the packet covers with my daughter's face on the site because they're always like is like a model with, like a big Ben be on their head and my name always like something like calculus is like some like super old school names. What if we did something like a play on that? I think that would be funny, like flavored them with Rose, so it was like kind of like a Willy Wonka ish.
Carole: 7:57
That's very cool. That's a really great idea. And you could use all like you were saying Rose or other Indian spices, right?
Hetal: 8:04
Exactly. So I shared it with my sister, cause I'm like, Is this too wacky? Is it weird? Look, I know candy buttons are nothing that most people like go for when they go to the candy stores. I thought, like the novelty of it would be really fun to do and like the idea of, like, decorating them and, like identifying, like, different ways to make them shine because there's always, like Rhinestones or gold or pearls on the bin. These like figuring out a way to make that happen. Ah,
Scott: 8:29
very good. Okay, Now I have a super serious question here for you, and it goes like this. Did you ever audition for The Sopranos TV show?
Hetal: 8:37
I wish, but they did film it in my town.
Scott: 8:39
Yeah, that's why I brought it up. During my research, I came across that you were part of The Sopranos family. They're in New Jersey, right?
Hetal: 8:45
Yeah, in Bloomfield. Um, their actual. The last episode was filmed in this small diner called Holstein, which is really like ice cream type. They like chocolates. and Candies and ice cream. And then they have, like, diner food. And it was like my spot, like I would walk there after school when I was in high school with my friend. We'd like a plate of fries and, like, a duster brownie sundae.
Scott: 9:06
Oh, nice.
Carole: 9:06
What is your background And where did you go to school and what did you study and how did you become a startup developer?
Hetal: 9:14
My background is I went to University of the Sciences in Philly and I majored in biochemistry with a minor and toxicology. Wow. While I was in school, I was told that if I could bake, I could pass organic chemistry Lab And I really wanted to pass organic chemistry Lab because I wanted to do research in it. And I want to impress the teachers. So I ended up passing. I started baking from like, box cake mixes, slowly graduated to simple basic from scratch recipes. I eventually end up doing four years of research in organic chemistry and two years of research in Alico chemistry. Coincidentally on hydroxy clerk win and quirk win.
Scott: 9:51
Oh wow. You have a stockpile of that stuff at home now.
Hetal: 9:54
I thought it was very saying because I was like, Oh, my God, I did research on this. And now it's like coming to the forefront, cause this is the kind of old loss drug that most people don't really take. To be honest,
Scott: 10:05
it's for malaria.
Carole: 10:06
Yeah, it's usually
Hetal: 10:07
antimalarial, but also like anti tuberculosis. I was doing research on utilizing it in cancer. Okay. And how does ing that metabolizes Very differently. It actually breaks down and attaches off to the blood, not the plasma. Which is what makes it so different. Cousin. Most drugs are found in the plasma
Scott: 10:24
during that whole process. Was it constantly going through your head? When am I ever gonna use this knowledge?
Hetal: 10:29
Yeah. Oh, my God.
Carole: 10:30
All the time I was, like, two
Hetal: 10:31
years, and I was so over it. I ended up leaving to work as a medical bill, er, because I was like, I can't be in this lab by myself. The lab had to be like, below 60 degrees for the machines that I was using toe work. It was like old and lonely, and I was like, consistently in blood
Scott: 10:49
in your poetry journal was all like it had tear marks on it. And it's all like, really dark, depressing writing,
Hetal: 10:54
Yes. Oh, like not happy. I was like, I can't do this. I mean, we're So I left and I started working as a medical bill. Er and I did My master's in biomedical sciences. I mean, I was cooking like I did a little bit of cooking. Ah, small like pizza joint. For a while, I worked as a nanny full time, and I cooked for the family. I would make like their breakfast and dinners. So I was always kind of a scale I can monetize something I went to as like, I enjoy this, and that didn't come around until I left the East Coast came to California to work at the health care consultant. I was baking toe, just kind of keep my team. Morale
Scott: 11:31
was there. Ah, big weight gain on the team at that point in your life,
Carole: 11:35
I wish. But it did give me a lot
Hetal: 11:36
of attention from like the directors of the company. I hated my job immensely, and I would be to just kind of like, you know, people say baking is not mindfulness. It brings into a lot of people, and it really does that for me. Eventually, my head's on how much I hated my job and I quit. He kind of like, forced me to quit supportive. Started working at a start up a healthcare startup working as a business developer. The startup developer title came from the Master Chef casting producers who didn't understand what a business developer is, who start up
Scott: 12:08
right catch phrase of the day.
Hetal: 12:10
Exactly. I think they were just like, creating some sort of title for me. And I was like, Oh, my God, I sound so dumb. Give him like we're job titles like Professional clothing Air and I'm like,
Scott: 12:19
Yeah, you work at the Gap. You're
Hetal: 12:22
trying to make me sound way more important than I am, but thank you.
Scott: 12:24
All right. Hey, so that's sort of sideways into our next question is, how did you learn how to cook and bake?
Hetal: 12:30
Yeah, cooking was like a skill that my mom kind of taught me growing up. I grew up in a joint household, meaning that my parents and my family sponsored my dad's brothers and my mom's sister's toe come to America, so they lived with us for a little bit before they got their footing and were able to Oh, so we always had a full house. Any given point, we had at least 10 to 15 people in the home.
Carole: 12:52
Sounds fun. It was a lot of
Hetal: 12:54
fun. I had such a good time. I had all my cousins living with me. It was a great time.
Scott: 12:59
Game night would have been interesting.
Hetal: 13:00
Oh, yeah, for sure. Movie night's game nights I mean, dinners were a production every night.
Scott: 13:05
Oh, yeah, it was like a banquet.
Hetal: 13:06
Yeah, so we would end up like me, be peeling The peas are using our hands to break off the tip of like, green beans and then slowly, we'd make our way towards the stove. You would start with the veggies prepping veggies. Then they would go into, like making the dough for roti, which is the flatbread that we every day, and then it would turn into, like, how to make the rice and then how to make the actual various vegetable dishes. As you got older, you just learned more.
Scott: 13:32
So it was. A lot of you would see it, and then you would repeat it back yourself. You would pick it up from visually seeing people doing it. During my research, I was fascinated to read that your mother brought over a yogurt culture when she immigrated. Is that original yogurt culture still active today?
Hetal: 13:48
Yeah, it definitely is.
Scott: 13:49
How does that work?
Hetal: 13:50
So my mom, what she did put a little bit, maybe, like a tablespoon work of yogurt from India in a little container, and then she hid it in her blouse. What she did is she warmed up some milk and added her little culture of yogurt, and that's been going on forever. And then what she does is whenever any of her sisters would come from India, where anyone would visit from her family, we would ask them to bring some culture with this, that we could re add it into what we have to keep it going, because culture changes over time. But she wanted to keep that same flavor from her house.
Scott: 14:20
Oh, I see. So it can evolve like the flavor, you repeating the same culture over and over again. It diverts off the original taste path
Hetal: 14:27
similar, like sour dough starter, right, like everyone. Sarah dough starter is goingto smell different and taste different yogurt cultures the exact same. Our family will always ask my mom when they come over. They would always take some yogurt from us tow, make their own or add to theirs.
Scott: 14:44
And does it get competitive within the family? Who has the best yogurt culture going
Carole: 14:47
ever and always thinks
Hetal: 14:48
what they have at home? Is there the best, right? So for us, like my mom doesn't like yogurt to be really tart. We like looks a little bit of sour nous, but not a lot. But then we have some family members that are like your yogurts not too sour enough for me, and you know they want it like super tart. It's very American yogurt, the texture and the flavor.
Scott: 15:09
So is it a thicker kind of a consistency? Or you mentioned the texture. Can you explain to us
Hetal: 15:13
it's thinner, like the cream rises to the tops of the top. Part of the younger is usually quite it breaks apart. It's not like uh like, you know, you see like swirls and loops in the Danning in Chobani, your commercials you get with Indian yogurt.
Carole: 15:28
OK, that's the type of yogurt that you would use, say, in a los E drink.
Hetal: 15:33
That's exactly what you would use. And the thing is an Indian culture yogurts more used in a savory manner than a sweet manner, like we'd have in lusty, and we'd have shriek on, which is basically drained yogurt. So it's very thick, and then it spiced with saffron and cardamom. Everyday use was savory usage, having it with rice, having it to cool down spicy dishes. There's certain dishes that you had to have chops, which is basically yogurt, that you've been out with water, and then you add like ground cumin and coriander powder, too. So, like if we ate like anything with millet in it, we would have tossed with it. Why? I don't know. I think this is just kind of like Are you ve Vick thing that my mom does? And that has been kind of in green and like the culture, how we eat
Scott: 16:13
it might not be based on reason or logic, but it's just part of the culture and tradition.
Hetal: 16:18
Yeah,
Carole: 16:18
do you ever use a, um, culture, or like a sour dough in or kind of a culture? in any of your breads in Indian bread. Not in
Hetal: 16:27
Gujarati does it. So I'm from Good Rock, which is what? The little knob that hangs off the west coast of India. There's not a lot of like Houston breads in good draw at all in north India, like non in the Houston bread. There's some Houston Borys that they use, which is like the fried puffed bread. They're called Madura. Where I'm from, we don't really use thestreet bread other than maybe like bread rolls or Paula's we call it, which is like a Portuguese like something that the Portuguese brought in when they colonized India.
Carole: 16:56
So you just had mentioned before that you make roti. But what's the difference between roti and chapati, your
Hetal: 17:02
bodies thicker, then roadies roadies much thinner, and it puffs up its like this thinnest. You can get it, and then you let it puff up your parties, maybe like a millimeter to two millimetres thick, and it doesn't really puff up as much already will turn into a balloon on the stove. Kind like pita bread. Your body won't end of your body is much thicker.
Carole: 17:22
You had mentioned when we were speaking before, Or I guess maybe how we connected through Facebook. You said that you were one of the few master chef contestants that has a cookbook. So tell us how that happened.
Hetal: 17:33
I'm literally, I think, one of three potentially or one of two that didn't win it. A cookbook deal, I think, arises one of them. It was, like in, like, season one or two, like one of the early seasons of master shop. Basically, I waited till my three year contract ran out, started reaching out to book book agents. But no one really wanted to represent me because Indian desserts is so Nishi. So they just had a hard time. They thought that they wouldn't be able to pitch it. And then I looked for publishers that would take, um, author pitches found out about paid Street reached out. They were like, Yeah, we're down. Let's do it. The problem was, and I think pre Christian overto wonderful article in The New York Times about this. A lot of publisher is one of them being paid. Street sometimes utilizes the fact that it's a knish or minority, um, cuisine to under pay. That's what happened to me I definitely got underpaid for my book. I was Anoop And there's the lack of transparency in the book publishing market. Really kind of made that happen because I didn't know, like, what a normal book deal supposed to be like, right. No one really talks about it, and I eventually found out like Pre Christian. I got six figures for her, but wow, and I'm like, Oh, I didn't know like that you could make that much on a cook. But now I have a book agent. I'm hopefully gonna find a publisher that wants to work with me for book number two and make that happen. I was very like surprised because I think the publisher telling me that it's so niche that its own ish I was expecting, like no one, buying the book on and rub like getting on The Washington Post lists and getting pre writing in New York. It grew bigger than I ever could have imagined.
Carole: 19:06
It's a beautiful book. I mean, your photos are amazing. The fusion that you do is just so creative.
Hetal: 19:13
Thank you so much. I really was like trying to put my childhood into a book. I think one of the things that helped was Pria Christians. Book India Nish Female Two months before minded the way I would explain my book, my like little start up that elevator pitch was like I am the dessert version of India Nash. People are like, Oh, we get it And there's a lot of first generation Indian Americans in the US that could relate Thio, the story that I tell in my book the desserts I share in the book to
Carole: 19:40
that's very inspiring.
Scott: 19:41
Green Cardamom, which utilizing your book Milk and cardamom, comes in three forms. Whole pods, whole seeds and powdered. Can you tell us what are the different situations you would use the different forms of green cardamom?
Hetal: 19:54
Yeah, if you're gonna use a pod, that's more hurry, quick, steep, like if you're making some sort of I hate the word curry, but I guess curry is the best thing. If you're doing a curry, some people at a whole pod to it. Just add a little bit of flavor. Or if you're making rice, my mom will add one or two pods of green cardamom to the water, looking the rice toe. Just get a little flavor out there, but it doesn't like hit you. It's just more for aroma, for, um, crushed. It's like I use it. Ingi I use if I'm gonna. If I plan on straining the cardamom pods out of something because I want, like a smooth custard or something. Then I'll use crushed cardamom seeds or just straight up cardamom seeds. Then, if I'm adding him to say cookies or a baked good where the seeds are going to stay in always used freshly ground cardamom because the thing is that oil's evaporated off quite quickly and you will lose the flavor and the aroma within, like two weeks that powdered cardamom is useless.
Scott: 20:49
Wow, it's just basically grind it and use it right away.
Hetal: 20:52
Yeah, yeah, grind like a tablespoon where, um And then I used it up mental. Maybe grind another tablespoon where,
Scott: 20:58
But if you're gonna keep it around the house and you have the whole pause, just keep it in the whole pod form.
Carole: 21:02
Exactly. Everything you described sounds so good. So what are your three favorite desserts from your book? Definitely my
Hetal: 21:09
goo up German bundt cake. That one has gone like viral on like Indian Instagram. People have been making it for, like their grandma's birthdays and for the Ali, and it really is like an easier way to me will object. Moon get all the flavors and textures of glove German without the technical stress of making goo abdomen. With the deep frying and the ruling and all that second favorite is the holder. No dude panna cotta, which is a to mark milk panna cotta.
Carole: 21:37
Oh, that sounds so good.
Hetal: 21:39
It's really why I use agar agar to Seta instead of gelatin vegetarian, and it has only like a tablespoon of sugar and entire desert. So it's just nestle a light, creamy Pick me up Brad saffron and cardamom and tumeric too heavy cream and said it with a bar. It's just super good. I used fresh fruit to add sweetness to accuse peaches. It's super easy to make. It takes like 10 minutes,
Carole: 22:03
so I definitely want to try that.
Scott: 22:04
Yeah, that sounds young.
Hetal: 22:05
Third baby Desert, I would say, is my bourbon biscuit. Don't have bourbon in them, but they're basically dark chocolate biscuit with a chocolate. It's like a sandwich cookie with a chocolate filling.
Scott: 22:17
Yeah, hey, just a quick question here. What skill level for our listeners? Do you think your book is that? Do you have some recipes that are really simple? Some that are more difficult? Summer complex?
Hetal: 22:27
I would say most of them are pretty simple. I have, like five or six challenge recipes, like a Bob Ka and French macaroons, where if you really want to challenge yourself, you can write. Then I have some that are just If you've never utilized Indian techniques and making desserts, I would say it looked more intermediate cause you're making sugar syrup motive. For the most part, it's just a lot of mixing and familiar techniques
Scott: 22:49
Through the book. You walk everyone through the process, so if they do have some time and they basically are able to walk through every recipe. But overall, it's probably something that the majority of people can purchase and work through the recipes.
Hetal: 23:01
Yeah, for sure.
Scott: 23:02
What message are you sending people with your food?
Hetal: 23:05
I think it's playful on us and creativity just be playful with your food, like I want something bright and happy and reminiscent of your childhood, but also stepping kind of forward into what desserts looked like now on the techniques that also exists now,
Carole: 23:21
right? Well, you definitely get that from your instagram. It's very bright and cheerful, but there's the fusion of your Indian and your American cultures. So what inspires your ideas?
Hetal: 23:32
I think it's There's this whole generation of first generation immigrants from various cultures that are out here that grew up not white, 100% American. Culturally, I was still eating Indian food every single day for dinner, going okay and then, you know, that we also wanted to have, like tacos, burgers and whatever else really right on the fence of being from a different culture but also wanting to immerse ourselves in the American culture. That it's shared experiences, I think, is where a lot of my creativity comes from, where I wanted to have, you know, box cake mixes. I wanna have fun patty cake for my birthday. But I never really thought that I also got Indian desserts, and I have memories with Indian desserts that I treasure, you know, having goofy at the Hotel Brothers grocery store parking lot with my sister while my parents show up like little moments like that, I really enjoyed I know, a lot of kids have the same exact experience in kind of playing with that and then also wanting Thio, you've been able to give my daughter the same experiences,
Scott: 24:36
right? It's interesting how with food it can so quickly bring you back to memories of your childhood, like it just snaps you right into a location. It's so visceral.
Hetal: 24:45
I mean, it's one of the reasons why I wrote a cookbook, my grandmother, when she passed away. A lot of the recipes that she would make for me and my sister growing up were gone with her. And no matter how hard we would try to repay, create them. It's just not there. And we also come from a culture where, like we're not measuring stuff, there's no, like passed out. Grandma's recipes like that doesn't occur,
Scott: 25:04
right? If she says three cups of something, she's using a different cup than a standard marked out cup. This is the cup that I use for my coffee.
Hetal: 25:11
Yeah, it's like fist falls in your face, not my fist. It's just so different. And I wanted to be able to like, have something written down as more. But is this sound flicks of that When I'm far gone like my daughter can still make this and remember me on Haven't that flavor that scene exact feeling that she had, You know, growing up,
Carole: 25:29
that's really lovely.
Scott: 25:30
Switching gears here. Which judge on Master Chef really got? You were understood your cooking style.
Hetal: 25:36
Let's say the judge who got me the most would have to be Gordon Ramsay, and that's only because he's had more experience with Indian food. Then Graham or Christina Tosi hod. So he under good when I made kitschy that I didn't need toe odd somethingto add acid to the dish, you know, like this is the traditional way of making it. That's the way it's supposed to taste, because I was making dishes for these judges that Muslim and never had in their lives. So they didn't have any way to, like truly critique it, cause they don't know what the right way is, right? I mean, no one wants me the jerk. I don't know what this is. What? You should have made it with more. So you know this that the other
Scott: 26:10
you're not gonna commit to something on national television like that.
Hetal: 26:13
Exactly. so I would take Gordon Ramsay. He grew up with the landlord. That was good. Jothee. So he knew what kitchen iwas. So he knew what I was making and, like, hot a reference point and understood where I was coming from, which really appreciated because I was so sucked into this American way of cooking and I just couldn't wrap my head around it, which is that a composed plea has needs a salad and like some sort of veg starch. Yeah, that's not how we cook like that's not how I grew up eating. Their idea of a composed dish is so different than what my idea is. And I kept trying toe take the Indian food I grew up with and fit it into this American way of cooking. Wouldn't do it like it just there's no way it would be, you know, and I really struggled with that for a while, and it took me a while to realize that I don't need to do that.
Carole: 26:58
Well, you and you did quite well. I mean, you got into what, the top six. What was the most stressful challenge for you on the show?
Hetal: 27:05
But when I got kicked off on, which was a elimination challenge. They mess with you, you know, they know what they're doing. And what they kept saying is they were fine with me the whole season. And then I think they were ready to get rid of me, to be honest, because like my entertainment value has pretty much been done. They did there me head episode. They did their steak challenge that a vegetarian challenge. So I think my time was up and you kind of know, like, whose time is up as you're going through the show? Because the judges will say things that you know, we'll get under their skin and they do that to me, which was kept telling you that if you can't taste your food, you can't be a good chef that I couldn't taste the meat and they was the weakest link it from the restaurant challenge. Even though none of my food had come back and I hadn't burned or ruined any dishes. I was like in my head, and I was just kind of like, I'm over this. I'm over. This is what I had to make was a manicotti pasta, egg yolk ravioli and squid ink bow tie pasta in a Florida Mar sauce. And I had no clue to flirt. Omar Sauces. I was just over it mentally over it.
Carole: 28:02
How long were you there up to that point
Hetal: 28:04
three months?
Carole: 28:05
Yeah, because when my daughter was on, they were only in there for three weeks, and it was their first season. Oh, and shot seven shows. So you were on how many shows
Hetal: 28:14
over 22 episodes. I was in all 24 episodes.
Scott: 28:17
That's a long hole.
Hetal: 28:18
Kept me there because meet it, what? Two episodes before the finale. So they brought me back at the sushi chef for the top three right at me there for the finale. So I was just chilling around
Carole: 28:28
when you
Scott: 28:28
were introduced on Master Chef. It showed spices that your mom had sent you over those spices. And what Indian Spice recommendations do you have for people just starting to cook Indian food?
Hetal: 28:39
Every regional cuisine in India has a different mixture. Spices that they use that are like their go to me. Growing up my spice double or my spice box had tumeric Donna Drew, which is a 50 50 mixture of coriander and cumin powder. Uh, whole cumin seed mustard seeds like black mustard seeds, red chili powder. Those would be. Those were like the main spices that we would use in Gujarat people. I would suggest buying your spices from people like Diaspora Co. And Burlap and Barrel. They go directly to the farmers and by source their spices from the farmers themselves. So the farmers are getting paid an equal amount, and they're getting fresh spices because some of these spices that you're getting have been sitting on a shipping container for God knows how long.
Scott: 29:22
Is that something you can purchase online or those two companies online?
Hetal: 29:24
Yeah, they're both online. Master goes on Amazon and they're on their own website. You can also buy it off like Guber. A girl can get off there website. A lot of people you know, it put thought into buying their produce anything. You should put the same amount of thought into buying your spices because it really doesn't make a difference in the flavor of your dishes. So I definitely suggests using those two brands you're into sweet saffron. I use Rumi Spice, which is Afghani saffron, and it is a company that employees Afghani women. So it's another kind of like, feel good, really good quality spice.
Carole: 29:58
We'll definitely get all of those links from you and put them on the podcast page. Season six was one of my favorites on Master Chef. There were some huge personalities on the show. Derek and Tommy, Stephen, Nick and Katrina. Do you still keep in touch? And do you have any fun stories from the show?
Hetal: 30:17
Yeah, KK and I She came to visit me, actually. Ah, in like the fall of last year. So immune. Katrina still chat. Chris Louis just had a baby. Is I see him multiple times a year. We hang out. I just saw him in January. Derek and I did a pop up together. Reach everyone. Oh, well, best parts for a season is that we really did get along and we did like each other. And
Scott: 30:38
yet I think it showed on the show also because you could get a sense of backstabbing. But I think you guys really did show support for each other.
Hetal: 30:45
Oh, yeah. I mean, one of the things about our season was like the producers actually took us aside at one point and told us that we didn't have enough drama that we're being too like too much camaraderie. You
Carole: 30:55
were being too much like the British Baking Challenge, which I think, honestly, I would
Hetal: 31:00
much rather have that dynamic. And I think that's what we're wants. Which is why Americans love the great British Bake off. For some reason, these American like reality TV producer is believed that, like the only way it'll like Mitt Good TV is to create like negative tension. Exactly drama. And I think the U. S audience would be interested in something like Great Britain pickoff, where there's like jokes and camaraderie and like, actual support, because we really did support each other. They were one of the episodes where Chris Lu, the absolutely got, I Think, eliminated and I always say, he got yelled up Christina Tosi for rolling his eyes quote unquote. But he didn't roll his eyes. You actually looked at me for support because I looked at it like it's a yet and she had to have known he wasn't rolling his eyes, but obviously producers were just kind of like trying to create drama reeled into him They tried to make it sound like you tried to sabotage me during a be falling to John. She did not. He was so helpful. My fear leading me on, he was telling me everything was gonna be okay. Yeah, People say, like going through a really rough period together will bring you closer. That's exactly up. And we got very close. We're all kind of like PTSD. Talk to each other about our feelings and how we felt how we're being crude portrayed.
Scott: 32:11
You can't really share those stories or feelings or experiences with anyone else except people that have been through that.
Hetal: 32:18
Yeah. I mean, there was like, an episode, Really? Katrina fell and they made it look like no one went to help her. It when in reality all went toe, help her and pick her up. This is like one of the first few towns we all hadn't really gotten to know each other. Of course, she's like a little bit embarrassed and a little bit, you know, stressed out. So she asked us to leave her alone, which we did, because we want to respect her feelings. Sound like we're all being callous and savage and like, didn't care. And I'm like, That's not the king's
Scott: 32:44
Leave her down there.
Hetal: 32:45
And then, of course, people are gonna go on Twitter and be like, Look at these jerks. They're not even help, you know, like or they'll Day, like all Hepple does, is make Indian food and also and so makes his next in food. And what you don't know is if we don't make the food of the box of these created for us, we're not getting TV time. There's some episodes where you wouldn't even know I was there because I didn't make Indian food.
Scott: 33:03
Yeah,
Carole: 33:04
that's really interesting to think about, because when Dara made ah, hamburger, she wasn't even on that show at all. But yet she was the runner up in the end. So it's funny that you mention that because now it makes me think back. But I think what happened with Season one with the kids, they didn't know that the kids would actually be able to cook so well, and they didn't do a lot of the backstabbing and really tried to tell when kids how to how the production was going to be. And I think I've heard from subsequent seasons on Master Chef Jr that some of the kids felt some pressure to be able to cook a certain way or to do a certain dish like they were actually told what to cook.
Hetal: 33:44
Oh, I was definitely I had the same thing happened during the Vegetarian challenge. Gordon Ramsay's like, Oh, we're gonna make a yummy Chana masala into the pantry And I realized like they don't have the spices I need. But I wanted to make the Jenna Masala because that's what he requested on I set myself up for, like, failure.
Carole: 33:59
Let me ask you, I've seen on your instagram where you are talking about Desi Food, D s. I. What is that they see
Hetal: 34:06
is just a word that describes anyone from like a South Asian descent. So anyone from Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, bun lavish are usually considered a C o. Okay, pre partition pre colonial India. But people that were there
Carole: 34:21
Is that in contrast because you you mentioned it you went to a restaurant and that the food was non desi. So how does that How do you explain that? What does that mean? Just
Hetal: 34:31
means there either utilizing more American or French techniques versus Like Indian or ah, the techniques utilized in They see cooking, which is like Indian Pakistani bungle this year. Pretty similar we're using. Are you like are frying spices and looking for more like deep flavors? Where is in like French cooking? Usually the spices air not at the forefront. It's just there to, like Ad Arrow, Matt. You're never gonna see in French cooking someone browning the crap out of onions unless they're making some sort of caramelized suit. We're at the basis of most like quote unquote Curries.
Carole: 35:04
Let me ask you, you have an intricate rang goalie designed cheesecake on your blog's. How do you make that colorful, intricate pattern
Hetal: 35:11
a lot of testing. I use really good gel food coloring, obviously, to keep the brightness in the color and then utilizing a water bath and in non it's eggless cheesecake. So then the egg's usually contribute to browning. So I did it eggless cornstarch instead, so that the colors would stay and that the top would be still kind of non ground and still a little bit, uh, white.
Carole: 35:35
Yeah, it's amazing. It's actually a work of
Scott: 35:38
art. It's beautiful.
Hetal: 35:39
thank you.
Scott: 35:40
The food photos on your blogger as we're seeing absolutely gorgeous, and you guys got to go and check them out. Can you give our listeners some food photography tips in how you set up your props and food and lighting
Hetal: 35:51
so I use natural lighting for mine because I don't want a fuss. I live in a tiny condo. I don't have space for, like, 500 lights. I kind of set up against my window. One of the things I would suggest is utilizing the rule of thirds. Basically, your composition is split in three parts. You want to fill in really only like 2/3 of it with any sort of focused item, and the rest should be like kind of blurred or unfocused.
Scott: 36:19
So it's sort of a respect O negative space. So you play with having a positive space in negative space.
Hetal: 36:24
Yeah, and then, using the color wheel toe, identify colors that would really help whatever your dishes pop like brown foods. Erlich Notoriously hard toe photograph, blues and greens kind of can help. It pops, adding herbs on top of the dish, utilizing maybe like a blue background or a blue prop in the background can help that kind of brown dish not look so brown and board. And the other thing I would say is really like Look at for other food photography that you've really like and practice. Just take photos, Find a photographer you really like, copy a composition or to try to copy the photo, see where that takes you. And the thing is, sometimes following someone else's creative process can help you identify your creative process. Because you might say, Well, you know what I like this aspect of this photographer style, but I don't like you know this that the other and changing it to your liking. Identifying food photographers that you enjoy or identifying maybe some food style or photos that you like and trying to re create it yourself is a good way to just practice. Like I did that a lot when I first started was my photos were ticket horrible, and I would just find a photo on Pinterest that I really thought was beautiful and then re attempt to, like, make that happen, and I really found, like okay, like minimum. I don't like having hundreds of props in my photos. What I like to do is make my food being most of the colorful aspect of it and maybe have, like, a neutral crop in the background. I initially when I started, I bought, like, hundreds of plates with, like, little pretty designs on them, and I realized I don't use them. I used my heath white plate more than anything like half my photos have those, sometimes less is like for me, less is more for some people, like more is more like Laura Ponds. It is a really good example. She does like these massive root borns. So it's really just identify what you really like and go for it.
Scott: 38:08
It almost sounds like it very much parallels recipe testing.
Hetal: 38:11
Oh, for for me, my my creative process starts with what I think the dish is gonna look like. And then how could I make that way? So
Scott: 38:19
you sort of work backwards
Hetal: 38:20
like the wrong goalie design, right? Like in my head, I'm like, I want this to look like wrong goalie that you would have at your doorstep during Holy uh well, he's typically like a powder that colored powder is essentially that are like squeezed out and my pushed into different designs. I wanted to look like that. How do I get there? So I usually kind of backwards for me,
Scott: 38:39
uh, sitting where you are described three things in your immediate environment that you love.
Hetal: 38:45
The first is I have a piece of art that I got when I was in Oregon that is basically made up of Tiny, So it's basically the chemical abbreviation for oxytocin. She's written it millions and millions and millions of times in bit small and tiny ways to make it look like it was a girl would like her hair blowing in front of her on within it. There's like Easter eggs like where it says love and like different things. Oxytocin will make you feel. And I put it over my daughter's bed because oxytocin is what you feel after you have your baby to create that bond.
Carole: 39:19
Oh, wow, that's amazing. I want to see that. If you could send a photo of that will put it on the block.
Hetal: 39:25
I love, too. She does a bunch of beautiful art like that with various chemical compounds. The other thing would be three state maps, so I cut out these gigantic wooden boards in the shape of California, Alabama, New Jersey, because my woman's from Alabama and I'm from New Jersey and my daughters was born in California and I went vintage maps from antique store and I take a posh them with Emma from each location. Oh, you're creative Little Wall art project that I did and I used to be my living room at my old house, but in this new place we put it in my daughter's plate rooms. But their thing would be my daughter's play kitchen because I built that thing. She spent two months with my parents over the summer. When she got back, I had built this, like, Little Play Kitchen for her.
Scott: 40:09
Wow, she must have been really impressed.
Hetal: 40:11
Oh, she was so into it. She was so excited. She's like, Oh, same same
Carole: 40:15
that's so fun. So how do you balance working on your blawg and all of your food projects with your daughter being home?
Hetal: 40:22
There isn't much balance at all. I tried really hard to just include our best, the best thing to do, so I've been doing like life cooking and life baking videos And like, if my daughter wants to be involved and wants to stand next to me and watch what I'm doing, I let it happen. Many people find that very entertaining. Yeah,
Carole: 40:40
I noticed that. For example, you did, ah, post on Bonomy. Yeah, and I noticed that you were cleaning something with her next to you. So let me ask you, how do you get the sponsorships? And do people approach you, or how does that work?
Hetal: 40:53
Yeah, So a lot of the time people approach me, and then I go through and see if it fits kind of the lifestyle I live. And what is it? Something that would actually use. Bonomy came through me through the feed feed, which is Ah, huge Instagram account. And I've worked them with him in the past. But a lot of brands will reach out via email and just want to collaborate. If there are not profit for a cause that I truly, truly believe in and have advocated for in the past, I'm happy to work with them for free. But if it's like a major brand, then I usually, you know, talk it out, figure it out. I'm gonna be doing a bunch of lives with once upon a farm in the upcoming weeks. My daughter goes through them jazz one for breakfast every day because she's been home. She's been going through, like, 48 pouches in like a week.
Carole: 41:38
I've seen that you like that. Their products? A lot. Exactly.
Hetal: 41:41
I'm like it doesn't bother me because it's like all like fruits and veggies and greens. I'm like I'm running out. Guys, yell me. I
Carole: 41:47
need a little hope, but they're good for her, so that's fine. Let me jump
Scott: 41:51
in here. How can people buy your book? Milk and cardamom and where can they find you?
Hetal: 41:57
Yeah, you can find my book on walmart dot com. Amazon Target Books ING If you live in the Bay Area, Omnivore Books also carries my book. There's a couple small bookshops that carry the book, so definitely call and try and support your local bookshop if you can. They have it right on instrument milking cardamom. And then my block is milking cardamom dot com.
Scott: 42:16
Okay, great.
Carole: 42:17
Thank you. Helpful so much for your time. And we really were excited. Very excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much.
Hetal: 42:25
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Scott: 42:27
Yeah, we really appreciate it too. Thank you so much. We had a great conversation with you.
Carole: 42:31
Thank you so much Fo for joining us from San Francisco. She also has joined us for a guest blogger which you confined in the recipes section of This is you dot com Check out her unique take on cheesecake and when you make it, be sure to hashtag this is you Food and hashtag milk and cardamom. We can't wait to see your posts.
Scott: 42:53
Did you already check out our sticky lollypop chicken wings video? We have been getting some great feedback. They are delish. So pop on over to the block and have a look.
Carole: 43:02
Do you have any recipes you'd like us to try? Or some great tips about how you practice self compassion? You can always call us at the This is you hotline At 56 to 2916037 You may even show up on a future podcast.
Scott: 43:19
Our home base is W w w. This is you dot com
Carole: 43:24
Instagram is at this is you official?
Scott: 43:27
Our Facebook is This is U v i p community
Carole: 43:32
that I Thanks for listening, guys. CIA