Google is such a good source of information these days. It lets
you find in an instant anything, be it how to do a certain thing or what are
the contents of a certain other thing. Similarly I have found it
rewarding
sometimes to search for recipes and then tweak it to make my taste buds happy.
There was a time when I was hooked on to Jamie Oliver’s cooing style. I found
it very raw and natural, it felt like he always went with the flow and the
tastes just mingled with each other. At other times there was Nigella Lawson who
was the focus of my attention especially when it came to desserts, she seemed
real. Today I have been hounding Cupcake Jemma, she is spirited and has such
fancy tools which I can drool over and ofcourse, my new found love for baking!
There was a time when I had restricted my diet to only
eating Salads, It was as month of pure hell for me! I had promised my father to
stick to vegetarian food along with him since he had recently been detected
with Diabetes, and he was asked to control his diet. My mom at the time was
based out of Mumbai and I had just returned from the UK. My dad has just
retired and had accompanied me back to Pune (I fear it was to not to let his
young unmarried daughter to live alone! J
) In the beginning me and my dad would cook together, but I am a clumsy chef
when I have to share the space with someone else, I like the kitchen all to
myself. I am not below accepting help when it comes to vegetable cutting, so
that became my father’s job. I was unemployed for the first few months, but
when I secured employment my schedule was very tight. I had to cook before 8 am
for both times of the day, as I returned home only around 8 after battling
traffic and almost no energy . I found it very challenging I had never balanced
a “homelife” ahead of work before, but with my Father’s diabetes, food was an
important part of his schedule.
At this point Junk food was not an option, and for me there
was also a sudden change from Tesco in the UK to Local “Kirana” (grocery store)
and vegetable markets. Luckily my father took over those things for me, and I never
had to worry except to give him a list of things we need, or to name a few
vegetables. I am so lucky in the sense that my mother was a no nonsense woman
in my childhood and that my grandmom was a mega awesome cook. My mother trained
me to eat whatever was put on my plate (that is not to say that I did not have
likes and dislikes) and it always pleasured my taste buds to no end! That has
my grand mom’s cooking skills written all over it. If you ask any of my aunts, cousins
on my dad’s side, everyone will agree that cooking comes to them naturally from
my grandmom and her side of the family. So I proved to be her grand-daughter
too. I love food, and I would like to say that I am sensitive to tastes as
well. Since my stint in the UK, I pretty much eat anything happily, as long as
it tastes good. On a trip to Spain, I had actually closed my eyes, run my
fingers up and down the menu card and yelled stop at a point and chose my food
randomly. It ended up being an octopus, extremely bland and cold. I managed to
eat at-least 3/4th of it before I exchanged it with my friend. In France
we even had a thinly sliced beef with olive oil, salt and capers for garnish
and it was heavenly (it was such a thin slice, not even close enough for a
meal). Once for a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, I ended up trying
out local cuisine in the shape of crocodile meat, deer meat and rabbit meat! So
you see, I have had my fair share of eating trials.
 |
| Chicken Pasta- Marinated the chicken overnight in my Lime honey dressing! |
Coming back to salads, it was little tough for me in the
beginning. I would say my sojourn with
salads began in the UK itself. I love pork (bacon) and I would make crispy
bacon and then pour the leftover oils on the pan into my salads and oh I was
left licking my fingers by the end. When
I started work (in India), my schedule was hectic and to save on time I started
to make only salads. The first few days I stuck to cucumbers and tomatoes, but
they get boring really fast. After less than a week I was craving normal food
again. The biggest drawback of not being in the UK was lettuce. I used to chomp
on it like a cow! Here lettuce was rare
and the one we found was a little bitter too. God, how I missed being in the UK
then. It wasn’t just the lettuce; there was olive oil, fresh herbs, exotic
fruits that I missed! That’s when I decided to try and work out a new salad dressing
palate for myself! I am firm believer of lemons in food. So I started making
dressings with a lemon base. Then slowly I convinced my family that, although
Olive oil was expensive it was a good addition in salads. I pretty much started
experimenting with different tastes that I felt could go together. I had by
this time tried lemon + garlic combination with a hint of cardamom, Lemon +rock
salt +sugar (at times I replaced the sugar with honey, maple syrup or cane
sugar), Lemon +pepper + ginger, honey+ mayo, lemon+ honey+ basil ( this was one
of the fresh herbs very readily available in my house). Someone once said to me, while changing a recipe only change one component at a time and believe me this
advice has helped me time and again. Once my dressings were chosen, I
started adding dry fruits like walnuts, Pistachios, soaked almonds, raisins (which
at some point I also substituted for fresh grapes cut into halves). Sometimes,
when the fancy took me I added ground nuts as well. I even made salads from
apples, pears and guavas. Oranges were squeezed once in a while to replace lemon juice. By now I
have experimented with Pastas, Cinnamon, dried Cilantro, fresh Coriander, Parmesan
cheese, Feta Cheese, sautéed Fenugreek, blanched French beans, various sprouts,
Pomegranates, Chicken sausages ( for me and my dad), boiled egg in salads.
As I am writing this, I realise there are so many more flavours
still waiting to be tried! And someone said salads were boring. There is so
much more it than meets the eye or reaches the taste buds.
Foodie at heart
~Richa
