And Then Some Mutton Biryani in the Evening....

Well, as if the scrambled eggs in the morning were not enough, the new cook in me was up again, and prepared mutton biryani for dinner. That is another story in itself, so here it goes......

Since the cook was on leave, we decided that lets party in the evening, so I called up a few of my friends, Anup, Amrita, Aniket and ofcourse my roommate, Shubhro would be there. It was Anup who was supposed to cook, nothing elaborate, just some chicken curry and plain rice, and I was supposed to bring home the poor chicken, all cut, dressed and ready to go inside our sinful stomachs.

But the visit to the butcher brought out the cook inside me. Along with the chicken, I also got a little bit of mutton, and well thought that maybe, just maybe, I can cook the biryani. The success in the morning with the scrambled eggs (okay, part success) gave me some courage. All the while that the hapless mutton was being butchered, I was wondering about how I would go about the cooking and what method I would apply. And I wanted to keep it a surprise from all the others, and I wanted them to know only when it was ready (I also did not want to scare them off from coming to my place for dinner).

As soon as I reached home, I had the cooking method ready in mind, though I had never heard the recipe of a biryani before or had I seen it being cooked earlier. So I decided to call up my Mom......after convincing her that I will not put my building on fire and that we had other options incase this went wrong, I got her tell me her recipe. Not very different from what I had imagined, I thought with pride. With the towel around my shoulder, I set out in the task of chopping onions, tomatoes, chillies and peeling potatoes. God.........peeling of potatoes with a knife is one hell of a job (we did not have a peeler you see), and I peeled four of them, chopped four onions and two tomatoes and five chillies. And was I sweating?

Now, was the time to fry the spices and the mutton. I put in all the spices that was there in the house, put in oil with a little more care and fried it. And, all the effort that I had put in peeling the potatoes went down the drain, literally the next morning, because I forgot to put it in the biryani. The question of how much of spices to put remained, but I went ahead with my logic of putting everything a little more. I cannot tell you the pleasure of seeing the onions turning brown, like I had always heard they are supposed to be. I have not yet seen my own kids growing up, I bet the feeling would be similar. Right at the point that the onions were turning brown, Anup came in, and barged into the kitchen. He was obviously shocked to see me in the kitchen, and before he could say anything, I put in the rice in the pressure cooker, in which I had been frying the spices and the mutton.

Then was the question of putting water, again how much, and because I did not want the spices or mutton to lose its zing, I put in a little less water. After messing, I mean mixing the rice a little bit, I closed the lid of the pressure cooker, and started waiting for the whistle.

Cannot tell you how tense I was during the entire time that the damn thing was cooking. I was already thinking of alternative options if this would not work. Would it burn at the base? Will it be uncooked or will it be overcooked? Was the water too much or too little? Did I mix the spices well with the rice? Will the stray dog which stays near my apartment eat it? All these thoughts and no relief. Finally, the whistle blew off. Relief. Put off the gas. Could not wait to open it but then remembered that Mom had asked to open the cooker only after it had cooled down a bit. I was okay with it, but who would cool me down?

The time to open finally came. I opened the lid, the aroma struck me first (yes, it was actually the biryani aroma) and then the color of it, it was just perfect, it smelt and looked perfect. Then I felt it. Nooooooo........the rice was still a little hard. maybe a little more water was required, maybe it should have cooked for a little more time, whatever, but the perfect smelling and looking biryani was not cooked. So I put some more water to it, I had forgotten to put the biryani masala I had bought from the grocery shop that evening so I put that along with some ghee, and put it to cook a little more.

It finally got cooked, the smell a little more of ghee and the rice was a little wet and messy......but I still loved the taste.

All the guests that day praised the biryani. Anup’s chicken curry was out of this world, and while everybody was praising both the chicken and the biryani, if someone wanted the recipe, it was only from Anup for the chicken, and no one asked me once for my recipe, so I got the hint. So what, I saved some biryani for breakfast the next day and had it the next day too. For people like me who cannot cook, I can tell you, cook something on your own and taste it, nothing tastes better.......be it from Taj or from the Oberoi........

My roommate Shubhro however, developed a stomach upset the next day......he says it was because of the eggs in the morning and the biryani at night, can you believe it, someone can be so jealous??? But I am sure secretly he is waiting for the next day when I will again make the biryani.

My First Time in Cooking

Unless you call making Maggi also as cooking, here is my first experience in cooking.

My cook went on a leave. And I had some time in my hand before I would leave for office. Normally, I would just while away the time and go to office without having my breakfast. If I was very hungry, I would make myself a Maggi. Don’t know what took over me that day, I saw that there were a few eggs in the house, and I wanted to cook. I made scrambled eggs.

Now, you would say, what’s the big deal in making scrambled eggs? You would know, if you were making anything for the first time. Never realized that cutting of onions and tomatoes could be such a tedious task. Now I know how much I took my Mom’s cooking for granted. This was still okay, with a few tears in the eyes and sweat in the forehead, this could be done, but then the first major hurdle was, how much of oil do I put on the frying pan? No idea. Put a lot of it, I guessed, better than having less oil. Then came other tests, how much salt, turmeric etc. Do you add chilli powder or not. Forget it, add whatever spices are there at home, afterall, everything is added in some food or the other, so nothing is gonna kill you. Whatever, but I was still a little concerned that I have put a little more turmeric than required.

And there was fear. When I had the mix ready and the oil boiling on the pan, in what way do I pour the mix into the pan that it does not splash hot oil back on me? I have seen it happening so many times and was unsure. With a lot of precautions, and very carefully I I poured it, and thankfully I was safe, no casualties.

And I was finally ready with the final product. It looked and smelt great, was not burnt or uncooked and everything was just perfect. To me it tasted great, er, okay, the oil was a little more, but then, what the hell, I made it no, and more than the taste what mattered was the whole array of emotions that went into making some scrambled eggs, confusion, anger, fear, joy, hope...what not. And this also tells me, for the first time, that cooking of scrambled eggs can actually warrant a one page post.......that too with the recipe not mentioned.

By the way, my roommate also had those eggs. He did not criticize, apart from saying that the oil was too much, and all he got the taste of was oil. I know he was lying, could not see me do something good you see. And even he cannot cook, so must have been jealous. Also, he did not praise me once for it, see, the same reason. But I know how much he liked it, fought with me for the last remaining bit of the eggs, so I know he liked it. It is another matter that he told me that he was hungry so......

Whatever, all my colleagues, my relatives in all states in India, all my friends across regions and my Mom got to know the very same day, that I had successfully cooked scrambled eggs. I could not stop talking about it you see.