Cooking and I

Hi,

I have not written anything new on the blog because I have been busy....cooking!! I had called some guests over and so was busy preparing for it. Those who know me well, will of course find this shocking and amusing. Why? Because till some years ago, I did not know how to cook, at all! From the beginning, I never had much interest in cooking. Many of my friends helped their mothers, voluntarily, in the kitchen; some even knew how to make some dishes. But, I hardly ever ventured inside the kitchen. For some strange reason, my mother also never persuaded me to learn anything or even help her. I never asked her why because it was easier for me that way. :):)

Once my marriage got fixed, mom panicked a little, she quickly taught me 2-3 vegetables, one dal (pulses), rotis etc. It was not much, given that we were in different cities at that time. Since my husband knew how to cook, maybe both of us were slightly more relaxed! :):) And she also wrote down some recipes for me to follow. For many years of marriage, till my son was born, I did not need to cook. Normally we were late in returning home from office, so we used to eat out very often.

It was only after my son was born that I started cooking. I was at home and when my cook was on holiday, I attempted to make something for my small son. Soon, I started making some vegetable dishes. Though I found that if I had a detailed recipe, like how many tomatoes, how many onions; whether to put the turmeric powder before or after the oil (yes, I was a total virgin cook!); whether to put lid and cook or without lid. . I was also afraid of this ‘tadka’, I used to put it from a long distance (thankfully I had played basketball in my school days!) And then run!!!!!!!!!! Using recipes meant that I knew how to make exotic/party type vegetable dishes, rather than basic veggies.

After coming to Nigeria, I had no choice but to spend time in the kitchen. Though there are cooks here who know how to cook Indian food very well; in some cases, better than Indians themselves, we were not lucky enough to find one such person. By this time, I had included basic vegetables in my repertoire. Slowly I mastered these and bettered the party dishes too. I felt wow, I am a damn great cook now!! But I learnt that in Nigeria, a great cook is someone who not only knows how to make all this, but also, snacks (called small chops here like spring rolls, kebabs, samosas, namkeen etc), different salads, different Indian sweets (rasmalai, rasgulla, gulab jamuns, jalebis etc) and other accompaniments (chutneys, breads, pizzas etc; oh by the way, pizza means to make it from scratch, make the base also at home!!) The super cook is someone who knows all this and her maid also knows all this as well or better than Madam!! :):)

Currently, I am definitely lacking in this overall department. I know how to make few chutneys, some Indian sweets (in India, are bought from sweetshops, hardly anyone makes the effort to make at home) and extremely few small chops/snacks. My poor maid knows how to make some vegetables and pulses now. We both have still a long way to go to become super cooks. Only thing is, now I do not refer to recipe books (sometimes refer to the net) :):) and am not afraid to experiment! And when the ‘tadka’ sizzles, I put the lid on it!!!

Ciao