Thank You!

A Recipe for Seafood Laksa and a Little Giveaway + Some Exciting News

I am so excited to share my plans for this SUBSTACK with you! I love sending my weekly newsletter to you guys and sharing my recipes and research. I want to build a community where we can all interact and share ideas, reviews, flavors, and menus. We will take advantage of the chat feature and have personal conversations about specific topics we are passionate about in the food world. It will bring us a sense of community and connection.

As many of you know, I live in Los Angeles, California, with my husband, dog, and two cats. I came to America from Bombay, India, for a graduate degree in Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, and Virology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a master's in Public Policy from Georgetown University. My blog, A Brown Table/Nik Sharma Cooks, was started in 2011. Since then, I have developed and shared hundreds of recipes, written 2 cookbooks, and grown a beautiful and engaged community where I share my passion and curiosity for flavor with a gentle dose of science and method. In my newsletter, I dive deep into flavor and science and share my work with you.

Recipes, my blog, and my social media content will always be FREE, as will many of the menu-style newsletters - but joining THE FLAVOR FILES, SUBSTACK COMMUNITY will be paid as of March 6, 2023. This is a way for me to focus on bringing you more exciting content in the form of tips and tricks, the science of food and flavor, behind-the-scenes, real-time conversations in the chat section, and so much more!

I am deeply grateful for your support and for continuing to cook my recipes and read my newsletters. I am excited to start this next chapter of community to share my thoughts, ideas, and research directly with so many of you!

To celebrate this new chapter and all of you, paid subscribers or unpaid subscribers, I am thrilled to announce a sweepstake with my friends at Breville and Chef Steps. We are giving paid subscribers two incredible Joule® Oven Air Fryer Pro (that’s become one of my most used appliances at home) and Signed copies of my cookbooks, SEASON and THE FLAVOR EQUATION. And for unpaid subscribers, we are giving away two wonderful aprons from Chef Steps. The contest will take place on March 6, 2023, and end of March 12, 2023, and I will announce the winners on my social channels and in my newsletter. YOU MUST LIVE IN THE USA (because of shipping!) But I love all my followers, wherever you are! Please see the entry details below.

How to enter the sweepstakes:

1. Follow @abrowntable on Instagram

2. Follow @Breville on Instagram

3. Follow @Chefsteps on Instagram

4. Subscribe to The Flavor Files on Substack

1. PAID subscribers are entered to win the amazing Joule® Oven Air Fryer Pro and Signed copies of SEASON and THE FLAVOR EQUATION (2 prize packages available!)

2. UNPAID subscribers are entered to win a lovely apron from Chef Steps! (2 prize packages available!)

***MUST BE IN THE USA TO WIN***.

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Seafood Laksa

This week’s newest recipe is comfort food in the form of a big bowl of hot seafood laksa. It’s perfect for a cold day, but I could eat it daily. Laksa is all about the toppings, and I think laksa parties could and should be a thing, just like a make-your-own-taco-party.

Have a great week. I deeply appreciate your support, and good luck!

xx

Nik