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Food with Mark Bittman: Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji

My mother, my masala.

Published February 18, 2026

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Olivier Kugler

I have a confession: I am drawn to parent/child collaborative projects. Surprising, right? My parent, Mark, and I, found out about Heartland Masala, a cookbook by mother/son team Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji, months and months ago, but due to our terrible scheduling skills, we didn’t manage to get them on the podcast until now. I’m so glad we stayed the course; this was a joyful interview, and I think the first—maybe the second—that actually made me tear up a bit. 

Listen to Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji on Food with Mark Bittman

Auyon is actually a musician by trade; he is a member of the four-person indie folk band Darlingside, and my dad met him a few months ago through a mutual friend, just because they all love music so much. Jyoti, Auyon’s mom, has been teaching Indian cooking in America for around 15 years now, and, happily for all of us, she decided to get a lot of what she’s learned and cooked during those years down on paper; Heartland Masala is the result, and she and Auyon worked on it together. And we’ve got a couple recipes from the book for you: Masala Brussels Sprouts here, and Narkol Cholar Daal (Split and Hulled Chickpeas with Coconut) here.

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