When I was younger , well for that matter , even 6 months back , I used to wonder why my mother was always thinking about cooking and food.I never worried about it as long as breakfast was served before I left for School , College or work , lunch was packed and I had my curd rice with pickle for dinner. Why did she have to fuss about food all the time ? Why was she so angry that I did not have the lunch that she had packed for me ? Why was she waking up early in the morning just to get straight into the kitchen ? Why does she not spend time with the guests at home , but instead is toiling in the kitchen preparing food that everyone ate - some with appreciation and some just devoured it thanklessly. After my mother , I wondered why my mother-in-law was always wondering what to cook. Why would she not enjoy her journey because of too much thought on what all to buy when she got back home and what all was available at home to make a yummy masala dosa ? Why would she walk all the way to the vegetable market just to buy some carrots, onions and coriander to make pizza like dosas that were loved by all ?
It's been almost 6 months since I got married and 2 months since I have been cooking for my husband and myself on my own. I think I have begun to realize the answer to all the WHYs.
A typical weekend here would mean waking up earlier than usual to cook something that we could take with us. (Well ,we are too skeptical eating anything outside because we dont have the words or the knowledge of the language to explain what vegetarian food actually means)
I can now feel myself thinking about breakfast when I go to bed each night. I think about dinner when we have lunch. Well , now i realise that cooking can really haunt you. I am loving it so far - the cooking , I mean. I try hard not to be overwhelmed by the responsibility that rests on my shoulders. Thanks Amma for all the wonderful dishes you have made and for lovingly preparing everything that I have asked for. I love you a lot more now ! :)
Here are some of my cooking experiences captured on camera. I must admit , some were utter disasters and my husband would still run away if I ever offered to make Upma for dinner , ever ! Well , thats a long story , we can save it for later.
Just to prove I am not that bad at cooking , here's what I have done so far.
The first challenge I had here was how to cook the cabbage.I dont like it as a side dish , and my husband just loves cabbage. This was how I managed to make my own version of Cabbage Bath. It came out ok and my husband loved it. What more can I ask for ?
Next question that pops up is what would go well with it ? And the answer was thankfully very simple - Cucumber raitha !
This one is a south Indian favorite - Lemon rice. Just without the curry leaves. It is really hard to get them here.
A normal accompaniment to this dish would be potato fry or anything else that is sinfully oily and crispy. I tried to change the potato part keeping in the oil sin and throwing out the crispy part unintentionally. So thats how i had sweet potato chips for the lemon rice.
My experiments at the kitchen are on all the time. And now it is 7 pm , and all I can think about is "What do I cook for dinner ?"
Bon Apetit !
P.S : This is what I made the day after this post..
Cucumber , onion and Tomato Raitha.. Yumm..
With Vegetable Pulav , one of my favourite dishes. Just that I burnt half of the pulav by overheating. Lessons learnt !
And for dinner I tried something new.. Soya chunk gravy ! :) It came out very good.
Will make more of it in future. We were half way through our dinner when I wanted to take the pic , so you'll find an emptying bowl .
Some of my previous experiments..
Tomato Rice...
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ammaaa.