Do I Cook?

Have you ever been told something over and over again that finally you begin to believe that about yourself?

In my case it has always been about my cooking. I did a degree in Hotel management and my folks always thought that I would one day become a waiter or a receptionist. (Before I did the course, my parents had never heard of something called Hotel Management!) Of course my aversion to dust meant that I would never ever be a house keeper and becoming a chef was simply out of question – Chinty can never cook, she has never cooked and never will.
C’mon when you leave your family at the age of sixteen, which I guess is the time that girls become interested in cooking, I was pursuing other interests, one of which was to join the Indian Army. Cooking had no place in the whole scheme of things.

Fast forward to my life in college and I was one of the students who got the whole kitchen burnt down by over-heating a wok full of oil...well almost From then on, my professor used my table only for demo purposes. Better not to let Chinty to do any work and what better way than to make her stand to the side during all the practical sessions.

So you see, I grew up with the belief that I was bad at cooking. I guess once when I was married, I prepared a dish for my parents and they scoffed at it, not because it didn’t taste good but because it was purple colour. What do you expect when you cook beetroot I wanted to ask them...but didn’t. This belief of being a bad, bad cook stuck with me for a long time. I would never ever volunteer to entertain any guests at home and even if I did food was always from a restaurant outside.

I moved to the UK in Jan 2007 and that is when I started cooking or at least started taking an interest in trying to cook. First it was more out of wanting to be frugal. Then somewhere along the line it was because I wanted to have a healthy diet. But more importantly it was because I was now married to a man who no longer made fun of my cooking and rather enjoyed having the dishes I made. In the beginning I thought it quite flattering that there was someone who liked my cooking and the more I made, the more DH praised it. Initially I could never have any of the non-veg dishes that I prepared. Phew, I cut that chicken and I know how it looked, how can I eat it when it is cooked? I got over that hesitation too. These days, I see my dishes and smell that wonderful aroma and I know that I have come a long way from what I was before. My dishes are to die for; yes I can vouch for that. They are tasty, succulent and absolutely heavenly.

I have no set way of cooking. If I eat something in the staff canteen or even at a restaurant and I like it then I would come back home and try to cook the same dish. At times what I prepare turns out to be better than the real thing. I love to cook Kerala dishes, but DH is not so much into it. I have slowly progressed into continental cooking too and I not so bad in that either.

OK Dad and Mom, eat your hearts out – I am a good cook, indeed a good one. Pity that you do not know this about me....not yet anyway.