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Journalism of Courage
Interestingly, the ‘cook transformation’ generally happens during the ‘bachelor period’ of one’s life. That’s when men generally like to, or rather, ‘have to’ experiment on preparation of various recipes, as boys away from home, eventually get sick and tired of munching onto junk food like pizzas and burgers. A small niche of themselves makes them great cooks. “I guess it’s a God gift”, says Amit Gupta, BPO employee who hails from Ahmedabad and has been living in Pune since the past two years. He says, “Eating the same food in restaurants every single day becomes extremely monotonous. I had all the resources to cook and also little idea about cooking. Hence thought to give it a try.” He laughs when he recalls his first experiment saying, “I always assumed a dish out of potatoes would be the easiest. I tried the very famous Aloo Masala by referring to a cookbook. Everything went fine till I received a call from a long lost friend who occupied me till eternity, until I smelt something burning. Not being used to cooking, this had completely slipped off my mind. I hung up on him and ran towards that pungent smell. The dreams of being a cook sank there. A thought struck my mind and I decided to quickly get in some tandoori masala. And trust me, what I thought, actually happened. The blend of this masala with the burnt potatoes turned out to be scrumptious and was in fact appreciated by all my friends. I’ve prepared this dish frequently since then and have named it Jalaaloo.” Anup Kumar, another Insurance sector employee states, “Hectic schedules and erratic work timings always forced me to grab on to something available at these fast food junctions.” But he then thought, cooking is not just a girl’s cup of tea. “I love chicken. But despite loving the green tinge of coriander to the garnishing, I can’t bear the taste of it. Hence I decided to keep the green shade intact by experimenting with capsicum and trust me, my Chicki-caps turned out to be really yummy.” Another chicken lover, Bobby, MBA HR professional says, “I love to cook and always do so for my roommates as well. I tried my hands on a chicken dish one afternoon and landed up with an overdose of green chillies.” Then how did he overcome this? “I munificently added tomato ketchup, capsicum and garlic cloves to it. And guess what? It turned out to be a delectable dual combination of chilly-chicken and masala-chicken and I frequently prepare this dish for my friends now,” smiles he.
Wanna try Mexican? Don’t land up in a Punjabi dhaba then! That’s exactly what happened with student Anshuman Ojha. Says he, “Eating Hindustani khaana was becoming banausic. So, I decided to try my hands on something new. Mexican seemed interesting. But after making up my mind on a certain dish, I realised I was missing its essential element – soya sauce. Soya sounded familiar, so I decided to replace the term sauce with oil. How would it really matter? I went ahead to generously add soybean oil and my dish was ready”. He was initially elated as he ventured into the new cuisine, and its taste too turned out to be out of the world. This so-called Mexican recipe turned out to be fabulously spicy with a Punjabi tang to it! I better stay an Indian,” giggles Ojha. The show must go on.
These interesting recipes turn out to be personal favorites, as bachelors always indulge themselves into preparation of various piquant dishes as they land up being savory and delicious.
