Culinary Blunders

There is a dark side to a culinary blogger’s life – we try out recipes and many a times we fail (sometimes miserably). And our families are subjected to the results.

See the cover pic – doesn’t it look gorgeous – that burnished caramelised look, the crisp texture. Makes you want to devour it the moment you get your hands on it. But there’s a story behind these koftas. And as I was making them I thought of how I would write the blog post – talk about how I hate bottle gourd, my dad feeding us koftas and after we said we loved them, told us it was made using bottle gourd – and how I would plate it to get an awesome photograph with the gravy. A shallow plate with a simple, sweet tomato gravy dotted with these koftas and a dollop of cream. But then, like it happens quite a few times, all my plans went down the drain when the koftas were too soft, too salty, and broke down completely to almost a mash when I added them to the gravy. Although the family found it quite delicious. But aren’t we our biggest critics?

The last week hasn’t been great for me cooking wise. I made the worst alu paratha ever – the stuffing was lack lustre and the dough was horrible and try as I might I couldn’t stuff it and roll it out right. And then this. Took me back to my earlier cooking disasters. One was an amti with too much masala, a French Onion Soup that was bland (I may argue that I was 13 but it did hit me big time), or an eggy Russian salad that my mum converted into a casserole the next day and the weird radish and ginger soy noodles I’d made eons back.

You would think that it would be the reason I gave up – but when you cook dinner everyday, you can’t stop. Neither can I. So I have to go on, move on, and make another dish tomorrow. I guess I’ll start of with something tried and tested. And the rest will take care of itself.