My journey with cooking so far has been
wonderful. From a girl who never entered the kitchen to the home maker who
enjoys and experiments with cooking, the change has been a big one. It did not
happen overnight. There are lot of people who inspired and encouraged me into
cooking.
Cooking becomes inevitable once you are
married. My husband loves food and appreciates good food. He always told me how
his friends enjoyed his cooking during his college days, but till date
unfortunately I haven't had the chance to taste it. Cooking became an important
skill that had to be learnt quickly post marriage. The innumerable attempts at
making round Chapatis/Rotis, the disastrous Upma/Uppittu (I'm still not good at
it!), the ignorance in recognizing various Daals, the hesitation in trying out
different vegetables (it was limited to green beans, carrots, potatoes)...the
list does not end! My husband survived all this and more! For his patience, his
encouraging words, for the way he inspired me and helped me out, and more than
anything else...for not complaining even once, I'd like to thank him from the
bottom of my heart! If you did not encourage me the way you did, you would
still be eating the disastrous Upma(may be you still do)!
My Mom is a great cook (All Moms are!).
She is specially good at typical South Indian brahmin dishes. She would make
the simplest of the simple dishes and it would turn out to be finger licking
good! The variety of Palya (Vegetable/Subzi), Gojju, Huli that she makes are
plenty. I miss them, but what I miss the most is the Tili Saaru/Rasam (spicy
lentil soup that can be eaten with Rice). I remember school days when I would
go home for lunch and the hot-hot Tili Saaru-Anna(rice) would be waiting for me
on the table. All it needed was a little ghee on the top...heavenly! My Mom is
also well known among Family & Friends for her Bisibelebath, 7-cup Burfee
and MysorePak. Since I moved to the US with my Husband, my Mom has become my
online teacher for cooking (I never learnt from her when I was with her!). Any
doubt with any recipe at any time..Mom is always there! I'd like to thank her
for being so patient and for being there for me as a friend and Mom!
My Father cannot cook. Yes, he would
not agree, but I strongly believe he cannot cook! But there are a few things
about cooking that he taught me and I use them everyday in my kitchen. He
always says "cooking is nothing but chemistry". I believe in that
statement. When I started off my adventures in the kitchen I started out
experimenting like one does in a chemistry lab. What happens if I add this to
that? How will that taste? Some of them worked out well, some didn't. But I
learnt and that was more important. I learnt to try. Thanks to my Father for
that!
I'm lucky to have another Mother, my
Mother(in-law). Though I haven't had the chance to learn much from her in terms
of cooking, I have learnt some very important things. As a beginner, I hardly
knew how to arrange things in the kitchen or how to make the kitchen convenient
for one's use. The kitchen is like a workshop. You need to keep the right
things in the right place so you can pick it up when you need it. My
Mother(in-law) helped me organize the kitchen and de-clutter. Some simple and
handy tips that she gave me are so useful to me everyday. I would like to thank
her for that and would love to learn all the tasty food she makes. I would also
like to thank my Father(in-law) for being so encouraging. I remember the Masala
Dosa I made for him for the first time. It did not turn out well, but he never
said a word about it. Instead he appreciated me for trying and encouraged me to
try again.
I have also learnt lot of recipes
from a number of people, various websites and blogs. I would like to thank them
all too!
My blog is an attempt at sharing some
simple vegetarian recipes that I know. I hope it is helpful for beginners, food
lovers and for everyone who enjoys cooking!
.JPG)
.JPG)
