Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Kitchen Counter wisdom!


Couldn’t help putting them down anyway..Have a read..smile and move on :)..

I started my cooking lessons early into middle school. I was amma’s sous chef doing all the chopping, peeling..and then she taught me the first practical lesson on ratios and proportions when I made a classic “kanji” (porridge)…when asked to cook some rice on a day she was unwell. Appa stirred in some pickle into it and literally drank the overcooked rice that evening. Amma always used visual estimates and not measuring cups and I blamed that for my culinary accident. Well, let’s say, from then the kitchen wisdom helped my math. Let’s also say my initial mysore pak attempts have been valuable contributions to structural engineering. And that Wrigley's signed an undeclared contract after a specimen of my halwa. So you are catching my drift with this right!….Cooking wasn’t the first of my passions or talents…But oh hell, so what… But from then to now, I have grown and graduated into a pretty good cook. …..I can’t still think of spending too much time in the kitchen if I am by myself. It feels like a chore. But cooking is something I have started enjoying lot more after having a family of my own. And that the family also enjoyed the cooking helped.

I am blessed with a picky eater like many other moms. He nibbles his way around things like a little squirrel and I end up experimenting in the kitchen to please my nearly 3 ft tall food critic. While at it, the kitchen counter has also been a place of learning life’s lessons…so to say, if u coexist with the tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and eggplants, get thrown into dishes, get swirled around in soups…it’s a little journey of learning, cooking and eating..:)..Hence presenting my Kitchen counter wisdom…

1. All elements have to go in ..the sweet, salty, the sour, the spicy ..But that’s what makes the soup flavorful.
We tend to hold on to the perception that life will get to a point of feeling all settled in and then we can then make the best of the time ….There shall be little problems, little things constantly throwing off the picture from the perfect setting. But in them is the learning and the experience. Life needs a little bit of everything for us to appreciate or cherish the good moments.

2. If you didn’t wait for the mustard to crackle, you are going to bite into a bitter seed.
Ever had a spoonful of a perfectly good dish, just to bite into a bitter mustard seed? Hot oil makes the mustard crackle, but once it’s crackled it seasons the dish. Sometimes you need to wait and get to hear the complaints, grievances and the crackling, because getting them out is better in the longer run.

3. Patience goes a long way.
Ever tried cooking for a party in a hurry and ended up spending more time fixing the dish than u did making it in the first place. Sometimes a little patience takes u farther and to a better place.

4. If there is too less salt, add it …If there is too much salt, don’t fret …use a potato to soak it all away
There are always solutions. More salt is always a more difficult situation than less…but there are still solutions. They may just not be obvious!!

5. A little lemon on the onion helps u tear up less.
I cry buckets while chopping onions…For those of u that don’t know, Bed Bath & Beyond carries ‘Onion Goggles’ which B bought for me to preserve his marital vows of not seeing me tear up!! But this little tip went a step further in holding the dam together. There is always a softer way to deliver a hard message. There are ways to retain the value of the message but reduce its acidity.

6. Dishes that tend to be sticky need to be stirred often. Else they’ll either burn or get lumpy
Some issues are sticky and complicated and our impulse leads us to avoid thinking about them purely because we are not sure how to fix them. When in reality all they need a little more attention and patience.

7. Baking makes the fruits sweeter.
Like baking brings out the flavor in several things, some experiences make u better, stronger and bring out your core qualities…Even the not so sweet blueberries taste sweeter when baked.

8. It's OK to start over again.
Sometimes over correcting a dish beyond a point does not fix it but makes it a bigger disaster. A mistake is a mistake. Acknowledge and start over again.

9. Perseverance pays off
From carving out continents on atta and seriously contemplating starting an Organic Frisbee business, I have come a long long way in these years and have improved my chappati’s in shape and texture.. I still hold my breath as it beautifully puffs up and bend down in curtsy. Like anything, some aspects of cooking need some perseverance if u don’t have the natural talent.

10. Forget the bad dish, don’t forget the lesson
The household kitchen table is a learning ground…a place of mistakes and lessons… a place to grow up. You are not expected to be perfect all the time. So make mistakes, forget the bad dish, but hold onto the learning.

11. End with a desert.
End with a positive thought…end a fight with a hug….A little sweetness in the end makes the whole meal worthwhile.

And lastly….

12. Murphy enters ur kitchen on the day you have invited a lot of people over for lunch
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If u stayed with me through this, Thanks for reading…:)!