Cooking experiments

So joblessness and free time has compelled me to look into an area most women so easily adapt to--kitchen and cooking. Now, I have no ambition of becoming the next Julia or her Indian equivalent. And cooking is strictly not an area which I find therapeutic or engaging. But then I was suddenly hit by a craving to eat Torai, a green vegetable which till now used to bring out my latent running skills out in the open--maybe it was a feeling of homesickness or I might be just simply missing my mum or maybe it must be that time of the month...when my hormones go haywire with my mood, my hubby's soothing comments only enrage it a bit more...and the only pacifier is certain kinds of food. So I went to the supermarket to buy some courgettes, the angrez version of Torai.

The courgettes were lying on the shelf inside the supermarket like a withered flower; a feeling of "unwantedness" enveloping it. Everybody wanted the better looking bright colored peppers or the savior of many a unskilled cooks--the potatoes. I empathized, its the same feeling I have been getting thanks to this state of joblessness. I reached home and with rolled up sleeves I entered the battlefield, kitchen to all you people.

I diced the courgettes, took out the tomatoes from the fridge, they whispered "thank you for not letting us decay," and took out the humungous onion. Chopped the tomatoes, and half of the onion, sliced some zesty Indian chillies (got them from an Indian shop, the angez or the Mexican version is simply not spicy enough. Little did I know at this juncture that cooking courgettes will be the ultimate test of my already tested patience.

So I heated a teaspoon of olive oil and put some cumin seeds. And as it started making, "plutt, plutt, plutt" sound I put in the chopped onions,a teaspoon of Paprika, some turmeric and half a teaspoon of red chilli powder. And mixed it to make a nice masala; as the air wafted of my masala I put in the tomatoes and the chillies. When the tomatoes were half done I put in the courgettes; honestly I was just getting impatient. I put in some water and gave the pan a good stir. Then I waited.....waited.....waited....waited.

And waited some more as the courgettes with the utmost determination tested my patience. Meanwhile, the better half and I finished speaking to the folks back home and even had one argument about who will clean the dishes; which I won needless to say. And just when I was about to take it out. I realized I forgot the salt. So in went some salt and a pinch of garam masala. After two minutes we took it out from the stove and were happily devouring it.

I realized not for the first time...I can be a great cook ;). Satiated and happy I realized that the life is at the end of the day a good business.