Innovative Cooking

 I strongly believe in outsourcing. If a task can be done effectively by someone else at a reasonable price then I am up for it. So when I was in Pune , the cooking job was outsourced to Geeta bai my maid. When I was back from work all the food used to be laid out on the table. This does not mean I did not know how to cook. I am glad I was not amongst those girls who learn cooking only after marriage. I always knew cooking right from when I was a teen but you see I don’t use my skill set unless it is really required! This is a quality which most of the lazy people possess. And it was really required when we moved to US. I was pregnant at that time, was not working and had lots of free time. I also had strong food cravings. Every night after I closed my eyes in bed all the food items like pav bhaji, dosa, sizzler, noodles used to dance in front of my eyes. This gave me that extra encouragement to cook.

As I mentioned earlier I used to cook since I was a teen. It was not a very elaborate cooking but whatever I used to cook , I used to try to make it in a little different way . I used to add pav bhaji masala in Maggi and tomato ketchup in phodnicha bhat, fry egg and boiled potato together etc. I always think : what is the fun in cooking the same thing with the same standard recipe. That must be making it boring for many people. When I was a child I remember people around me telling me certain fixed rules about eating. I was never able to understand that logic. If something tastes good with something else that’s it …go ahead and eat it that way.

Now I cook a lot and absolutely dig it. It is also a good way of being creative. Before cooking anything I always think how can I make this recipe more interesting and tasty ? Can I add something else ? Can I use a short cut and make it simpler? What ingredient can I add or subtract to personalise it according to my taste . If I don’t have certain ingredients, what can I use as a substitute?  I have tried making a pizza with aloo subzi as a topping, aloo tikki with methi mixed in it, adding biryani masala to capsicum subzi, cheese stuffing in baingan and so on ..

I know this is not possible when you are working , managing the house and also taking care of the kids. It is not possible every day. But it is worth giving a shot sometime. I also agree that not all experiments result into something tasty. Sometimes it can be a total disaster.  But that is fun too. You then learn from your mistakes.  And let me tell you something the joy of stumbling upon a delicious recipe by chance is immense…..you don’t want to miss that J