Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors (The Rajes #1)(131)

To me Austen’s books are about the work we have to do to navigate social pressures and rise above conditioning in order to find happiness. Familial/societal expectation versus free will is a theme I’ve tried to explore in all my writing, especially through the lens of being a woman. So naturally, I’ve always wanted to play with Jane Austen’s stories and to attempt retelling them. Not in terms of women and men in want of spouses, but in terms of people navigating the structure of society in more contemporary ways. Because look at our world: it’s more heterogeneous than ever before. All these different belief systems and cultures within kissing distance of one another, more fluid rules than ever before, and all these power struggles to decide who gets to make and break the rules.

Terms like “melting pot” have been thrown around for years, but we’ve essentially been a salad here across most of America. Pieces of culture sitting together in their original form. Melting suggests transforming and taking on each other’s properties. Is that really happening yet? I’m not sure what the answer to that question is. But I did want to poke at that question a bit.

That is where I was hoping to go with Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors and with the rest of the stories in this series. See this seemingly increasingly borderless world through the lens of an Indian American family with immense economic privilege that dreams of political power. The series begins with the oldest son announcing his gubernatorial candidacy for the state of California and ends with the election. Each story is inspired by an Austen novel and explores cultural integration and the interaction among cultures, generations, classes, and genders in America, as well as how in breaking through our conditioned perceptions we might have the opportunity to find ourselves and let love into our lives in ways that we never thought possible before.





Recipe: Chicken in Mugal Cream Sauce


SERVES 4

? cup butter

8 whole cloves

1 stick cinnamon 1 teaspoon fennel seeds (aka saunf) 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (aka kasoori methi; optional) 2 tablespoons ginger garlic paste (3 cloves of garlic and ? inch of ginger ground with a little water to form a paste) 2 medium onions (any sweet variety), steamed and pureed 2 green chiles (any variety based on your heat preference), steamed and pureed 2 tablespoons tomato puree 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken (I use a combination of breasts and thighs, but just one or the other also works) ? cup yogurt

Salt to taste

? cup cashew paste (cashew nuts ground with water to form a paste) ? cup heavy cream ? teaspoon nutmeg Cilantro

Rice or naan

In a heavy pan, heat the butter (hot but not smoking) and add the cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, and fenugreek leaves, if using. Let sizzle for a minute.

Add the ginger garlic paste and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the pureed onions and pureed green chiles and stir for 5 minutes.

Add the tomato puree and stir for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the yogurt and salt and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Add the cashew paste, cream, and nutmeg and cook for 2 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice or naan.





Reading Group Guide


While the story of Pride and Prejudice clearly influenced this book, in what ways was it different?

What were your first impressions of Trisha and DJ? How did they change over the course of the novel? And how did Trisha’s and DJ’s impressions of each other change?

Family plays a very important role for both DJ and Trisha. Discuss how their familial expectations defined their characters. How did the impressions that DJ and Trisha have about their own families change as they discovered more about themselves and their histories?

The author has her characters explore their own prejudices throughout the course of the story. Was there anything that surprised you in their explorations of each other’s backgrounds and cultures?

Though she was an incredibly successful doctor, Trisha had a lot of insecurity about other parts of her life. How do you think compartmentalizing parts of their lives impacted the characters’ personalities?

DJ had a very rough childhood. Talk about how his past influenced both how he dealt with the women in his life (Emma, Trisha, Julia) and how he looked at the world.

Both DJ and Trisha had very specific ideas about how to handle Emma’s treatment. Do you think either of them was right?

Discuss how the author upended some ideas of traditional gender roles.

Indian food is a big part of this story. Talk about how cooking, eating, and discussing food helped bring our characters together. (Which recipes made you the hungriest?)

What do you think Jane Austen would say about this homage to her story?