Category: Food Origins

Dangerous Kitchen And Food Practices That We Need To Stop!

You might be having a good day or a bad day. You might be depressed or delighted. You might be having a stressful day ahead or an easy-going one; the only thing that can make you smile after a human contact is “food.”

 If you are sad, it makes you feel better. If you are happy, it doubles your happiness. In this article, let us learn about some dangerous kitchen and food practices that we follow every day and how can we stop them, so that we can be happy and healthy.

Using Separate Cutting Boards:

Most of us use the same cutting board for vegetables, fruits, raw meat, cooked meat etc. Never do this, this very harmful and wrong practice. If you use the same board for cooked and raw meat, there is a big chance of cross-contamination of food.

If you use the same board for cutting fruits and vegetables for your salad and resting the raw meat, there is a significant chance that the bacteria in the meat will enter the salad and cause severe health issues. Use separate boards to keep it clean and efficient.

Preheating The Cooking Utensil Correctly:

The typical cooking mistake is not preheating the pan cooking utensil correctly before you start cooking. By not preheating correctly, it delays the process of cooking and even leads to serving raw food.

It is very dangerous, mainly when you are cooking meat or mushrooms. They cause food poisoning, and even there are cases of intestine damage. So preheat the pan correctly before you start cooking.  

Stirring Or Turning The Food Too Often:

It is a classic rookie mistake we all make, checking the food and stirring it often. Many experts chefs say ” stir occasionally” don’t stir frequently. By stirring food frequently there will be a huge quality issue to the food. It may stick to the bottom of the pot, may not cook properly, may lose the flavour and even remain uncooked. Let the food settle down; don’t stir it frequently.

Turning the food frequently, especially meat, omelettes, pancakes, etc., can make it undercook or overcook it. By this, it may be undercooked, lose its texture, lose its flavour, lose its texture, and maybe burnt. Please don’t turn it frequently; let it cook entirely so that it can be healthy and delicious. 

Don’t Eat Hot Food In Plastic Plates: 

Most of us don’t consider this seriously, but this is very important, we should try to avoid plastic, plates, cups etc. for hot foods. Some of the chemicals are harmful to the human body, such as BPA (bisphenol-A) and phthalates. BPA, mainly found in a type of plastic called polycarbonate.

They interact with hot food, which we consume them, and it causes severe health problems. It can lead it various types of cancers, heart diseases and sometimes organ failure. Never consume hot foods in plastic containers. 

In the end, if we avoid the things above we can be safe and keep our loves one safe.

The beauty of Indian cuisine


 
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The world is divided by borders, indeed! But do you know what brings us all
together? Food! Isn’t it? We all love food, and most of us like to explore
different cuisines of the world for the same reason. Thankfully, for us,
restaurants have made this easier. By offering foods from different cuisines of
the world, they have helped us experience various tastes to satisfy our taste
buds. One of such cuisines which always excites my taste buds is Indian cuisine. I
will share with you in detail about the beauty of Indian cuisine in this
article.

Origin and Adaptations of Indian Cuisine-

Indian cuisine is especially known for its spices and grains. It involves
vegetarian on a large scale. There are some foods that have been inspired by
places like Persia, Ancient Greece, Mongols, and West Asia. The items like
chillies, pepper, tomatoes, potatoes and squash have been introduced by Arab
and Portuguese traders.

Sesame, Eggplant and humped cattle were introduced in Indus Valley during
7000 BC. Due to Indias’ rich foresting and agricultural culture during the Vedic
period, most of the dishes. Indians highly believed in Ahimsa, which led
Indians to follow a mostly vegetarian diet.

According to Ayurveda, the food was
classified in three categories like Saatvic (pure), rajasic (active and
passionate) or tamasic (heavy, dull, slow, gluttonous) which were said to have
a powerful effect on both the body and the mind.

 During the Islamic conquest of
medieval India, the introduction of fruits such as melons, peaches, apricots,
and plums,
and pilaffs, rich gravies and non-vegetarian fare such as kebabs, giving rise
to Mughlai cuisine happened. The Mughals were great fans of cooking; sumptuous
dishes were prepared during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan.

When blending of Mughlai and Telangana cuisines took place in the kitchens
of the Nizams, historical rulers of Hyderabad State, it resulted in the
creation of Hyderabadi biryani, a traditional celebratory
the meal made using mutton or goat meat or chicken,
basmati rice, yoghurt, onions, and
spices, considered by many connoisseurs to be one of the finest of the main
dishes in India till date. The British introduced European recipes and cooking
techniques like baking which we all love.

Staples and spices-

Apart from these, the staples of Indian cuisine are
quite famous like atta (whole wheat flour), rice, and a
variety of pulses like masoor(red lentil), toor (pigeon
pea or yellow gram), urad (black
gram),  chana (Bengal gram),
and mung (green gram).

Indian curries are mostly fried in vegetable oil.
In North and West Indian region, groundnut oil has been primarily used for
frying, while in Eastern Indian region, mustard oil is more commonly used. In the
South Indian region, coconut oil and sesame oil are standard. In recent times, sunflower oil and soybean oil have
gained popularity all over India. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, highly known as
Vanaspati ghee is also a highly used cooking medium that replaces Desi ghee.

The most essential and most frequently used spices in Indian cuisine are
chilli, black mustard seed, cumin,
pepper, turmeric, fenugreek, asafoetida, ginger, and garlic. A
trendy spice mix is a garam masala which is usually a powder of five or more
dried spices, commonly comprised of cinnamon,
cardamom,  and clove.

Every region has its own mix of
Garam Masala. One such is Goda Masala which is a popular spice mix in
Maharashtra. Leaves like tejpat,
coriander leaf, fenugreek leaf and mint leaf are commonly used. The use
of curry leaves is something that is typical in all South Indian dishes. In
sweet dishes, saffron, cardamom, nutmeg, and rose petal essence are used.

There is more to say about Indian cuisine, and the
content is endless. Yet, I shall explain about beauty if Indian cuisine of each
region in-depth on an upcoming article.

 

 

 

 

Let’s play in the kitchen for sometime!

Firstly I love eating and watching cooking videos which made me watch a series called “just add magic” only because they add some magic ingredients to make magic with food. I know it sounds stupid sometimes, but once you are completely into it you will love it!

**Remainder: Playing in the kitchen doesn’t include a volleyball nor a bat and ball.

And I meant to play with some ingredients to come with some delightful dish; only if you haven’t added much salt/sugar/spices!! And you don’t need to be a chef to make it yummy. It just takes a few minutes to get recipes from mom or grandma and probably from youtube as well!!

Well, I played in the kitchen, not for some time but for a long time especially during the lockdown period and only then I got to know that it helps to reduce stress, give much more energy even before eating it.

But before you start cooking, you got to make sure of somethings:

Set up your kitchen:

Make sure that you got all the right tools to make your food because you can’t make puri over dosa pan.

Self-criticism:

Well, the foremost thing to do is skip the self-criticism. Mistakes in the kitchen are compelled to happen but never fail to learn from it as well. Maybe you tried to bake a cake, and it was burned or overcooked, or may not be it hasn’t turned out as the ones shown in the video, or maybe you got a little heavy-handed with the baking soda because you thought you didn’t need to measure out one teaspoon. Then your food was a little bit overcooked. It happens to everyone! Remember, you’re not expected to make complicated meals a week after you start cooking or maybe never. So stop criticising and try making yummy cakes day after the other day, but don’t stop making cakes!

Know the basics:

Knowing some basic cooking methods will make your life significantly easier. If you know how to make the perfect rice, saute vegetables, then you’ve got multiple meals you can make! And moms make the recipes in a way better if you are making them. Try not to miss their suggestions.

Pick your favorites:

When I wanted to cook something delicious, I always make sure that I’m in love with it. Even the food I make mostly has cakes, pasta, dosa and some spicy foods that make me say ummm…..yummmyyyy!!! So make sure you have your favourite dish on the list. But never make them every single week.

Don’t fail to do an Experiment :

Found a new recipe? Never fail to try it. New vegetables or different cooking methods. Change your cooking methods like steam, saute, bake, roast etc. Alter sides and flavourings; try different spices, try with a new vegetable. But be sure that you have something other than this dish as we all know that some firsts don’t taste as good as they look. Never fail to keep an open mind.

I know that cooking is not something that everyone enjoys, but once you start cooking, you will feel like making more and more. The magic in cooking is that it just makes you feel so pleasant even if there is so much sweat on your face and all the stress we had fly’s away like dust particles with the wind.

Not so convinced right? Check out how.

Sometimes, breaking through your stress is as simple as reasserting your dominance at the top of the food chain. Confused? It’s just like chopping vegetables, and butchering hens can take the edge off of the most stressful times. Had the worst fight with your boss? Imagine that onion is his face and chop it into how many pieces you want to.

Conclusion:

Next time when you had a terrible day at the office, pick up a solid knife and fresh veggies and chop them as finely as needed. Cooking is a hobby that eases you, and that has the bonus of being nourishing, too. Skip the social media, gossiping, and so many blahs for relaxing. And get eased with the old-fashioned way: in front of the stove.

THE SECRET TO A LONG HAPPY LIFE

Today, we are going to talk about everyone’s most favorite topic!
Any guesses there?
Sure, sex is cool but here we are talking about FOOD.
Firstly, let’s take a moment to thank for all the food we have had, have, and would be getting in the near future. Because even the very thought of food makes 90% of the population happy & calm.

But, today we are going to talk about good nutrition. As much as we love junk and unhealthy food that’s exactly what’s going to add up to your bad health and become one of the major reasons for your sufferings in the future.
Did you know?
India is No. 2 among countries with most deaths caused by poor food choices. Yes, that’s right number 2 and not very far from becoming number 1 if we don’t take our health and body seriously.
There’s a very simple logic behind this, you decorate your home with the best of things be it furniture, kitchenware, chandeliers, and what not to make it look the best. And now, how would you feel if someone comes and dirties it all up and throws garbage in every corner of your dream house? It would disgust you and make you angry, wouldn’t it?
So pause there with the anger thought and now apply the same thing for your body, wherein the garbage and dirtiness if being fed to your body (your home) by none other than you, yourself. Yes, that’s right!      
And the poor body has no control of itself to get mad at you for you making it feed all the filth.
So someone’s got to take charge for it; so who’s that going to be?
It’s You! And your body deserves it for it’s your home till the day you lie on the deathbed; so why take it for granted?

It’s not wrong for you to treat & spoil yourself with junk once in a while, but always or very frequently? That’s not the right answer for it’s YOUR body and you have got to take care of it like a baby; who’s shouldn’t be fed with bad food.

Mother Nature has provided us with plenty of delicious as well as nutritive fruits & vegetables to keep us strong and healthy but we still choose junk and unhealthy food over it, why?
It’s true that it’s all in the mind, and you are as strong as you let your mind be. So take the stick and make your mind listen to you rather than listening to it. Have self-control over things that are bad for you; for it’s never too late to start doing something good.

Unhealthy & poor food choices will start poisoning you slowly and you won’t even realize it. Imagine, slowly, and gradually being poisoned by yourself to your own deathbed. There are enough diseases in the world to make you fall sick so why add to it by making yourself the reason for your poor food choices?

“Eating a balanced diet which includes cereals, pulses, vegetables, milk, milk products, fruits, nuts, chicken, fish, and lean meat in appropriate portion sizes is essential. Practicing long and slow eating habits can help in better digestion and improve health and well-being. By cutting down alcohol & foods that are high in saturated and trans-fat can help in avoiding cardiovascular disease. “

The Idly Affair

It started with a tweet of a British Professor, Edward Anderson. We all might be familiar with this issue; people who use social media at least. Replying to a tweet of Zomato which asked people to name a food that they don’t like and many people yet love it. Edward Anderson, using his twitter account, retweeted the tweet saying that he finds Idly as the most boring thing in the world. And the tweets that followed created this Idly affair.

Edward Anderson’s tweet got viral because of the replies that Indians gave to him. It is evident that Indians got offended by this British tweet. Indians are quick at their feet when someone talks about India, and that too when someone not from India does that. After spamming Edward Anderson with curse words and calling him an idiot and tasteless person, I present this pragmatic question : what practical difference did it make? Did Edward Anderson’s taste buds get a firmware update to love Idlis?

His reply to the enraged tweets.

After clapping hands to people who spammed him and feeling proud for defending Idly, what did we achieve? Why is no one asking this question? As a South-Indian, I grew up eating Idly more than half of my life. And I have met numerous people who found Idly boring, and they were not Brits, they were my classmates, friends and acquaintances who were very much Indian. So let us bash everyone who hates Idly? I have even met many Indians who told me that they hate the very infamous Dosa! Now shall we go to their house and ask them to leave India?

It is up to common knowledge that likings and dislikings are subjective, which vary upon each person. Not every Indian loves Idly, let alone foreigners. From my experience, I know that most of the Americans love CoffeeCoffee, and the English are obsessed with their Tea. The famous singer, Sting even has a lyric about it in his song, Englishman in New York. The first line of that song is “I don’t drink Coffee, only Tea my dear…” Many Americans loved that song. People didn’t make videos on Sting dissing him that Coffee is tastier than Tea because we know that he was singing a song about his ‘Englishness’.

Similarly, If I replied to Zomato’s tweet by saying that I find Mac N Cheese boring and I don’t know why people love it, I don’t think I would go Viral, and no one would call me tasteless. How insecure we are to react upon a person’s opinion! If we know that Idly and a Hot sambar is what we love to eat, why prove it to someone who doesn’t? Why the intolerance towards someone’s opinion just because they are not Indian? It is a basic thing to understand that everyone in the world can not love what we love. 

If we assume that what we love is the only beautiful thing in the world and call the other people with other interests as ‘tasteless’, how immature must we be? How insecure and intolerant must we be to react and try to prove someone that the object we love is superior to their interests and they are idiots. It just means that we won’t let any other opinion in our ears and we want to hear what we love in the mouths of all the world. Not only is that thought childish, but it is also erroneous and dogmatic!

Can we eat Mac N cheese for breakfast? Can the Brits ever embrace Coffee? Can the South-Indians eat only Roti for dinner? These are questions we can not answer because to answer that we need to study every one of those individuals and form a data analysis and interpretation to check the most popular opinion. And in the end, the pragmatic question again, what practical difference would that make? Would you stop eating Dosa because someone told you they find it boring? If not, why would you argue with them that you love it? They never will. Why don’t you enjoy what you love by letting other people love and hate what they love and hate?

The trend of eating Dosa, aka, Indian Pizza

Dosa! Every Indian or a fan of Indian cuisine is aware of this infamous and notorious food. As simple as it is to make, it is also one of the light foods you can take as a snack! But why is it a trend in the modern era? How is it possible to make a 100 varieties of Dosa? Doesn’t it ever make you curious that people can make anything with dosas? I was astonished to see some vendors making Pizza Dosa! What a beautiful thought to fuse different cuisines! And these kinds of fusions and combinations are only possible with this simple and straightforward dish!

The Indian Pizza!

There is no hesitation in calling Dosas as Indian Pizzas. If you consider the amount of population that goes gaga for these varieties are more or equal in number with the people who love Pizzas. You need a lot of time and stuff to make a pizza. But all it takes to make a Dosa is the batter. You need to take time and your focus on mixing this batter. Once you mix the batter perfectly, the next thing is to spread it on the pan and fry the batter to crisp. Done! Yep, that’s all it takes to make a Dosa!

The proper way to eat this infamous dish is to eat it directly. But with the rise of Dosa, people figured out a way to make a lot of varieties with this batter-fry. Dosa became the base and adding toppings like spice, herbs, and fried vegetables made it tastier. This way of making a topping-dosa gave birth to the illegitimate child of Italy and South-India; the Pizza Dosa! You can add anything on top of it, cheese, paneer, chicken gravy, just onions or even potato mash!

Dosa with spices and potato mash is a famous dish and hailed as ‘Masala Dosa’. The raw quality of a Dosa is to blend in whatever you put over it. It tastes like anything you put over it. Like if you put stuffings over bread and call it a sandwich, Dosa can become anything you want. This adaptable taste made the younger people turn towards Dosa. It is tasty, and it takes less time to prepare one. With proper mixing, you can cook multiple dosas with the batter.

The only problem with the Dosa going wrong is over-frying or burning it. A burnt dosa tastes as bad as an un-burnt Taco! When you pour the batter on the pan, the timing should be right! Frying it less makes it taste like eating batter and frying it more tastes so bad. If you master your chi and maintain some inner peace while frying this battery semi-liquid like an omelette, you have the most famous Indian dish ready in your hands!

Wrapping up!

Ironically some even dare to call Dosa as Vegetarian Omelette, do not try to commit such heinous crimes. Accept the Dosa for what it is. It is an iconic food for vegetarians, and comparing it with another item will only make it lose its natural charm. The trend of Dosa has now reached overseas, and every South-Indian restaurant all over the world flaunts different types of Dosas on their main menu. No matter how tasty and easy these things are, they under shadow many other delicious South-Indian dishes. People have even started calling South-Indians as ‘Dosa’. The sad thing, I would feel happy if someone called me a ‘Mysore Bonda’ for one thing. Yeah, South-India is a place with varieties of foods and simple yet focused making processes. Just because it is easy to make, making Dosa the leading food of South-India does overrate Dosa and underrate all the other delicious foods like, Vada, Gaarelu Mirchi Bajji, Mysore Bonda and Idly, nope sorry, not idly.

Pizza Dosa is fine, but let’s not get stuck to Pizzas of India, and also try Spaghettis, Pasta and Tiramisus of India!