Coming up on March 3rd, Meena Agarwal will join me as special guest chef for our Indian 1o1 class. I’m looking forward to this class as it’s always fun to share the kitchen with someone who has as much passion about food as Meena does. Her extremely popular blog Hooked on Heat showcases mouth watering recipes and great information about her favourite Indian and Malaysian dishes.



Recently I caught up with Meena to ask her a few questions about her background, her love of cooking and if she’d share her favourite recipe with us. Here’s part of our conversation. Click here for the entire interview.



NH: You have such an eclectic background with your mom being Malaysian, your dad being an Indian and you growing up in the Middle East. How do you think this has influenced your cooking style?





MA: The food I cook regularly for my daily meals are often a blend of my favourite dishes from almost every part of the world that I’ve had the good fortune to visit. Most times, it’s only a memory of a dish I ate somewhere that gets me experimenting. I love how mixing different flavours can create a wonderful concoction for your palate.



NH: What do you think the biggest misconception about Indian food is?



MA: Of the few complaints I get on Indian cooking, the one that stands most prominent is the myth that Indian cooking is just too hard. Try as I might, somehow, I can’t convince people enough on just how simple and quick and not to mention, healthy, Indian food can be. Now before you roll your eyes at me and say, “Yeah sure, easy for you, you’re Indian!” just hear me out. True, I was born in an Indian household with a Mom who cooks the most delicious Indian food I know. But truth be told, and as much as I would like to believe, I wasn’t born with Indian culinary instincts in me. Like any of you not familiar with the South-Asian cuisine, I too started off without much knowledge.



NH: Like my husband, you joke that your hubby is your guinea pig. Do you think they know how good they have it??!!



MA: Oh, I definitely hope so! Or maybe we leave them to fend for themselves, and ask them what they think!