The idea to start my Youtube channel and a Website – to inspire others to cook, and to cook with joy – was on my mind since past one year. But now, when I am writing about it, memories of my cooking journey (filled with lots of ups and down, twist and turns) came flooding into my mind, and I thought, why not share it with you.
It all started when I moved outside India, without my parents, for study and work. As any young female in a typical medium class Indian family, all I did was to concentrate on study, friends, and job. Never having the need to step in the kitchen, thus aloof from the fun & joy of cooking. As the day of my travel was closing in, I started getting a sick feeling in my stomach as to how I am going to survive without my mom’s cooking and realized, I am just efficient in making Maggie (instant noodles) and omelet. Surely, I could not survive on these two dishes and started badgering my mother, my cousins, our family cook and my grandmother for recipes in the hopes that they would wave their magic wand and turn me into a Master-chef.
Of course, that was just wishful thinking, and I am glad that there was no such wand, as the journey itself has been magical.
During that short period before my departure, my parents became victims of my brutal cooking experiments and poor things; I really made them suffer. I made chappatis which could as easily be a map of any country, LOL, burnt from the outside but raw from inside (AT THE SAME TIME !!! BEAT THAT). There was a day when I broke our mixer grinder and to this date, I have no idea how I managed to do that. Made Chinese hoping they would be as easy as Maggie noodles, turned out I was wrong, the noodles stuck to the pan, and I ended up serving to my parents saying I made pan fried noodles. 😉 Needless to say, we ended up going out for dinner.
So, my friends, you can imagine the horror I felt on the d-day. My mom made couple dozen rotis and theplas that I could take with me, to make sure I was going to survive at least for a month. But what next? What after my loot of homemade food is over?
I must admit that, initially, I tried the easy way out. I heavily depended on the fast food for the first few months only to realize, that I would be hurting my health and wallet. It became abundantly clear to me that I would be the sole caption of my ship.
It was the time when there was no Youtube to make my life easy, and I never found cookbooks inspiring enough (barring few) as they make cooking look like a tedious process.
So, I started from whatever little I knew, and then tried a few more egg dishes, which turned out not too bad, thus infusing some confidence in me. Slowly, I aimed for recipes that are made in any Indian household on the regular basis. In the process, as you can guess, I undercooked and overcooked many times. I would call back home for simple things like – “Mom, how do I know when its cooked?”, “should I use oil or ghee (clarified butter) for tempering?”
Slowly and gradually, I found myself comfortable dealing with routine cooking and started enjoying my time in the kitchen.
But now, that was not enough, I wanted more, There was no stopping me now. I was fascinated by the fact that how one ingredient can adapt to many shapes and tastes. And here I was only exploring the Indian cuisine, and then it hit me that what about so many other world cuisines? Italian, Chinese and Mexican food, being my favorite, were top of on my hit-list. Soon to be followed by Thai & Mediterranean.
As you can see that I had my fair share of funny and not-so-funny moments on the path of being a good cook. And this is what I know for sure – That even Non-starters can turn into confident cooks.
Today, my kitchen is the center of my world. I still love to experiment, knowing it could go wrong, but when it does go well, the satisfaction that I get cannot be expressed in words. I love cooking for my friends and family and seeing them smile just makes all the efforts worth it.
So whenever you cook, be thoughtful and dedicated about it and almost before you know it, you too can emerge transformed from a fumbling cook into a confident one. And I hope there comes a point when you actually enjoy your time in the kitchen.
I am there to hold your hand and show you how to make some amazing food in your kitchen, without the need of fancy ingredients and tools (well, almost). I will help you with simple yet delicious recipes that will have the guests in your living room call out loud –
Hey!!! SOMETHING’S COOKING.
Cheers!
Alpa
Let’s Make Your Kitchen You Favorite Restaurant.