As a part of tradition when I was married; I was gifted a beautiful idol of Goddess 'Annapoorna'- the Indian deity of nourishment and the giver of life-sustaining food. Ever since then; the idol has been a part of my daily pooja rituals. The Goddess however, has held quite a restrained hand while showering her blessings on me!
My culinary skills are limited to the very basic minimum that is required so as not to starve myself and the family. Well, let me put it this way- some people are natural at cooking; certain others are natural at eating. And then, there's this third catagory of profoundly unfortunate souls like me; who; despite their boundless love for food; are neither gifted with the talent of cooking savoury meals; nor blessed with an appetite any greater than that of a polar bear in hibernation!
There's nothing much to work on; as far as the appetite part is concerned. Wedding receptions and banquets with elaborate menus turn out to be major disappointments for me. By the time I've tasted each of the food items to decide what I like the best; my tummy decides to rebel and refuses to accept another morsel of food!
The cooking part however, is something I haven't still entirely given up on! The frequent video blogs that keep popping up on social media every now and then; make the whole process of cooking seem like a child's play and incite me to try my luck with rekindled hopes. The seasoned hands belonging to the chef in these videos however; are no less deceptive than those of a sorcerer! They work seamlessly, with apparent ease; and voila! Within no time; a delectable-appearing and tastefully garnished dish is ready at the table; waiting to be served!
In real life however; things are far too tricky. Now, it isn't that these attempts of mine are entirely disastrous! However, whether it's because of my weariness at meticulously following the set of instructions; or simply because I tend to have too much fun eating half the raw ingredients; the final product; though edible; is never quite as delicious as I expect it to be!
That day though; I decided to be extra careful about following each of the set of instructions mentioned in the recipe. I had found an obviously easy looking recipe for the all time favourite 'motichoor laddoo' on one of my favourite cooking video blogs- 'Hebbar's kitchen'. On that fateful evening however; I came to the conclusion that cooking is certainly something more than following a particular set of guidelines word to word. Perhaps it's a fine blend of intuition, imagination and innovation; which I ; most lamentably; tend to lack! After all, anybody could be taught to play musical notations; but only a maestro can wield his instrument in such a way; as to create a soulful harmony!
I successfully managed to make the tiny fried florets (boondi) out of gram flour (if we overlooked the fact that I did char a few of them in the attempt) and sugar syrup. But the final mixture of boondi and sugar syrup was so runny that it would well have qualified to be called "boondi ki kheer"!The final result could have been nothing short of a catastrophe; but for my excellent disaster management skills. I was eventually able to cook up a dish with a very close likeness to the original 'motichoor laddoo' (though having a consistency that was soft and mushy rather than the usual firm and round ones)!
It is usually the husband who is assigned the unfortunate duty of being the first one to taste most of these recipes of mine. That night when he returned from work; I presented the dish before him; quickly explaining what it was; as he tried to rearrange his facial expressions to hide an obviously puzzled look!
As he tasted the first bite however; his face lit up in a huge grin. "It's nice" he said; generously helping himself with another piece from the plate!
"Next time I'd have to do something about the consistency though!" I added impatiently. "You'll figure it out" he said bracingly!
I honestly doubt when this "next time" would come; even whether it really WOULD come at all!
So far as my occasional rendezvous with cooking are concerned; I guess they would still continue! Well, I may not be fortunate enough like a few others who are blessed with an undoubted expertise in culinary arts. But after all; only a few others are fortunate enough as me to have been blessed with such connoisseurs who happily appreciate the efforts behind each of these not so successful attempts! The food I prepare may not be as flavourful; my life certainly is!
My culinary skills are limited to the very basic minimum that is required so as not to starve myself and the family. Well, let me put it this way- some people are natural at cooking; certain others are natural at eating. And then, there's this third catagory of profoundly unfortunate souls like me; who; despite their boundless love for food; are neither gifted with the talent of cooking savoury meals; nor blessed with an appetite any greater than that of a polar bear in hibernation!
There's nothing much to work on; as far as the appetite part is concerned. Wedding receptions and banquets with elaborate menus turn out to be major disappointments for me. By the time I've tasted each of the food items to decide what I like the best; my tummy decides to rebel and refuses to accept another morsel of food!
The cooking part however, is something I haven't still entirely given up on! The frequent video blogs that keep popping up on social media every now and then; make the whole process of cooking seem like a child's play and incite me to try my luck with rekindled hopes. The seasoned hands belonging to the chef in these videos however; are no less deceptive than those of a sorcerer! They work seamlessly, with apparent ease; and voila! Within no time; a delectable-appearing and tastefully garnished dish is ready at the table; waiting to be served!
In real life however; things are far too tricky. Now, it isn't that these attempts of mine are entirely disastrous! However, whether it's because of my weariness at meticulously following the set of instructions; or simply because I tend to have too much fun eating half the raw ingredients; the final product; though edible; is never quite as delicious as I expect it to be!
That day though; I decided to be extra careful about following each of the set of instructions mentioned in the recipe. I had found an obviously easy looking recipe for the all time favourite 'motichoor laddoo' on one of my favourite cooking video blogs- 'Hebbar's kitchen'. On that fateful evening however; I came to the conclusion that cooking is certainly something more than following a particular set of guidelines word to word. Perhaps it's a fine blend of intuition, imagination and innovation; which I ; most lamentably; tend to lack! After all, anybody could be taught to play musical notations; but only a maestro can wield his instrument in such a way; as to create a soulful harmony!
I successfully managed to make the tiny fried florets (boondi) out of gram flour (if we overlooked the fact that I did char a few of them in the attempt) and sugar syrup. But the final mixture of boondi and sugar syrup was so runny that it would well have qualified to be called "boondi ki kheer"!The final result could have been nothing short of a catastrophe; but for my excellent disaster management skills. I was eventually able to cook up a dish with a very close likeness to the original 'motichoor laddoo' (though having a consistency that was soft and mushy rather than the usual firm and round ones)!
It is usually the husband who is assigned the unfortunate duty of being the first one to taste most of these recipes of mine. That night when he returned from work; I presented the dish before him; quickly explaining what it was; as he tried to rearrange his facial expressions to hide an obviously puzzled look!
As he tasted the first bite however; his face lit up in a huge grin. "It's nice" he said; generously helping himself with another piece from the plate!
"Next time I'd have to do something about the consistency though!" I added impatiently. "You'll figure it out" he said bracingly!
I honestly doubt when this "next time" would come; even whether it really WOULD come at all!
So far as my occasional rendezvous with cooking are concerned; I guess they would still continue! Well, I may not be fortunate enough like a few others who are blessed with an undoubted expertise in culinary arts. But after all; only a few others are fortunate enough as me to have been blessed with such connoisseurs who happily appreciate the efforts behind each of these not so successful attempts! The food I prepare may not be as flavourful; my life certainly is!
