Join Mindy Kaling and then-Senator Kamala Harris in this delightful cooking session where they whip up delicious dosas! As they bond over their shared Indian heritage and personal stories, Kaling shares heartfelt anecdotes about their mothers and their journey as women of color. This nostalgic moment highlights the warmth and humor that defines both of these inspiring figures. Don't miss this special throwback that showcases not just a recipe, but the power of connection and community!
#KamalaHarris #MindyKaling #DosaCooking #Throwback #WomenInPolitics #IndianHeritage #CookingTogether #HeartwarmingMoments #FoodAndCulture #DNC2020
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#KamalaHarris #MindyKaling #DosaCooking #Throwback #WomenInPolitics #IndianHeritage #CookingTogether #HeartwarmingMoments #FoodAndCulture #DNC2020
~PR.274~ED.194~GR.121~
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NewsTranscript
00:00I don't want to suffer the consequences of our future president not liking my Indian food.
00:03Can I just tell you something?
00:04Yeah.
00:04I've never made dosas.
00:05This is so funny. I told my dad I was like bringing over the stuff from the store. He's like, obviously I put them in Taster's Choice.
00:32But this literally was how my mother kept all of this stuff.
00:35That's so funny.
00:36What is that?
00:37Did they tell each other about it?
00:42Hi guys, it's Mindy. I'm here in my kitchen.
00:44And today we are cooking, but we have a very special guest.
00:48Very special.
00:49Senator Kamala Harris.
00:51Hi guys.
00:52Wait, so here's what I want to know.
00:53Okay.
00:54Is it respectful to call, like I should be calling you Senator Harris, right?
00:57No, you should not. That's not on my birth certificate.
01:00Okay.
01:01Kamala?
01:02Yes, please.
01:03The Indian in me, I feel like my parents, my dad will watch this.
01:06Just don't call me auntie.
01:07Okay.
01:08I won't call you auntie.
01:09They'll be like, how could you call her by her first name? She's worked so hard.
01:13Okay, so what we're going to cook today is an Indian recipe.
01:16Yes.
01:17Because you are Indian.
01:19Yes.
01:20Okay, and I don't know that everybody knows that, but I find that wherever I go and I see Indian people at the supermarket, on the street, everyone's like, you know Kamala Harris is Indian, right?
01:27It's like our thing we're so excited about to have you running for president.
01:32Yeah.
01:33So we're both Indian.
01:34Yes.
01:35But actually we're both South Indian.
01:36Yes.
01:37You look like the entire one half of my family.
01:39Okay, thank you.
01:40You do.
01:41I've been telling people we're related already, so this is perfect.
01:43It's basically true.
01:44And so were you raised eating South Indian food?
01:47South Indian food, lots of rice and yogurt, potato curry, dal, lots of dal, idli.
01:53Yes, idli.
01:54That's a deep cut.
01:55Okay, so what we're cooking today is two things.
01:57One of the South Indian staples is dosa, which is kind of like a sourdough crepe.
02:02And then we're going to make a potato curry, which is the traditional accompaniment.
02:05So I printed out, so we're doing it the old fashioned way, which is I printed out a recipe from the internet.
02:11Okay, I'm ready.
02:12Okay, so when I told my dad that I was going to be cooking South Indian food for you, he was extremely excited.
02:17He said, I shall get the spices.
02:19But he took them all, all the Indian spices, and he put them in.
02:22In the Taster's Choice jars.
02:24And this is exactly what my mother would do.
02:26So when I walked in and saw this, literally, I didn't know it was actually a thing among our people.
02:32I guess it's an Indian thing.
02:33It apparently is a thing.
02:34Okay, cool.
02:35So this is all the spices we're going to use, courtesy of my dad.
02:37Okay.
02:38And then, dosas take a really long time to make the batter.
02:40Yes.
02:41So what we have is this great company, this Indian company actually, makes ready to make.
02:44You can get it at the Indian store.
02:45Okay.
02:46So if we're busy, it's dripping.
02:47Okay, oh yeah, it's dripping.
02:48It's fine.
02:49Okay.
02:50So South Indians, it's vegetarian.
02:52Yes.
02:53It's all vegetarian.
02:55So when we were growing up and we'd go to India, and my grandfather was a little mischievous.
02:59So my grandmother, of course, was like strictly no, nothing.
03:03If it had a mother, it was not getting eaten.
03:05Mm-hmm.
03:06And if my grandmother would go out of town, my grandfather would then, he'd get very mischievous and he'd say,
03:12Okay, let's have French toast.
03:15Because, of course, that has eggs.
03:18So when I would go and visit my family, obviously, no meat.
03:22Even the dog would eat rice and yogurt.
03:24Rice and yogurt.
03:25Yeah, the dog would eat rice and yogurt.
03:26The dog would like the rice and yogurt.
03:28Very good Hindu vegetarians.
03:30But then I'd get older, cool cousins who would take me out on their motorcycles,
03:35and we would go get, we would all split like a lamb burger.
03:38Right.
03:39Because fast food.
03:40But like no beef or anything, obviously.
03:41Right.
03:42But we would have lamb burger, and then we couldn't tell any of our grandparents about it.
03:45That's a fine shop.
03:47Right.
03:48Okay, Senator Harris, I say this with respect.
03:49You're kind of a show off.
03:52It's like, meanwhile it's taken me 20 minutes to do this much of ginger.
03:58Okay, what can't she do?
04:00You got my vote.
04:02So your mom worked, and my mom worked, but my mom also.
04:05I know, your mother was a doctor.
04:06Well, it's this interesting thing about Indian women of a certain generation is you had to do both.
04:10Yeah.
04:11Right?
04:12Like my mom would wake up at 5 in the morning before she went to the hospital to see patients,
04:15and she would cook food for the whole week.
04:17Oh yeah, Mommy did that too.
04:19And so some food that was cooked, dinner food was cooked at 6 a.m., and then she would leave.
04:24And then so all of our food was cooked.
04:26And we, of course, didn't understand.
04:27We're like, we want to go to McDonald's.
04:29But there's this four-course Indian meal for us, even if she wasn't there to eat it with us.
04:35And it was that kind of a thing that was completely normal when you're the children of professional immigrants.
04:40Listen, this is how it was because we would often come home from school before our mother would come home from work.
04:47And there was always fresh-baked cookies.
04:50No.
04:51Always.
04:52Always.
04:53Always.
04:54Oh my gosh.
04:55So all of that stuff, like everything was from scratch.
04:57And this is why maybe I've become hopefully not a snob about food.
05:01Someone who can cut up onions like that.
05:03Like we're on a cooking show.
05:05But I take it very seriously.
05:07Listen, this is controversial.
05:08I put peas and cashews in mine.
05:11I noticed that.
05:13You know, I mean, it's fine.
05:15Okay.
05:16All right.
05:17Your silence was very damaging.
05:18I knew what you wanted to do.
05:19No, but you know what?
05:20I want to try it.
05:21Go on.
05:22Go for it.
05:23No, because I don't want to suffer the consequences of our future president not liking my Indian food.
05:25So why don't I just play it safe.
05:28Okay.
05:29Put a couple in.
05:30Just put a couple in.
05:31Can I just tell you something?
05:32Yeah.
05:33I've never made dosas.
05:34Okay, but you're really good about critiquing them.
05:35Great.
05:36This is going to be great for me.
05:38All right.
05:39So let's get to the cooking part of it.
05:41I always use too much oil.
05:42I'm often surprised when I make things from scratch.
05:45Right.
05:46This is why I needed a U.S. Senator to witness me do it.
05:48You are doing such a good job.
05:51How old were your parents when they came over?
05:53My parents were, I think, almost maybe late 20s, like 28, 29, 30.
05:59Oh, really?
06:00Yeah.
06:01See, my mother came when she was 19.
06:02Wow.
06:03By herself.
06:04No way.
06:05Wow.
06:06My grandfather was very progressive, and she wanted to study science.
06:10My mother's father was the same way.
06:12And, you know, this is the thing that's really interesting, because people have these stereotypes and actually misconceptions about who Indians are.
06:20I mean, at least I can speak about my own experience, and you have a similar experience, it sounds like, where, you know, my grandfather was very progressive.
06:26Like, his daughter wanted to go and do that, and he was like, go ahead.
06:29I think this is done.
06:31I think so, too.
06:32And I think that we can move on to dosa.
06:33Okay.
06:34Here's my pre-made dosa mix that thousands of Indian women around the world are gasping that I'm using.
06:39I'm just going to put some oil in the pan.
06:40Okay.
06:41Now, would your family, would they do the thing where they took the paper towel and spread it around, or do they just leave it like this?
06:47Oh, yeah, yeah.
06:48I just want to let you know that I'm really stressed about doing this, since you're...
06:51Okay, can I just tell you, I'm in awe that this is happening at all in a real kitchen in front of me.
06:57Look at how gorgeous that is.
06:59You're doing such a great job.
07:00So, I think the key to dosa is very simple, which is a lot of oil.
07:07So, what I do is put a little bit of oil in the holes to make it, like, crispy.
07:11Oh, that's smart.
07:13My dad kind of always did this.
07:15Hi!
07:17This is your father?
07:18This is my dad, Avu.
07:19Hi, uncle!
07:20This is Senator Harris.
07:22How are you?
07:24It's so good to meet you.
07:26Thank you for coming.
07:27My grandparents lived in Besant Nagar.
07:29Yeah.
07:30Actually, my family lives there.
07:33Yeah, I would go and take walks in on the morning on the beach with my grandfather.
07:38Dad, do you know that her family keeps spices in Taster's Choice bottles?
07:41We would keep the same in Taster's Choice bottles.
07:43Why is it that you guys keep these things in Taster's Choice?
07:46I never asked, but my mother drank Taster's Choice coffee every morning, so I guess...
07:51And we recycle everything, of course.
07:53Wait, Senator Harris, what do you think of this dosa?
07:55Do you think it's done?
07:56That's really good.
07:57I think it's going to be pretty good.
07:58There we go.
07:59Wow.
08:00I am really impressed.
08:01Okay, so now the components are all ready.
08:04And we're just going to take the potato and put it into the dosas.
08:10Yum.
08:11And now we'll fold them over.
08:15That was the better way to do it.
08:19Yes, wait.
08:20Look at how gorgeous that is.
08:21I'm going to do the same thing in mine.
08:23So, masala dosa.
08:25Thank you for eating this.
08:27I would give this a hard B minus.
08:30The dosas, I didn't think they were...
08:32But the flavor is very nice.
08:35I was nervous cooking in front of you.
08:36But you shouldn't be.
08:37You're such a good cook.
08:38Okay.
08:40This is very good.
08:41Maybe when you're in the White House, I can come and cook you a meal.
08:43Thank you so much for cooking in my home with me.
08:45I'm so glad to be with you.
08:47I'm so honored and excited to vote for you.
08:49You're the best.
08:51Don't miss out.
08:52Log on to OneIndia.com for more updates.