Kichuri

Eastside Road, December 16, 2012—

WE DO USE RECIPES, of course. I won't set tonight's recipe here, because it isn't mine: it belongs to my friend Deborah Madison, and you really should have the book it's printed in, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, because that book really is, well, for everyone, vegetarian or not.

We started with another of her ideas, cauliflower flowerets, raw, that we dipped in a mixed-spice salt involving, oh, I don't know, salt, coriander, cumin, who knows what else. That's delicious enough, of course, with a glass of white wine.

Then this Kichuri: yellow peas and rice, with an onion relish. The relish reminded us both of a marvelous Indian dinner Lindsey cooked back in 1964, when we had the composer Robert Moran over for a late-night supper, and Lindsey made a chutney that involved thinly sliced lemons, then chopped, onion, and… what? salt, of course… vinegar? I don't think so. Maybe that was it. It was remarkable; we all thought so.

Green salad tonight, with a lemon-juice vinaigrette.

Pinot grigio, La Ronescina (Collio), 2010; Red table wine, "Guadagni," Preston of Dry Creek, 2011

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