Have always wondered if cooking is really an art.. For whenever I cook, either it is awesome or awful, never consistent. I have prepared rasam about hundred times already, and I still go wrong sometimes. Reminded of the Shahi Tukda that I prepared when I was in my eleventh standard. Noted the recipe from TV and prepared it that evening. It was awful, I had to throw it away just like that. Vaaila vekkakooda mudiyale. Was telling my cousin about how bad it was and she heard my Shahi Tukda as Saaptu Thuppuda!!! ;-). Right hearing and right name!!!! :P:P
Well, we have always loved our mom's cooking and I have always wanted to be a super cook too, but laziness never made me go into the kitchen and try out new recipes. I do cook, but take hours (not anymore , you see :-) ).. I remember preparing a supposed-to-be-Naan with a supposed-to-be paneer peas masala for three hours. My uncle and dad had come for dinner and 7:00 pm and I remember serving them at 10:00. Though it was good, I realised that cooking means tasty dish at the quickest time, add nutrition to it. And more to it, I usually cook in huge quantities, and just because we shouldnt waste it, we have excess food which prevents one from relishing it. And dad always says, that whenever you cook, cook the correct quantity or less, makes the consumer (consumer?? ;-) ) ask for more and leaves a lasting taste too. Have found that to be true. So one more recipe to good cooking skills.
And we need to love what we do for it to turn out well. And that holds good for cooking too. My husband has a passion for cooking, prepares multicuisinary dishes, mostly innovative stuffs and everytime they turn out to be jus yummy. Have seen how he cooks, he adds this, he adds that, he adds whatever he feels like adding and finishes. Thats why he cannot explain any recipe, because he has no standard way of cooking (like what I have). I've started admiring his way of cooking thats pretty neat and interesting and SIMPLE. When I see him cook , I just feel that cooking is nothing, just a matter of interest and love for food. He added vegetables, tomatos and onions to our Dosai maavu and called it Kuzhi Paniyaaram ( I've always thought that preparing Kuzhi paniyaaram was very difficult), stuffed all the remaining vegetables in chappathi maavu and made stuffed paratha and a lot of such things. Well, maybe they are really simple, but I never knew that things can actually be prepared with so much ease.
Actually speaking, seems that love for the person you cook for adds taste to food and thats why moms cook so well. Vivek heard about this from his mom and came home once when we got engaged and asked me to cook. I told him not to link this and that, was terribly worried :-) but actually, the dinner was pretty good that day. He said he really loved it (is that true or a consolation for himself?? I dont know ;-) ) but found my sis growing red saying that I'v never prepared such a food for her :P:P. But last Sunday I prepared a complete meal in less than one hour and Vivek said that it was terribly awesome and the best food I've prepared, well, we actually fought then :P:P Anyways, love for the food and for the person being served (provided he is a lover of food) is an essential ingredient to good cooking.
Cooking is definitely an art :-)
Me writing about cooking?? Difficult to believe, but looks like I've got a passion for it. My friend, Kaushik, was saying the other day "Aunty (Jayanthi ezhuthufied as Jayaanthi Jayaaanthi and Jaya Aunty) no more talking about work (have I ever done that?) only molagu kozhambu and seeraga rasam from now on"... well, I think that's right, Kaushik :-)
Do check out my cousin's site --
http://aarthirajesh.sslpowered.com/kitchen/
P.S : Cutting the vegetables is also an art, adds more interest to cooking, actually. And to add flavour, a passion towards maintaining the kitchen, using appropriate dishes and arranging them makes cooking an interesting art.
