Simple Chicken Curry

I have such a soft corner for this chicken dish. Is it because it was the first non-vegetarian / meat dish I learnt? Or because its so easy to make is always tasty even if you vary the contents. Or is it because with slight variations you can have an entirely different curry? Whatever be the reason, it is, comfort food, for me.

You will need:
1 chicken (about 1 kilo)
2 large onions
6 garlic pods
1" ginger
2-3 each of cloves, cardamom
5-6 grains of whole black pepper
1" stick of cinamon
1 bay leaf
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tomatoes
2 Potatoes quartered
Salt to taste
Oil
Coriander leaves for garnishing

How to

1. Wash chicken pieces well. (This is for those of you who get it fresh). De-frost for those who pick it up from frozen section of supermarkets. Pat dry / drain and sprinkle with about 2 tsp of salt and the turmeric powder. Use hands to mix well with the chicken pieces.

2. Slices onions finely. Grate the garlic and ginger separately. Slice the tomatoes and keep aside.

3. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. (About 2-3 tbsp)

4. Add the cinamon, cardamom, black pepper, bayleaf.

5. In about half a minute or so, they will release their "aroma". This is about when the pepper corn will start popping!

6. Quickly add the onions and stir to mix well with oil. Fry till the onions are light pink.

7. Add the grated garlic and stir till they are lightly browned. Be careful. Garlic can burn very easily and we dont want them burnt. Just browned.

8. Add the chicken pieces, and mix well with the onions. Add the grated ginger. Fry on high flame. After 2 minutes, stir so that the pieces on top are at the bottom and vice versa. In about 10 minutes or so, all the pieces will be fried.

9. Add the sliced tomatoes, cover with a lid (but dont close the lid). Lower flame and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes. The tomatoes will go soft and mushy and release their juices.

10. Mix well. Add about 250 ml of water (about 2 cups). You can add more water if you prefer more gravy. (I do). Adjust the salt.

11. Add the sliced potatoes.

12. Close the lid and let it cook for one whistle of the pressure cooker. If you are not using a pressure cooker, then cook till the potatoes are done.

13. Take off the lid and add the chopped coriander leaves and cook over high flame for 1-2 minutes.

14. Serve hot with rice!


Note:-
Adding potatoes is optional. You can also add more garlic and onions if you so prefer. If you dont want to add tomatoes, curd works fine. If you are using curd, add it to the chicken in the begining with the salt and turmeric or you can add it at step no. 9 in place of the tomatoes.

Mutton Rupali

We had just moved into a new set of apartments in Kolkata and R & I were living by ourselves, while our parents were still in the Middle East. R had taken over (forced to), the running of our apartment. And immediately after we had moved in, all of us kids put up a play, another of my great ideas! But I came down rather heavily on R during our rehearsals and she quit! But at the end she did ennoy it from the sidelines and felt proud (she claims shen did), when our over acting was a roaring success. And as a part of the after play get together, she russled up a mutton recipe which like the play was a roaring success! And the unanimous decision was to christen this recipe “Mutton Rupali”. So here goes - Another great and totally original recipe from R.

You will need:
1kilo mutton
1tsp cumin seeds
4-5 green chillies
1 medium onion
6 flakes of garlic
1” ginger
Raw papaya – 2 piece
1tsp corainder seeds and leaves
2tsp khus khus or posto or poppy seeds
1tbsp garam masala
1tbsp ground coriander powder
2tbsp lime juice
1 cup curd
4 tbsp butter or ghee (clarified butter)
salt
1tsp sugar
red chilli powder(optional)
Coriander leaves

How to:
1. Grind the chillies, onion, ginger, garlic, papaya and spices to a smooth paste.
2. Mix the paste with the curd.
3. Wash the mutton pieces and prick them with a fork (allows the spice mixture to seep into the mutton) and dry them.
4. Rub with salt mixed with lime juice and set aside for half an hour or so.
5. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add the mutton pieces and cook for about 2-3 whistles.
6. Open lid and set aside.
7. In a pan add ghee, then put the mutton and the paste and cook over medium heat till tender and palatable. (This will take sometime depending upon the tenderness of the mutton).
8. Garnish with onion rings, lime wedges, corainder leaves chopped and slit green chillies.

Bon Appetit!

Sweet Tomato Chutney

My cook has been ill these past few days. To complicate matters, work (usually hectic) has been maddening just now. We had to take a brief on phone, develop three scripts, find a celebrity (one with the right profile -- all India appeal, clean as a whistle background, willing to give us couple of hours and do it free of charge...its is after a public service spot). And the A turns up with a kilo of tomatoes. Once in a while, OK. But tomatoes are a no-no for him. Doctor's order.

So, I get up wearily really early and make a sweet tomato chutney, which I then take with me to work to share with colleagues. Felt a bit mean. But its really better this way. So here is a the recipe for sweet bengali tomato chutney. Simple and easy.

You will need:

1 kilo tomatoes (any sort except the small cherry ones)
Heaps of sugar
1/2" ginger either grated or sliced really thin
A bit of salt
One dried red chillie
1 tsp mustard seeds
fresh coriander, chopped


How to

1. Heat a tbsp of oil in a Kadai / wok. If you are using a pan make sure its a deep one

2. Add the dried red chillie.

3. Add the mustard seeds.

4. When they start to pop, add the tomatoes.

5. Cook on high heat for three to four minutes and then lower flame and cover.

6. When the tomatoes have softened, add the sugar. About 3 tbsp. Taste and adjust. This chutney has to be sweet. Be sure to add the salt..about 1/2 tsp. This takes care of the tartness of the tomatoes.

7. After another few minutes, the tomatoes should have all become pulpy, and become a thick mass.

8. Add about 1/2 cup of water. Cover and let stew.

9. Check frequently. The chutney shouldn't be too thin or thick.

10. Add the grated ginger. Let it stew for couple of minutes more.

11. Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook for a further two minutes.

12. Remove from fire and let it cool down.

13. Traditionally, chutney is eaten last after any bengali meal. It is ladled onto the now empty plate on which lunch was eaten and the chutney is eaten by hand.

14. Quite a few people like to eat it mixed with plain steamed rice... but that is really for those who are used to it. Chutney by itself is rather nice. Bon apetit!

Note: You can vary the proportions to suit your taste. You can have it less sweet if you wants. Works just fine. I prefer it sweet though.

R's Apple Upside Down Cake

This recipe is entirely R's. She must have got it from somewhere and added her variations. I don't know why, but I was under the impression that this was an Apple Strudel. R set me right --- "Its an apple upside down cake". The first time she made it, she was in school (class 5 or 6 ... yes that early). And as she is wont to, had her luxuriant tresses in a wild bird's nest on her head. Dressed in a nightie, she took over the kitchen in a very authoritarian, brisk, no nonsense manner, while I could only watch
with amusement (nothing more I could do, since I could not contribute anything to the process, except tasting the batter). And I have loved it since then!! I still haven't tried it and don't thing am going to in the near future (Can always beg her to make it for me when I visit Kolkata). But for those of you who can't have that pleasure, you can always try it... and enjoy it. It's foolproof since the proportions etc are R's and not my haphazard ones!!

You will need
About 4 medium sized apples(the red smallish apples, the ones you get in winter, here I mean in India), peeled and decored and then cut into thin slivers or slices lengthwise.
1 & 1/2 cups flour
3 or 4 eggs whipped in a blender
1 cup sugar (ground)
1 cup sunflower oil
1& 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1& 1/2 tsp baking powder
Half cup milk
About 4tbsp ground brown sugar
75 gms butter

How to:
1. Sift flour and baking powder through a sieve, keep aside. R does it on a clean piece of newspaper. Less messier this way!

2. In a deep bowl beat together oil and ground sugar.

3. Add about 2 tbsp of the seived flour and a bit of the blended egg. Whip by hand held blender or spoon. Add more flour and egg. In this way mix and add and alternate the two till all the flour and egg have been added.

4. Add milk to help in the blended process.

5. Add the vanilla essence. (Be sure to give into tempatation and taste the batter...its not only wonderful, but helps to check if you have got the sugar and vanilla right)!

6. Melt butter in a pan and when warm, add brown sugar and wait till blended well.

7. Pour the butter in to a greased baking round dish.

8. Arrange sliced apples in a circular fashion starting from the sides and gradually filling in.

9. Pour the cake batter over it.

10. Bake in an oven over medium temperature for an hour or till a knife comes out clean when inserted.

(Don't forget to enjoy the aroma of the cake baking!! At this point, I usually start drooling...)!

11. Cool and turn the cake over onto a plate. Then you will have the browned apple layer at the top! Bon appetite!


Note:- This be make about more than 10 generous slices....for people with normal appetite. Unlike me. I'd leave one slice each for baba, ma & R and K (our cook) and hog the rest myself.

Note2:- I was in Kolkata two weeks ago and went to a small gathering of friends. I hit upon the bright idea of getting R to bake me this cake. Which she promptly did. My friends all oohed and aahed over it and ate one slice each. The rest was kept away for eating later on by my host and his wife. I feel really mean to say this, but I could have eaten the cake all by myself and taken something else for my friends??!!

Dal for the family and close friends

H, a friend from work, dropped in yesterday. I was not alarmed. There was afterall mince meat that hubby dear cooked all by himself, one veggie dish, some rice and rotis (chapatis). But when hubby himself said that he didnt want the mince meat, I got suspicious. He is afterall a die-hard meat eater. He sheepishly said that it want very tasty. Oh Oh. My dear cook is not too great either. So I one hungry guest, one hungry hubby and two dishes both badly cooked. Quick fix idea (which I try every time and never fails) is to rush and get some kala dal from the fauji dhaba next door. Sure enough, it worked. This prompted a story from H . His father, after his wedding, had postponed all dinner parties till such time his wife had learnt enough. The date arrived 6 months later. She had cooked 8 dishes. They were stationed in Amritsar at that time. Everyone enjoyed the food and when asked which dish they liked the best, everyone said in unison, "the dal". The dal was the only dish she had not cooked and got it from a local dhaba!!

I have a very easy and fast dal recipe....it is NOT a party dish. But works well for family and really close friends. It is really very simple to make. And once you make it, you realise how easy it is to vary the dal and the various ingredients to make your own combo.

For a great explanation on dals / lentils/ pulses, See Mental Masala's December Dal post.

You will need:

1 small cup (a little more than the tiny coffee cups) arhar dal, washed and drained
1 green bell pepper / capsicum / shimla mirch cut into long strips
1 or 2 tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 carrot, cut into long strips or sliced into roundels
1 medium onion sliced finely (optional)
3 or 4 garlic pods grated
handful of peas
5 or 6 florets of cauliflower (taken from one big one)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

How to:
1.In a pressure cooker, heat one tbsp oil and add 1 tsp cumin seeds.

2. When the seeds crackle, add the garlic and onions and stir.

3. When the onions become translucent, add the veggies and stir.

4. Add 1 small tsp of turmeric powder and the salt, to taste.

5. Add the dal and stir. The dal will in a bit, stick to the pan.

6. Add water. The rule for a pressure cooker is, to add a little less than double the quantity of the main item, which in this case is the dal. But since there are a few veggies along with the dal, add 3 to 3 & 1/2 cups of water. Close the lid and cook for 2 or 3 whistles. This again depends where you are. At high altitude or cold weather, pulses take more time to cook and hence more whistles.

7. Remove from fire and wait for the steam to go out by itself and the cover to drop (open). If the dal has become too thick, put it on the fire and add a little water and check and adjust seasoning.

8. If you donot have a pressure cooker, any pan with a tight cover will do. But it will be preferrable to soak the dal a few hours in advance, drain and then cook.

9. Now, if you don't want to use onions, add the veggies straight after the cumin. You can vary the dal used too. Masur and chana (bengal gram) dal works just as well.

This takes not more than half an hour from start to finish and is always, tasty! Bon apetit! I should know. Back in Paris, we practically survived on it.

Spinach with mixed vegetables

Am very very overdue on my blogging...I was away on a short but very happy trip to Kolkata. 9 days, where I did all the things one does going back to one's home turf. But really, food reigned supreme. Consuming food that is. I got Ma, R and our cook to make all the stuff that a) missed b) couldn't cook as wonderfully as they can. So here is the recipe for one of them: Palong sager ghanto. Or Spinach with mixed vegetables. This is not a new recipe. There are variations to it. My recipe is the way we eat at "chez parents" in Calcutta. Its wonderful. More than that actually. Comfort food.

(Unlike the common perception that Indian cooking is very spicy...a lot of bengali recipes do not involve many spices. Spices are added to enhance the subtle flavors of the ingredients. Not over power it). This is a classic example. The vegetables, fresher the better combine to give a delightful flavour.

Spinach with mixed vegetables
You will need:

1 kilo spinach
2 medium potatoes cubed (not too small)
2 beet
5 or 6 broad beans halved
handful of peas (a handful after shelling)
2 or 3 carrots
1 medium eggplant / brinjal cubed
1 tsp five spice (made of equal parts of cumin seeds, black cumin seeds -- also called nigella, fenugreek seed, aniseed and black mustard grains)

This recipe can be cooked using a few or all of the above veggies, with spinach. More the better.

How to:
1. Wash, de-stem and chop the spinach well. You can de-stem and wash if you prefer. Either way works.

2. Cut all the veggies into cubes...not too small or large. Important thing is to have the veggie in more or less similar sized cubes.

3. Heat oil (3 tbsp) in a pan. Kadai or wok is better than a flat pan.

4. Add one red dried chillie. Then add the five spice (panch-phoron).

5. When they start crackling /popping /sizzling, add the veggies. Stir well and cover. Lower flame and let the veggies cook. You can sprinkle a little water. I really mean sprinkle. Using your fingers.

6. When the veggies are softened, but not soggy, add the spinach. Since spinach is when raw, voluminous, put a little bit a time. Mix with veggie and wait for it to subside a bit, which happens more or less within half a minute or so, and repeat till all the spinach is in the pan.

7. Season with salt. We also like to add a little bit of sugar. Fraction of the quantity of salt. The idea here is not to make the dish sweet, this salt-sugar combo somehow, enhances the flavour more than only salt.

8. K, our cook, sometimes, adds half tsp each of coriander powder, cumin powder, chillie powder and turmeric. But she told me, turmeric alone is OK. Chillie powder is really optional, as is green chillie.

9. Cover and keep on low flame. The spinach is cooked usually in about 5 to 10 minutes max. Stir vigorously so that the veggies don't stick to the pan and they are well mixed with the spinach. some people like to leave a little bit of gravy. I like mine without. The dish is not dry. The veggies are soft and puply.

10. Each of the veggies contribute their individual flavours and together combine to make this dish, well, comforting, at the least!! Serve with rice and dal. Bon appetit!

Potatoes in Poppy seed paste

Posto (dried poppy seeds) is such an essential ingredient in Bengali kitchens. These are dried poppy seeds. Must have been introduced to us by Afghan traders because weak as my knowledge is on flora, I don’t thing the poppy is native to Bengal.

It is used in a variety of dishes but the most common is probably aloo posto. I remember when I was staying in the Middle East, the entire Bengali (Indian and Bangladeshi) community got their veggies, fish and spice shopping from a Bangladeshi store. And the store stocked everything including betel nut and leaves. One thing that they didn’t stock was posto. It was illegal to import Posto since poppy is also the source for Opium! Till some one from either the Indian or Bangladeshi embassy intervened and requested the relevant authorities in the emirate to allow posto imports. Posto as used in Bengali dishes is not narcotic! And though the source is the same, it is far removed from Opium!

Much later on, in France, I tried Aloo posto on my own. The dish took about 15 minutes and I followed the simple instructions and to my amazement, found it tasting just like Ma made!

(For two)
What you need:

3-4 medium potatoes
1 tsp Black Cumin seeds
1 tbsp posto seeds
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp cooking oil

How to:
1. Peel and dice the potatoes into little cubes. Wash well and drain.

2. Grind the posto into a paste using a little bit of water. (I didn’t have a wet grinder and so I used a rolling pin and ground them on the kitchen counter). Needn’t be a fine paste.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the black cumin seeds.

4. You can add in 2 green chilies (sliced). This is optional. But the green chilies do add a nice flavour. You can take the chilies out after a while.

5. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the potatoes. Stir well.

6. Sprinkle a little water (about ¼ cup). The idea is to cook the potatoes faster and not to have a gravy.

7. Lower flame and cover.

8. When the potatoes are nearly cooked and soft, add the posto paste, stir.

9. Cook for a couple of minutes further and remove from flame.

This dish is usually eaten with rice and dal (any sort). Dal, for those who don’t know is lentil soup and we have varieties of dal.

The swooning Mullah

Mullah Gash Kardeh (The swooning Priest / mullah or that which makes the mullah swoon).

I got this one out of an Irani cook book. Can't vouch for the authenticity of either the recipe or the book. (I mean I HAVE seen scores of Indian cook books written by non-Indians and the recipes are so different from the original that most Indians would find them funny)!!

But I have to say, authentic or not, it is very easy to make and quite tasty. It is a vegetarian recipe.

I was at that point hunting around for vegetarian recipes with Brinjals or eggplants (A's favorite) to coax him away from red meat(Cholesterol problems).

A ofcourse thought that it could be improved by adding vast quantities of "mouton" and when I refused, he made me make the vegetarian bit and then added his own meat variation.

So here is the recipe in two parts: The original vegetaraian swooning priest. And then A's meaty variation. Bon Appetit!

(For two)
You will need:
2 small eggplant or one large plump one
3-4 tomatoes
2 onions
(The above three should be sliced into roundels / rings)
3-4 cloves of garlic
salt, pepper
Lots of coriander leaves, chopped finely
1/2 cup hot water
1 tsp oil

How to:
1. Slice eggplant, tomatoes and onions into roundels / rings. The eggplant should be 1/4 inch thick
2. Slice tomatoes into roundels
3. Slice onions into roundels
4. Grease the bottom of a dish (which has a tight lid) with a little oil. About 1 tsp.
5. Place in order, eggplant, tomato and onion (eggplant at the bottom, tomato above it and then the onion ring). When one layer is formed, place again in order eggplant, tomato and onion.
Between each veggie, sprinkle salt, pepper and coriander leaves finely sliced.
6. Grate the garlic and sprinkle over the layered veggies.
7. Pour half a cup of hot water into the dish. (It will fill only a little bit, but that will do. The veggies need not be immersed in water. Infact, they shouldnot be immersed in water).
8. Now, tightly close the lid. (If the lid does not close tightly, cover the top of the dish with a sheet of foil and then put the lid).
9. Cook over low flame for 40-45 minutes.
10. The veggies will release their juices and should be soft and pulply but you can (requires some finesse, lift the layers out...tastes fine even if they are reduced to a pulp, it looks better intact, when served).

You can eat them with bread I guess. Rice works for me.

Now, the non-vegetarian bit.
You will need (in addition to the above):
1/2 kg of mince meat (beef or lamb)
3-4 garlic cloves finely grated
1" piece ginger finely grated
salt to taste
Cooking oil

1. Heat oil in a wok / frying pan
2. Add garlic and stir so that they don't stick to the pan.
3. Add the meat and stir well.
4. Add the ginger.
5. Fry for 10 minutes (or a little bit more), over medium to high flame.
6. Add the cooked veggies (step 10 of above recipe)
7. Season with salt (check first, since the veggies already have salt in them).
8. Remove from fire and well...enjoy!

Note:
1. If you are an irani or know about Iran and happen to read this recipe and find it a far cry from the original recipe, please donot get angry with me and please be kind enough to let me have the correct recipe. I will appreciate it highly.

2. We Indians prefer loads of onions, garlic and ginger. Please add as much or as little as you prefer. But remember, while cooking the meat, do add the ginger. Donot omit it.

La Belle Meunière

The first time I tried this dish was at Mocambo in Calcutta. That was in the late 80's. Since then, I have gone back several times to Mocambo. And I am extremely glad to report that this dish remains as delicious as ever. (Restaurants do have a way of deteriorting over time...both in quality of service and food).

Literally, its means the Beautiful Miller. I have no idea how it this dish got its name.

Once when I was feeling very intrepid, I asked the chef for the recipe. He very obliginging told it to me. And I, duly reported it back to R. (Whatever I could remember of it). R, ofcourse added her own variation - her special touch. And I must say, that too was very delicious. I haven't tried it myself. But I vouch for the delicious ness of R's version of La Belle Meunière.

You will need
Bekti fillet or slivers of moderate thickness (somewhere between a normal slab and over thin sliver).
Salt to taste
Pepper
Ajinomoto (yes MSG)
A sprig of parsely finely chopped for garnish
Cream
Butter

Here's how:
1. Wash the fillet, pat them dry with kitchen towel.

2. Mix a bit of cornflour with white pepper and salt.

3. Sprinkle this on the fillet.

4. Heat oil or butter (either one works, though butter is definitely more delicious) in a flat pan and lightly fry the fillet

5. Arrange the fried fillet in succession on a plate. Pour sauce (recipe given below) over them and serve immediately.

The Sauce:

1. Heat 50g of butter in a non stick pan over low flame.
2. Add a pinch of salt (be careful, we dont want to make the sauce salty), pepper, a pinch of ajinomoto.
3. Pour half cup cream.
4. Add the chopped parsley.
5. Remove from fire.
The whole procedure should take about 2-3 minutes.

Those of you who reside in Calcutta or are going there (I am next week), do go to Mocambo and try it out. And those of you who can't, here is the recipe, R's variation. Bon Appetit!

NOte: Any white fish will do, if you can't get Bekti

Potatoes with Black Pepper

The very first of the handwritten recipes given to me by R is one I never tried till much later, by when I had already gotten a hang of the basics. And a very basic recipe it was. Its certainly not one R came up with herself. She had chosen this one because she was sure, even a novice like me couldn't go wrong with it: Potatoes with Black pepper. And why didn't I ever try it. Well it's not that I didn't. Everytime I decided to try this one and opened the book and read the first line, I had to give up. For the very first line says: "Before cooking this dish, boil the potatoes (in their skin) few hours in advance and then cool and de-Skin". In those early days, my day would be a mad rush to finish the house work (never ending it seemed) and then with a few hours left for A to return from office, I would go to the kitchen and cook the three dishes which was all I could manage in a day. And so never having planned the boiling of potatoes a few hours in advance, I would sigh and turn over to other recipes!

But now I am wiser. I know, that I can boil the potatoes (in their skin, mind you) whenever I want to and not few hours in advance and cool them by holding them under the tap! Hey presto!

So, just for the sake of those days when I didn't know any better here is

"Potatoes with Black Pepper"
You will need:
A few potatoes (600g in the original recipe)
4 tbsp vegetable oil (if you are a begginner and want specific measurements), less or more according to your preference, if not a begginner (but then you wouldn't be reading this basic recipe, would you???)
3/4 tsp salt or like they say "to taste
1 & 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander or parsley

How to
1. Before cooking this dish boil potatoes still in their skins, a few hours in advance or boil them when you'd like to cook and just plunge them in cold water.

2. De-skin and cut into small cubes

3. Heat oil in a non-stick or any other frying pan and set over minimum flame.

4. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and stir gently or you will end up with mashed potatotes.

5. Stir for a minute. Sprinkle salt.

6. Lower flame, cover and cook for 5 minutes. In between, dont forget to stir. (Otherwise, non-stick or not, the potatoes will stick to the pan and cook unevenly).

7. Now sprinkle black pepper.

8. Uncover and cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat, stirring every now or then, allowing them to brown. (You can also, shake the pan by the handle in a to-and-fro motion. This results in the potatoes rolling around nicely).

(Note: I have NEVER managed to get them evenly browned all over. But they taste good all the same).

9. Sprinkle the leafy garnish of your choice and Viola!

10. Instead of the pepper and coriander and parsley, you can alternatively sprinkle the potatoes with salt and mixed herbs of your choice (thyme, oregano or rosemary).

There is a trick to boiling the potatoes. They shouldn't be over boiled that they collapse while you try to de-skin them. Nor should they be so firm that despite the salt and pepper and herbs, they taste like boile potatoes alone! That is something, this timid cook is still perfecting!!

R's expert comments: This extremely simple and modest recipe can be a great soother when one is ailing from cough and colds and the taste buds in our tongue become quite quite inactive making everything tasteless. Its quick, simple and strangely during those times, very tasty and comforting; So its a must for a new learner, a new kitchen entrant and especially when one is down with COLD. It certainly ends up warming you and the tastebuds.!!!!! The black pepper shouldnt be powdered one from a packet but right out of a pepper mill and never mind if the greens are not there, just pepper itself can be a wonderful flavour.

The Timid Cook

Well here goes! My own blog about food, eating,cooking with a lot of trepidation, hesitation and loads of help from R!

Infact, I had started my other blog Notes from France as a blog to note my cooking experiments. But somewhere three posts down, it became what it was to be : Notes from France and then became Notes from wherever life would take me.

I have always enjoyed food. Preferring quality over quantity. And have been fairly open about sampling different cuisines. But it has only been in the past 5 years (since I have got married), that I have taken up cooking. Or rather forced to. Not that I don't enjoy cooking. But somehow, lack that something which differentiates good cooks from mediocre ones. Even today, 5 years later, my cooking is erratic. I myself don't know how that same old recipe will turn out - Good, great or horrible.

And yet, my ma, my sis R are great cooks. R is ofcourse more than a great cook. She is a FABULOUS cook. And she has been a constant guide over phone and email, helping to transform me from a non-cook to a cook, albeit a TIMID one.

Infact, the 30 odd basic recipes that she wrote for me, in between doing a million things that one has to do in bong weddings, was and is my bible. A bit tattered, dog eared and smeared by turmeric and spices, I am lost without it. Dear sweet R, in her fabulously neat handwriting, managed to find time to write them down.

That gift was the most valuable one for me and I clung onto it. I was so dependent on it that when in one recipe I found salt wasn't
mentioned in it, I rang up R to ask why she hadn't written it.

"Oof oh! I must have forgotten to write it. And anyhow everyone knows that except for desserts, one has to put in salt. So go ahead and add salt". Relieved, I put down the phone and added salt. She must have been amazed at my lack of such basic knowledge, but really, at that point of time, if she had added an instruction to stand on one leg and cook, I would have done exactly that.

I have been bugging R for a very long time, as have been others to collate all her recipes and get them published. But she has been for whatever reason, loathe to go about it. So here I am with my stories and her recipes. If nothing else, I will have another
collection of recipes to pour over while eating lunch. (That's one more quirky passion of mine. I have to, simply have to go through a cook book while eating my lunch / dinner. No matter if the plain rice and dal I am eating is a far cry from the exotic recipes in the cook book I am reading)!

Bon Appetit! (Recipes from the next post onwards)!