Basil listened in fascination as Iris explained this week's menu.

"This week we are going to do Indian food. I'm sure you've been wondering why I sent you out to collect so many umai leaves, Basil."

It was true, he was quite curious. Up until now, the herb had only been used to wrap meat in to give it a rather unique flavor that no other seasoning could quite accomplish. He had actually been the one to discover it, much like the sweet roots and jujui berries. However, even he had stopped cooking meals with them as often now that they had so many other options. Iris continued to explain

"Indian cuisine actually tends to be very centered around their usage of spices. They would have large markets where spices were sold and many people would shop for their ingredients on a regular basis to ensure they were fresh. Then they would mix up the spices as needed to use in their dishes. Where I grew up, we didn't have things like that. Instead, pre-made spice mixtures with names like garam masala, curry powder, or tikka masala would be sold in grocery stores. Of course, we also had jarred sauce mixes in varieties like tikka masala, butter chicken, or curry. They usually utilized such spice mixtures as well as other ingredients like coconut milk, tomatoes, or stock.

That's actually where the umai leaves come in. I'm not talented enough nor is my memory good enough to tell you which spices it is reminiscent of, but I do remember having the distinct impression that it reminded me of Indian food when I first tried it. So, I'm planning to heavily utilize the umai leaves in the cuisine we will be serving this week."

This was actually the last week they would be doing this. The fact that they were only getting around to doing this now felt a lot like saving the best for last to Basil. While he wished he could try the original spice mixtures, it was still quite the compliment to know that he had discovered something so valuable that it could be used to replace whole mixtures of spices.

Of course, there were several other interesting concepts he was just hearing about now as well. Coconuts didn't sound like an animal, so how could they provide milk? Premixed spices and seasonings were also a bit different from how people did things here. Most people kept things fairly simple with a little salt, pepper, and maybe some garlic or onion. It was mostly the restaurants and the clinic that utilized the full range of seasonings.

Tuning back in, Basil listened as Iris described what they would be cooking.

"I'm planning to have us make a bread called naan. It's traditional to serve it alongside most dishes, so it's an essential part of our menu. That will require us to mix yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Then we mix in flour, milk, salt, oil, and some citrus juice. We'll also need more oil for frying the bread in. We cook it until bubbles start to form on the surface of the bread then we flip it and cover the pan with a lid to let it briefly steam."

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Basil nodded, taking notes so he could remember what to do. They'd likely have to figure out a proper recipe for everything and write that down later, but this would do for now. He'd just wait for the official recipe to carve the words into the stone tablet. Iris continued

"Right, next is an appetizer called samosas. Those are a type of pastry with a triangular shape that gets baked or fried. We'll be baking them so they're healthier. Anyhow, the filling is generally a mix of spices, potatoes, peas, and onions. We'll be using umai leaves, ginger, and chili for the seasoning."

Basil was well familiar with what Iris was talking about regarding health concerns. She had mentioned how a balanced diet and exercise are important for overall health during one of their many conversations in the past few months. Apparently, fried foods could cook faster than simply baking them, but the oil could cause you to gain weight more quickly as well as being bad for the body when overused. Basil had initially worried about whether they should stop people from eating fats altogether, but had been reassured that some were necessary, but that everything should be done in moderation.

"I usually try to keep the side dishes and such minimal, but I'd like to do two different appetizers this time around. For the second one, I want to do something called pakora, which is basically a spiced vegetable fritter. It is similar to potato or cabbage pancakes. There are various vegetable combinations that can be used, but we will be making them from carrots, bell peppers, green cabbage, onions, spinach, and black beans. We'll also need flour, salt, ginger, chili, umai leaves, and oil to deep fry them.

I know I said I wanted to make the samosas healthier by baking them, but this dish can't be properly made without deep frying it. Also, it should be fine to have one baked and one fried appetizer so that people can make their own decisions."

Basil straightened his face out. He may have looked a bit surprised at the slight contradiction in the menu choice. He supposed it couldn't be helped if the dish could only be made by submerging it in oil. Besides, he supposed it could be worse. It wasn't like they were going to skip out on making sweets, even though that could be problematic as well. His little mate's friend even ran a restaurant where they regularly sold sweets to the public. That had led to an unpleasant conversation about exercise and diet that Iris had asked him to help with.

Holly was actually doing much better now. Iris had made sure to emphasize moderation rather than going overboard with eating healthy things or exercising to the point of hurting herself. It had taken a while to figure out what worked for the redhead, from what Basil had heard. Still, he couldn't complain about being asked to help out since he had gained valuable insight through the experience that he hoped to use to improve how things were done around the clinic.

Iris dismissed them to practice the dishes. Basil knew she was worried about overwhelming them and so was trying to take things slowly. He was just glad that she wasn't doing things one at a time. It wasn't like any of them weren't used to this work, they just needed to perfect the recipes since they were new.