Sara516

so what do you do when u make something and it comes out pretty bad?

Example, today i made biryani... i had washed it properly and let it drani for like 15 minutes.. so i cooked it and everything, first it came out quite pheeka even tho i had added (what i thot) a decent amt of masalas.. second, when we were eating it my husband said the chicken was kaccha, it wasnt' red or anything, but it wasn't at the point yet that the boti came off hte bone so easily..kwim? and then he had one piece (the rib part i think) that was alll red and eww, he said ti still had the blood in it.. and i was surprised cz, like i said, i had washed it and cleaned it beforehand so idk how i missed it (ok now noone will come eat with m that i am sure of!).... okay so i decided to salavage whatevr i could of it, i basically re-cooked the chicken pieces in more lal mirch and namak, even put a lil bit of water an covered it to let it cook, and then added the rice to it.

Share your cooking mistakes/disasters too and any tips on how to salvage too would be appreciated!

Gemini the Great

Peach pie.. I tried following the recipe step by step as it was mentioned in one of the threads on GS but it was a total disaster.. I have cooked bad occassionally but that was the only thing he made me throw away because it tasted awful.. too much cinnamon and goey pudding.. waste of time and money!!!

I have had many disasters.. I never got two things right, chicken biryani and pakoroN wali karhi!!! I have given up on both :-(

Pareezay

I have so many, my god!
The most recent one is when I was trying to make ras malai.. I was pretty charged up after reading alishaht's recipe and went grocery shopping early in the morning.. got all the stuff.. the milk smelled delicious while I was preparing the balls but once I put them in, they disappeared! Turned out they had broken down into a million pieces and were pretty much dissolved in the milk I was soooo sad.. but I tried again the next day (all the milk powder, half&half, baking powder bought had to be used!) and it turned out good, thank god!
Then one day I decided to make kheer.. and we only drink 2 percent milk in our house so I used that. This aunty who was over started making fun of me and she was right, the kheer was gross!

Sara516

GtG so where did u go wrong? if u were following step by step? see with me i cant even follow simple directions, i end up donig what i want to do... rather than go shopping for that teeny tiny ingredient, ill just use whatever i have ...so farits worked out well lol

shay, so what did u do dfiferently the first time vs the second time with the ras malai??

Gemini the Great

Sara.. I wish I knew that.. I wish i had tried it again to see where did I go wrong but it was just a turn off.. I dun think I even want to look at any peach pie now..honestly, I alwasy had a hard time with baking anyway.. I used to be very lakeer ki fakeer, if the recipe says, six black peppercorns I would count them before adding them.. but now i have started taking bold steps.. I can make some changes to the recipe and it turns out fine, sometimes even better!!!practice makes a (wo)man perfect!!!

Pareezay

measured the ingredients more carefully

farishta2

I'll share a couple...but first, I have to tell you guys that I am a good cook...even if i experimenting, things usually turn out pretty good.

So anyways, I was newly wed and you know how you want to impression-jama on your in-laws in the begining? so I decided to make kheer....i was new, didn't know where everything was, and plus i couldn't even ask anyone if i had a question (missed my mom like crazy)..so i did my own thing..kheeer turned out to be soooooooo thick that if you'd stick a spoon in it, and flip the bowl, kheer and spoon would not budge my husband was pretty amused by it for some reason...it tasted good though, just too thick..

then again, i tried make gajarela/gajar ka halwa...everything turned out fine..but it just looked to sookha sookha..i just couldn't figure out why..and finally when i served it, my husband pointed out that there was no oil in it. Yes, I had forgotten to put oil in it, so didn't bhoonify it either...hence the dryness!

I have made these two things numerous time at home, and they always turn out so yummy..but for the one time when I was trying my best to make them perfect for my in-laws, they turned out to be a disaster.

chips6

i have had my fair share of disasters...

I had just been married for about 2 months and the husband's friends were coming over so he told me to make sth....so i decided to make aalloo and matar ka pulao with raita etc...the quickest i could have thought of...
so i make the masala and all..so far so good....but i never knew the ratio of water/rice...
so once i put in the rice and water and let it cook....i thought it needs more water...so i add a glass full of water to the half cooked rice...
then i thought oops,paani zyada ho gaya hai...i turn ip the flame....what happens is that I burn them....
i never even had to put them on 'dumm'
so when i stir them up and put them in the dish to serve,they are like a mush of burnt rice...!!
the misery didn't end there...the genius i used to be...i put the dish in the freezer assuming that when they will freeze up the grains will fall apart.....
sounds pretty dumb,i know...

But I can very confidently say that I am past those disaster days now...Allah ka shukr...

practice makes perfecto....!!!

chips6

I know u love "pakoron wali" karhi....!!...come on over some day ,i will teach u step by step...sachi...its so easy...!!

farishta2

chips6, what was the reaction of your hubby and his friends?

chips6

his friend complimented me....
"bhabhi khana bahut acha hai..."...oh gosh it was embarrassing...
what else was he supposed to say...my husband has never said anything,it works for me when the food isn't good,but i have to force him to compliment me when its good...

Sara516

^ awww haha.. but does he eat it even if it's nto good?

last night i joked with hubby.. the day he orders tadka wali daal from a overpriced restaurant i will have failed in my role as a wife. I swear if we werent in a mexican/arab restaurant he just would have ordered daal

chips6

yup...
and believe me I am so thankful to God for that...hehehe...

Gemini the Great

awww thats soo sweet of you.. when I come over, I just wanna eat.. you are such an excellent cook!!

Its ironic how I always mess up the things that are easy peasy for other people.. I get intimidated I guess

so when should I come to eat karhi ooppss I mean to learn as well :$

chips6

hehhehe...
anytime u feel like...!!....tou phir kia khyaal hai...lets have a 'karhi" meet this time...

aiklarkithe

sara same did happen with me several times. on sunday i was cooking vabetable rice for my husband (his fav dish) i put too much spices but still was peeka. I think maybe because of different masals, some are hot other are mild. each time i purchase red chilli, its different so have to be careful few days till i get used to it.

with chicken, i have this problems all the time. but i now spend more time cooking chicken and till its fully done, than i add into biryani. i wait till boti is coming off from bone and than add.

tigerlily

I was making shakar pare, but the dough was just toooo soft to roll, and when I did finallaly manage to roll it and cut the pieces, after frying them they came out too hard!

The other day I was making bhagare we chawal, as a altyernative to boiled rice, but I only decided after I'd soaked the rice and as I didn't measure the rice properly I had to guess how much water to add. In the end the rice was a little sticky at the bottom - but passable.

midnighteyes

^ Aw thats so cute!

Once I was making keema plao and I thought I had put too much salt into the rice...so when I drained the rice I rinsed it with some water....and then it was soo bland. Everyone still ate it (because thats all I made!) but the salt shaker was being passed around left right and center!

Jias

I love baking, so when I started baking cakes my first cake was ruined, but my mamoon live near by my house so my mumani told me no problem if u make cake and it was not perfect send it to our place, my kids love desserts of any kind , so when I made first time cake on my bro birthday (we were celebrated at home not huge party) some one told me wrong ratio of sugar, instead of one cup I add 2 or 2.5 cup, cake is baked perfectly light brown from outside for 1 hr, ( at that time I don't know how to check if is is baked properly tooth pick insertion) so I took out cake from oven and when I transfered it into plate, a molten lava came out from middle of the cake , at that time I called my friend and told about this disaster, she told me tested recipe then I tried again on same day, and it turned out awesome . Then after few weeks I made again but something got wrong in it again problem that time my abbu told me no problem, I will help to finish it.

After practice when I was perfect then I send perfect baked cake to my mammon, and whenever I visited to my relatives I baked a cake and bring this to their place. All of my relatives enjoyed my perfect baking .

Sara516

Today's disaster, tried making kfc style chicken... had a few pieces that were quite big and still had the skin, i had washed it a lot, let it defreeze in a pot of water, washed it vigorously, but still it was red in some places..then, it just wouldn't cook through, i kept alternating between high and low heat, the coating was burning but still was raw inside.... dunno why that happened, normally i never cooked chicken with skin on it.....
Im losing my touch