Cooking Mantra

Cooking is fun. I love to tweak the recipes here and there. Think FUSION. No recipe is set in stone. Improvise. That's the key.

I don’t have any qualms using store bought ready made masala powders as long as the brand is good and the expiry date is O.K. Indian stores have gotten better at storing brands that are not stale and are good in quality, not only brands from India but also from countries like Pakistan, Malaysia etc.

Cooking can be healthy. I’m not into the whole grains and only fiber rule. I love my carbs and it helps my gut that sometimes is prone to acting weird with too much diary products and fiber.

I use olive oil where I can and always use low fat light butter. I make chapatis -Indian bread with regular wheat flour. The Indian store stocks a brand that has some amount of bran in it. One can use basmati rice -white without feeling guilty. While fresh veggies rock, there are times when I find boiling frozen corn cobs, using frozen peas and a box of frozen mixed vegetables (lima beans, carrots, peas, green beans) to make a quick curry helps and tastes quite good.

Think O-P-T-I-O-N-S while cooking. There are days when you just have to use jalapenos instead of the spicy green chillies or you may have to use parsley (umm…not my favorite) in lieu of cilantro. You can cook a dish real spicy and then again not use spice at all.

Cooking is fun. As long as it doesn’t become a chore. As long as you don’t have to prepare breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner for family members day in and day out. And of course cooking is great when the chef gets to cook and the others have to wash the dishes.

Cooking is fun when you have music on in your kitchen, specially Bollywood songs. Popular FM channels are fun too when daughter’s in a mood to be mother’s helper in the kitchen.

Apart from cooking Indian food, I get around to preparing Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Mediterranean and Western dishes. Not regularly but once in a while when eating rice and curry gets tedious.