I'm retracting my earlier "Why I started this blog" statement. I
realized that I'm not much of a cook. Cooking is probably not my
favorite thing to do and after nearly 5 years of cooking on my own, I
still have not figured out the "tastes" of the different masalas (Which
is what I claimed to do in my original statement). To be honest, I
realized that I don't have the patience or inclination to find out. As
long as the food is edible it works for me :). Basically, this blog
contains recipes that are quick-easy, no-fuss and will get you out of
the kitchen in about 10-20 minutes most of the time.
Earlier statement:
10 months ago I got married and came to the US. It was huge shift for me and suddenly I was given a brand new responsibility. I had to COOK. I was not a "cooking" illiterate by any means but the times I cooked were far and few and did not qualify me to cook on my own. My mom ever so diligently wrote down a few important recipes ( like the parrupu kozhambu or the elimichchai saathamudhu) and bought a lot of mallika badrinath recipe books to supplement. And so I started cooking. After a couple of months of trial I felt good about my cooking.I started experimenting. People liked it , my husband definitely did and even my " expert sis" approved of my cooking. I felt good. I had one basic mantra , add vegetables, spice powders and spice pastes ( chilli,garlic,ginger,coriander,mint) to make a recipe work. By powders I mean everything I can possibly find in an Indian kitchen. Turmeric, chilli, coriander, garam masala, aam chur, pepper were always present and the chat masala was added depending on my mood. Till two months ago I thought I was a great cook. Most things I made turned out good. But then one fateful day I started analyzing my cooking. I realized my cooking was nothing more than a bunch of masalas. I had no idea what each masala did. I had no idea How it would taste if I left out one of the masalas. I had no idea how different would it be to add fresh garlic instead of a paste or vice verse. I decided that from that day onwards my policy was "less is more". Making sure I added few things but make the dish taste great. I am on a voyage and would put up recipes as and when I try them. Hopefully you like it.
Earlier statement:
10 months ago I got married and came to the US. It was huge shift for me and suddenly I was given a brand new responsibility. I had to COOK. I was not a "cooking" illiterate by any means but the times I cooked were far and few and did not qualify me to cook on my own. My mom ever so diligently wrote down a few important recipes ( like the parrupu kozhambu or the elimichchai saathamudhu) and bought a lot of mallika badrinath recipe books to supplement. And so I started cooking. After a couple of months of trial I felt good about my cooking.I started experimenting. People liked it , my husband definitely did and even my " expert sis" approved of my cooking. I felt good. I had one basic mantra , add vegetables, spice powders and spice pastes ( chilli,garlic,ginger,coriander,mint) to make a recipe work. By powders I mean everything I can possibly find in an Indian kitchen. Turmeric, chilli, coriander, garam masala, aam chur, pepper were always present and the chat masala was added depending on my mood. Till two months ago I thought I was a great cook. Most things I made turned out good. But then one fateful day I started analyzing my cooking. I realized my cooking was nothing more than a bunch of masalas. I had no idea what each masala did. I had no idea How it would taste if I left out one of the masalas. I had no idea how different would it be to add fresh garlic instead of a paste or vice verse. I decided that from that day onwards my policy was "less is more". Making sure I added few things but make the dish taste great. I am on a voyage and would put up recipes as and when I try them. Hopefully you like it.
I love your new goal! In fact, finding shortcuts to traditional recipes is one of the things I am aiming at, too :- ) You would have noticed many 5 minute sweet recipes and recipes that save time using microwave for concurrent cooking, etc. I wish you all the best and I'm sure we'll learn from each other :-)
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