Ordeal With A Simple Sabzi

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I am not a great cook. Occasionally, on really rare days, the dish that I try to cook turns out good and I get compliments for it from my husband. But most days, the dishes that I prepare taste just ok. It is edible alright, but is completely devoid of even an ounce of any ‘wow’ factor. Instead, it is always found lacking or overdone with one or many flavors  It is only on extremely rare occasions that my dishes turn out perfect.

Why am I such a clumsy cook? Because, I do not like to cook. I love to eat good food and watch TV shows on food, but involving me in the act of cooking is something that I do not enjoy much. The everyday cooking that I do at home is done more out of necessity than out of any inclination or likeness to the activity. For me cooking is as boring as any other household chore like seeping and swabbing and washing. It needs to be done, so I do it.

My aunts and mom have constantly told me that I should cook from my heart, but I have failed miserably at it. I just go by the processes of cooking – washing, cutting, sautéing, mixing, steaming etc – very mundanely. Cooking involves exact measures, exact temperatures, exact time limits and many other exacts. However, no matter how hard I try, I almost always get these numbers wrong. Even simple dishes like the everyday sabzi bear the brunt of my poor cooking skills.

As I mentioned earlier, I love to watch cookery shows, including the hugely popular series, MasterChef Australia. One of the most important things that I have learnt from watching these shows is that you have to get all the processes involved in a food preparation just perfect if you want to your food to taste perfect. And this includes getting all the ingredients in the food to combine well and complement one another. They have to reach that physical and chemical state where their natural flavors are released into the dish in order to make it a delectable fare. And only when you smell that beautiful aroma wafting through the air, you know that your dish is perfectly executed.

This rule applies to all the dishes including the simple sabzi. Yet, for some unforeseen reason I get that all so important seasoning (tadka) ridiculously wrong on most days. Being a south Indian, I use udid dal, mustard seeds, green chilies, onions and curry leaves in the seasoning. When the oil heats up and you add the udid dal followed by the other ingredients just before adding the green chilies and onions, there emanates a wonderful woody aroma of the curry leaves and udid dal cooking. That for me is one of the best smells in a kitchen. And this aroma indicates that the seasoning has been just right and it is time to add the onions and green chilies followed by the vegetables. If either of the components of the seasoning does not cook properly, then you do not get that perfect aroma. For me, thanks to my poor cooking skills, I am, almost on all days, eluded from that wonderful olfactory experience. And this is one of my greatest cooking regrets. 

However, there are some rare occasions when the physics and chemistry involved in cooking does the trick for me and everything just falls in place, not by effort, by sheer luck and the food turns out good, even very good sometimes.

Today was one such day and I was cooking the simple cabbage sabzi. I placed the kadai on the stove, put some oil in it, and added the udid dal, mustard seeds and the curry leaves. Soon, the ever eluding wonderfully beautiful aroma wafted from the kadai and reached my nose. This time, I guess, everything had simply fallen in place for me. The oil had heated up just right, the lentils and leaves fried just correct to release their beautiful flavours and aroma.

For me, the chef imperfect that I am, this was a laudable achievement. I’m thrilled and the sabzi tastes good!! Need a spoonful, anyone?