Cooking

33 | Getting food to the table

/ Srishty / 1 Comment

When I moved to Berlin in 2016, I started cooking proper meals. Not just for myself, but for 5 people. We were 5 friends living together, and the others used to take up different chores around the house while I took care of the cooking bit, with each of us helping each other as required, of course. When I started, I was fairly amateurish, but I improved, obviously due to practice. When you are making chapatis for 5 people almost every other day, you are bound to get better at it.

After our semester ended, we all relocated to different places in Europe and I was living alone in the new city (Ljubljana, Slovenia) in a shared apartment. This meant cooking only for myself. I really didn’t feel motivated enough to make chapatis for just one person, so I must have made chapatis maybe once or twice in a span of, say, 3 months. I think its pretty weird for an Indian who is perfectly adept at making chapatis. However, despite not getting my hands dirty with chapati making, I did not feel too lazy about cooking my own meals. It almost became second nature. At this point, I was clear that whenever I move back to India and start living on my own, I will not hire a cook till the time I can do without it so as to not lose my habit of cooking every day meals without feeling lazy. (I assume every one reading this post is aware that its pretty affordable to hire a cook in India compared to western countries).

Till this day, I have not kept a cook. This also includes a 6-month stint in Dubai where I had an office provided serviced apartment which basically has a kitchen with bare essentials. I was perfectly comfortable cooking my own meals there as well.

However, there is one thing I have realized in this bringing food to the table journey of mine. I am a very ‘jugaadu’ type of cook. This is a Hindi word which means someone who wants to do stuff the street smart way, without doing everything by the book. What I mean is that my prime goal while cooking is always to fix a meal in the shortest span of time possible with it being delicious. However, I am not too patient with following recipes, nor am I one of those who will rush to get that one ingredient to get the recipe right. If I don’t have it, I’ll mostly do without it. Why am I writing this post then? That is because I feel a little envious of those who carefully craft a recipe around me and it usually tastes fabulous. I don’t want to change the way I cook entirely, I am more of going with the flow kinds, but sometimes I wish I had that kind of patience on few days at least. (Only few days though, because I know these careful crafters will not be comfortable cooking such elaborate recipes everyday :P). For me, even when I am hosting people, I find it hard to cook patiently. :/

Do you cook? What are you – the patient & elaborate recipe cook or the fix a meal quickly like myself? Tell me below!

Also, on a related note, I am thinking of chronicling my quick recipes here! Do let me know how that sounds. 🙂

Take care!

6 | Talking about breakfasts.

/ Srishty / 7 Comments

I am generally someone who gets excited about little things in life easily.

Even for me though, the amount of excitement – more like, looking forward to kind of attitude – that I have for breakfasts is pretty huge. Seriously, breakfasts make me happier everyday.

And the best part – I like all kinds. I love me a simple, very humble poha or a full elaborate continental mix. The sky is the limit really.

So, I am going to jot down a list of my favorite breakfasts on a regular day. Please don’t forget to let me know yours!!

1. Poha – this is a very humble, gluten-free breakfast dish in India which is very simple and hearty at the same time. I’ll be honest, I haven’t loved it since the first time I had it, because it felt a little underwhelming what with me being raised on heavier breakfasts like parathas. But, I love it at this point, is it the age? :O or maybe just access to nicely made poha. 🙂 The poha available currently in my client’s office is something I absolutely love. For some, it’s too simple but I love it.

2. Idli/Dosa or South Indian breakfasts in general – I love these a lot too. Super yummy and filling at the same time. I am not a huge fan of Vada, because of only and only one reason – if I am having something deep fried, why this, I would rather have something more sinful like samosa or kachori. 😛

3. English breakfasts – a lot of people diss these for the plainness, like how flavorless these are. Just baked beans and scrambled eggs ? Go away! But, but, I do enjoy these as well. Don’t really know the exact reason, but I am bound to believe it’s due to my love for bread as well as butter. I love toasts, buttered bread, bread jam or any form of bread really which brings me to my next point.

4. More elaborate continental breakfasts – think croissants with tomato and cheese, Ratatouille crepes, pancakes, gimme all of that!!!! Along with a good coffee, this is a must. At this point, I should also mention that I am not a big fan of the South Indian filter coffee. I prefer an Espresso, Capacinno or even a mix of instant coffee with hot water. 😛

5. Bread Omelette or any sandwiches – this is what triggered this post. Today is a Sunday and I made myself a veggie omelette with toasted multi-grain bread, with tea. And it was such a satisfying and happy meal.

6. Parathas – Of course, my love for Parathas is real. However, there has come to be a change in our relationship. It’s a bit sad but then it has happened, so have to acknowledge. I now prefer Parathas as lunch or dinner because they seem more like a big meal when I am cooking myself.i don’t feel like making Parathas for myself the first thing in the morning if I am the one cooking. However, when I am at my parents’ place, my mom or anyone else is feeding me, then I love having Parathas as breakfast too!

7. North Indian deep fried breakfast – you know the likes of Puri, kachori, bhatoore chole? I am not a big fan of these because I don’t always crave deep fried in the morning but occasionally these do feel like the thing to do! 🙂

Tell me your favorite breakfasts!! Be it oats or dahi bhalle, I want to know!!! 😀

Life Instagram-ed #13

/ Srishty / 11 Comments

First things first, I got honored with the ‘Very Inspiring Blogger Award’ by Jen @ The Haute Mommy Handbook. So very happy that she thought of me for awarding this. 🙂

Now I don’t think anyone missed having Life Instagram-ed posts around, but I missed writing these. 😀 The reason you are seeing less of these and Street Style posts is that my phone has broken down and I used to use my phone camera. Today, I really wanted to do this, so I used my mom’s phone, used Insta through laptop, basically went at great lengths to get my Instagram feed here. Finally, here you go from what you last saw in Life Instagram-ed #12:

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1. What do you think this is? No guessing game, I can’t wait to tell you. It’s a fabric piece from Shanker Market, Connaught Place when I was roaming there with one of my best friends while she selected some fabric for her sister’s marriage and I drowned in the gorgeousness. If you are even a tiny bit into getting your clothes stitched, this market is a must visit place. Though let me warn you it’s not exactly cheap. Still, must visit!

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2. This is from the Gurpurab celebrations in the area where I live. It’s a Sikh festival for the birth of the first Guru. Notice how coordinated everyone looks cleaning the road ahead for their Holy Book to arrive. It’s funny how faith can bind or break us. 🙂

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3. From the same procession, you see the ‘Panj Pyare’. Honestly, I never knew about what they signify even though I have seen them/heard about them since childhood. Having used Google, here’s what they are: While I did know the literal translation ‘The 5 beloved ones’ (I know this much Punjabi), they represent the first five men who were initiated into the Khalsa (the emodiment of the Guru) in the Sikh ceremony of initiation by their 10th Guru.

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3. The Holy Book of the Sikhs – Shri Guru Granth Sahib ji.

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4. Aah, this. :’) This is that side head-gear that you usually see Muslim women wearing commonly known as ‘Passa’ or ‘Jhoomar’. I really wanted to have own since a long time. I think this one is so very pretty and is as not pricey either. I got this for INR 800. The only problem is that it is very heavy, so doesn’t stay put in my thin hair. I imagined myself looking beautiful when I wore this to a friend’s wedding recently, but it was coming off every 5 seconds due to my thin hair!!

If you live in Delhi and want to buy this, let me know and I’ll be happy to share the shop details.

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5. When you have Nachos but no dip and no inclination to make any, you gather whichever vegetables are there in the kitchen and preferably chopped already. 🙂

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6. This one is special. One of my good friends from the blogging world, Krupa from Ishtyle Awhile, sent these earrings as a gift when I won a fun quiz on her blog. This is the first time I have ever won in a contest like this, you know, and the personal note was a cherry on the cake!

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7. This one is really, really important. If you are into baking at all, you should definitely try this recipe of Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls. Trust me, if I can do this, anyone can because I always face issues while baking in our microwave. I cannot stress on how badly I want you to try this recipe for it’s easy, tasty and satiates the craving for baking breads to some extent. Please do make this! I have made this thrice, the first time following the exact recipe, the second time replacing all-purpose flour (maida) with wheat flour and the third time adding paneer bhurji (cottage cheese dish) as a filling. So if you have anything to ask when you try the original recipe, feel free to ask. 🙂 Only thing to keep in mind is that you must have a convection mode in your microwave for any baking and if you use gas cook-top for baking, then I won’t be able to suggest the tweaks for this recipe as I don’t know about that. [Bhakti, this is the recipe we talked about].

Pheww! I typed this post twice as I lost the draft. 😀 That’s pretty much it. 🙂

Take care & keep smiling 🙂

Easy White Sauce Pasta Recipe!

/ Srishty / 21 Comments

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I read a recipe of white sauce pasta on Diary of a Cusp, (which by the way is a very good blog if you are looking for recipes 🙂 ) and instantly remembered that we also made something similar once at home. So, we decided to give that a go again and the result was yummy. 😀 Oh, did I mention that Diary of a Cusp just awarded me with a Liebster? Well, now you know. 😀 I am loving the support. 🙂

Coming back to the recipe, this is special because we did not have a lot of ingredients, that I consider important for this like cheese and garlic, at home at that time and it still tasted delicious. Read on to know further:

Ingredients:

  • Pasta of any shape (Around 100 – 150 grams)
  • Milk (One-fourth of a cup probably :P)
  • Cream
  • All Purpose Flour/Maida (Around two tablespoons)
  • Oil
  • Salt & Black Pepper
  • Garlic
  • Vegetables of your choice (We used onions and capsicum, but adding any or all of mushrooms, beans and carrots would be a good idea).

Let’s start now, shall we?

  1. Boil the pasta as per the instructions given on the back of the packet. Mostly, you have to put the pasta with thrice the water in a wide-mouthed vessel and bring it to a boil. Keep the vessel on the flame till you are sure that the pasta is properly cooked . Once done, shift it to a sieve so that the water drains out and put just a tiny bit of oil in the pasta so that it doesn’t get sticky.
  2. Heat oil in a pan, add a little bit of oregano and chilli flakes and toss the vegetables and cook till they are well-cooked. 😛 (Really now, nobody would make fun of my recipe explaining skills. Do you want the recipe or not?) Add a little bit of salt and pepper and toss the veggies. You can always add more salt, pepper at a later stage.
  3. Add pasta to the veggies and toss again.
  4. In a separate pan, add little bit of oil and put two-three small pieces of garlic for flavour. When it starts giving aroma, add around two big spoons of all-purpose flour and toss till it looks kind of cooked and cream-ish. Add milk slowly and keep stirring so that there are no knots formed. You can do this step with either one-fourth cup of milk or one-fourth cup of cream or using both equally, i.e. one-eighth of each. 😛 In that case, first add milk, then cream slowly. Once it starts cooking, add salt and pepper to taste. (Update: Princess Butter suggested in the comments that she doesn’t use all-purpose flour at all. I tried doing that and yes, it tastes the same. You can totally skip adding all-purpose flour and go straight to adding milk. Adding all-purpose flour just makes the sauce get cooked and become creamier faster).
  5. Once the sauce is almost completely cooked, add the sauce to the veggies + pasta mixture and cook a little bit more till everything is mixed properly. Once this is done, you can add some herbs like Oregano and chilli flakes. 🙂
  6. Go, hog now. 😀

Now coming to the more important things about this recipe: 

  1. This is NOT the proper way of making a white sauce pasta and there are many recipes available for that. This is a simple way around (Jugaad 😛 ) and does the job of being tasty, so.. 🙂
  2. I couldn’t believe that it tasted good enough without adding cheese, considering how unhealthy processed cheese is (at least the ones available in India) and considering how much I love them, I am glad that it worked without them. 🙂 If you wish to add cheese, just put some after performing point 5, that is, once you have added the white sauce to and tossed everything together, add grated Mozzarella cheese to the mixture and toss and cook a bit again.
  3. I know this is probably the worst way of sharing a recipe, but I really wanted to share the recipe because it is simple and tasty. Maybe, it sounds complicated but ask me in the comments section if anything is unclear. It really isn’t complicated. 🙂

That’s it! Thanks for reading.  I hope you like it. 😀