As Americans count down the hours to Inauguration Day, when Kamala Harris will make history as the nation’s initial lady, initial Black and initial individual with South Asian roots to take the workplace of the Vice President, Padma Lakshmi cooked up one particular of her favourite South Indian dishes in honour of Ms Harris.
Like Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, Padma Lakshmi was born in Chennai as well. She immigrated to the United States at the age of 4 and went on to grow to be an author, a model and the host of Emmy-award winning cooking show Top Chef.
“So in honour of our new vice president, Kamala Harris, I’m making today a typical South Indian rice that happens to be her favourite as well as mine,” stated Padma Lakshmi in a video introducing her dish – Tamarind Rice.
Her almost 12-minutes-extended video shows her whipping up Tamarind Rice with professional ease – explaining the regular solutions used to prepare this South Indian dish and suggesting options for Americans.
Watch the recipe video beneath:
Since becoming posted a couple of hours ago, Padma Lakshmi’s video has currently racked up more than 1 lakh views and hundreds of comments.
“Omg this sounds and looks like it tastes amazing! Never heard of this dish. Thank you for sharing!!!” wrote one particular individual in the comments section.
“I know it’s stupid but I still get such a kick out of seeming anything Tamil in mainstream American media like this,” stated an additional.
Kamala Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in Chennai and immigrated to the US to pursue a doctorate at the age of 19. In the previous, Ms Harris has spoken of her appreciate for South Indian meals that she grew up consuming.
“We had South Indian food. Lots of yogurt and rice, dal, potato curry, idli,” she revealed to Mindy Kaling – an additional American with South Indian roots – in 2019.
Last year, speaking at an occasion, she also revealed that her mother had instilled in her and her sister a appreciate for fantastic idlis – which she counts amongst one particular of her favourite dishes.
“Growing up, my mother would take my sister Maya and me back to what was then called Madras because she wanted us to understand where she had come from and where we had ancestry. And, of course, she always wanted to instil in us, a love of good idli,” Ms Harris stated.