Brookfield grad pens ‘Plant-based India’, a cookbook celebrating culture
Kristine M. Kierzek
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As a first-generation Indian American to grow up in New Berlin, Sheil Shukla sometimes envied the meals his friends ate.
He couldn’t wait until Tuesday. At that point, his family moved away from the traditional Gujarati meals that his mother and ba (grandmother) made and tried things like pasta and pizza.
The family always cooked vegetarian, but it wasn’t until he moved to college and found limited options that he started cooking for himself. Then he really started to delve into plant-based meals and the traditions and flavors of his Indian roots.
After a little encouragement from friends and family, he started photographing and sharing his cooking on Instagram as @plantbasedartist and his website, sheilshukla.com. As his audience grew, so did his awareness of nutrition, health and the impact of plant-based meals.
Now a practicing internist at Northwestern in Glenview, Illinois, Shukla has also just published the first cookbook. Balancing his roles as a doctor, recipe developer and food photographer, he includes chapters on shāk (spiced vegetable dishes), dāl (legume stews), rotli (flat bread), bhāt (rice dishes) in “Plant-Based India: Nourishing Recipes rooted in Tradition” (August 2022, Experiment Books, $30).
A graduate of Brookfield Academy, Shukla lives in the Chicago area with his wife Rachel and their son Shrey. His book launch was August 3 at Spirit Elephant Restaurant in Winnetka, Illinois.
Q: What were your eating experiences growing up? How did you learn to cook?
Answers: When I was growing up, my ba (grandmother) lived with us. She cooked most of it at home. I didn’t even think about the food. I just went to school and learned. It never occurred to me that maybe it was something I was doing for a lifestyle. I moved to Chicago, then I started cooking for myself. I moved to the dorms and was vegetarian at first. The options were limited. I started cooking in my student house.
Q: What was the first recipe you mastered?
A: One of the first was a chili paneer, and I actually modified that to make a vegan option with cauliflower.
Q: What drove you to grow this with social media and a website?
A: My last year of undergrad, 2015, that’s when I went vegan and have been ever since.
I just started posting photos to my Facebook account, which didn’t reach a large audience, just friends. I was encouraged to open an Instagram account. I remember it was after I took the MCAT. It was just a relief to finish the exam. Why don’t I open a social media account and post photos for fun? Then I got a really good response and it started reaching people I didn’t even know.
Q: You use the term plant-based rather than vegan or vegetarian with the book on purpose. Why does it make a difference?
A: These are very conscious choices from the start. At the time, when I was exploring veganism, there were a lot of negative connotations about vegans being overly aggressive in their approach and displaying graphic depictions of animal violence. For me, I wanted to move away from that approach to promoting veganism. Now it’s exploded, but at that time, plant-based just started to emerge as more accessible and inviting, that’s what drew me to that term.
I was able to practice my own veganism, but in a way that was respectful of others, which I think is a way of inviting them.
Q: One of the things you’re talking about is that medical students and colleges don’t spend a lot of time on nutrition. What drove you to initiate this conversation and reach different audiences?
A: A lot of it came from being able to reach an audience that I couldn’t reach with just my own family and friends, my patients. For example, there is only so much I can do for my patients in a 20 minute visit. My time is limited. I just started practicing this week, so I’m really starting to get to know that.
Social media is a way to get to know and reach so many other people with what I’ve learned about nutrition and eating.
Q: These recipes are based on traditions of Indian cooking, but you find yourself in the Midwest. You grew up in the Milwaukee area and now live in the Chicago area. How does this region known for cheese and sausage influence your approach to food?
A: Honestly, I grew up eating all those things too. I used to go to the state fair and I had all the things the state fair was known for, the fried butter and all. I’m well versed in that Milwaukee culture, but growing up in that area and being connected to my own culture taught me to connect both worlds.
More:Wisconsin State Fair Bucket List: 10 Things You Don’t Want to Miss This Year
My ba she would benefit from the products and her Gujarati recipes and roots. I think I tell this story in the book, this handyman had a big garden in his backyard. He would grow peppers, courgettes and other products. He would bring a box to my ba. She would benefit such as using zucchini instead of gourd used in India. That helped me blend those two influences together.
Q: How do you define your approach to cooking?
A: It is a seasonal approach that is conscious of health, general well-being, taste and deliciousness. If I had to describe it in one word, it would be conscious.
Q: Let’s talk about ingredients. What do you want people to know?
A: Things are easy to adapt to different diets. I could ask for cashews, but there are plenty of things that can be used instead of cashews. Even boiled, steamed and mixed potatoes can be used as a substitute. I want people to be inspired to make adjustments and not be limited.
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Q: You add an ingredient reference and note that some ingredients may not be as familiar with or appear in some groceries, such as Eno fruit salt, which is a leavening agent. Where do you buy ingredients? What should people know about adding these ingredients to their pantry?
A: When I was under 12, ingredients were harder to find in the Milwaukee area. My family would travel to Chicagoland to get ingredients. Funny, I ended up in that exact area, Devon Ave., for school. That’s where the first Indian grocery store in the Midwest is, and it became a hub in the Midwest in general. My family would shop there. Later there were a few errands in the Milwaukee area. It got easier as I got older. When I started cooking for myself, Devon Ave. an important place for shopping. Now there are tons of Indian groceries everywhere.
Q: Who or what has had the greatest influence on your approach to food?
A: In terms of who, my ba and my mom, as I make it pretty clear in the book. In terms of what, the idea of a plant-based diet and the health benefits surrounding it.
Q: What is your favorite recipe or ingredient to introduce to others?
A: My favorite recipe when I cook for others is any kind of creamy north Indian dish such as a gravy style dish like matar tofu which is one of my favorite dishes. Garam masala, which translates to house spice mix, a combination of cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cardamom. … it’s an easy way to introduce Indian flavors without buying a ton of ingredients.
Q: What do you cook after a long, hard day? What’s your comfort food go-to?
A: I don’t always reach for Indian food. For me, after a long day, it’s a hardy stir-fry with anything I can grab from the fridge. I usually have tofu on hand and some rice. When I think of Indian, kichadi, a hearty stew with rice, lentils and sometimes vegetables. You can make it on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker. When I travel to Mumbai you can hear them ringing all day long.
Q: Are your parents and family still in the Milwaukee area?
A: They are still in New Berlin, in the house where I grew up. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is the newspaper that came to our house every day, so it’s special to have this interview.
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Fork. Spoon. To live. examines the everyday relationship that local dignitaries (inside and outside the food community) have with food. Send an email to [email protected] to introduce future personalities to the profile.