Day 1 - Tentatively rolling rotis
Day 2 - Less tentatively rolling rotis
Day 3 - Making rotis end to end (mini-disaster)
Day 4 - Making rotis end to end (success!)
Day 5 - Experiment making theplas (not bad at all)
Day 5 - Super confidently making methi theplas (ho hum)
Day 6 - Making Peas parathas (yumm!)
What a week....wooooohooooo!
PS thanks to M-i-l and Tarla Dalal
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Chef in the making
This Pongal got me to get into the kitchen offering to learn traditional dishes cooked for the festival. And to my surprise, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be since ma-in-law was the master chef and me a mere assistant!. Also having me as a captive audience (an event rarer that the solar eclipse that followed), she also decided to pass on bits of cooking tips and tricks to me as I went about cooking under her watchful eye. Some of those tips were backed by the science behind cooking while some followed the mechanics of digestion. Some just seemed to me like traditional ways of doing something and some the omnipotent grandma’s secrets!
The most rewarding thing that morning for me was not that I’d finally cracked how to make vadas, aviyal, vella pachidi and sweet pongal, but that I actually enjoyed the whole process of putting a traditional meal together. I guess one was zero stress on how things would turn out. Also since everything is offered to the gods before we eat, tasting during preparation is forbidden. So there’s nothing much to do but put the ingredients together and allow the science of cooking to do its magic!
Ah the interplay of big-time science and subtle magic in action! You see it as vegetables change textures when you boil them and then again when the coconut paste is added. Or the aromas transforming as the red pumpkin takes in the tamarind extract and jaggery syrup. Also soaked urud dal turn to a fine paste in the wet grinder (tip for all amateur cooks like me– replace your regular mixer-grinder with the wet grinder – its got way more character!). The changing of raisins as you sauté it in desi ghee. Simple hot water doing the trick to change the crisp vadas to soft dahi-ballas!
So after this really satisfying morning of cooking and festival celebrations, I seem to be changing my perspective towards cooking. Seems like I am going to be spending just a little more time in the kitchen maybe weaving my own magic! More on this to follow……
The most rewarding thing that morning for me was not that I’d finally cracked how to make vadas, aviyal, vella pachidi and sweet pongal, but that I actually enjoyed the whole process of putting a traditional meal together. I guess one was zero stress on how things would turn out. Also since everything is offered to the gods before we eat, tasting during preparation is forbidden. So there’s nothing much to do but put the ingredients together and allow the science of cooking to do its magic!
Ah the interplay of big-time science and subtle magic in action! You see it as vegetables change textures when you boil them and then again when the coconut paste is added. Or the aromas transforming as the red pumpkin takes in the tamarind extract and jaggery syrup. Also soaked urud dal turn to a fine paste in the wet grinder (tip for all amateur cooks like me– replace your regular mixer-grinder with the wet grinder – its got way more character!). The changing of raisins as you sauté it in desi ghee. Simple hot water doing the trick to change the crisp vadas to soft dahi-ballas!
So after this really satisfying morning of cooking and festival celebrations, I seem to be changing my perspective towards cooking. Seems like I am going to be spending just a little more time in the kitchen maybe weaving my own magic! More on this to follow……
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I baked bread.....
...from scratch!
I have always loved the art of baking. Not that i do much of it. But i feel there is something very satisfying AND humbling to spend effort blending a variety of ingredients together and then allowing a process to take over to create the end-product (that may or may not be close to what you had originally thought about). The only thing that i could manage in the oven until recently is vegetable au gratin...not that you can ever go wrong with it thanks to all the cheese and white sauce that can make anything seem like a gourmet dish!
Finally thanks to the experimentation of one friend and the enthusiasm of another, I decided to bake bread at home. And a super-healthy one at that! So in went the wheat flour, the jagery, the oil, the yeast. Lot of patient kneading. Garlic-onion-sun dried tomatoes flavouring for one set and methi-corn combination for the other. This followed by lot of patient waiting for the yeast to do its magic. Flustered by tons of questions - was it 15 minutes or 20? or do we wait 2 hours thanks to the cold weather? Is it rising enough? You think we didn't put enough yeast? Maybe we should wait another 10 mins? Or maybe not? aaaaaargh! (Thank god i was in this with another friend - couldn't have handled this agony of not knowing all by myself)
At last, ready for the final act. Out came the greased loaf tins, in went the dough into the oven. Some more patient waiting made worthwhile with the wonderful smell of bread wafting through.
20 minutes of anticipation and out came the hot bread. 30 minutes of more anticipation waiting for the loafs to cool down. And finally the moment that made all this labour worth the while - the cutting and tasting of bread....ah!
The final result - the crust nice and brown, the sides not too bad. Unfortunately the middle had bits of uncooked dough - not so soft and porous. So after hours of all that effort half-baked bread was what we savoured!
But hey who cares?! All that matters is I BAKED BREAD FROM SCRATCH! And i am all set to try it again :)
I have always loved the art of baking. Not that i do much of it. But i feel there is something very satisfying AND humbling to spend effort blending a variety of ingredients together and then allowing a process to take over to create the end-product (that may or may not be close to what you had originally thought about). The only thing that i could manage in the oven until recently is vegetable au gratin...not that you can ever go wrong with it thanks to all the cheese and white sauce that can make anything seem like a gourmet dish!
Finally thanks to the experimentation of one friend and the enthusiasm of another, I decided to bake bread at home. And a super-healthy one at that! So in went the wheat flour, the jagery, the oil, the yeast. Lot of patient kneading. Garlic-onion-sun dried tomatoes flavouring for one set and methi-corn combination for the other. This followed by lot of patient waiting for the yeast to do its magic. Flustered by tons of questions - was it 15 minutes or 20? or do we wait 2 hours thanks to the cold weather? Is it rising enough? You think we didn't put enough yeast? Maybe we should wait another 10 mins? Or maybe not? aaaaaargh! (Thank god i was in this with another friend - couldn't have handled this agony of not knowing all by myself)
At last, ready for the final act. Out came the greased loaf tins, in went the dough into the oven. Some more patient waiting made worthwhile with the wonderful smell of bread wafting through.
20 minutes of anticipation and out came the hot bread. 30 minutes of more anticipation waiting for the loafs to cool down. And finally the moment that made all this labour worth the while - the cutting and tasting of bread....ah!
The final result - the crust nice and brown, the sides not too bad. Unfortunately the middle had bits of uncooked dough - not so soft and porous. So after hours of all that effort half-baked bread was what we savoured!
But hey who cares?! All that matters is I BAKED BREAD FROM SCRATCH! And i am all set to try it again :)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Contradiction curry
Its festival time in India - we just lived through Dassera and Diwali is round the corner. A huge cultural value i hold (as do most Indians, i think) is "festival = food". So keeping in line with the festival spirit, we decided to have friends over for lunch today. And NOT keeping in line with the festival spirit, I have decided to cook for everyone. I have ACTUALLY decided a menu that can be cooked with the limited culinary skills i have. And i have the next 4 hours, 48 minutes and 5 seconds to accomplish this.
Now let me explain the ridiculousness of this situation. i live with my mother-in-law who is a fabulous cook. I have a helper in the house who cooks snacks for 100 odd kids @ my learning centre through the week. And today when I have 15 people coming over, I decided to make things that both these talented women do not make! It is something that only I can make. This fully knowing that:
1) my friends love my mom-in-law's cooking
2) cooking as an activity completely stresses me out
I still have to get a ladle on this - why does cooking stress me out some much? Well, since a whole bunch of things can be conveniently blamed on early childhood & parents in general, here's my explanation: My mom is great cook. And when i say great - i mean really really GREAT! She could whip up delicacies in minutes with least prep time. She would actually remember what our individual friends liked and then accordingly cook when they visited (in a family of three children with many hungry friends - that's no mean feat). It almost seemed as if she was in direct competition with all the restaurants and the famous Bombay street food vendors. Now maybe that has set up this 'impossible-to-attain' standard in my head. To make things worse, my siblings seem to be quite comfortable in the kitchen and discuss recipes like i discuss comic strips. So that's another source of added pressure.
Also, a part of me feels that there is a unstated rule in our societal psyche : "woman = good cook". So for someone with limited skills like me (and great chefs in the family), this is again a huge obstacle to cross.
So with all this 'खिचडी' cooking in my head - why on earth did i set up this situation today???? why? why? why? But this is not the most absurd event in my life. What is even more preposterous is - when i think of what i would have been doing in life had I not been working with children - the ONLY answer that comes up is running a cafe that serves Indian short-eats. A place which is a happy hangout for people. where everything on the menu costs Rs. 10. And everything is made by me. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!! No matter how hard i try, i can't seem to get this fantasy off my head. Why? Why? Why?
So this Sunday morning, as i need to get ready to cook food for the 15 friends (who i must say are taking a bigger risk than me), i am obviously stalling for time cooking up questions to see how i still got myself into this soup. And can see myself walking on egg-shells. Gosh! My goose is cooked!
and since i have also run out of the self-imposed 500-word blog limit (and all food related cliches), there is nothing much left to do but to get myself into the kitchen and start. Which reminds me, i yet have to buy some the most critical ingredients for my recipes. why? why? why?
PS Coming to think of food cliches - why on earth would something easy be called "like a piece of cake"?
Now let me explain the ridiculousness of this situation. i live with my mother-in-law who is a fabulous cook. I have a helper in the house who cooks snacks for 100 odd kids @ my learning centre through the week. And today when I have 15 people coming over, I decided to make things that both these talented women do not make! It is something that only I can make. This fully knowing that:
1) my friends love my mom-in-law's cooking
2) cooking as an activity completely stresses me out
I still have to get a ladle on this - why does cooking stress me out some much? Well, since a whole bunch of things can be conveniently blamed on early childhood & parents in general, here's my explanation: My mom is great cook. And when i say great - i mean really really GREAT! She could whip up delicacies in minutes with least prep time. She would actually remember what our individual friends liked and then accordingly cook when they visited (in a family of three children with many hungry friends - that's no mean feat). It almost seemed as if she was in direct competition with all the restaurants and the famous Bombay street food vendors. Now maybe that has set up this 'impossible-to-attain' standard in my head. To make things worse, my siblings seem to be quite comfortable in the kitchen and discuss recipes like i discuss comic strips. So that's another source of added pressure.
Also, a part of me feels that there is a unstated rule in our societal psyche : "woman = good cook". So for someone with limited skills like me (and great chefs in the family), this is again a huge obstacle to cross.
So with all this 'खिचडी' cooking in my head - why on earth did i set up this situation today???? why? why? why? But this is not the most absurd event in my life. What is even more preposterous is - when i think of what i would have been doing in life had I not been working with children - the ONLY answer that comes up is running a cafe that serves Indian short-eats. A place which is a happy hangout for people. where everything on the menu costs Rs. 10. And everything is made by me. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!! No matter how hard i try, i can't seem to get this fantasy off my head. Why? Why? Why?
So this Sunday morning, as i need to get ready to cook food for the 15 friends (who i must say are taking a bigger risk than me), i am obviously stalling for time cooking up questions to see how i still got myself into this soup. And can see myself walking on egg-shells. Gosh! My goose is cooked!
and since i have also run out of the self-imposed 500-word blog limit (and all food related cliches), there is nothing much left to do but to get myself into the kitchen and start. Which reminds me, i yet have to buy some the most critical ingredients for my recipes. why? why? why?
PS Coming to think of food cliches - why on earth would something easy be called "like a piece of cake"?
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