This has made me to again write abt my cooking! well this 1 is more interesting and exciting!!and ofcourse will b looooooooooooooooonnnggg 1 coz i'm feeling like writing everything from mustard to kabab;)....Acethetics has always been more interesting for me than technieks ( for those whor nt familiar with this....Acethetics is our department fest and technieks, college cultural fest) . Ace fest has been scheduled for today and tomorrow. As usual our sports events were there and shortly it'll b my post on those events....almost since a week me and shwetha r goin to coll everyday, idly spending time there and comin back....v even saw the acethetic posters on the notice board but remained reactionless . Yesterday after our throwball match in the evening,while comin back our conversation," hey cooking ge hogbodu....jasti entries iralla mostly....atleast v'll have fun ! so v'll collect details and go"! v r at our respective homes by 6 pm. nw called the organiser and collected details. v were supposed to get stove, utensils and everythin needed ourselves. First problem for our first plan.....STOVE. who has a electric stove or our dear kerosene stove! how the hell can v carry the other stove with cylinder!! tried here and there,no use then started to think abt menu! it was 7.30 by that time. V could nt meet as shwetha was supposed to go to dance practice which was nt confirmed and for our luck it started raining! Shilpa's mother had some books on recipes but v could nt even get that. k finally decided to search for a dish on the net! by this time a worm had entered our heads tellin nt to go with a known indian dish,that judges will completely comment on each and everything if they know somethin abt it...so our motto was search something different!( how different?? dunno!) .
V were asked to prepare 1 main course and any no of side dishes in 2 hours of time . First thing v agreed on was masala lemonade coz v were fully impressed by what v had taken in Pizzahut.So 1 item was ready. Next search was goin on passing the url's through yahoo messenger!it was 11.40pm by this time. Stove prob was kinda solved....Chaitra had agreed to get that from her uncles' place! couldnt come to a conclusion abt menu, bt jus marked a few recipes and decided to decide next morning!
Morning at 7 i msged her....from her bed itself she asked "should v go" she had lost interest and had dance practice also. I went to her place at 7.30. Planned that me and Shilpa will go for cooking and she'd carry on. But the next moment decision change !got back interest and v were to continue. Browsed again and finally came up with the following menu :
1.Stuffed corn leaves .
2.Soya kabab
3.Vegetable chopsuey
4.Paneer Amritsari
5.Masala papad
6.Masala Lemonade
Made a list of ingredients v had to buy and went to Shilpa's house . After discussions there went to buy things. Shwetha went to her practice. At shilpa's place v both ordered all the items and fortunately got the idea of trying soya kabab once! take a look on our ingredients.....many r missing ;)
hey i had forgotten to mention 1 important thing! V absolutely have no experience in cooking, zero knowledge abt recipes . Praise our courage to enter a competition that 2 without trying any of the selected menus beforehand!
k coming back,yeah opened the soya seeds cover.There was the first shock...her mother said....this is nt the soya u have to get....this will take a whole day to boil! ooooff rushed to a nearby store and bought the other variety!With her mothers help made the first kabab! awesome it was superb....got a big strength there! a ton thanks to aunty without her it'd have become a big flop show!
Shwetha came around 12.45 and the competition was at 2. Shilpa's mom had made nice kashmiri pulav for lunch! had that and came back home to get some more utensils and vegetables. The next problem was waiting for us there....there was no knob for the stove! Having gone to put the knob it was realised that there was no gas in that cylinder! Again back to Shwetha's house cylinder exchange and finally v were at college to start!
By this time v had dropped Stuffed corn leaves from the menu considering the complexity and time limit! Actually this was the item picked from my World Cuisine South America book which has a story of its own ;)
yes, Started now....chopped vegetables....i was supposed to fry the onions for the chopsuey nw. Tried to lit the cylinder, busssssssss o no off again tak busssssssss no way....nw shwetha came to light it.... Bloody stove jus 2 mins i've put the oil and onion it turned brown! that means i had overheated! okay nw had to place the pan down, did that. It was nt 2 late when it was recognised that i had brought fire also down with the pan....
next was frying vegetables which brought shoulder ache....stupid raddish and cabbage....didnt become soft howmuch ever i stired finally stopped it!!Then was the main thing...adding vinegar soya sauce and cornflour and boiling with these vegetables....did that with trial and error method for pepper salt chat masala and all! finally kept that aside....By this time soaked paneer in boiling water but v didnt know when to take it out! some guess some suggestion by Shilpa the gr8 finished that work with paneer!V were left with an hour more from now! and v had nt finished a single dish when all others were done either with 1 or 2. So nw decided to finish the chopsuey stuff. Opened the hakka noodles cover! Had no idea how to boil it or fry it or whatever! our gr8 minds could nt even read the instructions aback.....our logic----" if v boil in water,it'll become noodles so v'll fry in oil! " and started....2 mins 3 mins 5 mins no improvement but it started turning brown! then decided to add some water....added a lil.....chssssssssss o no stop! left like that for another 10 mins....nw it was neither chopsuey nor noodles but v could nothing but remove from the pan! transferred it to a plate added that curry and the chopsuey was ready! Decorations for that with cucumber and cauliflower!
See our serious discussions on proportions of ingredients ;)
and also the "how to cook" paper v had carried ;) nyways this is a different sheet shilps has focussed!
After this gr8 experiment v had decided to drop paneerAmritsari also ;)
next moved to soya kabab....as expected this came out well....
Masala papad also didnt become a trouble....as it was very simple ;)
V had some 10 mins more....had to clean the table also.Now for lemonade squeezed the lemons....our gr8 minds told us nt to add the soda now itself as it'd loose its effect by the time the judge comes! so kept that aside and cleane dthe table. Decorations for kabab was again superb....this was again shilpa's mothers idea and shilpa's efforts ;) Now v felt v still had time....what to do....there was corn which v had taken for a diff purpose! added that corn to a bowl with salt sugar pepper chatmasala garam masala mirchi powder lemon juice ...i think hopefully only that much ;) and our masala corn was ready!!again decorations for that (my idea)!!!!!!!!!!
so v were done! Jayashree ma'm was the judge....as she was abt to come near us added soda and chat masala to the juice and shwetha had a quick taste....yuck without further thinking the glass was kept off the table! ma'm was happy for our kabab- a high protein diet!! no reaction for chopsuey....was pleased with corn and okok with papad....she asked abt ingredients and method and v were through!
The moment ma'm left our table....it was "ATTACK" by all the juniors surrounding there..within no time all the 3 plates were empty except for chopsuey which only daredevils tried a spoon or 2 nt even 2 a spoon thats all ;)
After another 10 mins the results were out and......... v had got the second prize !!!!!!!!!!!!!!hahaha kinda shock bit surprised extremely happy lil expected totally v were filled with mixed emotions;)Now time to look into our dear frying pan :( poorthing.... v went to wash it along with 2 more plates!
finally back home with all things dumped to polythene bags!
Gr8 experience had lots of fun....Never should any1 miss such a chance. winning is nt important but the experiences after adding every ingredient along with which there adds a friends comment....some1 cracks a joke inbetween and a 1 liner from somewhere behind....cant get these days back....shilpa u did a good job by taking videos can see them and laugh for a life time
And finally a word..... to whoever said cooking was difficult........i bet u friends there cant b any other job easier than this....i'l tell u y....add whatever u want , in any proportion , everything is edible. If its nt friedrice its chitranna if u have added 2 tomatoes its tomatobath thats all! ;) Big deal! afterall v should eat to survive nt survive to eat right;)....i think this statement was coined by some gr8 chef like me ;) Its nt u right, shwetha?? Shilpa is it u??!
