For the love of Nana's vindaloo

The food you eat in your formative years stays with you foreverrdquo says Emma DinizRyan 32 a UKbased illustrator and Goan cook Emma who was born and raised in London never had the opportunity to travel to the coastal Indian state where her maternal side of the family hails from but her heart and palate are very much Goan ldquoIndian cooking has been a big part of my childhood My grandmother Emeliana Diniz lived with us She and my mum Rosinha Ryan made Goan food every day We also have a Goan family nearby and together wersquod hold Goan Christmas feasts with my aunt uncle and cousinsrdquo she remembersEmmarsquos sixstep guide to folding the samosa pastry held together with edible glue made using two tablespoons flour and one tablespoon water ILLUSTRATIONS AND PICS COURTESYEMMA DINIZRYANEmeliana has roots in Betalbatim and Mormugao in South Goa It was she who first acquainted her with classics like sorpotel balchao and xacuti ldquoI plan to teach all of these dishes through illustrations so that I can bring Goan cooking into the mainstream Here in the UK I have found that fish curry is the only Goan dish that people know I would like to change thatrdquo she saysHer love for pork vindaloo a fiery IndoPortuguese curry dish and bebincamdashthe traditional layered cake of plain flour sugar ghee egg yolk and coconut milkmdasheventually led her to start My Illustrated Kitchen on Instagram Launched last December the page combines Emmarsquos love for food and illustrations as she meticulously sketches her recipes one ingredient at a timeShe uses a Venn diagram to illustrate how to prepare pork vindalooldquoBefore training to be a chef in 2019 I ran my own illustration business I started it as a hobby in 2015 while working at a tech company and then through word of mouth developed clients until I was able to do it full time My business was helping companies communicate using illustrations and graphic designrdquo says EmmaIn 2019 she enrolled in a yearlong culinary diploma at Leiths School of Food amp Wine in London ldquoPrior to this I was working from home and I began to cook more since I had flexible hours After a few months of this I found I enjoyed cooking so much more than my job and considered training to be a chef I went to the open day of my school and knew it was the right decision to take the big leap While I was there I used our end of the year project to start a Goan cookbook My final term at school was during the COVID19 lockdown here in the UK so I had about three months at home to learn more about Goan cookery and it was then that I wrote and illustrated the bookrdquoHer threestep process to making garam masalaHaving graduated Emma decided to develop the book she had started further Her Instagram project she says is an attempt in that direction ldquoI realised that a lot of people are visual learners This Christmas after graduating from culinary school we found ourselves in another lockdown in the UK so I set up an online store called My Illustrated Kitchen on a bit of a whim and sold illustrated recipe prints as gifts The idea was that people can hang up the prints as wall art but also follow the reciperdquoHer print on Indian spices enumerates the 15odd masalas used in her home kitchen Her drawings of the bay leaf cumin seeds cinnamon sticks turmeric powder pepper red chili powder star anise almost make it look easypeasy for someone navigating the world of Indian spices for the first time In another print she simplifies the making of pork vindaloo using a Venn diagramldquoWhen illustrating a recipe I first write out the steps in the shortest simplest way I want people to be able to look at an illustrated recipe and not feel overwhelmed by information I then draw all the ingredients so that people know immediately what they need Below I do a step by step guide including diagrams which show the process If you can see the drawing of a method it makes life so much easierrdquoEmma will soon be starting her own website Yesterdayrsquos Curry alongside social media where she says she will share everything related to her roots Goans often refer to fish curry from the night before as ldquoyesterdayrsquos curryrdquo or kalchi kodi ldquohellipBecause it always tastes so much better the next day I think this is true of all curriesrdquo she says of the nameWhen flying restrictions due to the pandemic are lifted Emmarsquos first trip will be to Goa ldquoIt will be a research trip on the cookbook that I am developingrdquo she says ldquoFood is a constant reminder of my childhood and family To be able to use my recent training to give new life to those dishes is invaluable to merdquo