Kitchen ki Duniya mein pehla kadam !!

Hi,

Well, my shift from living as a PG to an independent residence has introduced me to an area with which I had not bothered to familiarize myself so far.

Swayampaak-ghar ... rasoi ... kitchen.

Being an Industrial Chemist, I set out with the air of a lab-student about to do an experiment.... setting up the apparatus , preparing the basic ingredients, following procedure step by step, and finally testing the product to confirm whether it turned out to be the one which was originally intended.

For first couple of days, I brushed up the basics... making tea and coffee, and fixing up an occasional limbu-sarbat. Next I moved on to the advanced topic... the meal. After a lot of trial n errors, I succeeded in preparing what I consider a minimal diet for me... varaN- bhaat, baTaTa bhaaji, paapaD, loNche and koshimbir. I can survive on this for years together. (paapaD & loNche are imported straight from Goa. I have not yet reconciled with their Puneri versions).

Earlier I had great doubts whether I would survive these experiments, or indeed whether I ought to bother myself in cooking rather than ordering a tiffin. But now, my attitude has changed !! In fact, I have begun to enjoy cooking.

Even simple things like the boiling of water, or the gradual forming of cream (saay) over hot milk, or the variation in the sounds of cooker as the steam cools down, is real interesting to note, if one only cares to do so.

Our Organic Chemistry professor, Dr Mallik once remarked to girls during an experiment, " Do not be scared of lab work... after all, your kitchen is nothing but a laboratory where you carry out complex organic reactions on a daily basis."

In my case, it's been the other way round... chemistry background has paved the way for an enjoyable time in kitchen... the only difference being that, I find giving foDNee a tougher task than carrying out nitration of sulphuric acid.

Here is a Chemist's approach to preparing a simple dish.

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Aim: To prepare KhichDee - E- Rice

Apparatus: kaDhaee (reactor vessel), a big spatula, a pair of tongues, Burner

Materials: Rice, Daal, Mirchee, Potato, Tomato, Onion, Oil,

Chemicals: Sodium Chloride (crystalline or amorphous), Liquefied H2O, Source of LPG.

Procedure:

1. Mix Rice & Daal in the ratio 3:1

2. Wash the above mixture with liquefied H2O. Remove any suspended impurities .Drain off the excess liquid.

3. Cut Mirchee, Potato, kothimbir, Tomato & Onion into small pieces.
4. FoDNee:

a> Keep reactor vessel on the burner. Switch on the source of Liquefied Natural Gas.

b> Add a small quantity of oil.

c> Until it boils, make a mixture of Jirre + Mohri + HaLad + Hing.

d> Add the above mixture to the reactor vessel as soon as oil begins to boil.

5. Immediately add the mixture of Rice and Daal and also the cut pieces of mirchee, etc. to the reactor.

6. Hold reactor steady with a pair of tongues( pakkaD) and stir vigorously the contents with help of spatula for 60 seconds.

7. Add a cup of liquefied H20 and a pinch of Sodium Chloride to the reactor vessel.

8. Stir again for about 120 seconds.

9. Allow the mixture to heat on medium to strong flame for about 10 minutes.

10. After the product is formed (indicated by spicy odour and fluffy nature of rice grains), the reaction is said to have reached the end-point.

Caution : USE ONLY A COMPLETELY DRY REACTOR VESSEL. PRESENCE OF DIHYROGEN MONOXIDE (H20) LEADS TO VIGOROUS INTERACTION WITH HOT OIL.

Precautions:

1. FoDNee is an exothermic process, accompanied by audio-visual effects. Keep children away from premises.

2. Do not forget to switch off the source of burner flame after reaction terminates. Failure to do so may prove hazardous to life and property.

3. Quality- assurance tests must be carried out before the product is sent for consumption by humans.

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Yours,

Gautam.