I have never been a great cook.... I never needed to cook. When I was young my mom used to cook. When I got to an age where I need to learn to cook, my sister took over as she choose to become a chef. She had dreams of becoming a hot-shot chef in a big-fancy restaurant. So as an elder sister who is responsible to make my little sisters dreams come true, I
let her cook everyday along with mom. So with completely no fault of mine own, I never learnt how to cook. Before my wedding, my mom started to throw a fit about this and she nailed me down and taught me how to cook. My little sister also chipped in and taught me all the new dishes which mum never made or taught. I thought I had enough lessons as I found cooking very simple and I thought I mastered it.
After wedding, my sweet mother-in-law (whom i call mommy) never asked me to cook. So I just helped her around in the kitchen and we were happy that way. But on Saturday night, she told me that few of the relatives were coming over and they wanted to taste food cooked by me. I had a few initial nerves when I heard this but I soon remembered all the lessons and training I went through and felt really confident. Without even thinking, I said yes and requested Mommy to hand me over the kitchen which she happily did. K (my hubby) was skeptical about this and even suggested ordering from some hotel and telling them that I cooked. I was completely against the idea, as did know I could cook. How hard can cooking for 10 people be really? I did cook for 4 people before.
After having my Sunday breakfast, I happily went into the kitchen (singing) as me and my mommy had just decided on the menu. She asked me for a zillionth time to let me help her but i instead that I wanted to do it all by myself. She said it was a difficult task and I said I was up for it. I was supposed to make rotis, Jeera Rice, 2 curries which I chose would be Paneer and Stuffed Bhindi, Dal Makhani and Gajjar Ka Halwa (my favorite). Great menu isn’t it? After this decision, I was sure that everyone would be happy and would be singing songs in my praise. Let me tell you a little secret now.... I never made any of the above dishes except for Jeera Rice and Rotis. When I made Jeera Rice my mum said I used too much water (the rice was over cooked and we threw half of it away), my Rotis were never round, so one of my friends suggested I use a plate to cut it into shape. But that was all in the past and I was sure I could do this. With an all new confidence in me, feeling like superwomen I went into the kitchen and I started to work. I started off with mixing the dough and then went on to make other dishes.
Here is the result - I mixed way too little atta for 10 people. I put too little water for Jeera Rice and it wasn’t done at all. I over cooked Gajjar Ka Halwa (most of the Halwa was stuck to the bottom of cooker), I put too much of mirchi in dal and no one with taste buds could eat that. I really don’t know what went wrong with Paneer, it tasted and felt like leather which ofcourse no one could eat, I burnt the whole of Bhindi curry and I made our clean and neat kitchen a mess. I looked at around and I could not
believe that i slogged all day long for this. I started cooking at 11 in the morning, took 2 hours break for lunch and now it was 7 and I had ruined everything. The guests were supposed to come at 8 and I had nothing except for 10 perfectly round rotis. I was thinking about what K said.... ordering from hotel and that dint seem like a bad idea now.
Just then my mother-in-law came in and I was ready to be yelled at. But to my surprise
she burst out laughing. She told me that, this was what happened when she cooked for the 1st time. She took the charge of the kitchen, asked me to clean up the mess, which i happily did (I can clean). She made a whole new menu in an hour. Now, I back to cooking class but now my teacher is my mother in law :).
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