Shubhra and Naveen Ramineni 93C hosted an Emory alumni dinner party and cooking demonstration in their Houston home on Saturday, July 18. Shubhra currently teaches Indian and Southeast Asian cooking classes at Williams-Sonoma, Sur la Table, and Whole Foods in Houston and Los Angeles. Her cookbook, Entice with Spice: Classic Indian Recipes for Today’s Lifestyle, is scheduled to be released in fall 2010.

This past Saturday, my husband Naveen and I hosted an Indian cooking demo and dinner party—as we called it, “an intimate Emory dinner gathering with a little extra spice.” We had 20 guests at our condo for what was planned as an indoor/outdoor event.

However, it turned out to be an intimate gathering indeed, as the rains poured down just as the party began! (The guests were understanding and even welcomed the rain, since we have been in a drought this summer down in Houston.) We were treated to a beautiful double rainbow later, which lured everyone outside to enjoy the view and take pictures. My family and I were delighted to spend our evening with such a wonderful group of people. Everyone from the Houston chapter seemed to enjoy the food and, of course, the company.

This all started when Naveen, an Emory alumnus, and I went to a recent alumni event in Houston and met Laura Zimmerman, the assistant director of regional programs with the EAA. We got to talking about my upcoming Indian cookbook, and Laura asked me if I would be interested in hosting the next EAA event: a cooking demonstration with recipes from my cookbook. I thought it a wonderful idea!

All of the food and drinks, from the mango cocktails to the appetizers to the desserts, were simple and easy recipes from my book. I demonstrated how to make the mango lassi, a yogurt-based drink with fresh mangoes (see photo above), and how to use a microwave to make pappadums, which are crisp lentil wafers.

Now we are gearing up for the release of my cookbook, Entice with Spice, in the fall of 2010!

-- Shubhra Ramineni, cooking instructor and author