Rasode main kaun hai

 Yours truly, aur kaun. :D

My kitchen journey is that of a typical 80s girl. I didn't cook as a kid cos Mummy was there. In spite of having a full time job, she never asked and in fact abhorred any help in the kitchen :) She used to work in her own pace and style. When mummy was transferred to another location and sis and I were living with Papa, I was forced to pick up one key cooking skill. Making tea! I was probably 13 years old then and quickly came to grips with the process of making tea. And I started making the most amazing teas! So much so that even if Papa had the time, he would ask me to make tea. The evening chai with a big serving of Milk Bikis and Thin Arrowroot biscuits was standard practice for us three. When mummy used to come on her holidays, she used to be shocked at the full mug fulls of teas we kids used to have. But the love for chai has stayed on with my sister and I. So much so, till date there is a debate who makes the better tea :D her or me :D . (Its me!) I can write a whole post on tea itself and my love for it. I have lived with many tea lovers during my adult life. I had a room mate who used to claim "any time is tea time". I did not have a pleasant stay with her, but somehow having the morning cup of tea before starting to work and the evening cup once back were the moments of peace and weird calm. I also lived with a bunch of Delhi girls once upon a time, who were ace tea makers too. But I cannot talk about tea without mentioning roomie dear who used to make a killer tea.  Every morning a really quiet but super recharging walk, followed by hot parathas  with an unhealthy portion of butter, a cup of tea and The Time of India shared between us. We never needed any retreat. We started every day as if we were in a retreat. Some of the very best mornings of my life!

The knowledge of making coffee kinda grew as a lateral learning. There was some science to boiling the milk to the right extent and pouring it in a certain way to get the right amount of froth. There was also the measure of coffee to make it "light" or "strong". Marrying into a Tamil household opened my eyes to coffee. Its a ritual. I am not ritualistic. But the taste of fresh ground coffee, that is something that words cannot describe. I embraced coffee drinking with as much passion as tea. And I managed to introduce "real" tea in the our circle. The proper tea ;) with ginger, little bit of cardamom, the right amount of sugar, tea, milk and water. Its heaven in a cup! 

Tea, coffee aside, I cooked only for survival before marriage. Cooking when it was my "turn" to cook or when the lady who cooked didn't turn up.  In fact, when K spoke to my mother for the first time, she even mentioned "Amrita cant cook". K replied "She will learn" I chuckled "hah dream on". I thought I was one of those girls, who couldn't and wouldn't cook. Cooking wasn't cool.

Entering a partnership with a foodie changes stuff. Rather entering a partnership with a man changes stuff for a woman. Cos most men value food. They may have different tastes, but I haven't met a man who doesn't place food in the higher echelons in terms of priority ;) kuch bhi bana do is not really kuch bhi bano do :) 

After marriage along with bringing in the delicacy of tea, I also brought in matar paneer, gobi aloo, kadhi, stuffed parathas and vegetables such as pointed gourd, red spinach and Malabar spinach. I also had to imbibe the fair share of kootu, avial and a wide variety of rice dishes. I never fancied myself as a cook, but cooking equated creating. And I am one who loves seeing a tangible output. This post for instance is an output of my thoughts and gives me immense pleasure. I don't bother about who may or may not read it, but I derive immense satisfaction in writing it. Cooking in the sweltering heat of Chennai also gave the same sense of satisfaction when I saw the spread on the table later! 

Migrating to the UK was another culinary exposure. Since I was the solo person in the kitchen ( a first! no room mate or mom or mil) I learnt stuff. I picked up dishes from all over India and started experimenting. K and my Indian palette never wavered much from our traditional Indian dishes though we tried the odd Italian, Mexican or African. We reserved those cuisine for outside dining. When kids came along with their taste accustomed to the European foods thanks to day care and school, we had to drag in some international items into the kitchen. 

All was fine and dandy, but there was one thing I couldn't do. I couldn't bake. I couldn't bake to save my life! Literally. When lock down happened, I felt brave and tried a no-bake tart first. It came out swell! Ahem, beginner's luck? The next step was a doughnut recipe from a channel BakeWithShivesh. That was a roaring success too. The kids loved it since I involved them. They loved watching the video and later making it. I was feeling brave. I was doing all this with weight measurements since I had a kitchen scale. But then I thought measuring cups would be handy. I got them and tried the Devil's food cake with a lot of anxiety. And it came out perfect! There was no stopping after that. From a non-baker, I evolved into one who owns a hand and mechanical whisk, a spring form baking pan, 2 normal ones to make layered cakes, muffin trays, and knows the difference between ganache and buttercream frosting and fresh cream  frosting and is also aware of  how to make them! :D 

Lock down make me find therapy in cooking! I have started making pickles and dry chutneys, nut butters and laddoos and a plethora of other items. I relish cooking so much that a regular complaint from K is "You are always in the kitchen"

The Diwali the year Covid hit

 2020 will be an unforgettable year for Covid-19. This year a lot of things ground to a halt and changed beyond recognition. A part of me definitely enjoyed the lack of social activities. I also liked the break from kids activities. Weekends were a bit more rested and so were weekday evenings. With the weather getting colder, no one minds the extra time at home.

But like many well meaning people, I have also succumbed to the YouTube feeds of various chefs and cooking channels :) I have become a bit of a "cook from scratch" lady who makes her own paneer, Nutella and peanut butter. Laddoos and pies and tarts are always available in our fridge. But Diwali is extra special isnt it. So I had to up the ante. :) 

A week on Diwali, as the YouTube videos got more manic around the festival, so did my enthusiasm. So over the week K and I consumed 3 batches of laddoos - coconut, wheat flour and gram flour ones. Along with some sev and murukku. The day was reserved for chole puri. I had also prepared some organic colours for the kids to make rangoli. 

Come the D-day, K and I started up with some hearty conversations followed by phone calls to Chennai home. It was a Saturday and because of the second lockdown, we didnt have the usual swimming class in the morning. Which just made it all the more wonderful :) A light breakfast done, the kids were off to playing while I got on with cooking. The girls are EXTREMELY fussy eaters. I was sure the dish's reception could go either ways. But! Once it was ready, the girls loved it! Chiyaa who is the fussier one, said "Mummy this is awesome" I could faint! The kids had their food with all enthusiasm and were even more enthused to make the rangoli. Food done, they got on with it. They made planets are nebulas :D but who cares as long as they are having fun! 

I felt a tad guilty that the kids did not have any dessert. So I offered if we could bake a cake. Now I cannot bake to save my life. No matter which recipe I follow "easiest recipe to moist chocolate cake" or "the best cake recipe you need" - they all are an utter failure for me :( Some are a mild success. And we eat all of them however the outcome. So uttering my prayers to the almighty, I started on with the ingredients for a cake with the kids. The kids definitely need a ganache, else its "too plain". Now that was easy. For once I had the raw materials for that. The cake came out "biscuity", but chocolate ganache saved the day! The kids ate!! Hurray!!

Evening as K was munching on some more savoury snacks, Pumpki came towards him and tried one. She loved it. I nudged Chiyaa to give one a go as well. She said "Mummy can you make lots more of this?" OMG! Honestly I could not have asked for anything more on this auspicious day. This has really revved up the already revved up cook inside me :D 

Sunday I could definitely feel the blues of the most awesome festival being over. We felt loaded with all the food over the past week. But we did need some "simple food" :P because the body needs energy you see. Simple food of rice, sambar, cabbage curry and brinjal curry with yoghurt turned out to be most appetising. Chiyaa and Pumpki got busy with some school work and I had to steel myself to the coming Monday  :( 

A wonderful Diwali was definitely done!

Pat a cake pat a cake baker's man

Bake me a cake as fast as you can.

No I am not learning this rhyme for Chiyaa. This is something that just came into my mind after my very first baking experience. 

Let me start from the beginning. I have always envied people who can bake.My mom makes the most amazing cakes and cookies, but I never ever gave her much bhaw except for licking the container in which she makes the dough. I loveeeeeeeeeee that raw batter :). I always wished I could bake or rather gather the courage to bake. K's manager's wife whetted my desire for the same. Shes mastered the art of baking. She can whip a cake or a batch of cookies in a jiffy. She encouraged me by saying, the only thing is gathering the ingredients. Else baking is sooooooooo easy. Sounds so promising. Then I have posts like this (Deeps) and this (Shalom) which make the option even more alluring. 

So I always toyed with the idea of baking - like one toys with the idea of joining a gym, a yoga class, buying salad vegetables or reading an autobiography. (Yes these are all ideas I toy with :D ) Baking had the added de-merit of - yes you guessed it - eating. (Oh you could'nt guess it?) Well.. K is not a cakes person. Neither am I unless I am in the confectionery section when I am literally like a bull in a china shop (errr.... just shopping ). But like Dr. Jekyll K does turn into a cake person when he enters Nando's.  The vegetarian in him turns into a proper tangdi chicken fan too. But we should nt bother too much with that. So where was I, K and cakes. Yes - he simply loves the chocolate cheese cake there. The cake looks stunning, tastes amazing. K forgets me, the baby, the world, his hair, and most of all, his bulging beer belly when he merely thinks about it. Anyday he would elope with the cake for a better life. 

Ok now that I have posted a pic of the ahem 'other'. I thought I would sneak the way into K's heart again through a - yes - cheesecake. But cake = bake which scares the living day lights out of yours truly. So I chanced upon this "No bake chocolate cheesecake". Cake and that too no bake - woo hoo. It was like puri kayanat conspiring to get me to make a cake. Still I took close to 3 weeks to summon the actual COURAGE to get the ingredients! I think I make this much effort to venture into a room with a lizard in it. So finally last  Saturday, I took 45 minutes browsing through the various aisles in the super market to get all the stuff for the would be delicious cheese cake.

Sunday evening was the good muhurat to start on the shubh karya. I enlisted the services of K as well. Now I do not have a blender, a mixer, a baking tray - no nothing. K broke the biscuits with bare brute force. I beat the cream cheese with the manual beater all the time thinking  - toned arms toned arms. And lo and behold I was able to beat it into the 'soft peaks' state. All preps done and the cake loaded, it was time to freeze it for an hour. After an hour, the chocolate seemed soft still so I thought well, let it freeze some more. In the meanwhile I took the opportunity to tell everyone - my mom, my friend in Blore, who ever I saw online on fb - I AM  BAKING A CAKE. Some more time ended up being over night (yes I forgot to take it out) I dreamt that the whole cheese cake was frozen and I kept it for thawing and ended up having something like a cheese cake rasmalai. I woke with a fright and took the cake from the freezer and put it in the fridge (the next step). I waited as much as my impatient self could allow me before nudging the knife into the heart of the cake.

The results are presented below.

The plate has only the chocolate part. The over night freezing did unmentionable things to the base so much that it parted ways with the top. In spite of my gorilla type efforts, I could not make them come together. Its chocolate cheese cake - no one mentioned the importance of the base. :( 

After repeated and persistent hammering I was able to make some portion of the base nudge out - and this what the wreckage looks like. 

Soooooooo after thisssssssssss utter disaster I intend to make microwave cookies next. Till then any ideas to salvage the cake? Else anyone game for some digestive biscuits with cheese and dark chocolate? :( 

Woman of the house

Its been close to a week, and I have been the woman of the house in the true sense of the term.

My mom in law has been with my sis in law in the hospital since the past 2 weeks. My sis in law delivered a cutsu baby girl on the 29th of April( A Taurean baby :D :D )

So for the past 2 weeks, the reins of the house have been in my hands.

Morning I wake up with K at 0530 hours pronto for the gym which we go from 0600 hours to 0700 hours.

After that its a scurry of activity for me once I am home. I prepare something for lunch. Usually I cook the curry the night before since in the morning I have time just to make the rotis. Stupid K leaves the house at 0810 hours pronto. That has me all huffing and panting to get his lunch ready. And simulataneously, I prepare my morning cuppa and gulp it down in intervals.

After the lunch is ready, I get on with the breaker. (Now I am getting a tad hyper by calling it making breaker.) I have been feeding poor K on bread all the while. Its some sandwich or the other every day. And K s been a sweet to eat it everyday. (On second thoughts I somehow feel, he thinks bread has lesser calories than normal Indian breakfast which makes him all the more happy to eat the bread. )

But seriously being in control of the house, is quite a pain. I have to ensure that the maid does the needful. And since she does not understand Hindi, I have to more all the more patient to explain to her with actions what needs to be done. And we get fresh water from 0730 hours to 0745 hours which has to be filled in drums et al (Chennai has water problems - information for the uninitiated). K runs around doing this, but I have to see to it sometimes in case he is tied up in something else. Evenings there are all the clothes to be folded and kept. Then the ones meant for ironing have to goto the laundry basket and when the laundry lady comes to pick the stuff, it has to be ensured that the count is proper and that she has delivered the right number of clothes.

I realise what a major help my mom in law had been all this while. Being in charge, gives you a lot of room as in what you want to eat but it brings in the additional burden of thinking what to cook to eat.

One day when I came all drenched in sweat from the kitchen, K was like ,"Hmpf so much scene for cooking dinner one day. Imagine your mom and my mom and so many other moms who do this day in and day out and have been doing for so many years." I felt like gouging the eyes of that insensitive brute.

This brief stint has made me realise the prowess of our moms for sure. Its not mean feat to manage the house. I now hail all the mother and home makers of the world. Maa tujhe Salaam.