Reminiscence

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.     

Tiffin breaks during school days were always the most anticipated hours owing to the good food one can eat besides his/her own home-cooked food. Well life is now in corporate phase so every childish activity needs to have a proper documentation. So is the faith of ‘Tiffin breaks’ as we call them ‘POTLUCK’ ( a meal or party to which each of the guests contributes a dish , #copied) now. Being a Sikh guy I had to show off saying, “Hey guys I will get a Punjabi style Rajma curry for all”. Seconds later I realised, “How on earth am I going to cook this thing??” Well mom’s telephonic instructions and a couple of YouTube videos were the source of inspiration. On this note here begins the first chapter: The Potluck "Rajma" Delight The ingredients required to prepare Rajma curry(max 4 people) includes Rajma (particularly the red kidney beans), 2 chopped onions, 2-3 grated tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric-green chilli-coriander( dhania )-cumin( jeera )-salt-rajma mas

Road to a Bachelor’s kitchen is all about my struggles (including strategies, failures and patch ups) while cooking. I would rather say that I thought to take an initiative (after Ankit praised my food) to help people out there to put their heart out in cooking commonly available dishes at home. This is neither Hell’s Kitchen nor a typical Khana Khazana cookery show so fasten your seat belts for a non-stereotype cooking journey. But wait!! I already feel like a celebrity. So why not begin this never ending saga with a brief history of time surrounding the cooking talent that I managed to grow. So here it is.... It had been a childhood dream of mine to ‘sometimes’ be a scientist or a doctor or an actor or maybe someone with lots of money to shell out. But then came those nights when my beloved ‘Buaji’ (Dad’s elder sister) used to wake me up at midnight, cook something for me, while me sitting on the kitchen sill and watching the process, however eating happily later. This wa