Well so much for emulating Julia vs Julia. That's what ALWAYS happens when I set out to do something with full fledged enthusiasm because I think it would be a good idea. Mind you, I am enthusiastic about the idea, not the action itself. Dear Lord, so wannabe of me wouldn't you say?
My point is, I have decided to resume writing about cooking. For now at least. You know what the problem is? Some brilliant way to begin a blog or a spiffy little anecdote will come to mind, I will weave magic with words..which people will read and appreciate. This usually happens when there is not a laptop in sight. Why don't I use pen and paper you ask? Well because (a) I only ever have red pens around me now and it's terribly jarring to see a page full of red scribbles, and (b) I admit...I'm lazy. I find it easier to type on a laptop, don't ask me what the logic is. Perhaps the neatness of it all is appealing. Also the fact that I can erase it at a whoosh.
Today was different however. I DID have my lappie handy and so I decided to be slightly more productive than lying around annoying my cat and reading something terrible..I forget what. I really must do something about the attention span - I'd make a goldfish proud.
And talking about the downward spiral of enthusiastic endeavours; there is something extremely wrong with my baking skills. I have no idea what. Every single cake I have attempted to bake in the past month or so has turned out fried at the edges and squishy and undercooked in the middle. I used to bake such perfect cakes. I hope and pray this is because there is something wrong with my oven and not with me. I think the charm of baking that enthralled me earlier might have waned a bit. I might have become a bit complacent. You know, the Baking-a-cake-is-a-cakewalk kinda complacent. And thus I think I throw in too much sugar, add too much butter, beat the whole mixture with a little less vim and vigour than what's required. But wait. How do I explain the pudding? Exteremely inspired I was by Mrs D's bread pudding. It's extremely simple to make - you butter a baking dish, butter bread on both sides, tear aforementioned bread into pieces and stack it, as it were, in the tin. Then you whip up a fragrant mixture of milk, vanilla and cinammon, eggs and sugar and pour the whole thing into the baking dish...soaking the bread. If you want, you could throw in a few raisins and a dash of brandy. Apparently whiskey is also used but Mrs D is of the opinion the kitchen might blow and I think i should agree with her. So I followd all the steps to a tee. And then the annoying thing turned out to be uncooked in the middle. I have a feeling it's because my subconscious interrupted a blissful slumber with a WAKE-UP-AND-BAKE-THE-PUDDING-YOU-LUMP-HE'LL-BE-HERE-ANY-MOMENT! (I was baking for A who had evinced a desire, nay, a craving, to eat bread pudding, and had fallen asleep only to wake up 10 minutes before he was due to arrive) and must have not been very enthusiastic about shuffling to the kitchen half asleep. Sigh. I see it now. Even when I tried my hand at cookies..i gave up stirring the very hard batter after some time and popped them into the oven with a prayer on my lips and hope in my heart. Of course they turned out to be hard and chewy and tasted like burnt cake. My lethargy will be the death of me. And my ability to bake it seems.

There is this great place that I frequently order from - Chef Joy's Deli. Good food. The food you get is not the bangali chinese variety where the shorsher tel and paanchphoron is evident. Neither are the taste buds assaulted with copious amounts of spices and sauces, not to mention oil. Most of the food is also pretty healthy. The sandwiches are made with brown bread, with coleslaw and whatever filling you choose, served with a generous side of fries. They have delightful items like chicken parcels in mango mustard and chicken with randhuni phoron...unusual combinations which taste unique. The main course dishes such as these, are served with rice, or bori pilaf, mashed potatoes and a side of greens, either wilted spinach or a beans and carrot salad. One feels healthy while eating :)

There is this one dish that you must try and there are two ways to do it. Either you order it, ( 40019005), or you make it yourself. If you are even slightly savvy in the kitchen ( read: if you can make tea/boil an egg) I encourage you to pick the latter option. I'm talking about steamed chicken wraps. Delicious, easy to make and extremely healthy, these starters make for brilliant snacks.

What you do is this. You buy chicken keema. Turn in in the mixer for about a minute or two till its paste. To about 500 gms, add hung curd, ground white mustard seeds, green chilli paste, garlic paste,good ol' kasundi, the juice of one lime, salt and pepper and mustard oil and mix it in well. Shove the entire thing into the fridge for the day, that way all the juices get into the meat nicely.

Then comes the fun part....make flat patties out of this mix, wrap it in banana leaf and steam it. I have an Idli maker, which I steamed it in. If you don't have one, use a rice maker or simply oil a flat frying pan and place the banana leaf packets on it. Very low heat. Keep for 10 minutes and you're good to go.

Banana leaf is my new thing. I love the leafy taste it lends to the food being cooked in it. I have, for eons, turned my nose up at all things fishy, but place a bhetki macher paturi in front of me and it's gone in a jiff. My next endeavour will be to make this chicken pineapple and mushroom thing wrapped in banana leaf. The recipe calls for toasted coconut as well. Sounds very exotic. I can almost imagine the aroma wafting out of the packet once it is undone...served with a side of fragrant white rice.

Off to buy pineapple*

I love food. It's as simple as that. Thus, when I decided that I should seriously revive my blog, it made logical sense to write about something I love. I did not want to write about emotions, people, relationships and the world at large. Boring subjects really. And I'm sure people get tired of reading about them. Worse, there are innumerable blogs where people think they are the authority on such topics. They write with such conviction. Things like "Tears pooped in her eyes". Yes I know that was a typo, but you should have read the blog. Anyway. I just thought writing about food made sense. One can't really go wrong there.

So write I shall. About food. About food I love to eat and food I love to cook. Yes I cook and I like to think I cook pretty well. I am not one of those who smile demurely and say they can't cook when they effortlessly rustle up delicious things. I mean, why would you do that? Isn't praise for culinary achievement a good thing? I don't understand why people are routinely dismissive about their cooking abilities. Especially women. Do they not remember the whole route to his heart through stomach business? I love cooking and I love it when people enjoy what I have made.

We shall talk. we shall discuss food. and we shall share recipes. Or at least I will. I am hoping you will too. :) Yes very Julie&Julia of me. So till then, Bon Appetit!