Reminiscence

Recollecting the golden days when I enjoyed every festival at home, I remember savouring combinational dishes in veg and non-veg. Well such festivals can only be realised now during get together moments. Such a moment took place on 2 nd April 2017 as Sourav was at Bangalore and Ankit being my flatmate, a perfect vegan: non-vegan ratio; so was the time to cook in equal proportion. So without further ado, here come the recipes of Aloo Mutter Paneer and Chicken roast. Disclaimer: The recipes mentioned below do not hold any patents and are a piece of inspirations collected over electronic media Mutter Paneer: The ingredients “to-rely-upon” are as follows:        200 gm Paneer       100 gm frozen peas (or fresh ones would do)        3-4 finely chopped potatoes.       Ginger-garlic paste + Bay leaves (Tejpata)       Grated onions + Grated tomatoes (to add the required thickness)        Shahi Jeera (Cumin seeds) + Garam Masala + (Coriander + Turmeric + Red Chilli) powd

12 th March 2017...this is just another usual day. Some people can call it a sleepy Sunday; for some it is a working day and to many in India it marks the initiation of Holi, the festival of colours. But for me this day brings much more in the form of thoughts that cease to exist in this busy-busy life. These thoughts mostly surround the life of a child who “lost his spring” even before he was allowed to do so. A child, who came into this world in rags and destined to leave the world in same; a child, who played with rocks, sand and fire instead of toys; a child, whose sole purpose was to win bread from the leftovers for his family of 6. While running towards maturity at a tender age, one day the child forgets his way to home; he is lost. The untouched born entity now becomes bait for the world to consume. There are quite a many but repetitive paths that he might fall into. The well known among them is “ Child trafficking ”. Courtesy: Google images Lost his way, the child

5 th March 2017....Oh yeah you just came to an end on a happy note! A Sunday dedicated to food wrapped around in steak burger and chicken sizzler while being dipped in a refreshing essence of Sangria. Such fresh food experiences bring back memories of the old ones thereby pumping in energy to scribble them down. So here it goes.... Wake up early in the morning...Search for the best market place to buy fresh vegetables...make sure to get fresh carrots..Particularly the red ones...1.5 kg is at least a must in quantity...make sure you are ready with the co-actors which includes sugar, 750 ml of milk, khoya or condensed milk and of course the usual seasoning stuffs. Oh boy! It’s time to cook “Gajar Ka Halwa” This time I won’t start with the usual ingredients list (because I have already mentioned them above) because I want them to appear one by one as the movie rolls over. Longest and toughest part of the movie First, clean the carrots out of dirt and peel off their ski

Ankit : Oye yaar! Long weekend a raha hai ...chal Hampi chalte hai! Me : Ha yaar! 26 th ko Republic Day, 27 th ko I will fall sick and 28 th , 29 th is a weekend. Ankit : Sourav ko call lagata hu. Accomodation and transport ka bhi pata karna hai. Me : Ha yaar thore kapre bhi lene hai!! Well I would describe this trip to be the best among all so far, the reason being the misfortune that didn’t accompany us along. The journey kick started on 26 th January’17 and Sugama Travels was all set to begin at 10:30 pm from Bengaluru. Surprisingly it began with less selfies. We reached Hosapete (14kms from Hampi) the next morning at 5.30 am. At that very instant we were surrounded by a swarm of auto drivers, willing to take us to Hampi at a whopping price of 500 rupees only!! At a few yards distance, we found JSW Vijaynagar Bus Terminal. Buses ply from Hosapete at Platform no. 12 from 6:00 am onwards, charging 13 rupees per head. After a 30 minutes bus ride, we reached Hampi

Being a non-vegetarian by choice, it has been always a dream to get my refrigerator filled up with only chicken and associates; the farther my hands could reach. But having said that I also had developed a taste for all the vegetarian cuisines cooked by mom and perhaps reminded me of them all the time. “Chole curry (White Chick Peas)”, topped the list in this regard. Starting from the phase when mom soaks “chole” into water till the final phase of “seasoning”, I use to remain clinged to the kitchen sil. But now work life has sent me distant apart from such adventures. But wait, because I got a solution. Why shouldn’t I make it on my own? Perhaps it might taste exactly or tending to what mom cooks. So here it is: Let’s list down all the ingredients: a.        Half-cup of White Chick peas (enough for 2-3 people) but then make lots it won’t go wasted. b.       3-4 cups of water c.        1 tea-bag d.       2 grated onions + 2-3 grated tomatoes (‘Grating’ implies ‘T

There comes a time in a budding cook’s life when he starts getting bored of the usual stuff and looks forward to try something different; the ultimate test of cooking skills. But wait a second, the day has to be equivalently special in proportion to the “out of the world!” dish. So was one of the special days waiting for me? Oh yes it was! I called it a day to #CookForACause . An initiative to arrange a lavish lunch for the office hospitality staff, a fundraiser in the form of #CookForACause was organised from 14-18 th Feb 2016, wherein various cooks got a chance to sell their cuisines to others who don’t cook but only eat and the money hence collected would serve the main purpose. Well I had to take the main role here (for no reason) and I shouted out loud, “Boss!! I will get Kesari Kheer” (And the conscience speaks, “Dude do you even know how to cook Kheer? And where on earth will you get Kesar!”) Well let’s keep the struggle behind realisations aside and concen

Cooking food heavily depends on an initial phase of testing one’s skills in buying “bargained” healthy-cum-fresh stuffs. This activity takes away a lot of time consequently losing interest in doing anything further, especially if it is done on a weekend. One out of many alternatives is to go to a grocery shop and shout out loud, “Bhaiyyaa!! Zara 250 gm soya bean dena!!!”. Yes you got it right! Soya chunks or Meal maker is a best option when it comes to easy shopping and easy cooking as well. However I want to complicate this journey a bit with a twist of Green peas. So adding things or not is at your discretion. One must pack in the following ingredients (Please note that this journey is only for 4 people): a.        Grated onions (2 no.s) b.       Grated tomatoes (3 no.s) c.        Ginger-garlic paste (Half a teaspoon would do) d.       Bay leaves (1-2 no.s) e.       Cumin seeds f.         Dry chilli (1-2 no.s) g.        Meal maker (Soya chunks) (200gm) h.