This story is part of On Repeat, a series in which we ask top chefs, cookbook authors, and other famous foodies about the dishes they just can’t quit.
January invariably brings all kinds of health- and planet-conscious cooking aspirations, but it’s important to remember that supping sustainably isn’t limited to upping your legume intake. Some of the most delectable snack foods are natively free of animal products. (French fries, anyone?) So when we asked Kolkata-born, New York-based cookbook author Rinku Bhattacharya what dish she whips up On Repeat, we were stoked to hear about the Bengali onion rings from her blog, Spice Chronicles.
They’re a delightful side dish and an even better snack—the perfect recipe to combat winter doldrums. These crunchy munchies are a play on the classic Bengali onion fritter, which gets its texture from chickpea flour and nigella seeds, a staple of regional cooking that tastes a bit like cumin. In the traditional recipe, though, the onions would be shredded instead of in rings. “All I’ve done is reshape how I chop them,” says Bhattacharya, whose books include The Bengali Five Spice Chronicles and Instant Indian.
Why I love it
“I love it because it’s Indian, but accessible and people can relate to it. And it works for almost anything: It’s a fun party appetizer, and it’s very kid-friendly while having a sophisticated taste. It’s very flavorful, and it’s vegan and gluten free.”
What I’ve changed
“Sometimes what I like to do is play around with the seasonings. So I might add some thyme and rosemary to the spice mix. They work very well and give a nice nuance to it. One of the things I love doing is meshing seasonings. I love playing with flavor, but I like my recipes to maintain their ethnic integrity. I won’t change a recipe so much that you can’t tell where it originates from. Can you add cumin seeds [instead of nigella seeds]? Yes. You’d get close [to authentic Bengali flavor].”
What else I’m into right now
Using what I have. I work to use what I have on hand. Now that I cook mostly for myself that’s more of a priority for me. I often have a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A few days ago I was making a lentil salad and the recipe called for winter greens, but what I had on hand was baby romaine, so I stuck to it but subbed out the winter greens for the romaine.
Compact composting. I’m exploring how to have a more compact approach to composting, because that’s very much part of my life. I do small-scale gardening. I’ve been looking at tabletop composters that can keep the composting a little more minimalistic but still allow me to compost.
Meal planning. This is difficult for me because I love to cook very spontaneously: I see a recipe and I want to make it. Meal prepping is kind of the complete opposite. It’s a way to plan with what you have, and that will allow more of a zero waste kind of approach.