How a rock-star chef makes Indian Diwali sweets with a North Carolina slant

Cheetie Kumar, who co-owns Garland in Raleigh, cooks dishes that blend childhood taste memories with the ingredients that speak of the South

As a child growing up in Chandigarh, India, the chef Cheetie Kumar knew that Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, was approaching by the aromas emanating from the kitchen. She remembers catching the scent of whole milk simmered with freshly cracked cardamom and carrots in the air as she ran outside to play.

“I cannot tell you what I was playing or whom I was playing with,” Kumar said. “But those smells are with me to this day.”

At Garland, the restaurant in downtown Raleigh she opened with her husband, Paul Siler, in 2013, Kumar makes Indian and pan-Asian food with a