- Do you want a bite?
I've added my spices.
- I love it.
- Frying these up.
I love the okra.
Oh, geez. And there it goes.
- It's amazing.
- This is what we got.
That's what I'm talking about.
You can't go wrong when you have heavy cream.
You add the saffron. Mmm!
Hi, I'm Hannah. I'm the world's okay-est mom.
I'm out with my chickens right now.
We have done a week of foods around the world,
but every time I'm kinda left wanting more
from each country.
So I wanna try something new.
So for one entire week,
I'm going to cook just foods from India. Wish me luck.
I chose India this time
because when I was sourcing recipes,
you guys came through with so many Indian recipes,
so many requests.
So really I didn't choose India, you did.
So the rules are, I'm gonna show one dish for each day
because I'm making these dishes in big quantities.
A lot of these recipes take a decent bit of time to cook.
So I'm gonna make big batches and utilize my leftovers.
And rule number two, go get yourself a snack,
because these videos all make everybody hungry.
You will be hungry.
I will link the recipes if I have them.
Some of them are family recipes that I can't share,
but if I got it off the internet,
you can find it in the description.
Now, I went with the most popularly requested recipes
on my Instagram,
but then I also tapped my friend Aniket for some help.
- [All] Hi!
- Oh, there's Henry.
- Hi, Henry!
- He works for Buzzfeed India,
and he knows so much about Indian food
because I wanted to make sure I wasn't just picking dishes
from a specific region in India.
- I think the biggest misconception the West has
about Indian food is that it's only butter chicken,
saag paneer, dahl, stuff like that,
which is extremely North Indian.
There is so much, you know, rich food and flavors
from the east, from the west, from the south of the country.
- So it's really comforting to talk
to someone who actually knows the food a lot better than me.
- That's such a cool experience to have.
To experience so many different cultures, right?
In your own kitchen. That's really good.
- Well, thank you so much.
Making something really different for me for dinner tonight.
- [Henry] Thank you, mama.
- You're welcome, sweetheart.
I'm making aloo bhindi tonight,
which is a potato, okra, tomato curry.
I started out cooking some potatoes.
This is what's out of my comfort zone.
I've never cooked or eaten okra.
Okra is a really slimy vegetable when it's raw,
and so you wanna make sure you're cooking it long enough
to get rid of all of that slime.
Now, this dish uses one of the most recurring seasonings
of the week, garam masala,
which is one of the most delicious flavors I've ever had
in my life.
I was nervous to serve this to the boys
'cause not only is it a new recipe,
but it's also their first time eating okra.
You excited to try?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] It's really good.
- Mmm. I like it.
- It's a very different type of vegetable,
but honestly, it's really fun to eat.
Is it good?
- It's fantastic.
- [Hannah] Have you had okra?
- Yeah.
- Do you like it? - It's been a while,
but yeah, it's great.
- The kids loved it, which was such a relief
because I wanted to start this week off on a good note,
and this really was the right recipe to kick it off
because it was something unique, fun, and tasty.
Wow, it's a really mild, delicious curry.
I love the okra, and I love the potatoes with this.
Mmm. You want a bite?
You can't have it. It's mine.
And this, for me, was my favorite dish of the week.
As most of you know, I don't like to eat a lot of meat,
and so the beauty of Indian food
is there are so many tasty vegetarian recipes.
And this one was 10 out of 10.
Six cups of milk.
Next up, I tried my hand at making saag paneer.
Now, saag paneer...
(Henry crying)
Henry's fine. Okay.
Now, saag paneer is really common
on Indian restaurant menus out here in California.
I don't know if that's the same across the states,
but it's a Northern Indian dish
that is really popularized in the US.
Basically, I curdled some hot milk with vinegar,
and that turns the milk into curds and whey,
which I did not-
I've never made my own cheese.
I've heard curds and whey in songs,
and I thought they were fake.
Like, I didn't know this was a thing.
But basically, the curds are the white chunkies
and the whey is the clearish water.
Okay, you see how it's starting to turn clear here?
That's the whey.
So you want the curds and whey to separate,
but you want the whey to be clear, not milky like this.
And that's when you know it has finished.
After separating the curds from the whey,
I used a cheese cloth to strain everything out.
And then I had to hang it for several hours
to make sure all the whey dripped out of those curds.
All right, really doesn't seem like the most secure,
but this is what we got.
Once all the whey was out,
it was time for me to form this cheese
into the flat shape of paneer.
Paneer is usually sliced into chunks, like, cubes.
So I needed to flatten it out so it wasn't in a ball.
And so I weighted the cheese down and hoped for the best.
Oh, there we go.
And put something heavy. Oh my goodness.
We do what we can here. We make it work. We improvise.
Okay, this has been pressed for over three hours.
Oh, what?
Oh my gosh. Wait.
This is like cheese.
Okay. Wow. That's a legit cube of paneer.
The paneer is supposed to marinate in some spices and oil
while I prep the rest.
Frying these up.
I've got onions and minced ginger cooking.
I've added my spices and a little bit of water,
and I'm gonna cook these for about four minutes.
Almost forgot to make rice.
Gonna put a lid on this.
Got my spinach. Ooh, steamy.
My spinach in here.
This looks super, super fresh.
Finished product. Grownup plate. Little kid plate.
I bought naan,
and I can already tell this isn't gonna cut it.
So you know what that means tomorrow?
Yeah, I'm making naan.
How's it going, Jackson?
- It's amazing.
- Have you tried your food?
- Yeah.
- How is it?
- Good. - Good.
Okay, this is the true test, though.
- Oh, yeah.
- [Hannah] Seeing if Matt likes it.
- Mmm.
That's good. I like it.
It's much more, like, has more spinach. Seems healthier.
It's more big pieces of spinach.
- Oh, it was heavenly. It was so good.
And really making the paneer made it so worth it.
This is super good.
So after making the paneer myself,
I decided to make my own naan
Okay, there's my flour, my yogurt, oil, a little salt,
and then I'm going to pour my foamy yeast water.
Oh, geez. And there it goes.
That's what happens when I try to film. Let's try...
Oh, geez. Stop spilling out.
This is where I feel like I'm in over my head with this.
Try two hands.
Probably should've put my hair up before I started this,
but here we are.
Okay, this isn't looking...
Ugh. It's super hard. I don't know if I did this wrong.
Ugh. I am not a seasoned Indian cook.
My arm muscles are weak, puny, pathetic excuses of arms.
And so I was really struggling with kneading this dough.
This looks pretty good. About eight inches.
It's really thin, so I'm gonna throw this on a hot skillet.
I don't know if you can tell, but she is puffing up.
This looks like naan. Let's see if it's burning, though.
It's supposed to be kind of charred. Not quite.
Definitely didn't give this one enough time.
Put some ghee on this.
So ghee is clarified butter,
and you'll see it a lot in Indian cuisine.
Okay, that's what I'm talking about.
Look at all those dark spots. Little sample.
Naan. Dahl. Brown rice.
And you can eat with your hands if you'd like.
How's the naan?
- Amazing.
- [Hannah] What do you think?
Let's see the other side of your naan.
It got really crispy. Wow. - Oh, perfect.
That's how I love it.
- Everyone was so happy with it.
Even Wyatt loved the dahl,
and he's kind of my anti-vegetable guy, as you know.
And he's not the most receptive to new things,
but the key really is educating him
about the different countries where the food comes from.
And then he's a lot more willing and excited to try.
So he was totally open-minded
about the lentils and loved them.
Mmm. This naan is pretty good for our first try.
I also just need to add
that this is my first time making these dishes.
I am not the expert in Indian cuisine.
I am the one seeking help,
so don't watch what I'm doing and think,
"Wow. That's all real Indian food."
No. It's my first attempt at making Indian food.
Can you tell I just woke up from a two hour nap.
I don't feel good today. But that's okay.
I'm gonna power through and keep cooking.
Tonight I'm gonna try to make butter chicken.
Do you wanna see what I'm cooking?
Look, this is yogurt.
No, no, no, no, no. Oh my gosh.
Now butter chicken is a tomato and cream-based sauce
with a marinated chicken.
If you've had butter chicken before, it is a real treat.
It's really tasty.
And I don't eat a lot of meat, and specifically chicken,
but I will eat chicken when it comes
to trying some of these dishes from other countries.
So the chicken marinates in yogurt and spices.
It makes sense to me
because it is such a tangy, creamy texture.
I actually remembered to start my rice. Progress.
I usually forget 'til last minute.
This is getting lots of nice brown bits
at the bottom of the pan.
- I'm farting!
- You farting? - Yeah!
Okay.
Chicken is slightly browned. Now I'm making the sauce.
It was really, really good.
I mean, you can't go wrong when you have heavy cream.
Like, it is so delicious.
Wow. That looks amazing.
You want a fork, honey?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] You don't wanna eat with your hands?
Here's the thing, guys.
You can eat with your hands if you'd like,
or you can eat with a fork.
- Hand?
- This is one of their favorite recipes of the week.
It's a classic dish. It's a fan favorite.
There's a reason why it's one
of the most popular recipes out here.
Now, Matt is really the one who we need
to see how he likes it. - Mmmm.
- [Wyatt] It's so good!
- Oh, this is amazing.
Delicious. - Mm. So amazing.
- [Hannah] Henry, what do you think?
Thumbs up?
Yeah. What do you think, guys?
- It's good. I love it.
- Can I have another kiss?
I'm making something I have never heard of this morning.
I'd never heard about it until Aniket told me about it.
And then I did get- I got the poha.
- Okay, perfect. You got the thin poha.
Thin poha is the best.
- Oh, good! Oh, I literally didn't know what I was doing.
Like a rice flake. Flattened rice.
Kinda like if you took a grain of rice
and rolled it out and then dried it.
And it's a breakfast that can be paired with chai.
Something I bought for this, specifically, is mustard seed.
I've never cooked with this before,
so I'm really excited to see how this tastes
I soaked my poha a little.
I rinsed it, and I tossed it in salt and sugar.
What do you need?
(Henry babbles)
I toasted mustard seed and cumin
and waited until they were popping.
It was like a little popcorn on the pan.
And then I added my onions, my potato.
This dish used turmeric
to turn it a really delicious, golden color.
Once that was cooked, I finally added my poha.
And let's get the chai started before I forget.
So chai is actually pretty simple to make yourself.
It's black tea, cinnamon, peppercorn, cardamom, and cloves.
And you can find all of those spices pretty easily.
And then you can either grind them up,
or I chose to boil a lot of them whole with the black tea.
And it's just a mixture of hot water and hot milk.
You boil it with sugar until it's the color you like,
depending on how strong you like it.
And then you strain it all out.
Look how the cardamom pods opened while boiling.
Looks pretty dang good.
Did you put makeup on your face?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
I think the boys first thought
it was scrambled eggs when they looked at it
because it looks so much like a scramble,
but it's nothing they've ever had before.
So I truly didn't know how they were gonna react at all
'cause it's something completely new and unfamiliar.
- I'm gonna try chai.
- [Hannah] Try the chai.
- Mmm. It's really good.
- [Hannah] What do you think, Henry?
(Henry babbles)
- [Hannah] Poha.
- Let's try poha.
- [Hannah] It's called poha.
- This poha is good.
- [Hannah] Let's see.
- Mmm.
- [Hannah] How does it go with the chai?
- Yummy.
- [Hannah] Oh, thumbs up?
- Yeah.
- And to my absolute shock,
they started shoveling this in.
Like, Henry shoveled this in, and he's pretty picky.
And he absolutely loved this.
Are you trying it?
- This is so good.
- Did you try the chai?
So it's a breakfast served with chai.
Oh, you ate the cilantro again.
I'm not surprised everybody likes this.
Mmm. Oh my gosh. This chai is so good.
Aniket told me, once I make that chai myself,
I'm never gonna wanna buy it again.
And he was so spot-on right because it was really easy.
It made a nice big batch.
It was so tasty and just the real spice that you're supposed
to taste when you're drinking chai.
I will never buy it again.
It's dessert time.
I'm making kheer, which is kinda like a rice pudding.
And I'm very, very excited to make this myself.
I'm gonna start by rinsing this rice,
and then I'm gonna soak it.
I decided to just use almonds in my kheer
instead of cashews and pistachios
because I really wanted the flavor
of the rice and the milk to be in the forefront.
And the other thing I did was omit the raisins
because I hate raisins.
If there is one food
that I think should be illegal, it's raisins.
I started by heating my milk,
and then I poured it over some saffron.
The cool part about this though is the saffron is red.
And then when you pour the warm milk on it,
the milk turns a really, really bright yellow color.
You basically heat rice and milk together,
add some cardamom, sugar, and nuts of your choice,
and raisins if you want.
And then you just keep stirring it until it's thickened.
And then at the very end you add the saffron
and the soaked milk back in.
This looks about the correct consistency.
This is kheer.
- Mmm.
It's kind of sweet, but savory.
- [Hannah] It's a rice pudding.
It's cardamom you're tasting.
- Oh my gosh.
This is really good.
I love this.
- [Hannah] It's really good.
- That's good.
- This is why I wanna live in India.
- [Hannah] You wanna live in India?
- Yeah.
- [Hannah] Well, I think we certainly should visit, right?
- Yeah, I'm going to India.
- Bye!
This is definitely one of our favorite desserts of all time.
It is so good.
It's not like any rice pudding you've ever had before.
My only thing I would change
is I'm gonna make a bigger batch.
So at the end of a week of cooking Indian food,
I am a little bit tired.
I think that this week really highlighted how lazy
I've gotten when it comes to cooking food.
So really forcing myself to put in all that extra effort
and really make so many things
from scratch kind of reinvigorated me
to take my time with meals.
I also really thought that we would end the week feeling
like we had a full picture of what Indian food is like.
And again, this is just leaving me wanting to try more.
So I wanna send a huge thank you
to everyone who sent me a recipe,
to Aniket, who helped me through this process.
Really, it wouldn't be possible
for me to teach my kids in this way
or for them to have these experiences without your help.
So I really, really appreciate it.
So that's all for now.
I'm Hannah, and if you liked this
and you want us to see us try foods
for a week from your country,
message me on Instagram and give me some recipe suggestions.
And if you have any more Indian recipe ideas
or any tips or tricks about the food
that I did try to make,
message me that on Instagram, as well.
Now, if you'll please, excuse me,
I'm gonna nap for a hundred years
because I truly feel like garbage sewer rat.
Until next time.
(light upbeat music)