Hamari Rasoi Se

We like to eat a variety of Indian Vegetarian dishes and have many good cookbooks in our collection.

· The pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking written by Tarla Dalal

· Food Heritage of India written by Vimla Patil

· Nita Mehta’s Microwave Vegetarian Cookery

· Upcoming compilation by Mamta Mausi

We also keep Cook-books of National Rice-Cooker, Hawkins Pressure-Cooker, cuttings from Newspapers and magazines to supplement the collection and to try new stuff.

We like Chinese dishes and are very fond of south-Indian stuff like Rasam, Idli, Sambhar, Dosa, Medu-Wada, and spicy Dal-powder. After many attempts, the recipe of Sambhar has been brought closer to the authentic one with help of a neighborhood friend “Shanti” and her mother. It depends most on the masala ratios and the vegetables used in the steps. We either make it at home once every fortnight or go out to a nice restaurant in Pune named Kamat.

Other exotic stuff prepared by Aparna includes-

• Shahi Tukde (similar to Shahi Toast, but with Rabri on sweet toast pieces and topped with a slice of badam.
• Piste ki kheer (It is a secret recipe made without using actual piste but with green peas !!)
• Palak aur baingan ki sabji
• Veg Biryani (This dish has been extracted from the book “The pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking” written by Tarla Dalal) We have made this recipe most often from this book, apart from several others which are usually made in our kitchens. We have also made Apple Pie, Choclate Souffle, Black Forest Cake, from this excellent book.

• Gajar ka Halwa
• Aloo Samosa
• Pizza
• Rajma – Rice
• Aloo Tikki
• Chole-Bhature
• Pav-Bhaji

It is difficult for us to make Archit eat vegetables. Aparna has therefore served him Palak or Methi Roti/Paratha to provide fibre in the diet. To excite Archit into eating breakfast early morning before going to school, I tried some interesting stuff – lightly toasted slices are used in jam sandwich and then cut into a variety of shapes. Rounds, circles, triangles, and the most liked “fish” (see the illustration below. The cutting is done using a sharp knife so that one gets about 4 fish from one slice sandwich. Circles are made easily with a sharp edged katori and then made into a smiling face with jam

Other stuff liked by Archit and Ananya in breakfast- French Fries, Bread Roll, Poha, Grilled Sandwiches, Sprouted moong, etc.

I have fondness for cooking, recipes and good eating. I learnt Paratha from Mummy when I was in High school. In hostel I could make only Sooji-Halwa and Tea on a heater. After coming to Pune in 1987, I had a full kitchen with Gas, Cooker and some basic utensils. Once I wanted to eat Kadhi and asked Mummy to send the recipe in a letter. First time I made it, it resulted in a lump which could hardly be eaten. Later it became better.

I used to make breakfast from eggs, Poha, Sooji, Bread, etc. and learnt some dishes like Bhindi, Stuffed Capsicum, Stuffed Paratha, Rice, Pulav, Dal, etc. Now, I can make some of the stuff like Biryani, Palak-Rice, Paratha, when in mood to give a break to Aparna. This does not happen very often though. Sometimes I enjoy giving free advice to her on improving recipes. Our kitchen is very well equipped with Gas, Electric Oven, Microwave, Mixer-grinder, Hand-mixer, and the Sandwich Griller. One useful and inexpensive ($2-3) gadget in kitchen is a small settable timer.

I have enjoyed cooking experiments in Microwave. This includes – Pappad, Pop-corn, Boiled Potatoes, warming Ananya’s milk, and Spinach-Carrot-Rice. Once I had searched out a couple of recipes to make bread and the Brown-bread too. Unfortunately what I could manage was a hard brick which had to be thrown away. The fishes and face sandwiches were created by me for Archit.

Anupam

Date: 26-1-2001