What’s Cookin’

Before I got married, I never cooked, except for the lasagna I would make once in a blue moon, or the one time my mother hurt her foot and I suddenly decided to turn into a responsible daughter and cook something for all of us…for just one day.

After I got married I started cooking pretty regularly. I just couldn’t eat out every day, and there’s nothing quite like ghar ka khana. So I worked hard, well almost, all the while annoying (continually so) my mother, and sometimes my aunt for recipes and tips and tricks, and I must say I have gotten pretty awesome at this cooking thing. So very modest, no?

So, now that I have become one of those regularly ghar pe khaana banane waali ladies, I have decided to turn my weekly kitchen escapades into a weekly blog post. Don’t be mistaken, I don’t cook up a feast every day. Far from it, actually. I make only one meal a day, which is dinner, and last night’s dinner becomes today’s lunch unless I really want to eat something else. One day of the week is always for left-overs, and some days I just don’t want to cook, or we want to eat something different so we eat out or order in. Not very glamorous, but hey, c’est la vie.

Now, a little disclaimer: I am not, in any way, trying to show that I’m just the awesomest (I know that isn’t a word but I like it) because I home cook my meals, or that this is something one must absolutely do. Not everyone enjoys cooking, and not everyone has the time to. I don’t care if you cook at home or eat out, do what you like to and what works for you and your family and enjoy your life. All I am hoping is that maybe my weekly meal posts might help someone menu plan or inspire someone or give someone ideas for what they could cook because honestly, the worst part about cooking is not the cooking itself, but having to think of what to make! I am also hoping this would inspire me to try out new things too just so I can share them. Guess who’ll end up the happiest in this deal…*cough* husband *cough*

Now that my supposed introduction to this series is done with, here’s what this week’s meals looked like:

[Some pictures are blurry because the food was smoking hot and that obstructed the focus.]

Monday: Peshawari Chicken Kadhayi with Roti/Chapati

I have no pictures of this because I hadn’t thought of this series until then. Haha! But this kadhayi is different from regular kadhayi. It’s a recipe I got from my friend, and I find it better than regular kadhayi because this is lighter on the spices.

Tuesday: Chicken Capsicum/Bell Pepper with Roti/Chapati

Just a regular, very light chicken curry with diced green capsicum/bell pepper.

I don’t make my rotis from scratch by the way. These are those refrigerated phulkas/rotis that only need to be cooked on the griddle.

Wednesday: Masoor Dal and skewered chicken kababs with Rice

Black Masoor dal is my favourite dal. The Chicken Kababs are no particular kind- just some random spices thrown together (basically whatever I could find) into a marinade, and then put into the oven.

Thursday: Leftovers

We had leftovers from the last three days, so those with rice or roti.

Friday: Punjabi Kadhi, Bhindi (Okra) with Rice and Shami Kababs

I love kadhi chawal. It’s one of my absolute favourite meals! Mr. Lucky loves bhindi, so I made that but it came out looking very weird (I put in too much onion) but it tasted good. Since this became a full vegetarian meal, I just fried some kababs that were kept in my freezer (courtesy of my mother), since my husband cannot fully digest a meal without some form of meat.

Saturday: Khichdi, Qeema, Imli ka Khatta

I don’t generally cook on weekends unless we are in the mood for a heavy brunch or we feel like having something in particular. This Saturday I prepared a quintessential Hyderabadi brunch, on Mr. Lucky’s request- Khichdi (a simple rice dish made with dal/lentils), Qeema (ground/mince meat generally cooked with potatoes), and a very watery gravy of sorts made with tamarind called Imli ka khatta. All of this is ideally accompanied by papad (deep-fried poppadums) but I realised only in the morning that I had run out so I just fried fryums instead, kind of the same thing.

So, that was this week’s meal round-up. Did I give you ideas for your week?