Nuts for Naan
Nuts for Naan is the brainchild of two crazy women, who also happen to be mom and daughter. We’re a duo that spends a lot of time in the kitchen experimenting with various recipes from different cultures and sometimes out of those experiments arises a new recipe. The two of us have completely different styles of cooking (Sujata is the messy one, Natasha is a neat freak), but our love of cooking always brings us together.
The recipes on this blog are derived from different cultures, but many have an Indian twist. Natasha leans towards making European dishes, while Sujata’s comfort zone is Asian cuisine.
Sometimes, we tend to make things over-complicated by making everything from scratch, but we’ve found out (usually the hard way) that it’s totally worth it. Our recipes focus on fresh, seasonal ingredients that are easy to come by and represent what we eat every day.
We hope these recipes bring you and your family as much joy as they did to our family!
Sujata Halarnkar
The mother: programmed to cut everything the exact same size.
Sujata’s passion for cooking did not start until she moved to the United States after getting married. After living in a new country, Sujata realized the value of the traditional Indian recipes she learned from her mom. Sujata was determined to preserve classic Maharashtrian recipes like modak and puran poli, so she meticulously wrote down all the recipes her mom orally shared with her.
In the late 80s, when Sujata moved to the US, it was a challenge to find local Indian grocery stores or particular spices. However, Sujata overcame these obstacles by substituting local ingredients or making everything from scratch. She started making paneer (Indian cheese), pickles, and spices at home.
Over time, Sujata developed a passion for clean and local eating. As a result, many recipes on this blog are created from unprocessed food.
Sujata learned her cooking craft under the strict supervision of her perfectionist mom, who in her 80s still spends a considerable amount of time in the kitchen whipping up new recipes. Now you know why she is programmed to cut everything the exact same size.
Besides cooking, Sujata loves making pottery. Sujata makes all the serving bowls and plates featured in the recipe photographs. Ornamental blacksmithing is Sujata’s new hobby and she is working on making some cool kitchen tools. Sujata also enjoys traveling and tasting international cuisine.
Outside her hobby world, Sujata is a full-time librarian at a community college and loves helping students and faculty in their research.
Natasha Halarnkar
The daughter: obsessed with sautéing and making sauces perfect.
Natasha has loved being in the kitchen since a young age, munching on snacks or lending a helping hand to Sujata while preparing dinner. She grew up watching the Food Network and trying out different recipes and techniques she saw the chefs use. Her love of cooking is rooted in her love for eating and trying to recreate dishes she loved when traveling.
Even though a lot of Natasha’s time is spent on food and experimenting in the kitchen, she has a slightly different life outside of the kitchen. As her day job, Natasha works as an engineer at a medical device company. She loves being creative in the kitchen and at work – it’s a win-win situation.
Natasha has always enjoyed travel and photography, drawing a lot of inspiration for new recipes from her travels. Even though she was an avid photographer, especially while exploring new places, she didn’t really hone her skills until she started photographing food. She’s still learning a lot, but that’s the fun part!