After years of cooking and watching cooking videos, I am at the stage of my culinary life where I do not want to run to the store to buy a particular ingredient to make that dish.
The ingredients in my pantry, kitchen shelves and the fridge gives me a rough idea of what to cook for the day. I must confess that I am comfortable cooking Indo-Chinese and western cuisine compared to classical Indian dishes. Though at times, i cook Indian delicacies too.
Mostly, my cooking turns out to be pretty good. Sometimes, not so good. Recently, i made fried rice (requested by Harini, my daughter) using one of those instant rice making kit. The fried rice turned into congee. Totally my mistake.
Click here to know more about that story, my recipe for disaster.
Back to the main story…
Usually, I thaw the frozen meat a day or two in advance by pulling out from the freezer and putting it in the refrigerator. During grocery shopping, i lean towards buying items on sale and in season. I do not shop with any particular dish or recipe in mind. And that’s it!
Depending on the availability of the ingredients in my house and my mood, the cooking mostly revolves around the following:
- French toast, fried eggs, Omlettes
- Fried rice, noodles, stir fries, congee
- Curries, gravies, pulaos & Biryani
- Salads, Smoothies, Pasta, Risotto
- Steaks, braised short ribs, slow cooker soups and stews
If we had rice dish the previous day, it might be noodles the next day. If i don’t feel like staying in the kitchen for a long time, i might seek the hep of a slow cooker( beef stew, minestrone soup…). And if i feel like making a hearty meal , it might be braised short ribs. No preplanning is the policy, when it comes to cooking.
Sometimes (as mentioned earlier), my culinary trial or adventure do not necessarily bring the expected result. In that situation, that dish is stored in the fridge until I beak my intermittent fasting the following day. Any food is a feast at that moment.
I do get take out foods sometimes and seldom I am satiated . That feeling motivates me to cook more meals for the family. I exactly know what goes into that dish, love seeing my family enjoy my creation and I save money too. These are some of the amazing benefits of self cooking. What do you think?
The story of fried rice that turned into congee:
The other day, my daughter Harini asked me to make her some fried rice using one of those Instant packs. She probably bought the pack thinking that it might help me save some cooking time. I read the cooking instructions on the label but decided to cut corners and get it done faster since she was planning to leave to school in less than 30 minutes.
Instead of cooking in a medium heat over a long period of time (as per the cooking instruction), i placed all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Added some diced celery and carrots ,closed the lid and the cooking commenced. My self doubt if the fried rice will turn out good in pressure cooker was overcome by my gut feeling that my earlier attempts in cooking Biryani and Pulao using the same cooking technique brought amazing results. The voice of Harnaaz Sandhu (Miss universe 2021) “Believe in yourself”, echoed in my ears too.
I believed in myself and my choice of cooking technique. while I am drafting this post, the voice of Yuval Noah Harari: “Never underestimate human Stupidity.”, is also echoing in my ears…
After 2 pressure whistles, I promptly removed the cooker from the stove. Few minutes later, I opened the lid and to my surprise, I saw partially cooked rice floating in the broth. Without hesitation, I apologized to Harini and offered to make a quick sandwich or something for her to take it for lunch. She was nice and said that she can come back home for lunch.
Removed some of the stock from the cooker and boiled the rice mixture until it got cooked. Added more seasonings since I removed some of the stock earlier. That Fried rice looked more like Congee.
Not so happy with the outcome, I texted Harini that she can either have my new creation of Fried rice turned congee or buy a burger or poutine from Dairy Queen.
Next day, the congeed fried rice was still intact in the fridge untouched by anyone. I enjoyed the dish with some chilly oil (flavor enhancer) and chips (texture enhancer).