My standard airport order back in the day was “one mushroom melt sandwich without mushrooms.” Basically, bread with a few veggies.

Gone are those times. We live in an inclusive era; there is something for everyone. On a vegan cooking show, I even saw a steak being made from watermelon, not sure why they want to call it a steak though!

But the food world is not without its problems. One problem has just been replaced by an other.

Case in point: Bad Instagram recipes replaced by equally bad AI-recipe disasters.

AI recipe maker and the forgotten taste

Do you have friends who upload pictures of veggies in the fridge, ask it suggest recipes and proudly announce to the world?

However good their prompts get, AI is not going to help them recreate their grandmothers’ huli (sambur), or their mom’s akki roti (rice rotis)! Let them feel free to cook recipes that are a mish-mash of all that it out there. We need to guard our taste buds against bad food.

What is A good recipe?

Each recipe attains perfection with just the right ingredients, in the right proportions and added in the right order, when cooked with love and care in a clean kitchen.

When my grandfather taught me to cook, he would give particular instructions about the size and cut of the veggies.

My Baangali bondus instruct their cooks about the order of ingredients for hours together with great passion. If you don’t believe me, try telling them that you add jeera to aloo-posto! 

Those traditions are what we need to guard and pass on!  

My cooking journey

I started cooking when there was no YouTube. I learnt from family and friends over phone and potlucks! Each recipe carries not just the name of the person who taught it to me, but also a fond memory of the time I shared with them. The greatest cooks I have found share their recipe generously. If you make the recipe according to their instructions, it turns out perfect. I’ve been lucky to have met many such wonderful cooks!

In the past 10 years, I have also learnt new recipes from the wonderful food bloggers around the world who have been very generous with their craft.

Check out the recipe section in my Downloads section.

If you don’t find a name against a recipe, the recipe is probably so common that everyone has taught me a variation of the same!

Evolution of my cooking

With the re-introduction of Ayurveda and Bhagavatam into my life, I see food very differently now. You find funny recipes like paneer dopyaza without pyaz since we don’t eat much of onion and garlic these days! There is also a special section on festivals and the recipes of specific prasadams we make on those days.

Hope you add notes to these pdfs and make it your own! ❤

श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु|