Hello and welcome to Ministry of Curry
My name is Archana and I am the photographer and writer behind this blog.
I was born and raised in a small town near Mumbai in a Maharashtrian family eating my mom’s scrumptious food. My mom is a talented chef and a food enthusiast. Her food not only tastes amazing and draws flavors and spices from all over India, but is also a feast for the eyes.
In 1997, I moved to the United States, over 8000 miles away from my mother’s gourmet cooking. The flavors and aromas of her food were so vivid in my memory that with her guidance and precise techniques I was able to adjust the flavors in my dishes to be just like hers. Before I knew it, I was spending more and more time in the kitchen, experimenting with different ingredients, cuisines, presentations, and sharing my simplified recipes with family and friends.
In 2016, I launched Ministry of Curry with the vision of preserving my family’s stories and recipes while making cooking simple and fun for novice and expert cooks alike. And since then, I have been on a mission to develop easy recipes, combining modern techniques and authentic flavors.
In October 2018, I published my first book, The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook, authorized by the Instant Pot, with Ten Speed Press an imprint of Penguin Random House. I’ve been featured in Oprah, brit + co, Dr. Oz Show, The Washington Post, Food52, Epicurious, Taste Cooking, Austin360, Journal now The Telegraph, The Week, The Parkersburg News and Sentinel and People Magazine.
Since the book, there has been no stopping or looking back. I have never worked harder, and I am loving every minute of it. And what keeps me going on my hardest days is the connection I have with my followers – their success stories with my dishes fuel my passion for developing more recipes.
My other source of daily inspiration is my family. I love watching my children growing up eating and appreciating the same food I did at their age. It makes me so proud to see my boys learning to cook and inventing their own recipes. We all look forward to a home-cooked feast; It’s what brings us together so many times in a day. Every day, my home echoes with the same words I still say to my mom every time we speak ……….“Mom, What’s for dinner?”
Welcome to Ministry of Curry. So happy you stopped by!
