Something About My Cooking Philosophy
It was last Saturday that we were having a normal chit-chat, and suddenly some of my close Cooking friends asked me what is your cooking philosophy ?? what is your primary thoughts when you try cooking , is it playing around with ingredients or is it you first look around what is in your pantry ….
Let me guess, I am a mom , a quite busy stay at home mom, and yes love to cook ..and if I could just summarise my philosophy ,it would be like cooking healthy, quick and easy meals so my near and dear ones can enjoy it …but , sometimes I cheat on this philosophy and go for high calorie desserts and deep fried Pakodes , haha ….
I believe in cooking with fun and what you enjoy the most …be it little or more ,I don’t cook daily seven course meals , but always some quick and easy ways to nourishment and proper healthy eating , also sometimes some recipes which require some time and labour….
Traditional Indian cooking concentrate much more on cooking seven course meals .and Bengali cuisine is one such example ,where we start with first course of saag , then dal with some fried pakode or Tele bhaja like Beguni (eggplant dipped in gram flour mixture and deep fried) or cauliflower pakode ,Fish curry with Garam bhaat (warm cooked rice) , and to finish it off tomato chutney and ambol..
But modern day cooking has shrinked to only cooking Dal (lentil soup) , some fry and fish curry , atleast this is what I do to be honest with you ….…
But what about when its time for a company to visit, what will be your preference, do you satisfy your creativity and presentation , or is that you stick to time tasted and reliable recipes, vegetarian paneer or some Thai Tofu curry , or non vegetarian chicken curry or chicken breast cooked in Italian Dressing …what will be coming to your mind first …
For me I am bit afraid to go with my creativity when inviting company and stick to basics But when I am cooking for my loved ones and dear ones ,I usually play around with my things in Pantry ….because I know they will always encourage me saying that better luck next time.. Luckily it has not happened yet , hopefully it wont ...
So this time this is my version of Playing with things in Pantry …Fusion Cooking
And I am not joking in Durban there is a fusion cooking school see
fusioncooking.co.za
waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/foodissues/foodtrends
and also a take on Gobi Munchurian By Meenakshi of Hooked on heat ,such a lovely way to get Gobi done ,lovely and tasty …
Gobi Munchurian
Fusion cooking is something you call twist in the original recipes also its just not always changing the ingredients to suit the taste but also the method of doing it , see what Mandira has come up with a fab Idea of Rasmalai made with a twist ,who would have thought such neat idea will exist to get your yummy Rasmalai doneRasmalai-with-twist ….
And Our own Sandeepa has done to bring best out of soya chunks when she made breakfast on saturady morning Egg-paratha-with-twist, way to go girl and the lovely kid version ….
So its always some creativity in corner of your heart look out for that , who knows may be next time you can also come up with some Fusion Cooking , Cooking with twist or Fusion Intrusion …or whatever you would coin the term , its upto you ....
Hope you all are enjoying nature , take out some time to be with nature , I am taking the day as it comes , hope you too.........
BonAppetite and Happy Cooking
It was last Saturday that we were having a normal chit-chat, and suddenly some of my close Cooking friends asked me what is your cooking philosophy ?? what is your primary thoughts when you try cooking , is it playing around with ingredients or is it you first look around what is in your pantry ….
Let me guess, I am a mom , a quite busy stay at home mom, and yes love to cook ..and if I could just summarise my philosophy ,it would be like cooking healthy, quick and easy meals so my near and dear ones can enjoy it …but , sometimes I cheat on this philosophy and go for high calorie desserts and deep fried Pakodes , haha ….
I believe in cooking with fun and what you enjoy the most …be it little or more ,I don’t cook daily seven course meals , but always some quick and easy ways to nourishment and proper healthy eating , also sometimes some recipes which require some time and labour….
Traditional Indian cooking concentrate much more on cooking seven course meals .and Bengali cuisine is one such example ,where we start with first course of saag , then dal with some fried pakode or Tele bhaja like Beguni (eggplant dipped in gram flour mixture and deep fried) or cauliflower pakode ,Fish curry with Garam bhaat (warm cooked rice) , and to finish it off tomato chutney and ambol..
But modern day cooking has shrinked to only cooking Dal (lentil soup) , some fry and fish curry , atleast this is what I do to be honest with you ….…
But what about when its time for a company to visit, what will be your preference, do you satisfy your creativity and presentation , or is that you stick to time tasted and reliable recipes, vegetarian paneer or some Thai Tofu curry , or non vegetarian chicken curry or chicken breast cooked in Italian Dressing …what will be coming to your mind first …
For me I am bit afraid to go with my creativity when inviting company and stick to basics But when I am cooking for my loved ones and dear ones ,I usually play around with my things in Pantry ….because I know they will always encourage me saying that better luck next time.. Luckily it has not happened yet , hopefully it wont ...
So this time this is my version of Playing with things in Pantry …Fusion Cooking
And I am not joking in Durban there is a fusion cooking school see
fusioncooking.co.za
waitrose.com/food_drink/wfi/foodissues/foodtrends
and also a take on Gobi Munchurian By Meenakshi of Hooked on heat ,such a lovely way to get Gobi done ,lovely and tasty …
Gobi Munchurian
Fusion cooking is something you call twist in the original recipes also its just not always changing the ingredients to suit the taste but also the method of doing it , see what Mandira has come up with a fab Idea of Rasmalai made with a twist ,who would have thought such neat idea will exist to get your yummy Rasmalai doneRasmalai-with-twist ….
And Our own Sandeepa has done to bring best out of soya chunks when she made breakfast on saturady morning Egg-paratha-with-twist, way to go girl and the lovely kid version ….
So its always some creativity in corner of your heart look out for that , who knows may be next time you can also come up with some Fusion Cooking , Cooking with twist or Fusion Intrusion …or whatever you would coin the term , its upto you ....
Hope you all are enjoying nature , take out some time to be with nature , I am taking the day as it comes , hope you too.........
BonAppetite and Happy Cooking
Hi mantu,
ReplyDeleteNice write up...
This is so true..I want to chronicle the traditional cooking so that the tradition goes on, but at the same time I want to try out fusion cooking to make life easy too.
Thanks for your nice comments about my recipe:)
Let me know how it turns out if you try
--sandeepa
Hello Mantu! Great write up,my motto is traditional with updated twist! :))
ReplyDeleteHi Mantu- you are right. I love experimenting in cooking and most of the times it works! But there are some dishes I would never mess with. For me, food is also about ingredients, balance and ofcourse taste. I hope you tried and likes the rasmalai with a twist! :)
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