Mar 04, 2004 10:21 AM
2490 Views
(Updated Mar 04, 2004 11:25 AM)
The worst thing about being married is coming home to the travails of kitchen life after a lovely honeymoon. When lines like ''What's cooking honey?'' take on an entirely different perspective altogether. Depending on the type of cook you are, it sounds like a compliment, enquiry or a threat.
To all ye uninitiated into the art of stomach-warming, here's mamma to help you out. Choicest excerpts picked out just for you!
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Auntyji, I am a software engineer-earning my bread and butter without knowing how to use both of them in combination. Yes, am veggie in a dog-eat-dog world and this rate, might turn up and eat one myself if you don't help me. :(
Beta, why fear when mamma is here. Dog-gone sure, I will help you. First things first. Learn to make a sandwich first. It will boo(s)t up your kitchen skills considerably. Butter your bread, top it with carrots, onions, cucumber...anything you can eat raw. Add a dash of pepper and salt above each vegetable.Then add another buttered bread on top and munch away. Oregano, if you can get some. Keep experimenting. Then, check out cornflakes, maggi and cup ' o' noodles. It will at least keep your stomach from growling :)
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Mamma, ab tusi help kar sakti ho! Wadda changa Tamil munda tha. Shaadi kar li...kya pata uske taste (buds) bhi itne wadde wadde hai! Tell me how to cook something madraasi. Kucch simple sa suggest karo pehle :(.
Oye puttar, don't be so upset. South-Indian dishes are vaery simple. For making rice, wash rice two times. For every cup of rice, add double the quantity of water. For dal, add four times water and cook in seperate containers. Cook in pressure cooker till you hear three complete whistles. Allow cooker to cool, open the lid. Your rice and dal (lentils) are ready!
Seasoning for every south Indian dish is basically same. Heat two tablespoons of oil in thick bottomed vessel. Add one teaspoon mustard seeds. After they stop spluttering, add Kadi patta (curry leaves-5-6), coriander leaves, chillies (to taste), onions, Asafoetida. Saute for around two minutes. Then add your lentils/vegetables and a little water and cook covered till you can break the vegetables with a spoon. Add salt (to taste, add less-you can add it later on too). At least 25% of south Indian dishes are made that way.
No south indian worth his mundu will finish his food without curd rice.Mix curd with your rice to get curd rice. You can add in a seasoning of onions, curry leaves and ginger but that is optional.
You can learn one breakfast item now. Upma. Roast rava in some oil in a thick bottomed pan. Remove it on to a paper. Add some oil in the pan. Do the seasoning. For every cup rava, add two cup water. Boil the water. Add rava. Add salt. Cook till done.
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Maami, aiaiyo...help me. I am up to my neck in dough. I am mixing wheat with water to get dosa like paste and spreading on tava to get chapati. But everything is sticking to pan and burning!
My sixth sense tells me that this is the first time you are attempting rotis. And beta, know your dosas from your chapatis. Take two cups of dough. Add one teaspoon salt. Keep adding watter little by little and keep kneading till you get a butter like dough. Add a little oil if necessary. Take a little dough, make it into a big lemon shaped ball and then roll it thin. Then heat it on tava to get chapati. But dear, this is not so simple as it sounds. You will get it right after a few attempts. Till then, let wahe guru be on your husband.
For making dal, take one cup masoor dal and boil it with four cups of water in pressure cooker for three whistles. Heat oil in pan. Add jeera. After it stops spluttering, add cut tomatoes, onions, garlic,chillies. Saute for two minutes. Add salt to taste. Your dal is ready! Instead of dal add, vegetables to get some north-indian curries. Get back after your husband again starts falling in love with the nearest hotel.
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Hey maams! Mom and Pop are out of station and it is exam time. I don't have the time to go to the hotel. Tell me something that can be cooked in less than 5 minutes. As of now, I know only how to boil water. Is that sufficient.
Dude, you can manage till your parents come; at the least. Buy Maggi or Cup o Noodles. Heat 1 and half teacups of water; when it boils, add maggi masala and maggi. Reduce flame and stir till water is gone. With 'Cup O Noodles', boil the mentioned quantity of water on the cup and add it to the cup containing the noodles. Cover for two minutes and you have something to munch on. For the rest, refer question number one.
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The worst thing I ever read in cooking manuals is about the salt and pepper which is always ''add to taste''. I wish they were more precise. But, now, I know what they mean. My levels of salt would kill a person with high BP. So, my advice is; start with little amounts of salt and keep increasing them with every experiment till you get them right. Same with pepper/chillies.
A few things to remember:
Cook vegetables keeping them covered. This will help cooking them fast and also save gas.
Plan everything well in advance. Of course, you will get this with experience. Yet..
Never forget to add water to the pressure cooker before steaming it.
Allow the pressure cooker to cool sufficiently before you open it.
If you are Mr/Ms butter fingers. Use a thick padded glove and remove things from the burner using both the handles of the utensil
Love cooking and the people you cook for. The rest will come naturally!
I hope this review will help someone out here. Let me know.
