Friday, December 26, 2008

My cooking (mis)adventure

We're all aware of the fact that cooking isn't exactly a forte of us desi men (most of us anyway). I was no different when I left home for abroad couple of months back as I had to learn the not-so-canny art of cooking the hard way, following recipes written on a piece of paper like an engineer. They tell me it's common sense really, but it's all french to me to be honest. I remember once I added HALDI (Tumeric powder) to mashed potatoes, only to realize later that I was supposed to mix ZEERA (Cumin seeds) instead! Go, as they say here in the US, figure!

Anyway, blunders (although, admittedly a lot less dumb) were the order of the day during the entire semester. I did, however, get much better at it progressively through the course of the semester. A proof of that follows. Below you see a snap of me multi-tasking and preparing spaghetti, bhindi (okra) and beef patties at the same time. A first, I tell you, for a novice like me :P


I would still consider myself a n00b when it comes to cooking. I still cannot make any meat-dish yet. I would love to try out QEEMA (ground beef) and maybe even Chicken Biryani, although I'm told it ain't that easy. Oh well, I guess I'd have to content myself with my "watery" daals, bhindis and bhurtas (mashed potatoes) for now. I know they say practice makes perfect, but I know Razz the Chef wouldn't have lasted a day in this world!

10 comments:

Saadia said...

Haha. All the best! Perhaps you'd like to try out healthier options like steamed vegetables! :P

Anonymous said...

thats some progress! :)

but seriously, meat items are the easiest...i'm planning to cook white chicken karahi today ;)

JDèé said...

Looks delicious! :)

Sana said...

ur lucky ur learning it earlier as still ur in ur growing and learning age :P
as for girls than ur far more better than many of ur age ;)
Good good keep it going ur excel in it someday and ur no different than any other chief appearing in the TV these days :P and while they cook something wrong they say that this is innovation or fusion :P HAAAAH!

Anonymous said...

I can help you out in learning some desi dishes. You should try chicken Karahi..its not that difficult.

Tanveer Badar said...

Chicken sounds easy to me. No personal experience though.

Another option is getting married, same thing I was telling Magga.

Anonymous said...

Come on!! you can get your hands on some ready-to-cook recipes of some local cuisines available there!! Biryani is not so "cant-do" thing these days!!

Unknown said...

@Saadia
Yup, you gotta eat more veggies here ... whether you like it or not.

@Anas
Like I said earlier on your blog, I envy you for that! :P

@JDee
It was :)

@Anon
I don't know if I'm still in the "growing and learning" stage, but if I cook better than some girls then things must be more messed up than I thought

@Fahad
I will definitely try that someday, soon :P

@Tanveer
Everything "sounds" easy enough :). Marraige is not feasible right now :P

@Irfan
Local cuisines? Dude, they suck tbh. or maybe that's a bit harsh. I like our food much better. What I do not like is spending too much time in the kitchen (which I think Biryani requires). Can you make it?

Anonymous said...

@ Razz : After a while I am sure you will enjoy cooking. I have been cooking and living alone now for almost 12 years. Self sufficiency has no parallels. May be you should try simpler things like salads and soups etc first? Although with the internet I guess things are way easier than they ever have been when it comes to access to recipes. Good luck, oh and nice blog!

Unknown said...

@odzer
Thanks for dropping by! I have started off with relatively simple things and I'm glad I can cook some dishes pretty ok now. My next step is to move to meat-dishes, can't live without em :)

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