Priya Krishnas book Priyas Kitchen Adventures is the cookbook the author wishes she had as a child.
Her publisher approached her with the proposal, which led to her latest cookbook,Priyas Kitchen Adventures.
My publisher said, You have a really youthful voice.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Wanda Abraham / Marc Franklin
So many [of the books] didnt feel like they were for me, she says.
The recipes arent cutesy, either.
Many mirror recipes an adult might make, including elotes, quiche Lorraine, and vegetable tagine.
There are certainly some concessions made for young cooks.
The recipes inPriyas Kitchen Adventuresinvolve minimal chopping and no special equipment like stand mixers or mandoline slicers.
Icons indicate when a step might require an adults help, like chopping vegetables or cooking on the stovetop.
Bright, colorful photos accompany most of the recipes.
For more complex projects, like Pear and Gorgonzola Ravioli, step-by-step photos supplement the instructions.
Krishnas recipes encourage experimentation, empowering kids to learn to cook, rather than just following a recipe.
Krishnas Koshari recipe includes an optional spicy sauce called daqqa.
And this is wherePriyas Kitchen Adventuresis perhaps most surprising.
Children are thought to have picky, unadventurous tastes.
However, this book isnt just an adults idea of what children should cook and eat.
All the recipes were tested by children ages three to 13.
Krishna was surprised by how much about flavor the kids picked up on.
They were figuring out how flavor works in real-time.
She reveals that the most surprising thing about working with kids as recipe testers was How good they were!
They were better than my Indian-ish testers!
Adult testers can err towards being polite, masking harsher criticisms to spare the recipe developers feelings.
Kids dont care about thattheyre direct.
So I knew that when they said they liked something, they really meant it.
BUY THE COOKBOOK:Priyas Kitchen Adventures
