September 26, 2005

Of foreign lands and boiled potatoes

Enough. This is the third day in a row that one has burnt the rice. It’s the same thing every evening .. one puts the rice to cook, begins reading/writing/watching TV, and is only jolted back to grim, paddy-ridden reality when that rice-burning-what-to-do smell reaches the living room. By the time one reaches the kitchen the smell has taken on the altogether more acrid notes of the rice-burnt-must-throw variety.

The trouble began when one, in a fit of wanderlust, chose to leave the foreign-but-not-so-distant land that one was inhabiting (inhabiting for reasons that are not worth going into at this point, primarily because they have never been too clear to oneself either) for a very-foreign-and-very-distant land where, horror of horrors, baahar-ka-khaana just wasn’t the sort of thing you did daily. When this fact dawned upon one – this was the day before one had to leave for said land – momma dearest was requested to impart some of her considerable culinary expertise to yours truly. Not surprisingly, one didn’t get very far along the learning curve before it was time to go.

Thence it came to be that one landed here bearing little more than the Precious Secret of Alu-Curry. And that particular preparation (accompanied by rice) has constituted one’s evening meal for precisely ten months now. And one still burns the rice and spends the rest of the evening filling up the ol’ belly with extra boiled potatoes and other random edibles.

12 comments :

Twilight Fairy said...

hi,
You can check up some online recipes for improving one's culinary skills :).. cooking isnt so difficult .. you just need to get the hang of it..

the One said...

Hmm .. point well taken, Fairyji. One shall proceed to meticulously study each of the two million Google hits for "easy indian recipes".

BTW things aren't quite so bad. One is an expert tea-brewer and all. Really. Even managed coffee once.

the One said...

Bread! Of course! Aristera, you receive sole credit for simultaneous chamkofication of multiple flickering tubelights. Bread it shall be henceforth. Will keep you posted on progress. Just as soon as one gets through these recipes ..

And incidentally ami non-bong .. which puts one in a blogospheric minority ..

Sheetal said...

coffee once?! once! oh you poor thing.

Vikster said...

Have you discovered your basic tomato-onion-garam masala gravy?

Once I did, I could survive 7 years of self-cooked desi meals in Ammrikka.

Add anything from boiled eggs to breadfruit to chicken. It's all good.

I'd invest in a rice cooker though.

Or a boyfriend/girlfriend who can cook.

the One said...

Sheetal : Well, actually they have coffee machines where one sits all day ** note careful avoidance of the term "works" ** so it ain't so bad.

Vikster: Excellent suggestions all, dude. Yeah, one was just getting the hang of the basic-gravy concept. And about the rice-cooker thing .. well, to put it delicately, one ain't exactly rolling in dough at the moment. Tragic, na?

And girlfriends. Ah. The commentspace cannot do justice to the breadth and depth of one's views on the subject. Please stay tuned and all.

the One said...

Did one just say "rolling in dough"?! Freud, dude .. help!

Rhyncus said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rhyncus said...

Ah, cooking woes. Yes, two basic types of Indian gravies exist, the easier one being the onion-tomato North Indian. Then there is the coconut-tamarind/curd South Indian one. Fairly easy to grasp, though it's the cutting and scraping of raw materials that used to get my goat. Did I say goat? Sigh.
Then there is the dal-sabji. Dal can be pressure cooked, sabji can be lightly spiced and cooked in water/oil.
Slow fire, slow fire is another secret. :) Feel free to air your woes, am sure a thousand helpful suggestions will happen.

the One said...

Rhyncus : Sir, first you enlighten one on the art of buying veggies. Now this. Awfully kind. Will keep you posted.

**walks off muttering "slow fire, slow fire" **

Kavita said...

I heard your cry for me ...What you need is "one "hob that is timed or "one" microwave to cook rice. Fill it , shut it , forget it. Voila...ready to eat.Are you microwave rich? Me learnt to cook many things in phoren land.Cooking's easy. Its all in the mind baccha.

the One said...

Thank you for responding to one's plaintive call, Sigmund aunty .. much appreciated. But what to do, no microwave. Nevertheless, will keep you posted on progress. See you around.