After making a delicious chhole (for the uninitiated, chhole is a form of Indian beans - garbanzo beans to be precise [as pointed by the anonymous commenter]) last weekend, I was reminded of my first ever attempt at cooking some 5 years back. It was August, 2003. I was fresh 'off the boat', as they say. My only expertise in kitchen before that was switching on (and off) a heater :) My roomie and I decided to make chhole. Dont ask why. None of us had ever made a chapaati before. For those who are literate enough should know that chhole needs to be soaked in water for a few hours before cooking. Apparently, we had no such "rocket-scienceish" knowledge. If that wasnt enough, I decided to cook it without even boiling it. And at that time, all I knew in terms of cooking was "fry some onions and add xyz". That's exactly what I did. 40 minutes into stirring it with fried onions, chhole was rock solid. 20 more minutes. Still no signs of mellowing down. It was mid-night and I finally gave up on it. We had stony-chhole with rice and milk for dinner. My first ever self-made dinner. That was the first time ever I ate something so pathetic just to 'fill' my stomach. Pitiable.
[Fast forward 5 yrs.]
The wheel has turned full circle. The chhole that I made last weekend would give many professional chefs a run for their money. I cook just once a week these days but everytime I make such delicious dishes, it reminds me how far have I come from my 'stony chhole' days. Brings a smile to my face.
Time gallops.
[Fast forward 5 yrs.]
The wheel has turned full circle. The chhole that I made last weekend would give many professional chefs a run for their money. I cook just once a week these days but everytime I make such delicious dishes, it reminds me how far have I come from my 'stony chhole' days. Brings a smile to my face.
Time gallops.
14 comments:
How about sharing your recepie
Oh, my chole recipe whoops ass as well.
BTW, you needn't make it sound exotic ('...a form of Indian beans'). It's simply garbanzo beans.
abhi: google it :) b/c my way is really very convoluted..nothing exotic but just very random. In the end though, the final product tastes good. ;)
anon: bingo!
Haha, well, looks like you've made a leap of progression with your cooking skills - that must be appreciated! :)
well wut in the world is chhole???
Keshi.
**My only expertise in kitchen before that was switching on (and off) a heater
hahahahaha typical GUY!
Keshi.
sindhu: thanks!
kesariya: you dont know chhole??? :o its garbanzo beans. :) google it.
When I landed in the US, at 17, I hadn't so much as boiled water ever, though I was always interested in trying my hand at cooking. So, freshman year, I started whipping up all sorts of interesting new stuff, some of which became big hits with my friends to where my roomies were glad to do the dishes and clean everyday to let me cook. Being lazy, I figured out soon that canned beans were my best friends. :) Also, being vegetarian meant that there was a dal or a rajma/ bean/ tofu/ cheese dish every day to ensure we got enough protein. Those were the days of my culinary might. I stopped cooking in Senior year, and have since only cooked about 10 times. Reminds me, I need to write a post on my culinary adventures.
WTH is that?
keshi.
google "chhole" :) and look at the images ;)
ITG: 10 times in the last 4-5 years? How do you manage to eat outside food without distorting your dimensions (from one of your earlier posts, i recall you are in shape)? :)
Oh no, I'm the opposite of in-shape. :) I am super skinny, thanks to a vegetarian diet low in pretty much everything of nutritional value! I don't cook anymore, but I do microwave a lot of store-bought frozen dinners.
I did..I know its some kinda lentil...I love it too. but never knew it was called chhole! :)
Keshi.
LOL!!
Some of the "stoniest" food...tastes the best:)
Cheers- to some fab chhole!
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