Help Me Win :)

Help me win this….
My recipe “Shahi Tinda” has been selected in top 14 in a contest “Wonder Pot Wizard” held by Philips Home Living. Now I need the highest number of Likes on my recipe to win the contest. Click the link below and like my entry. Don’t forget to share it on your wall and help me get more likes from your friends. 🙂

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What’s Cooking??

I Eat coz I love to Cook

What’s Cooking??

Cooking…??? I wouldn’t say cooking is not my forte like those high-society ladies or young college-going girls or boys, who find a pride in boasting,

“How do you make tea? I have never ever boiled water, let alone make tea.“

“I am born in such a rich family that I have never had a glass of water by myself. We always had a cook or two at home.”

Come one man, stop irritating!!! What’s the big deal in boiling water??? 

I read these lines in my friend’s blog today and it just struck me. It took me back to my childhood, my adolescence and then to nearly 3 starting years of my marriage. Yes, “I DID NOT EVEN KNOW HOW TO MAKE TEA..” Believe you me when I say that I did wonders when it came to cooking by creating the most awful, disgusting and tasteless dishes one can ever think of. 😦

Born in a nice to do family though not with a silver spoon, I had been a very spoilt child especially by my father. I used to be everything but least close to anything that a normal girl would be. My Mom always tried a bit to teach me something or the other every now and then but very soon held her hands up. She always used to say “I am not forcing you into doing anything cos God only knows what all you might have to do after marriage.” My mom feared like probably every other mother of a daughter regarding her life after marriage. Some try to make sure their daughter to be “Sarvagunn Sampann (Complete by all Qualities)” before they step into the marital knot by teaching them all about household chores especially cooking. They would teach their daughters to keep their in-laws and husband happy with delicious food as “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”.

But my mom was totally opposite. She made sure I studied; watched TV; played with my friends; went out for parties; found a job; made a career; did whatever I wished to do in and with my life.  And managing a home and cooking was the last I wanted to do. My father never interfered in what was going on in the house, “it was not his thing to do” he always believed. And directly or indirectly supported me for doing nothing at home. Some might just find this very liberal attitude as something that would spoil a child. I wouldn’t agree less. I did turn out spoilt in many ways. Ask my husband, he would stand up and vouch for it. 😀

So coming back to the point, I was the last person who would ever step in the kitchen and even “BOIL WATER”. Let me share a few incidents that I would never forget in my life. 🙂 To start with, I had once tried to make dhokla when I was in my 1st year. Hahahaha…. it turned out to taste like soap cakes. I couldn’t even smell it let alone eat it. But my brave Dad ate quite a few pieces just to make me happy. Poor Dad! 😦

What could go wrong when you make a ready to cook dish available in market? And I am sure making Maggi is just a child’s game. My daughter started making Maggi since she was 8 yrs old. But I was so talented to even spoil the easiest dish around. I once poured oil in a pan with a lot of turmeric powder and all other spices available and emptied a pack of Maggi in it. Do I need to even mention what was created out of it. 😉

Mine was a love marriage. My husband used to live alone as his parents stayed in their ancestral home in Haryana. He comes from a family where Bahu (Daughter-in-Law) is supposed to know and do everything from knitting, sewing, washing, cleaning, n most of all cooking. So my mother-in-law was expecting all that out of me. Poor lady! 🙂 During one of her visits to my husband before our marriage, I went to meet her. She was busy preparing lunch. “Arre bete ko apne haath ka khaana khilaye kitne din ho gaye. Taras gaya hoga bechara ghar ke khaane ko! (How long has it been since I fed my son with my own hands. He must be missing home made food so much!)” I suddenly thought why not impress my would-be mother-in-law by cooking something. (Believe me, that could have been the worst thought of my life. :P) She said as I came for the first time, I should let her make something for me. (Should have listened to her. 😉 ) But I insisted on making my special Dal and she agreed. (Phew!!) Rest is just another history I could have created. My mom-in-law still has stomach aches laughing thinking about that amazing dish I made that day. Oh! did I miss out on telling you what happened to my dal. Instead of putting salt I used sugar powder as I couldn’t differentiate between the two. It didn’t finish there. As I tasted, I found it was not salty yet. So I went on adding more and more sugar powder. When I realized my mistake it was too late. 😦 That day proved my mother-in-law’s love for her son cos she happily tied us in the wedlock even after that shock I gave her of my culinary skills. 🙂

I got married and for about 3 years my husband would have cursed his luck whenever he sat down to have his food. I myself wouldn’t know what I put in front of him. But the poor guy didn’t have any other option but to eat it. 🙂 I didn’t even know the measure of ingredients while making food for just two of us and we would end up eating the same thing for another 2 days as it wont finish. I would knead dough for rotis and adding of water would end up in adding more flour and vice-versa, resulting an amount of dough required to feed at least 10-12 people. Whenever I would plan to make Idlis, my dog, Comet knew it was his party time. He was the sole creature who could love my Idlis which would no less be compared to rubber balls. 😛

I am sure with all what I have told you above, you would never even think of coming over for a lunch or dinner at my place if I told you i am going to cook. I wouldn’t be surprised. But here’s the twist in the story. I had been living near my parent’s house after marriage and so continued to work, even after I had my first daughter, leaving her with my mom. Nearly after 3 years, we had to shift away from there to Noida due to a new job opportunity that came for my husband. This was around 8 years back and Noida, specially UP was a terror area for me. Crimes were supposed to be in every nook and corner as per my notions. So, terrified of these thoughts, I didn’t have the courage to leave my daughter in any crèche or at the mercy of any maid and continue with my job. So, I left it for my daughter’s sake and became a full-time mother and a house wife.

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.

Sitting at home all alone when my daughter would be at school and my husband off to sleep after his night shift, I started to read a cookbook that came with the microwave. Slowly, the pictures of delicious dishes pushed me to read the recipes and with that the eagerness to try them once. I was always a foodie. I love to eat and try out every new thing that came my way. I am very choosy with what I love to have but very flexible in trying out different dishes. I started to buy and read more cookbooks. I used to love Khana Khazaana that used to be aired in Zee TV at that time and got very inspired by the great Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. He has been my Guru and I always address myself as his Eklavya. 🙂

Then there was nothing that could stop me. Everyday I used to try out new dishes. Don’t know if it was my luck or my skills but I do not remember a single instance when I would try something and it would turn out bad. My husband’s happiness had no bounds. After all these years, he was being served good food for sure. 😀 I did not restrict myself to a particular kind of cuisine. I explored all – Indian, Continental, Chinese, Mexican and my all time favorite Italian. Slowly, everyone around me started to acknowledge my cooking and my culinary skills. I wont say I am an expert but I am definitely a good cook now. Keeping in mind where I started from, I have reached quite far to be happy about. I have managed to create a blog page (I Eat coz I love to Cook) recently where I share my skills with others and have been getting a very good response. For me, getting nearly 700 Likes and reaching out more than 3000 hits all over the globe in just less than a month, is something I could be proud of. I won the Philips Wonder Pot Wizard Contest for the best recipe and popularity of the blog. I also reached being the !st Runner Up in the Mallika-e-Kitchen Contest held by LG India for the Northern Zone. Very soon, I would be launching my own website too, bringing forth my kitchen to all. 🙂

Related Links :

https://www.facebook.com/FairyDustKitchen

http://rekspoursout.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/when-i-cook/