I am quite impatient when it comes to learning anything new, trying to gather as much knowledge in the shortest time possible. But this time around I'd decided to spend time on an activity and devote the free time I have after work. But choosing that activity was turning out to be a difficult task. By sometime during the middle of last month I had come up with a shortlist of activities which I could devote my free time to. Finishing one book a week, joining a gym to get back in shape, joining a trekking club and learning a new language were some of the options I had in my mind. And as luck would have it none of these options finally got my nod.
My choice was finally made when my mom and dad had to leave to Bangalore to attend my cousin's engagement and I couldn't as I had my job to thank for that. So I thought why not use this chance to learn some cooking. After all it is not only an activity I have no clue about but also the fact that the activity that follows has been an area of interest since childhood. So yes here I'm after experimenting in the kitchen trying to elaborate on my experiences over the last few days.
The first day I wanted to eat lady's finger and so I searched youtube for "lady's finger poriyal recipe", selected one of the videos and tried to imitate the lady who'd explained in under 2 minutes the intricacies of preparing a delicious lady's finger poriyal. I followed her advice word for word. The end output was a half cooked poriyal. I nevertheless decided to not waste that and ate every single piece in the bowl.
The second day I tried to prepare a potato poriyal. Going through the same steps starting with youtube search and ending with a highly spicy output instead of a half cooked one. I couldnt eat this one fully although I understood where I had gone wrong. So I was sure the next time I make Potato Poriyal it would be edible if not delicious.
Day 3, I felt I needed more than poriyal to satisfy my hunger (read: new found curiosity in the kitchen) and further my achievements in the kitchen. I called up my mom and asked her for an easy to make recipe. She suggested dal and tomato kootu. I jumped at the suggestion as it was one of my favorites and I also knew that was exactly why she had suggested that. So i went to buy tomato from the market nearby and half an hour from then on I had some delicious dal and tomato. Writing this reminds me that I need to put down the recipe somewhere lest I forget it soon. Now coming back to the cooking bit, I decided to retry potato poriyal rectifying the error from my previous experience and lo and behold I had a poriyal that would be 10/10 on the edibility scale while might have been only slightly above average on the mouth watering scale. And I had a satisfactory dinner that night. Plus I had clicked some pictures to make sure I savour that day.
The next day I was prepared to go all out preparing an even more elaborate lunch and even went to the extent of calling my friend home for lunch along with me. The fact that I might be subjecting the poor guy to torture did not deter me. I again called up my mom to ask her for the recipes of cucumbur kootu, beans poriyal and tomato rasam. And this time all three came out very well. And even my friend was very happy with the lunch. Part of it was also because this was probably his first South Indian meal in a few months. But I'm not going to take away anything from my first success in the kitchen. It was better than I expected it to be and yes this has given me the required encouragement to try out a few more things in the future. Only thing is I need to fight that incredible laziness of mine.
P.S. Let me now go and note down the recipes for all the items I had tried out in the kitchen over the past few days. It is said writing down the things we learn only increases their retention in the brain. So let me test the truth of this saying in this regard.
My choice was finally made when my mom and dad had to leave to Bangalore to attend my cousin's engagement and I couldn't as I had my job to thank for that. So I thought why not use this chance to learn some cooking. After all it is not only an activity I have no clue about but also the fact that the activity that follows has been an area of interest since childhood. So yes here I'm after experimenting in the kitchen trying to elaborate on my experiences over the last few days.
The first day I wanted to eat lady's finger and so I searched youtube for "lady's finger poriyal recipe", selected one of the videos and tried to imitate the lady who'd explained in under 2 minutes the intricacies of preparing a delicious lady's finger poriyal. I followed her advice word for word. The end output was a half cooked poriyal. I nevertheless decided to not waste that and ate every single piece in the bowl.
The second day I tried to prepare a potato poriyal. Going through the same steps starting with youtube search and ending with a highly spicy output instead of a half cooked one. I couldnt eat this one fully although I understood where I had gone wrong. So I was sure the next time I make Potato Poriyal it would be edible if not delicious.
Day 3, I felt I needed more than poriyal to satisfy my hunger (read: new found curiosity in the kitchen) and further my achievements in the kitchen. I called up my mom and asked her for an easy to make recipe. She suggested dal and tomato kootu. I jumped at the suggestion as it was one of my favorites and I also knew that was exactly why she had suggested that. So i went to buy tomato from the market nearby and half an hour from then on I had some delicious dal and tomato. Writing this reminds me that I need to put down the recipe somewhere lest I forget it soon. Now coming back to the cooking bit, I decided to retry potato poriyal rectifying the error from my previous experience and lo and behold I had a poriyal that would be 10/10 on the edibility scale while might have been only slightly above average on the mouth watering scale. And I had a satisfactory dinner that night. Plus I had clicked some pictures to make sure I savour that day.
The next day I was prepared to go all out preparing an even more elaborate lunch and even went to the extent of calling my friend home for lunch along with me. The fact that I might be subjecting the poor guy to torture did not deter me. I again called up my mom to ask her for the recipes of cucumbur kootu, beans poriyal and tomato rasam. And this time all three came out very well. And even my friend was very happy with the lunch. Part of it was also because this was probably his first South Indian meal in a few months. But I'm not going to take away anything from my first success in the kitchen. It was better than I expected it to be and yes this has given me the required encouragement to try out a few more things in the future. Only thing is I need to fight that incredible laziness of mine.
P.S. Let me now go and note down the recipes for all the items I had tried out in the kitchen over the past few days. It is said writing down the things we learn only increases their retention in the brain. So let me test the truth of this saying in this regard.
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