In the Food Issue, Jhumpa Lahiri wrote about her father’s pulao, a festival dish of rice that is sauteed in butter with spices, raisins, and cashews, then baked in the oven. She wrote:
The recipe has not been written down, but Amar Lahiri has been recorded making pulao, thanks to our multimedia producer, Mengfan Wu, who happened to be driving through Rhode Island on her way back from another assignment. Amar Lahiri was generous enough not only to welcome Mengfan into his home and demonstrate his technique, but to send her back to New York with an aluminum tray like the one you see in the video below, filled with pulao, enough for quite a few of us to taste. We reheated the pulao in the office microwave; ten minutes later, all that was left was an empty container, the tantalizing smell of the spices, and the prospect of a sandwich that could only disappoint, whatever it was.
As Amar Lahiri says in the video, there will be twelve people around his family table on Thanksgiving, and pulao in the center. In case you are looking for a side dish for tomorrow’s table and are bold enough to dare attempt this, watch carefully. Alas, my stove is fully scheduled until the turkey comes out, so I’ll have to wait until Friday.
