THE ONE DAY COOK

The Sun rose spilling light all over the place.
I woke up to the loud chirping of birds and I had no option but to complete the early morning rituals. Fresh air filled my lungs and I was refreshed.

I stood near the mirror when the spices aroma hit my senses. What is about this aroma that crashed my senses I never could figure out. The language of Food is a form of seduction for me. I am suddenly lulled into a sense of peace, happiness. I rushed to the kitchen to see what hit my senses and found my mom grinding the spice mix as a part of prep.

I couldn’t help but stay till the feeling of contentment left me both from outside and within me and then it happened , words came out of my mouth without my intervention, I asked my mom to leave the kitchen to me and I committed myself to the job of a One Day Cook.

Being a south Indian, breakfasts always fascinated me. The wide range of early morning delicacies, the hot piping coffees and teas is bliss.

I choose to cook a simple *Dosa*. I grated onions, carrots, beetroots and capsicum. I rubbed a pinch of salt to the grated mixture. I could sense that the vegetables were waiting to add vibrancy to the *Dosa* so without much ado i poured oil onto the pan and *Dosa* batter followed next. After few seconds I added the grated mixture on top of the *Dosa* and then I flipped it. I flip it once more before bringing it onto the plate. A nice fistful of roasted peanuts found its place on top of the *Dosa* along with some dusted spice mix and the end result was this.

It was afternoon, droplets of water poured from the sky, every now and again thunder boomed, lightning illuminated the otherwise gray landscape. I leaned my nose against the window and gently opened the window, icy wind snaked through my body and drops of water splattered onto my nose and then onto the face. The rhythm of droplets hitting the car was hypnotizing.

The weather which was hot and bored an orange landscape suddenly turned gray and spooky. My craving for spicy food found the right climate.
I decided to cook a biryani but I was so lazy to prepare a dum version of it so I took the easy path of cooking it in a pressure cooker.

I quickly marinated the ½ kg meat with red chili powder, turmeric, biryani masala, 4 slit green chilies, mint leaves, ginger garlic paste and salt and to add zing and acidity I squeezed half lemon and then added some pepper corns, cinnamon, bay leaf and 1 and ½ tbsp curd. The marinate itself was enticing.

I kept the marinate to rest and strained basmati rice and fried onions to brown in ghee.
I quickly ran towards my window to feel the rain.

After what seemed like an hour or two I lit the stove, poured ghee and oil and added all the spices like pepper corns, cumin, star anise, bay leaf and roasted them for few seconds before adding the finely chopped onions, after 5 mins of stirring I add the ginger garlic paste and mint leaves and stirred it for 5 more minutes, i then added the marinated mix and waited till the water came to a boil, i then pressure cooked the meat for 3 whistles and removed the lid,the gravy was thick enough and then I added 3 cups of water and 1 cup of butter milk and some spice powder along with salt and again pressure cooked it for 2 whistles. I let the pressure to cool and got my raita done in meantime, I removed the lid, garnished the biryani with brown onions.

The howling of the evening wind frightened me so much that i decided to cool myself by making a Drink.

I had fresh pomegranate and strawberry ice-cream at my disposal; I quickly un-wrapped the cover of ice-cream and dropped a dollop of it into a glass.
I blended the pomegranate and added it on top of the ice-cream and I had my drink ready.

The day was approaching it’s end asking me to hit the bed and I obeyed it’s order.

Want to Comment , give Feedback ? You can do that by clicking on the say hello and mailing me or you can tweet . My twitter handle is @3diariesblog