Food you enjoy cooking with your parents

 

 

Reasons I LOVE Cooking

1. It’s fun.

I love that cooking give me a chance to be creative and indulge in some ‘play’ time – something we adults could do with a lot more. I adore losing myself in the rituals of chopping, stirring and tasting.

2. It’s delicious.

When you’re cooking you get to choose what you make AND what goes into each dish. You also get to choose the quality of the ingredients. So it’s easy to make things that are the most delicious to you.

Love chilli  Then add more. Love sharp, acidic flavours  Then add a splash of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon.

Think of it as a choose your own (tasty) adventure.

3. It’s good for your body.

The more I learn about nutrition the more I’ve come to realize that the most important factor for healthy eating is to avoid processed food and focus on using real ingredients.

And the best way to do this? Cook for yourself as much as you can.

4. It’s good for the soul.

Spending 30 minutes in the kitchen preparing dinner will put me in a much calmer, less frazzled mood than sitting on the couch for the same amount of time.

Plus it gives me an opportunity to nurture my family and friends. To express my love and take care of them.

5. The praise.

As much as I’d like to think that all these lofty benefits were what first got me into cooking, really, it was the praise.

Hearing the words ‘this is amazing’ was a huge motivator for me to keep spending time in the kitchen when I was learning to cook.

 Moms definitely deserve to be spoiled more than one day but when the day all about them comes around we have to make it extra special. They spend so much time on us, and it’s time we spend quality time on them. Think about all the work your Mom does for you. Does she do all the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, organizing, planning, life-coaching? You know she is super mom.

 

Love that you want to do something special. For an Indian, there are numerous options.

For the first time we cooked for my parents’ anniversary, we chose pulav and paneer. I got simple recipes from Sanjeev Kapoor’s website. Paneer in simple gravies (tomatoes/ fried onions/ dry fruit pastes) are yummy and take lesser time than detailed traditional recipes. Fried rice is another alternative. Go for simple desserts like ice cream or simple kheer. For both the curries and dessert, use lots of mewa.

If you are more adventurous, try pasta or any other fast food. Paav bhaji is yummy. Or you can have appetizers like tikki, vada. My father loves idly/ dosa. You can try masala dosa, if you have cooked it before.

And no matter what you do, please don’t go for advanced recipes unless you have experience. Make something that is either easy to make or something you have a bit of experience with. Plan and prepare in advance and have a backup plan in place, if something doesn’t work out as planned.