Aaloo Gajar reminds me of my father because I associate it with the large events we had at my house when I was growing up. The ‘niazes’ where people would stream in and out of the house, sampling the spread my mother orchestrated. More often than not, about an hour before the event was supposed to end it would become clear to my father that we were running out of food, an unforgivable sin for a Pakistani host. Us siblings would handle it the only way we knew how – by avoiding him (Sorry Abu). When the night would finally end my mother would hold up the two spoonfuls of chicken and two spoonfuls of aaloo gajar that someone left out of politeness as proof positive that we did not actually run out of food. My father, a committed husband, would pretend to agree.  This is a simple sabzi (veggie) to make and I adore the contrast between the sweetness of the carrots and the heat of the green chillies. My tolerance for raw green chillies is pretty low so I add them earlier in the cooking process than some which allows their sharp fragrance to really flavor the dish and […]

Share: