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Tiffany Hansen: This is All Of It. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Alison Stewart. Thanks so much for joining us on this beautiful and nice, nice warm Monday. On today's show, we will talk about how you can support victims of sexual assault. We'll preview tonight's Get Lit with All Of It book club, and we want to know what you are reading as well and what you're listening to. We'll talk books with producer Jordan Lauf and podcasts with critic Nick Quah. That's the plan. Let's get started with Priya Krishna, author of Priya's Kitchen Adventures.

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If you are a foodie, you probably know who Priya Krishna is in the culinary world. She's pretty much a household name. She's a food reporter for the New York Times. You may have seen her on their YouTube channel where she takes us behind the scenes in famous restaurants, bodegas and pizzerias, or maybe you have her bestselling cookbook about Indian American food called Indian-ish. Now, Priya is sharing her love of food with a younger audience.

Her new cookbook, Priya's Kitchen Adventures, teaches how to cook international cuisine. She offers recipes from Greece, Mexico, Japan, China, all the countries that she traveled to as a kid. Priya's Kitchen Adventures, a cookbook for Kids is out tomorrow. With us now is the author and New York Times food reporter, Priya Krishna. Hi Priya, welcome to All Of It.

Priya Krishna: Hi, I'm so happy to be here.

Tiffany Hansen: Priya and I are calling out our young listeners. We want to hear from you. What's your favorite food to make in the kitchen? Maybe also parents, caregivers, what do you want to teach your child about how to cook, where to start? Ask us some questions. Well actually ask Priya the questions not me, 212-433-WNYC. You can also text us at that number 212-433-9692. We're on all of the socials @allofitwnyc. Priya, I mentioned that you did a lot of traveling as a youngster. Talk to us about that first of all, because that's really where this cookbook started.

Priya Krishna: Yes. My mom worked in airlines and any child of pilots or flight attendants will remember this. Basically back in the day, and I think now to a certain extent if you work for the airline, you get perks for you and your family so you can get on a flight if there is space. What that means in reality is you show up at the airport and you're running from gate to gate just looking for a flight where there might be four open seats.

You don't know where in the world you'll be traveling to, whether you'll need a ski suit or whether you'll need a bathing suit. You don't know whether your seats are going to be together, whether you'll all get seats at all. It was a very fun and very chaotic childhood. I basically grew up at airports.

Tiffany Hansen: An adventurous childhood.

Priya Krishna: Yes.

Tiffany Hansen: Did it make you adventurous food wise, do you think?

Priya Krishna: It definitely shaped my love of food. I don't think I would be in the position that I'm in right now if it weren't for those travels. I feel like I would land in these new countries. Things would feel unfamiliar, the language would feel unfamiliar, but the food was always for me as a kid such an easy way in to the culture. I just fell in love with certain dishes onigiri in Japan, dumplings in China, pesto in Italy.

I just fell head over heels. It was like I was falling in love again and again and again in every country we visited and then only to come home and realize we can make these dishes. We don't actually need to travel. We can just do that in our own kitchen and become more curious eaters and people. It was so hugely influential where I am now.

Tiffany Hansen: You mentioned your mom. She was in the airline industry. She is also the co-author of your last cookbook, Indian-ish. I'm wondering as a kid, what do you remember most about your time in the kitchen with her?

Priya Krishna: My mom and I had a really complicated relationship. Have a very complicated relationship. I think it's really hard when you are an immigrant and your kid is growing up in American culture, and how do you find connection especially when you are very different from your daughter? My mom and I are very different. Food was really one of the things we had in common. I remember every night I would do my math homework sitting on the kitchen island while she cooked, because I just liked watching her cook.

I liked being given little tasks like washing the cilantro, or chopping the green beans for dinner. It was a neutral zone. It was a place where it felt like the stakes were a lot lower. There's something about doing menial tasks like washing rice that just makes I think conversation a little bit easier. It was really crucial for our relationship. I feel like the axis of our relationship has always been food. That was true when we wrote Indian-ish together. It's true today.

Tiffany Hansen: Well, food cooking, being in the kitchen together can be a way for a lot of people to find connection with someone in a way that they might not otherwise be able to.

Priya Krishna: Yes, I agree. In the same way that they say, you can have really deep conversations in the car because you're not looking directly at each other. It's like doing another activity really allows you to have sometimes more deep conversations because it doesn't feel as intense. It feels like you're working towards a common goal.

Tiffany Hansen: Kids and caregivers, parents, are you in the kitchen together? Do you have a favorite dish you like to cook? Is there something you'd like to learn to cook? Call us 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. You can also text us at that number and you can reach out to us on all of the social medias @allofitwnyc. I can remember when my kids were growing up, they had a favorite dish that they gravitated to. They always wanted to make that.

My youngest son always wanted to make fruit cobbler of any kind. It's kind of easy. You crumble the stuff on top and it works and it usually turns out edible. Put some ice cream on it, you're pretty good. I'm wondering what you remember about the first dish that you and your mom cooked together. Was there something you went to over and over again that you asked her to help you with?

Priya Krishna: Yes. There are two dishes that come to mind. First is I called it green spaghetti because that's what it was called in the cookbook that we bought. I was gifted a kids' cookbook and I immediately saw a recipe for spaghetti but green. I was like, "Holy cow, I've only known spaghetti with red sauce. What is a spaghetti with green sauce?" That is how my mom and I first tasted pesto and we fell in love with pesto. To this day is one of our favorite sauces to eat, to riff on.

We made it over and over again and we discovered, oh, you can add a little bit of lemon. It changes things. We can substitute the basil for a little bit of arugula. We can use pecorino instead of Parmesan cheese. You can add pistachios instead of pine nuts and that recipe we made over and over again in so many different ways. The second thing we made was every year, we would bake my birthday cake together.

We weren't big bakers at all, but there was this one Betty Crocker chocolate cake recipe that we both loved. Our tradition was to do that cake in that exact same way. We never changed the recipe. It remains to this day probably my perfect cake. It's just a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache and we'd garnish it with like rose petals from the garden, and it was perfect .

Tiffany Hansen: Talking about pesto for example, I found that cooking together really helped my kids become more adventurous because they were involved specifically around green things. If I was alone in the kitchen making it I might use it as an opportunity to sneak in something that I felt was maybe a little bit better for them, like some spinach in my pesto. I'm wondering if you think that experience cooking with your mom at an early age made you more adventurous?

Priya Krishna: I would like to think that being an open and curious and empathetic eater makes you an open, curious, empathetic person. To me, it just feels like those things are interlinked. If you're more open-minded in the kitchen, I think it translates to being more open-minded generally. Of course that's not always the case. We have people who love tacos but are anti-immigration. I'd like to think that the more diverse a palette we have at a younger age, the more open and curious and accepting we are of what feels different from us.

Tiffany Hansen: You've written a lot for adults. This book, again, it's Priya's Kitchen Adventures. It's for kids. I have a question about, I guess, the process of both writing for kids versus writing for adults, and not just the, don't let the kids use the sharp knives, but what is different when you're thinking about kids cooking versus grownups cooking?

Priya Krishna: It's a really interesting question because I think when I started out, I thought that there was a difference between the two. I think the more I got into the book and started talking to kids, I worked with kids on this book, the more I realized actually, I don't think there should be this huge difference between a kid recipe and an adult recipe.

Here's the definition for me. It doesn't require a lot of special equipment or specialized knife skills. It is inclusive, it is empowering, it is choose your own adventure, gives kids options, allows them to make choices along the way. Above all, it is doable and accessible, but it does not dumb things down just because they are a kid.

As I was writing the recipes and realizing, oh, I need to communicate in a clearer way because a kid doesn't know what folding something in means, or what saute onions till translucent means. I was like, "You know what? Adult recipes could be a lot clearer too." A lot of adults don't know what either of those things mean. A lot of adults don't want recipes that require complicated knife skills and washing a ton of dishes. A lot of adults want recipes that are empowering, that allow them to make choices.

I feel that writing recipes for kids has made me a much better adult recipe developer because you realize that we assume that, oh, we have to talk clear to these kids because they're kids. It's like, "No, everyone values clear communication." Everyone values more streamlined recipes. Everyone values not having to do 12 dishes and figuring out a way to make it all using two dishes instead. For so long I think we've defined kid-friendly in a much different way as whitewashed, dumbed down, very simplistic for the sake of simplistic. I think we need to change that.

Tiffany Hansen: You mentioned knife skills. We got a text. It just says, "Knife skills!" I'm wondering, and you do go through some basics in the book not just around knife skills, but when is it too early to talk to kids about how to use a knife properly? What does that look like for kids at various stages and ages? Also, I can remember as a kid, we had one knife. We had one serrated knife and we had one "sharp" knife. There's varying levels of equipment that people have access to as well. If you could just talk about knife skills. We got a lot of interest in knife skills.

Priya Krishna: Yes, no, that's a very, very good question. I have friends who are parents who bought their kids. They are basically these serrated plastic knives that are pretty safe for kids. They gave them to their kids as young as four or five years old to chop very simple things, to cut a boiled egg in half, to cut through some herbs. I think that the earlier we can get kids comfortable with a knife and not view a knife as this big scary thing, I think the better. I think now we have the tools to do that.

In the book, I always recommend that a serrated paring knife is a really good place to start because it's a small knife. It's not a big bulky knife, so it's good for kid hands, but because of the serrated edges, it allows you to cut through things but it's not as sharp as a big serrated knife where you just prick your finger on that and you're bleeding. I feel like those small serrated paring knives are really, really, really good places to start.

I just think that the earlier we can get kids comfortable with these basic kitchen tools that, yes, are unsafe in many ways and can be dangerous, but to view them as safe when used properly and to be empowered by them, I think the better. I would definitely start with those plastic serrated knives. I think they're fantastic. As soon as I saw my nephew owned one, I was like, "This is brilliant."

Tiffany Hansen: We're talking with Priya Krishna. Priya's Kitchen Adventures is out tomorrow. Priya, we're going to talk about some recipes here in just a minute. First I want to tell our listeners, you can join this conversation. Are you someone who is just getting started in the kitchen? Are you a young person who has some interest in cooking, in food? You can text us. We know you're on spring break, 212-433-9692. You can also call that number, 212-433-9692. Caregivers, parents as well.

We did get a text. "My son was a picky eater until he started helping to season the foods as we prepared them. He likes them pretty spicy. We taste as we go and decide if the dish needs more top, middle, or bottom flavors." We'll ask you about that in a second. "He likes finding recipes on the internet to try as well." That's from Marla in New Jersey. You can text us, 212-433-9692, with your recipes. We'll get to some of Priya's recipes as well. We're going to take a quick break and get back to All Of It in just a minute.

This is All Of It. I'm Tiffany Hansen in for Alison Stewart. We're talking with Priya Krishna, cookbook author, New York Times Food Reporter about her new book, Priya's Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids. It's out tomorrow. Priya, first of all, I want to play a little audio for you before we dig into some recipes here. Last week here at WNYC, it was Bring Your Kids to Workday. Since we knew you were going to be joining us. We talked to some of the kids that were here about their favorite foods to cook. We have Leo from Portland.

Leo: My favorite type is probably shrimp tempura sushi. Well, you have to prep the rice first, then you have to wet the the seaweed. Then you have to put your ingredients on the seaweed and stuff, and then roll it up, and then chop it.

Tiffany Hansen: That's Leo. Priya, you have a Japan section in the book. I had a question for you actually about sushi because I feel like it's such a great tactile thing to be able to do. Roll those maki rolls together. You have a recipe in there for salmon rice bowl. Talk to us just a little bit about why you chose the recipes you did in the Japanese section.

Priya Krishna: My recipe is actually, it's for onigiri and it is great because it is a really good introduction to those flavors, the seaweed, rice, seafood. In my opinion, it's a little bit easier and more manageable to shape than sushi. When I was making that with kids, I loved how much they enjoyed shaping the rice into a triangle, wrapping the seaweed, decorating it with sesame seeds. It really does feel more like a craft project than cooking.

The other recipes in the Japanese chapter, you've got a ramen. Many kids love ramen. They love slurping noodles. It was so exciting to give them the feeling of making restaurant-quality ramen, but in their own kitchens and one pot and getting to top it with their favorite toppings, whether that's corn or scallions, or a boiled egg. Then I have an udon recipe too because I think we got to have multiple noodle recipes in there.

Tiffany Hansen: We got to.

Priya Krishna: We just have to. Then there's a sobo recipe because we got to have another [crosstalk] to cover all of my favorite noodles. I love Japanese food. I found that Japanese food is very visual. Kids love the salty seaweed in an onigiri. Those recipes were some of the most popular and I think for good reason. Japanese food is delicious

Tiffany Hansen: You mentioned the onigiri, the salmon, rice balls, are there other non-fish things that you can throw into those that might be yummy?

Priya Krishna: Yes. Oh, my gosh. You can put in pickled vegetables. There are some that have teriyaki chicken that you can buy. There are some that have, let's see. You could put a cooked vegetable in there. The possibilities are endless. If you can smush rice around it, you can use it as a filling.

Tiffany Hansen: All right, Priya, prepare yourself. We have Zoe in Brooklyn. Hello, Zoe.

Zoe: Hi.

Tiffany Hansen: Do you have a recipe you want to share or did you have a question?

Zoe: Don't really have a question, but I have a recipe. I think the ginger lemon. You just pour the ginger on the bottom and you pour water, put lemon inside. I let them freeze in the freezer for a couple of days.

Tiffany Hansen: Then what do you do with it?

Zoe: Then you basically just put them in water like warm. Then put [unintelligible 00:20:42] if you want.

Tiffany Hansen: Nice.

Priya Krishna: I love that.

Tiffany Hansen: That's a good idea, right, Priya?

Priya Krishna: What a great idea. That sounds so refreshing.

Tiffany Hansen: That does sound refreshing. Thank you, Zoe. Priya, we have a text. "My son was using a Cuisinart by the time he was four and a mandolin by the time he was six. Now, he's almost 14. He's making things like beef wellington and other complicated dishes." I can remember my son that was really interested in cooking, making, what is that? A fondant. That really thick frosting stuff that you put over--

Priya Krishna: Yes. Fondant.

Tiffany Hansen: When he was six years old. If you have a child like this that is really, really into it, what's the best way to just keep plugging their interest, do you think? Is it recipe after recipe or?

Priya Krishna: Yes, I think buy them cookbooks and help them to find out what techniques they are most interested in and buy them cookbooks that will help with that. One of the things I like to do in my book, or that I do in my book, is if you like a particular cuisine, I've got a list of four cookbooks that you can buy. Say, you read the Italy section, you're like, "Oh my God, my son loves making fresh pasta. I really want him to go on this pasta journey." There are cookbooks that will help you do that. If your kid loves making onigiri and wants to make all kinds of other Japanese foods and sushi, there's books to do that.

I think it's just about identifying okay, they can do all of these things. What are the techniques they want to learn? What are the cuisines they're interested in? Just getting them books to help them hone those passions. That's so awesome. I wish I knew how to make beef wellington by the time I was six. Gosh, that's amazing.

Tiffany Hansen: I wonder what you think about shopping for ingredients with kids. Farmer's market, supermarket, wherever you go to look for what you need in your recipe, it can be part of the process.

Priya Krishna: Oh, 100%. I'm glad you brought that up because I think that the more kids feel involved in the process, I think one caller said that her kid is very hands-on in seasoning the dishes. The more they're involved in every stage of the process, the more invested they are in the final product. I think the more open-minded that they will be and the more excited they'll be to try the thing. I think the more you can build that investment at every stage the better off you'll be.

Tiffany Hansen: We have a text that's in this vein here. "Growing up, my mom taught me and my sister what different herbs looked like, smelled like, fresh and dry. She played a game with herself at every restaurant trying to pick out the individual spices and herbs in any dish. My kids know herbs and spices too regularly. My son in Colorado has dried hot peppers from my garden." I can remember you get the little pot of basil from the grocery store and you can start growing it. Then you're making your own pesto at home. I feel like that's a good introduction.

One of the spices that I think will be familiar to folks who are interested in Mexican cuisine, and you do have a section on Mexico in your book. We're not talking just tacos here but cilantro was the herb I was thinking of.

Priya Krishna: Yes.

Tiffany Hansen: What else besides tacos? You have tostadas in your book.

Priya Krishna: I have tostadas, I have elotes, which are delicious Mexican street corn. I have watermelon agua fresca, which is very refreshing. I have pozole, which is-- The pozole recipe in there I make on the regular. It is herby and garlicy and chickeny and delicious. If my kid made this for me, I'd be thrilled.

Tiffany Hansen: There's lots of great chopping opportunities with Mexican cuisine too. All of the nice fresh stuff that you can put on top. Great way to hone in on the knife skills. I want to talk a little bit about the difference between baking and cooking. We got to text here. "My mother taught me fractions through measuring ingredients for a cake." Because of not just the precision that's required with those measurements. There's a lot of ways that baking is different from cooking. Talk to us about that.

Priya Krishna: To be honest, one of the reasons I write the books I do is I'm not a big baker. I don't like measuring, I don't like the precision required. In the book, I do note though that baking is less about adding whatever you want and more about following measurements. Otherwise, your pie crust will not be flaky, your cake will not rise. I think that there are many kids who really like that precision. They like the idea of measuring and mixing. They love the transformative aspect of baking. You put something in as batter, it comes out as this beautiful, fluffy, sweet cake.

Tiffany Hansen: Not to mention all the fun you can have with yeast, bread baking et cetera.

Priya Krishna: What I'll say is different types of cooking and baking scratch different kinds of itches. I think that maybe you'll see, oh, your kid loves to bake. My husband was baking chocolate cakes by the time he was five. He loved the precision of it all but someone like me, I was much more chaotic in the kitchen. I just wanted to add every spice in the cabinet and see what things tasted like. I'll be curious to see which kinds of recipes kids gravitate towards because there's something for everyone in the book.

Tiffany Hansen: If there's a kid out there who's ready to take the plunge and ask someone to join them in the kitchen to make one of your recipes, if you could say one thing to them, what would it be?

Priya Krishna: Start with the country that you're least familiar with the cuisine. Start with your least familiar and find a recipe that looks delicious to you. There's nothing more exciting to me than eating a dish for the first time, experiencing a flavor for the first time, something that was so unfamiliar to you and maybe becomes one of your new favorites.

Tiffany Hansen: Well, and maybe don't be scared of stuff going wrong. I think there's a lot of fear of like, "I don't know if I can make that, and what if it tastes bad, and what if it doesn't turn out?" What do you say to that?

Priya Krishna: This is all part of the process. Some of your dishes are going to be the best thing you ever made. Some of them might need a little bit of zhuzhing. Very few dishes are beyond saving. A lot of the times you can add a little salt, add a little lime juice. You can make tweaks to make something delicious. If you feel like you've messed up, all is not lost. There are fixes. If it still doesn't turn out, just know that you just learned a lesson and you'll be better next time.

Tiffany Hansen: That's right. New York Times Food Reporter and cookbook author, Priya Krishna. We've been talking with Priya about Priya's Kitchen Adventures: A Cookbook for Kids. It's out tomorrow. Priya, thank you so much.

Priya Krishna: Thank you.

 

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