Catty

im gttng married in september dis year..and all i can cook is some salan gravy..need some serious help..as i dnt get how to cook these triditional things....its really difficult for me...
however i can cook some really nice pasta...pies..lasagne....and things like these...but since im gttng married in some really traditional family i need to learn all other things.....bahhhh aaahh life sucks..

can someone give me some serious advise or how u guys startd cooking..any life experiences...in laws experiences etc etc...
some confused buddy here
thanx

Sara516

Will you be living with your in laws after you get married? If so, would it be an option for her to teach u how to cook? b/c every single family has thier own way of cooking something and she can teach u to cook the the way thy would like (if ur willing to learn)?

If not, can u learn from parents? And if not that.... there's always online cookbooks and Life 4

wannabe_a_mum

You know what?

When I got married, I had never lifted a finger to cook our traditional foods whilst I lived at home and whilst I lived away from home at uni.
I was petrified of what would happen when I got married as my husband is originally from India (although he's been living in the UK for a while) and he was used to being "pampered" with gorgous desi dishes!

So what did I do?
I just made stuff I was comfortable with, which meant a lot of pasta dishes, bolognese, tandoori chicken etc. Even the pasta dishes I made with indian base ingredients. Then I used to watch mum when she cooked when she came to stay. I used to envy my sister in law as she could cook for dawats as well as every day....and I used to think when will I be able to do that?

I just persevered with it, a few mistakes here there and everywhere, I didn't give up EVER.

No ma'sha allah, I can cook for hubby, family and even BIG dawats..........I have my signature dishes which everyone loves - Nihari, Yakhni etc.

Just this past weekend, my cousin and his wife came round unexpectedly and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, I had made biryani that day and so we asked them to eat with us. Now my cousin has never ever eaten anything I have cooked (not sure ho that happened!) but he tasted the biryani and was so pleased with it, he said that he never knew that I could cook traditional dishes like that. So he said "Tum EXPORT nahi ho, phir bhi apne khane mein EXPERT to zuroor hoh!"

So, anyway, the moral of the story is, take it one step at a time, don't give up, follow some good baic recipes which will inspire you to adapt to your own recipes and Insha allah you will be fine

mizzrani

i gt married in nov and i dunno how to cook , i mean i can make pasta , roast chicken bt dunno abt salan n chawal. my hubby never complains n now i will b off work so i am going to learn from sister n mum.

bt u gt a lot of time yet so start of by making a dish each week , like a salan . chawal n stuff get the recipe n help of ur mum n stuff. and im sure by the time u get married u will b an expert.

Mamaof3

Just browse the bookstores in the cooking section and buy yourself some nice cookbooks. Stick to the recipes that you make, following directions carefully. After you've made a number of meals then you will start to "take off", adding spice or changing ingredients to suit your tastes. Following a good recipe from a cookbook is actually fun to do and can be very rewarding.

Catty

well i got loads of cooking books at home..but they dont really help me..i always follow their steps.but it seems like that they r more desgined for ppl who have some knowledge of cooking....
i can make salan wid a few mistakes..but rice is jst a really horrible experience...
...i realised hw hard workingour mums r and how hard this stuff is..but still we never appreciated themm....

yourfriend

^... salan with few mistakes ... that means u CAN cook but u CAN'T cook good. its ok .. u will learn with time
btw.. your husband is desi? otherwise u can manipulate him easily

Catty

yea well he is here from last 5 years or sumthng..so he is nt really a coconut..still a human hahahah

AnGeL EyEs

mom's are the best teachers in my opinion when it comes to cooking....his mom or yours.

Mirch

As long as you have some basic concepts of desi cooking and use Shan Masala you will be in good shape. I never boiled an egg before Hijrat to USA. But I had learned the basic concepts of cooking just by overhearing the conversation of my mother , sister, bhabies etc. So for a man I can cook anything now and my wife and my kids love it when I make something over the weekends.

The basic concept of Desi cooking are:
1. You have to watch whatever you are cooking till it is ready to serve. For example if you are cooking Biryani and making masala for it you have to constantly stir and watch till it is fried and you can see the oil on top and around the masala.
2. How to fry the onion till they are brown same thing keep watching them till they are almost brown and take them down a couple of minutes before they are brown otherwise they will go black.
3. If you are making something which will have thick curry or thick masala e.g karahi gosht do not put water in it the meat will dehydrate and will provide enough water for thick curry or masala for it.
4. If you are cooking rice do not put too much water in it the rule of thumb is to put the rice in pot you want to cook it in then put your finger in the layer of rice and pour water in the pot make sure the water is one finger joint higher than the layer of rice.
5. While cooking vegetable never put water . The vegetables have enough water already in them to cook themselves in.
6. If something goes bad or does not taste good just put some chaat masala and cook for few minutes the taste of the chat masala will takeover the bad taste of whatever you cooked. I have salvaged my or my wife's prepared dishes this way.
7. IF everything else fails pickup the phone and call someone to get the instructions before you start to prepare a desi dish and keep calling them after every step till you have that perfect dish ready to serve.

Kikoy

Wow...I did not know people still follow this way of measuring water in the rice. I was taught this several years ago, but never felt quite comfortable. Now its 2 cups water to 1 cup rice. But i differs from the quality of rice. I have to reduce the water to 1 3/4 cups for the type of rice I use.

Catty

thanx mIrch...so really nice points there...defo worth to note them down...i have some basics concepts ..but when it comes to adding the mirch masala to it..im a dumbo!
sometimes its all fine but sometimes it just sucks.....dnt even know the names of theses masalas and how much quantity to put it in etc etc..think traditional food is too complicated

Kikoy

Oh and if all fails...take out... yea!!

Hope you marrying a rich guy

Catty

yea he is a dr..but doesnt like gng out to much..and i more prefer styng at home..for various reasons obviously bt yea that would be an option if everything fails and the cooker bursts hahaha

Mirch

Use Shan masala , they have masala and recipe for almost every desi dish, all inside the box. I follow the instructions and never failed. Of course you can use less or more than recommended quantity in the included recipe depending if you want more namak and mirch or less.

Catty

yea..thnk frozen food is the best hehe

fullstop

try laziza masala's too - they have easy to follow instructions on the back

Catty

yea will do....its easier this way..
thanx ppl bdw!

teelobhain

Get a book which tells you how to make light food i.e. the starters i guess...I told my cousin the same thing and got told off errr...:S

Catty

these books r nt easy.they jst look easy..atleast to me....i follow their steps..and always end up in a trouble....