Neerja is an excellent cook although she is a notoriously picky eater.

She learned cooking the hard way – all alone in a new country - when she had to cook in order to get some traditional home cooked meal. (Her husband is that typical Indian male - totally useless in the kitchen). So she does not have any heart-warming stories about learning all those traditional recipes or family specialties from one's mother, grandmother, great-aunt, mother-in-law or whoever!

All her recipes are either self-concocted or learned from here, there and everywhere and then changed (nay, improved upon) according to her taste or in many cases memory! After nine years of extensive cooking, she still cannot bake to save her life and learnt to successfully flip the omelet just a few months ago.  She is very, very jealous of people who can make good pooris, paranthas and chapatis.

Neerja loves all aspects of food and cooking; she says, "Everything about it fascinates me - the story behind it, the background, the causes and effect, the colors, the aromas...everything!"

She has been writing her column, Cook And Chat, for Delicious India ever since the website came up with a food newsletter called Flavor a few years ago. The newsletter was called offline after a while but she received many (actually only five, but who is counting?) requests to continue her column and started writing again.

Neerja currently lives with her husband and two kids in North Potomac, Maryland.

Close window