ghar ka khanaa

- was a bad, boring thing when i was growing up...

it brings up child hood images of ghiya and an indifferent yellow daal....with chapatis........super dull and boring....however, my cook of 20 odd years...kamala...was a magnificent cook, with a small but incredibly delicious repertoire of everyday fare...i missed home cooked meals, and appreciated them...only when i moved away from home......

however, being a family of non-vegetarian, vegetables were viewed rather disdainfully by me...and my love of cooking was focused on exotic fare; mexican, italian, goan, thai......everyday cooking was left to the cook..until recently, about a year and a half, or two years ago....when i made a huge life style change and decided to do away with full time help...and decided to don the chef's hat full time

as a result...for a long time...i ordered in or ate out ;0] - a lot ...since my daughter studies in a residential school cooking for one did not make sense to me...and my daughter was too young really to try any thing new...so that ruled out experimentation....

but more recently since i turned completely vegetarian, and am just not going out that much any more.....so after eating raw foods, kheera, mooli and such like...and fruits and maggie noodles....

in the last one year or so....i slowly began cooking.....basic home food again....and i realise with the palate not clouded by the flavour of meats....it is more discerning of subtle flavour of different dals...of the finer nuances of flavouring in vegetables...and i have a desire to experiment more......

initially was a little lost because i have never learnt to cook...this regular, non exotic stuff.......nor had i the opportunity to sit watching a parent cook.......so i began to cook according to my palate....i made educated guesses...about the ingredients and masalas....and often i ended up inventing new stuff....to save time and effort.....and i loved the finger lickingly...yummy result....my lost passion for cooking is yawning and stretching...albeit lazily........

so here i am going to put down....my own creations...or other interesting recipes, that i gather from books, but have tried, tested, perhaps modified.....and other interesting food info i come across...

the basic ingredient for a flavourful dish i have realised is...love...any food prepared with heart....usually end up pretty yummy....so this is going to be a blog filled with love spiced, sexy vegetarian ghar ka khana....

bon appetite...