In SELF’s franchise, The Meal I Eat When I’m Feeling…, we talk with chefs, celebs, athletes, and people in the culinary space about the specific foods or meals they turn to amid certain emotions—and how eating their favorites plays a vital role in their self-care.
When Padma Lakshmi thinks about the recipes she’s created that have real staying power in her life she finds they all answer one question in the affirmative: Do they trigger some kind of emotion?
“The story or the memory that’s attached to every one of my dishes is always really important,” Lakshmi tells SELF. “I find if I don’t have an emotional connection to it, even if it’s tasty, I wind up not remembering it or craving it.”
That concept of food feeding the soul—not just fueling the body—is one of the cornerstones of Lakshmi’s show Taste the Nation. Throughout the food and travel docuseries, Lakshmi visits locations across the US to explore the cuisines of different immigrant communities and dig into how it shapes their culture. For instance, over the course of the 10-episode second season, she traveled to Dearborn, Michigan, to test out “glorious” Middle Eastern food during Ramadan, and spent a week with the Cambodian community in Lowell, Massachusetts, sampling variations of kreung, the base sauce of many of their dishes.
“I’m proud of the whole season,” Lakshmi says. “It’s really about the food and communities that people often overlook or don’t get mainstream, A-caliber media attention—and these are very much like the immigrant communities that I grew up in.”
Lakshmi often draws inspiration from Indian dishes when she’s coming up with ideas for new creations. While her variations may take the recipes in a new direction, they still evoke those same comforting feelings she ascribes to the OGs.
READ RELATED: Sleeping apart due to snoring could improve relationships, scientist says
Take, for instance, one of Lakshmi’s go-to snacks: roasted butternut squash on toast. While it’s a new concoction—she recently developed it for KIND—its staple ingredient takes her back to a scent of her childhood: a pot of pumpkin or squash stew simmering on the stove with lots of coconut milk and ginger, which her grandmother used to make.
So when Lakshmi is looking to foster those same homey, nostalgic vibes, she’ll whip up a serving of the toast for a snack or a light meal. Read on for the full recipe and ways to prep it so it can hit the spot for you, too.
1. Roast a squash that’ll reward you with leftovers.
A whole bunch of squash varieties—like acorn, honeynut, and butternut—work in this recipe, says Lakshmi. But she usually sticks to butternut for one vital reason: “It’s bigger,” she says.
That means if you throw one of those hearty vessels in the oven, you can revel in lots of leftovers once your timer rings an hour or so later. “I just take the flesh out once it’s roasted and put it in some Tupperware,” Lakshmi says.
Then during the week, after a long day on set or after a tough workout, she can prep a meal when she doesn’t feel like cooking. All she has to do is pop a couple slices of bread in the toaster—her favorite with this recipe is sourdough—and dinner is ready in minutes.
