Rather than sharing recipes, today I would like to confess my love for the art of cooking. Like most girls of my age, I too had spent all my time studying during my school and college days. Finally when I got married, I had no time to experiment with my cooking. Expectations were running high, and I was against a race to prove myself in comparison with others. How then did I manage to satisfy my palate? The reason I say my palate is because if I can satisfy myself with my cooking, I can satisfy anyone. I'm my own critic and find my tastebuds very difficult to satisfy.
My foundation for love of cooking was laid very early in my life in the form of my mother's training. As a toddler I always found place in her arms as she used to carry me around all the time. As I grew, my school lessons were tutored by my mother in the kitchen as she went about her daily chores. So the sounds and smells of food registered very early in me. Much later in life when I tried to satisfy my new household, all I had to do was to recollect all the sounds and smells and visions of my mother's cooking. The spluttering of mustard seeds in warm oil, the hissing of curry leaves in it and the smell following the sounds, the sound of coconut being scraped and the ladle against the pan, the hoot of the pressure cooker and the pounding of 'masala'..... This and many more had constituted a major part of my world for so many years. It was amazing to realize how all this had deeply registered in my mind, and as a result, cooking came naturally. Brainwashing indeed it was, and that which came in so handy when it was time for testing the lessons I had imbibed.
It is said one who loves to eat, would cook well. I have found that to be true in my case, so I would encourage all the young and old to simply enjoy the joy of cooking. The result will be automatically divine!!
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