Monday, December 08, 2008

Quite the Cooker I am!

Now a lot of factors drove me to cooking. There was mum who constantly pestered me to learn to cook so that I can be self sufficient. There were horrified friends who became horrified when they learnt I cannot make an omelet. There was S who told me to check out her blog for pics of what she's made post baking classes....(fancy twisty dinner rolls, chocolate chip cookies, cakes, the works...). And then there was this terrible urge for honey chilli potatoes one evening when I got home for work.

You see, I love honey chilli potatoes. I cannot get enough of them. Right from the ones at Red Hot Cafe which are all honey, no chilli to Golden Dragon which are so hard you have to sacrifice a tooth every time you bite them......but if I'm having Chinese I have to start it off with honey chilli potatoes! I've caused enough embarrassment to some friends when we're out "fine dining" and everyone is ordering prawn ala la-di-da and crispy spinach ta-lu-ta-da and I promptly ask for my honey chilli potatoes total aka saki ishtyle!

Having given you that valuable insight about me, here I was craving for the potatoes and was too lazy to get out or order in. So I take the recipe from my sister and get working in the kitchen.

The first thing I learnt was that potatoes are just dug out from the farms and sold to innocent consumers without washing or processing them first! I had no idea there was so much mud around each potato. It's like they've all battled a sandstorm before making their way to Mum's vegetable basket!

The second thing I learnt was how disgusting the term potato "eye" is! I mean call it potato holes, potato depression but why call it the eye? It feels quite disgusting just saying it- I'm scooping out the potato eyes! Grosssssssssss!

The third thing I learnt is that a lot of plates, saucers, pans, cups are needed to get any cooking done. There was a pile of dishes crying for attention and the maid was away too....sigh.....

The fourth thing I learnt was that honey chilli potatoes needs chilli which is something I remembered just before I was going to scoop the dish out in serving bowls. The result were slightly overcooked/burnt potatoes.

The fifth and the final thing I learnt was never trust an expert's time estimate when you're setting out to do this yourself. My sister said it would be ready in half an hour. I took 45 mins just to peel the goddamn potatoes, 20 mins to cut the other ingredients, 30 mins to fry the potatoes and 30 mins to get the salt-honey-chilli combination right!!!!

But post that, I'm all set for a career in the food business! I'm going to start my own honey chilli potatoes and tea joint since those are the only things I can make. I would've liked to add roti to that list but the one time I did make them, they were so elastic my jaw started to hurt and I slept off hungry (and that's saying a lot!)

Make way for the new chef on the block! Or as someone recently put it....make way for the new cooker on the block!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

how cute :)

now u might as well pass on the recipe as well!

Vadapoche said...

Hey, its the first step that is difficult, you are getting there, hold on...

Bon appetit

Daroga said...

hehe... too funny.
and Good luck for your future cooking endeavors :P
keep going :)

APOO said...

Ooooh! Z can cook!
Now learn to iron your clothes and I'll have competition!

Prakhar said...

hahahaha...funny post...do tell me when u open one such restaurant..i wud luv to be there...never had honey chilli potato..will look for it...

Anurag said...

chilli AND honey potatoes...never heard of them...but they sound yummy

however....no offce...by ur description of ur culinary skills...not sure if i would want to try it out when u cook it :D (i should be the last person commenting on cooking skills...but then kya kare control nahi hua :D :D)

Atul Vishwanathan said...

honey-chilli potatoes and chai...
what about two-minute instant noodles? It's up there on top survival strategies

Cuckoo said...

Yeah, its always like that in the beginning, but well, you just may begin enjoying it tremendously, like I did, with time :)

Happy cooking :)

the_ego_has_landed said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
the_ego_has_landed said...

hahah :) I enjoyed reading this alot!

While now Im dying to try honey chilli potatoes!!

And about the cooking... I love cooking... But I do pasta, chicken etc... I dont know dal, rice - which I should!

I guess once u get into it, cooking is easy!

cooking is relaxing and helps u get into a better mood :)

Happy cooking, and learning !

Bullshee said...

Cooking? Been there, failed that, never going back!!

But go Zee! Whip your way into cooking history! First WMD created using a bad batch of honey chilly potatoes! :-)

Anonymous said...

honey chilli potatoes. sigh. :)

cm chap said...

Ha Ha... Hilarious. Also i suggest you add the award "Honey Chilli" to your name. Helps for marketing :)

Well glad that you are going thru what I went thru 2 yrs back when i first landed in Canada with the only expertise knowledge of "hot water preparation"

Bullshee said...

hey Zee, put in the Follow This Blog app, so we can follow in your revered footsteps.... :-)

AND WRITE GODAMNIT!!!

Gomathy S said...

I also had the same expression seeing the mud surround potato when I started cooking :)