The Pittsburgh Dish
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The Pittsburgh Dish
026 Kanika, Guide to Indian Cuisine and Wine Pairings
(00:34) We welcome Kanika, also known as the Indian Somm and That Curry Smell, to The Pittsburgh Dish. This episode promises to enrich your culinary knowledge, blending Kanika's Indian heritage with her passion for gastronomy and vino. As a biomedical scientist by day and a culinary connoisseur by night, Kanika offers a unique perspective on making traditional Indian dishes accessible and delightful. From her Indian essentials class to her chai pani sessions, discover how you too can master the art of Indian cooking with ease.
(16:55) Kanika's cultural journey from India to Pittsburgh is both heartwarming and enlightening. She shares her favorite family recipes and her transition to life as an international student at Carnegie Mellon University. Through her experiences with iconic Pittsburgh foods like the Primanti Brothers' sandwich to pizza, discover how she adapted to a new country and developed a passion for cooking. Kanika’s story underscores how food can bridge cultural gaps, create connections, and turn unfamiliar places into a home.
(21:05) Join us as we explore Pittsburgh's vibrant food scene through Kanika’s eyes. From local favorites like Allegro Hearth Bakery to hidden gems such as Udupi Cafe in Monroeville, Kanika’s experience will have you craving an adventure. She also shares a personal touch by recounting meeting her husband. And be sure to check out Kanika’s upcoming classes and events.
(33:56) We also hear local food recommendations from Emily Struhala, and get a taste of Zita Edsall's Lazy Key Lime Pie Icebox Cheesecake recipe, perfect for summer. This episode is a flavorful journey you won't want to miss!
Welcome to he Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host, doug Heilman, looking to learn more about Indian cuisine and maybe even pairing wine with it. We have the perfect guest to guide the way Heading out to Greensburg or maybe even La Trobe. We get some restaurant picks from a local and if no bake and cheesecake check the boxes for you we have a key lime icebox cake. That has you covered All that ahead. Stay tuned. Thanks so much for coming over and being on the show. Would you introduce yourself and what you have going on in the world of food and wine and what you have?
Kanika:going on in the world of food and wine. Yeah Well, thank you, doug, for having me. Well, this is so nice and I'm so glad that I am on your show, because I've heard your podcast before. I love it. I love what you're doing with the local food scene. Thank you I think it definitely needs more spotlight. So I am Kanika, aka the Indian Somm. That's my wine related handle, and that curry small, which is my food related handle. We'll come back to why I've named them those yeah, but yeah, but um, I am well professionally.
Kanika:I am a biomedical scientist and engineer by day and, uh, I do this by night yeah it's kind of my nine to five and five to nine, and I love it with the indian psalm and with the, with that charisma.
Kanika:My hope is to actually really encourage indian food and asian food in general and give them the spotlight which is not being given so far, I feel like, especially in this part of the world, and just see it from a different perspective, from a perspective of somebody who's an Indian.
Kanika:So I am an Indian and I came here when I was 22, 23 for grad school and my entire family is still in India. So I go back and forth and I feel like food is such a wonderful connection to have with all of the people and I love all of my friends out here who are some of them are Indian, most of them are not and I love introducing them to new, just my culture and the new cuisine for them, and I love sharing that aspect of it and same with the wine. I want to encourage really realistic food pairings and just a very, a very nice, open culture where we can learn together and it'll just be something that is uninhibited and it's encouraging. I want everybody to feel encouraged when they're tasting wine, when they're trying out new food, and I really want it to be very diverse and inclusive, so that's my goal.
Doug:So, kanika, I love your two social media handles and that they have sort of two angles. One is more about the cooking and homesteading, the other one is more about the wine and the wine pairings. But you do treat some of this like a business, right, don't you do some classes or events? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Kanika:Absolutely. Yeah, I do so with both of these two with that Curry Smell as well as the Indian Somm. Both of these two with that curry smell as well as the Indian Somm, I am doing more and more every day and they're both now businesses.
Kanika:So, with that curry smell, I am doing some cooking classes, and I'm doing at home private cooking classes as well as I do some online, and I've also do some like corporate events for private chefing. But really, with that, and soon in the fall, I'll be starting at my home cooking classes too. Right now, I go to your home and teach you how to cook and I'll be doing that as well. But I have many basic classes that you can take from here. I have an Indian essentials class that you would do if you're like new to indian cuisine and then I have something which will be introduced soon.
Kanika:It's called a chai pani class, which is things that you would have with. First of all, I'll teach you how to make chai, which I think is very important, yes, for every, every person to know, because it's just such a comforting drink. I'll teach you how to make chai and some little dishes and some snacks that go with it and that everybody in India can relate to.
Doug:You're giving us the Indian version of English tea time but probably on steroids.
Kanika:It's definitely on steroids.
Doug:Oh, I love this. We're going to have to talk a little bit more about some entry-level dishes later.
Kanika:Yes, absolutely so. Yeah, each of these classes and they're like longer classes for sure they're each like two and a half, three hours, sometimes more, and then we'll cook together and then we'll eat together. And with that I also try and incorporate with this, as well as individually, my wine business, so the Indian salmon. Then I would give you pairings for the food that we have and then I'll teach you about the wines and also how to pair them with that. And this can go with the food when we're doing a class. But also I do individual classes for the wine and food pairing. I do them individually as well as with other small businesses in the area of Pittsburgh.
Doug:Didn't I just see you pair up a couple weeks back with Nosh and Curd?
Kanika:Yes, that is always my standing class. We do several of those together, so she does the cheeses and I do the wine for that.
Emily:I love it.
Kanika:And then something that will be coming up very soon and will be shortly on my website is with Chantel's. I'm doing a conservas and wine class and then, off and on, I've done with other smaller businesses like Pallet Partners and Dreadnought Wines. I've done an Indian food for the Valley, indian Food and Wine class and I keep having that and it's a rotation and it's always on the website.
Doug:Yes. So just to clarify for our listeners, you're much more than just a social media maven. You're putting out there these things you're doing and there's all of this instruction behind it. If someone wants to find you and have a class whether it's for Indian cuisine and cooking, or wine pairing or all of it together this is what you're doing.
Kanika:Absolutely. This is my focus, for sure. I feel like social media was a way to get to this, and I always wanted to showcase Indian food and also showcase a different aspect of fine, just making it more approachable for everybody.
Doug:Yes, Somewhere I was reading maybe it was your about page where wine and Indian food was did you say something like a unicorn, it was never really paired that wasn't part of your culture.
Kanika:And that's very true. Indian food and wine really isn't something that is done Now, when there are so many people from the Indian diaspora and the Asian diaspora in general. They're moving out, they're seeing more of the Europe and wine has always been wine, been one food, always been very eurocentric I feel, like so, now that people are moving and seeing more.
Kanika:Everybody always asked me because I've been doing wine, I've been studying wine for a while, and why I started in insomniac was because every my friends and everybody was just asking me about, hey, what do I pair with this wonderful orange chicken that I got? Or what do I pair with the biryani? And there was no information and there still isn't that information anywhere online. And there aren't a lot of somms or wine professional who are Indian and very less Asian wine professionals too. So I just wanted to include all of that and give people something that they can all relate to.
Kanika:And a lot of my other friends too, who are not Asian but are very well-traveled, they would want to pair something with, say, an Afghan cuisine or with even an African cuisine. How do we do that? And because I've just grown up with a family that has traveled so much and cooked everywhere, so they just inculcated like all of these different foods and different cuisines and because of that I understand flavors really well, I believe, and because of that I can actually match the wine. And also I just love teaching too, and I love the fact that when somebody's eyes brighten up when I talk about their cuisine and like pairing a wine with it, and they would never think about that before, like, oh my God, I didn't know I could do this, I could pair this wine with something other than pasta or a steak. I said, yes, you can, that would be awesome.
Doug:You really are sparking some things in my mind. Number one I think you really have identified a gap, not in a local market but even a global market of pairing wine with those cuisines that traditionally maybe didn't have that winemaking culture. But to your point, we are so global now, we are so well-versed in different cuisines that it's time to merge some of that together.
Doug:I was also thinking you've lived this experience and maybe we can go into that a little bit more where you didn't just grow up in India, your dad traveled around right, so you've actually grown up with this sort of inherent knowledge of cuisine and I couldn't imagine a better person to be bringing some of this, pairing these stories, these flavor matches together. Could you take us a little bit back to family life and a little bit in your food journey in your earlier years?
Kanika:Absolutely so. I come from a family of Indian army doctors, essentially- Wow. So pretty much everybody in my family other than me, because I'm an engineer as a doctor and has been in the army. So everybody traveled a lot, and my mom traveled as a young child too, so she picked up all of those things that she gave then passed on to me. We moved as a family as well so many times.
Kanika:I changed 11 schools oh my goodness so, and you're right, not just in india, but all around um southeast of asia so put on island so we did move around a lot, and even now my family loves to travel, and this was when we were moving around. We were actually living in these places, and we pretty much lived in every single part of India as well, and if we weren't in that part of India, somebody in my family was living there and we'd be visiting them.
Kanika:Everybody in my family is extremely food-centric, extremely so, and they're all really good cooks, and that includes all the members of the family my father, my mom, my grandmom, everybody, my granddad too.
Doug:Is that extraordinary from the typical Indian family? Do the men and the women cook?
Kanika:It is a little different, for sure, but I've always grown up seeing that and that's just not my family. I believe this has. This must have something to do with army life as well okay I think, because you're taught to be so independent.
Kanika:So both men and women of our acquaintances or our friends and our family, of course, we've always seen them cooking, but I do realize that this is not something typical. So, yeah, things are changing. Now I do see a lot of my Indian friends and family actually that are not related to me, don't have those traditional roles of male and female which is really refreshing to see, and I feel like cooking is such a basic skill. It should not be a role that is genderized at all Right, I completely agree.
Doug:I think my sister and I were very lucky that we were allowed to cook at an early age and sort of expected. And even now, when our family cooks, everyone has a thing they like to do. I'm so glad you grew up in a household like that I know I am too. Yeah, very fortunate, I think we both are.
Kanika:I know that's great.
Doug:Were there any moments growing up or in your travels that when you cooked something or the family did or you tasted something new, that it was very transformative and changed your way that you thought about food?
Kanika:Yeah, absolutely so many. There are so many moments that come into my mind. To name a few, there's this one dish that my grandma made for me, and we're from the north of India. It's called a guramba okay I know it's really hard to pronounce and it is such an obscure dish. It's actually made with mangoes ripe mangoes and it's a savory dish, so it's savory, a little sweet.
Kanika:Yeah, it's called amka guramba and am is mango amka, I'm not gonna say it right, it's okay, it's it's a hard word, but and it's called amka guramba and am is mango Amka, I'm not going to say it right, it's okay, it's a hard word, but and it's so obscure and I'm even now if I talk to people who are from that area there are very few people who actually know about it.
Zita :Or cook it.
Kanika:And you would eat it with these fried puris, which are these puffy flatbreads? They're not flatbreads, they're fried, so they're puffy, and you would eat it with that and it would be a very typical breakfast dish. Sometimes, yeah, and it's got some wonderful whole spices in it. Something like fenugreek would be added to it, and it was just such a wonderful dish. There are so many other dishes and it's just. I can name a hundred experiences. Just rattle them off right now.
Doug:Well, I think what might be good for some of our listeners that maybe would like to broaden their own palate maybe they haven't explored much of Indian cuisine what would, in terms of a dish that you'd want to make for them or have them try as sort of a first time stepping into those cuisine waters?
Kanika:Right, and there are so many of them. I think the first thing that I would always have anybody make or try I have an essential cooking class. I have many cooking classes, but this is one of my first things that I would always have somebody who hasn't had that much of an exposure to Indian cooking do is to make dal, and dal is quintessential to Indian cooking and it doesn't matter from where you are, which part of India you are, you would always have some form of dal, and it'll be different in the north, in the east, south everything and dal is just a lentil, stewed, lentil dish essentially, and the way you would make it in different parts would differ, like what spices you'd use and what ingredients you'd use in it. But the base ingredient of these lentils dried lentils which are then soaked and then rehydrated and then boiled, and then things are added to it. There's temperings and everything added to it. That is a quintessential dish for every single Indian.
Doug:I love the idea of dal as being the sort of entry recipe. Kanika, is there one more?
Kanika:Oh yeah, so many, but I think I'll pick one up that is very it's in a form that I feel like every single person from America would relate to it. So it's an aloo tiki burger. So it's a burger, but it's completely vegetarian. It's actually vegan. It's made with aloo, which is potatoes, and you can add a lot of different vegetables and it's a very vegetable heavy thing, and then you would just put some spices in it and you would eat it as a handheld burger.
Doug:I love this. I don't know if I've ever had this.
Kanika:This is, I feel, like a morph on a railway couplet. Yes, okay, so railway cuisine in India is a completely different cuisine too, because Indian railways actually have fresh food and in all of our travels and we would always travel with railways it's very common in most middle-class families in India, especially growing up in the nineties, and they would have the railway cart and a railway kitchen and they would have these cutlets, which is not unlike what you would essentially call a chicken cutlet out here.
Doug:Yes.
Kanika:So they're kind of in that shape, but they'll always be vegetarian, made out of a base of potato with some spices and some vegetables, and I think this is a raoji family morph on it. Uh, pretty sure that my mom actually just like devised it from there, but I've seen it in different forms and all around india too, and it's just a burger that it's made in the form of a burger with some fixings, yes, and put in a bun, and you would grill it and you would eat it, and it's just such a wonderful alternative to a regular beef burger or something else.
Doug:I want to try it.
Kanika:Yeah, I'll make it for you oh thank you. I'm Kanika from that Curry Smell and the Indian.
Doug:Somm and you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish. All right, Kanika, you've given us some of your sort of flavor moments from family and growing up, so I'd love to jump forward a bit in life and talk about when you came to the States for college and what?
Kanika:were those food adventures like? And I think you met your husband here. Is that right? That is correct, all right. It was such a wonderful time for me. I feel like it was both stressful highly stressful because I was going to college out here and CMU has a very, very rigorous program. I was going to ask where you went to school. Yeah, carnegie Mellon, carnegie Mellon, and it had a very rigorous program.
Doug:I was going to ask where you went to school. So, Carnegie Mellon.
Kanika:Carnegie Mellon and it had a very rigorous program. That was also the first time I was actually living away from my family.
Doug:Yes.
Kanika:Because none of my family is here. They're not even in anywhere in any of the continents around us, so they're all in Asia and in India. So it was very hard because I moved alone and basically had to build my life from scratch again. I knew nobody. I had a couple of friends from my old college who came with me, but they were in their own programs. I was in a very different program than them. So that happened. And then also coming to the United States, living on your own, renting a house, figuring out a new country, everything was new.
Doug:Figuring out Pittsburgh.
Kanika:Figuring out Pittsburgh. I remember. But I remember this one point in my life, when we first came here and I took a ride in one of the airport shuttle taxis, which I don't know if they exist. Everybody does Uber now.
Emily:Right.
Kanika:This was like more than a decade ago. So that was an Uber and the airport shuttle taxi that came through the Fort Pitt Tunnel and then the city view opens up and that was just like such an aha moment for me and I was just like standing like this is beautiful, I'm in such a beautiful place. It was really wonderful. It was just a very exciting time in my life. So that was there. And then food wise, it was very interesting. So, being a grad student, you obviously don't have a ton of money, so I was doing like two jobs. I also didn't have any time the time. That's where my actual cooking journey began to, because I did. My parents would encourage me to cook at home and I did, but it was never, never like a. I had to cook.
Doug:Now you're by yourself.
Kanika:Yes.
Doug:This brave new life and you have to cook meals for yourself.
Kanika:Yes, and you have to cook. So I always understood flavors and everything. But then it was all on me and it was this really horrible kitchen. It was the worst rental apartment, but it was there and that's where I first started actual cooking. So I'll never forget that apartment had it good and bad, yeah, yeah.
Doug:Great memories. So when you came to Pittsburgh to go to college, were there any memories? Moments of, uh, cultural, aha, with food you were trying here oh, absolutely, I remember the first time, okay at.
Kanika:So at cmu, one of the orientations they told us you must, must try primanti's brother yeah, you must.
Emily:That was the must thing.
Kanika:So we did go there and I did try it out and somehow the whole soggy fries with the sandwich didn't completely win you over win me over. It was just, it was interesting. But then, um, I tried out just pizza out here, and we didn't have pizza like this anywhere in india at that time pizza in pittsburgh is is fairly diverse actually it is so cool.
Kanika:I I don't know which one's the first one I tried, but every single one that I tried was just amazing. I enjoyed it so much and then also tried out everyday noodles I believe around that time and we have Chinese cuisine in India and we also have Indo-Chinese, which is a cuisine of its own, but I never tried it like this and it was so amazing and it was great to see them, and also bubble tea that was the first time I tried bubble tea.
Kanika:That was amazing. And there were so many other things too. There used to be this Jewish deli in Squirrel Hill. I forgot in the name. I tried out a few things from there. They were amazing. When I was actually going for my second grad school, I was living in squirrel hill and, uh, I was right by bus stop stopped right at allegro hearth bakery, which just has my heart it does I stopped there pretty much every day.
Kanika:I was like, yeah, after my, after my research and after like killing a bunch of mice, I'm a biomedical engineer. So yeah, after all of that gory and very stressful, stressful life, I would always go there and and get a pastry to go home. I loved that place and then I would say udupi would be the other place that we tried. It was so hard to get to monroeville. I didn't have a car, so any of our friends who had a car we'd go there and we'd eat.
Doug:And Adpi is Indian cuisine. It is. And this met the match for you. Like you thought, this is like home.
Kanika:Right, so Adpi is very much like a South Indian cafe. And they do have other things too, but I would say their South Indian cafe food, the things like dosa, their filter coffee, their avial, which is like a coconut dish with a lot of vegetables, all of those things would be something that I could actually remember from being in India and I would, whenever I would feel nostalgic, we'd try to go to Udupi and eat that food.
Doug:And it would whenever I would feel nostalgic.
Kanika:we'd try to go to Udupi and eat that food, and it would always be wonderful.
Doug:You just have me thinking have you found any other Indian restaurants that you really fancy now?
Kanika:Yeah, there are so many new restaurants that some of them I've tried and some of them I have to. I might try the one in Carnegie actually soon, but I tried out Bombay to Burgh. It's so cool, I love the place, and there are some things out there which I've only seen in India, like the paneer kurkure. I haven't seen that appetizer out somewhere else. I think it's really good, and there's mint in Banksville.
Kanika:And they have. So a good thing to understand about Indian restaurants out here is, I think they're trying to cater to every palate.
Doug:Yes.
Kanika:But they all have their specialities of what you should actually be getting from them, because that's where they're from, that's where the owners are from and that's what they really make very well.
Doug:This is why I need to go with you.
Kanika:Yes, we need to go together because there are certain things. Okay, indian food in general is like kind of like pizza. I feel like Even Indian food in general is like kind of like pizza. I feel like even the worst Indian food would not be bad, it's still pretty good.
Kanika:Right, so pretty good. And there are many restaurants out here that have Indian food that are not exactly Indian. They're more like Bangladeshi food or they're Pakistani, which is another whole cuisine, which is lovely and amazing, but it's different. It's different than what you would get. So I just feel like every place has its own speciality. It's something that they make wonderful and you should go out there and eat that. For instance, there's kebab and curry on bankswell, which is a actually a pakistani establishment, but they do call themselves like indian and pakistani food.
Kanika:I feel like there's just more recognition for indian food, so everybody says that, but their Pakistani dishes are actually amazing. So there's a thing called chicken haleem, which is kind of like chicken cooked for hours and hours and mashed into this lentil thing and it just becomes this harmonious, wonderful dish with so many spices. That is wonderful and I feel like very few people know about it because they haven't heard about it, but I'm glad it's on the menu. So anytime I go with my friends out there, when I take anybody out there like you have to try this, because this is what they're actually eating and cooking at home and that's what you need to try kanika, I have a whole other business idea for you, and it's with, in partnership with, these places that you love.
Doug:So not only should you be doing your cooking classes and your wine pairing classes at home, you should take people to restaurants with you and be the guided tour on what we're going to eat like. Program out a menu with them and have the best dishes.
Kanika:I would love that.
Doug:You should do that. I love this education because so often I think folks, especially if you grew up here, you don't realize the diversity that we actually have too, but you have the insight of what some of the best dishes are at that place. In addition to the restaurants you're mentioning, are there any grocery stores or shops or markets that you really love visiting as well?
Kanika:Right, oh my God, I have so many and I have them on my social media too. I always highlight them. So for Indian food, I would say there are a couple in Oakland because of the colleges. There's one called Bombay store, which is really good it's. I haven't been there in a while.
Kanika:But there's Patel Brothers in Monroeville, which is like usually you'll find a lot of aspects of Indian cuisine from different parts of India. It's not just focused on a North or South, so that is really good. I feel like most of the Indian food. You'll find something. You'll find those things to make out there. And then there is I love shopping at, like smaller grocery stores and grocery stores which are not necessarily smaller, but also that are Did you meet your husband.
Kanika:I met him about eight and a half years ago, about nine years ago, eight and a half, nine years ago, and how long have you been married? Been married for eight and a half years.
Doug:Oh, very quickly.
Kanika:Yeah, we got married like within six months and it was. It was um. We treat it as our engagement because my parents couldn't get their visa in time so we just did a. It was a civil ceremony and then we. A few months after that, we did what I call a white wedding. So we, just I, I call it white just because I wore a white dress and then we also did a proper indian wedding at the same time.
Kanika:Uh, for my family and everybody was there, because and we had to condense that, because usually indian weddings go for like seven, eight days- yes this was condensed and then, uh, in one day that's very condensed yeah, we had open bar and open food for everybody.
Kanika:So I was just like do your thing, we're getting married and you can just eat and drink. And it was very beautiful. It was in laurel highlands and it was in an old hunting lodge by a lake, because in an indian wedding you have to have a fire, so they won't. We can't do it anywhere indoors or in the park, otherwise you would have just done it in the park.
Doug:Yeah, so yeah he is from an italian background, so very italian I would think that that somehow plays well with your whole idea of wine as well, like probably figuring out more wines to come in, so much.
Kanika:Absolutely. When I met him I was just graduating from, like Manischewitz, and, yeah, I was having some wine and I was trying out new stuff. And then we used to have Thursday dinners with his nanny, so with his grandmom, and that's where I actually learned and actually ate Italian-American food. Tony's grandmom and certain members of his family, like his aunt, is also a really good cook, and they all cook and do everything at home too, so the grew food their home to the sauces would be their own, so everything would be there.
Kanika:And when I met her she was just beginning to stop doing it. So I like tried to have every single moment that I could have with her in the kitchen and just learning as much as I could from her. Yes, yeah, because she passed away soon after that too, but I'm glad I had to have that time with her and other members of his family too. I tried to learn as much. So I did learn quite a bit from his family about Italian American food. That is obviously, I think, besides Indian food. That is obviously Tony's soul food, so I had to make that for him.
Doug:It's so great that you inherited from your in-laws a whole other cuisine dynasty and you were able to learn some of those lessons from the elders before they passed on Absolutely and then, like we've made it a point of wherever we've traveled and wherever we continue to travel, we really immerse ourselves in the cuisines of that place too.
Kanika:So we did go to Italy and we did go to Tony's ancestral places and actually met some of the people and learned how to cook some of the dishes and everything, and also, of course, the wine, because that is the focus. So whenever we travel, our travel is mostly me meeting the producers and the wineries and then us cooking and then just traveling. It's just, it's a lot of fun.
Doug:It's not only a great vacation, it's an education for you to bring back.
Kanika:Definitely we like having more active travel time.
Doug:Kanika, you are the ultimate food person to me. Thank you so much for sharing your experience as you think about moving forward with both that Curry Smell and some of those classes, or the Indian Somm. What are some future plans, goals, where do you see it all going for you?
Kanika:Yeah, I would love to have more people see Indian food as it should be. So I would love to be on a bigger platform where I could actually showcase proper Indian food to more people. I would love that. I would love Indian food to have the same spotlight on it as some of the other European cuisines does, and I feel like in America it kind of gets lost a little bit and it's starting to get some recognition.
Kanika:People are starting to differentiate between a dal makhani or a chicken. Well, chicken tikka is a whole other thing. It's not really indian, but we won't get into that, but they're trying to understand that. Okay, not everything is a curry and not um, and which is that's why I've named myself that. It's a very ironic statement both of them. But it's not just that. And it's there's more to the stuff than butter butter chicken masala.
Kanika:Yes, there's more to. There are so many different things, so I want more people to know about that and I want to really really have people learn about that. I'm really very fascinated by that. I want more people to taste it, to appreciate, appreciate like real Indian food and in terms of the Indian Somme, I want people to have a place where they can come to and have more relatable pairings, but also learn about wine in a way that is approachable, that makes sense to them and that is more diverse and really inclusive, because I find that it's there's always that hesitancy in people to always think that wine is so snobbish or wine is not for them or not for their culture, and countless people have told that to me and I want to change that narrative so badly?
Kanika:yes, I want it to be more inclusive and we are such a global, global community now I feel like we're all global citizens and we should all be able to enjoy wine with the things that we like to eat, and we should enjoy it without judgment, and I like coming from a base of knowledge from it, because I feel like then the mystery, it's all demystified once you actually learn a little bit.
Kanika:Learn but also have fun with it. That's when you can actually start incorporating it properly in your lifestyle. So that's what I want to do with it.
Doug:Thank you so much. I think it's the absolute right thing that you should be doing.
Kanika:Thanks, Doug.
Doug:All right, kanika, we've talked about your classes. I do want to give you a moment to plug anything you have going on. If people want to find you, follow you, attend a class or an event you're doing, how can they find you?
Kanika:Absolutely so. For the Indian Somm, all of my classes would be listed on my website in the events page and you can go out there. And I also announce them on my Facebook and Instagram social media. I have quite a few coming up up and then and you can also there's a form out there that you could fill up or DM me if you want a private class. And for that curry smell right now it is I haven't had the chance to put the specific classes on the website, but I'll be doing that soon, so you can get a basic idea of what it's going to be, and then you just contact me and I'm just very open.
Kanika:So email me. All the emails are there, dm me and if I have an opening I'll try and accommodate you.
Doug:Perfect. All right, kanika. The name of the show is the Pittsburgh Dish. What's the best dish you've had this week?
Kanika:Oh okay, this is hard this week. Ooh okay, this is hard. One of my very favorite dishes that I've had recently would be the roti and the lamb from Pusadees.
Doug:Pusadees roti and lamb.
Kanika:Yeah, that is such a great dish. I love Pusadees too. Their Thai food is just gosh. Just so different and so interesting. I love it yes, kanika.
Doug:Thank you so much for being on the pittsburgh dish thank you so much for having me if you're heading out to the greensburg area, you may want to have a couple restaurant picks from a local. Let's check in with our friend, emily Struhala. Hey everyone, we're joined today with Emily Struhala, a freelance journalist out of Greensburg, and she's stopped by to give us some local restaurant picks. Emily, thanks for coming on to the show today.
Emily:Thanks for inviting me, Doug.
Doug:So, emily, we were talking pizza and wings earlier before we recorded and I wanted to know is there a place out your way that you sort of love as a go-to for that?
Emily:Yeah, so I really enjoyed Jaffre's on East Pittsburgh Street, but my go-to from there is called Tin Chicken.
Doug:Oh, what is Tin Chicken?
Emily:So it's a grilled chicken breast and then it has a jalapeno blueberry sauce that goes on top of it.
Doug:Wait, wait, wait, jalapeno blueberry. This is blowing my mind With goat cheese. Oh my Like. This actually sounds like something I would have in a salad too. That's very interesting. Yes, and so it's a little bit spicy and sweet.
Emily:Yes, it's a perfect combination of both. But even if you think, oh, it's too spicy, it's not. It's like just a perfect balance of flavors.
Doug:So you said this is your go-to.
Emily:It is my go-to.
Doug:Is this something they're known for?
Emily:Yeah, it's one of their specialty items on their menu and it's been on since they've opened. Oh, okay.
Doug:And of course you were telling me too. They have good pizza, good wings, other sandwiches as well, and we should also let folks know that this is the Jaffre's in Greensburg, but they do have a second location in Lat robe, Same family, but a totally different menu, right?
Emily:Yeah, so the one in Lat robe. They just opened in the past couple of years, but they do brunch on weekends and then they just have a whole completely different menu.
Doug:Okay, and I think that one is the Jaffre's stone bar and kitchen.
Emily:Yes.
Doug:All right, so both are good, but just totally two different places.
Emily:Yes.
Doug:All right, so Jaffre's in Greensburg or maybe go to the one in Latrobe.
Emily:Yeah, the one in Latrobe. I did eat there once for their brunch and it's more of like a specialty brunch and it was very good.
Doug:All right, and Jaffre's is spelled J-A-F-F-R-E, if people are looking.
Emily:Yes.
Doug:Okay, great quality. Yes, emily, thank you so much again.
Emily:Oh, thank you for having me.
Doug:Emily Struhala is a freelance journalist covering food and tourism in Southwest PA. You can follow Emily on her Instagram at ems_ experiences_ PGH. This week's recipe comes from Zita Edsall of Chip and Kale, and she brought over to my house what she calls the Lazy Key Lime Pie Icebox Cheesecake Zita. Where did this recipe come from? Cake Zita. Where did this recipe come from?
Zita :Well, my favorite cake actually John's as well is Russian honey cake.
Zita :I grew up on that cake and it's relatively simple, but I could never recreate it because of the butter and the cream in between, till I actually discover, and the cream in between till I actually discover, reading a mystery book, such a thing that's called an icebox cake, which is graham crackers layered with pudding. Yes, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is kind of like a really quick Russian honey cake, very close to it, and now it's summer and key lime pie is everywhere everywhere and it's a thing in a school thing and I was thinking, oh, how about layering key lime pie in the graham?
Doug:crackers. Yes, I mean, I think a lot of key lime pies have a graham cracker crust anyway. Yeah, but this would be super easy for someone to assemble.
Zita :Correct and it's so easy. So you, of course, can make it vegan with all the vegan ingredients and this recipe I wrote for everyday folks with regular ingredients and you just basically need a bowl and hand mixer and that's pretty much it. Of course, if you find key lime pies would be wonderful, because they are wonderful, but you can use regular lime and it works yes, just great.
Zita :When I actually tested out and everybody, it just disappeared and I was making the second batch for you. It kind of was I was churning out another options that maybe instead of lime juice, putting lemon juice and little culinary lavender in it and make it like a lime lavender cheesecake.
Doug:A lemon lavender cheesecake. Lemon, lavender cheesecake, that sounds lovely.
Zita :Yeah, a lemon lavender cheesecake. Lemon lavender cheesecake that sounds lovely, yeah. Or skip the lime and put some mango puree and have like a mango cheesecake, and you can even layer it with some banana slices in the middle.
Doug:You're blowing my mind. If our listeners haven't seen the recipe yet on the blog, you are just using some simple ingredients. If you're not going the vegan route, it's some whipped cream cheese, condensed milk, the lime juice. You fold in the cool whips, you've got this nice sort of fluffy middle and, like you said, you're just layering graham crackers With this spread With this spread, and then again and again until you have it covered. How long did you refrigerate yours?
Zita :I refrigerated overnight.
Doug:Okay.
Zita :Honestly, if you have it sitting for two days, the flavors blend even nicer oh yeah, because the graham crackers get all nice and soft. Yes, yeah it's just, it's really beautiful refreshing cake and it's super easy.
Doug:No baking of course, perfect for warm weather, something you can just do on the countertop.
Zita :Correct.
Doug:I love it. Yeah, zita, thank you so much for this recipe.
Zita :Well, you're welcome. The most difficult part is to actually, I guess, find a proper dish that the graham crackers fit.
Doug:Yes, all right, zita. Thanks again for being on the Pittsburgh Dish.
Zita :Well, thank you for having me.
Doug:Zita is the owner of Chip and Kale plant-based meals. You can learn more about her other fabulous recipes at chipandkalecom. That's our show for this week. We'd like to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. We'll be back again next week with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.
