True Colors

Allison Maletz shares her favorite pieces and what inspires her daily.

Watercolor maven Allison Maletz is the brush behind a plethora of classes at Brooklyn Art Space & Trestle. We sat down with her to learn a bit more about what inspires her, what makes her classes unique, and where to find her favorite barbecue in the Big Apple.

What inspired your career in food?

I’ve always enjoyed cooking, even as a child. I fondly remember times in my mom’s kitchen, helping her, and sometimes just doing my own thing. When I came to the United States, I began to miss my mom’s recipes, so I started teaching myself to cook by calling her and going through a recipe book that she wrote for me. This book later turned into my first cookbook.

Friends and roommates always enjoyed my cooking, and after rave reviews, I started teaching private lessons through Craigslist. I applied for and got a position at Whole Foods. I taught Indian cooking and various locations in Washington, D.C. for over eight years, including Culinaerie, D.C.’s premier recreational cooking school.

One thing led to another and there was no looking back..

How did you come to start teaching at Haven's Kitchen?

Within the space of a decade, I’d already taught more than 25,000 people in the Washington, D.C. area and other parts of the world. I was looking to expand my horizons by traveling to other parts of the United States, and of course New York City was my first choice. It’s almost like, if New York embraces you, then the world will embrace you.

Can you tell us a bit more about your mother's cooking and how it influenced you as a chef and eater?

To me, my mom is the best cook in the world. Her cooking is mostly Indian, though she includes some Indian-Chinese cooking, which is widely popular in India since the country borders China. It’s like Mexican cuisine in the U.S. Most of her Indian cooking is native from our state, Maharashtra. It’s healthy, function, fresh, and mostly vegetarian.

As a chef and eater, I cook like my mom—mostly healthy dishes that are simple to recreate at home, especially with ingredients that are easy to find for the American cook. Obviously, though, certain Indian dishes require ingredients that may require a trip to an Indian store or a purchase online.

I’ve simplified recipes that are difficult to make, and if I’m unable to simplify the recipe without changing the flavor, I don’t teach it.

What are your top three tips for making restaurant-quality Indian food at home?

1. Mise en Place: Have all the ingredients and the prep work ready before you start cooking. Indian cooking is heavy on ingredients and prep work, so it’s much better to have everything on hand before you start cooking.

2. Techniques: Indian cuisine is technique-heavy, so learning the correct technique and implementing it is key. For example, learn to mince an onion! Making a curry with an onion that isn’t minced can ruin a perfect dish.

3. Equipment: Remember that restaurants have equipment that home cooks do not, like a tandoor oven. Certain dishes made at home (like naan) won’t have the same flavor.

What are your sources of inspiration for the food you make?

The seasons are one big source of inspiration: piping-hot curries in the winter, grilled veggies in summer, and fresh, local ingredients in fall and spring help get me inspired.

Apart from seasons, tradition (festivals) in India inspire me to cook certain dishes. A lot of times, nostalgia for mom’s cooked meals is a source of inspiration.

Traveling to India and exploring cuisines from various towns and states is another big source of inspiration. I’m proud that I’ve managed to bring a lot of that back to my classes in the United States. I don’t always teach popular dishes, but I reinvent my classes and teach a lot of cuisines from other parts of India.

When I travel to New York or when I teach cooking in Europe, I make sure to learn as much as I can to take my cooking to new heights. I use more fresh ingredients, and use salads and greens instead of carbohydrates in traditional Indian cooking.

Sometimes I see dishes like butter chicken biryani, which isn’t a traditional dish at all (it’s a mashup of butter chicken and biryani), and add it to my culinary repertoire. I’ve done the same with curry puffs, curry chicken pie, and Indian shepherd’s pie. Regularly incorporating dishes like that into my classes makes it fun for me and the students, and allows me to do a tasty spin on some American favorites.

Ready to wield a brush? Browse and book a watercolor class with Allison at Brooklyn Art Space & Trestle.