Paneer Butter Masala
It was love at first bite.
I have never fancied cooking. Always been a bit of a quiet rebel. Always not doing what I am supposed to and doing what I am not.
Still the same. Old habits die hard.
Since I started living alone I started craving good food. Ordered food after a point, just did not cut it. There was an “unhealthy air” about it. I have been brainwashed by naysayers on social media into thinking that food cooked outside your kitchen is unhealthy. The fried, fatty stuff is yum but the healthy food is bland.
I decided to take things into my own hands. Enough with the same old. I had heard many success stories of people cooking with YouTube videos, getting recipes off the internet. But when you lack the intent and will, these are just things you hear of but don’t retain or apply.
But I guess I like experimenting and the recent fiasco with the Dal, which may have led to an accident, emboldened my thoughts on culinary explorations and intent, as it turned out to be pretty good. I started out last week with a recipe for the much-eaten, least-talked-about aloo matar or potatoes and peas curry. So I don’t really cook for real. It is a joint venture and effort. I get the recipe from the internet and ask my sous chef to do my bidding. I know that till she is around, the salt will be right and the dish, well-cooked. That fine day she asked me if it’s time to put the gas off and I absentmindedly said “yes” only to realize later that the peas needed to be cooked more. She left, my dear dear, house help, Sunita. And I went onto putting the gas on low heat, and forgot about it, thanks to the strings of meetings that had me tied up (Yes, pun intended). I managed to burn whatever was stuck to the wok; but I rescued most of it. I managed with some “black eyed peas” literally.
Then the next day we made peas masala; same process; recipe off the internet, I was the director and she enacted the cooking show. This, by the way, has never been made at home, in my 37 years. My mother believed in winging it and no recipe business was ever entertained. And unless it was meat, all experiments were looked down upon. I don’t like touching raw meat. I don’t mind eating it cooked though. A novice should start slow. The Peas Masala was a delight so much so I had it as a snack later.
My real confidence and sense of triumph seeped in today when I made something as complicated as Paneer Butter Masala, with Sunita’s help of course and fell in love with my own cooking. Who would have thought it would have cashews, or so much butter or such less spices! I did improvise there though — I put in a dash of tomato puree and power milk for thickness. Couldn’t have called it mine without a little “me hack” in it!
Well, I love it. I know one isn’t often heard speaking well of one’s accomplishments. I am not sure if others would like what I make but I sure do and won’t shy away from saying so!
