I haven't blogged in a long long time now. But then I haven't been cooking much too these days. What do the two have in common you ask? The answer is Megha Kokane.
For the curious full of who? what? why? and where? I met Megs (or rather Googled her out) about a year and half back when I was searching for someone to ask about the DBI course at UF. Then the first time I met her face-to-face was at Krishna Lunch. Coming here fresh from India then, I found KL bland and tasteless. But I had never seen anyone enjoy that lunch and all other KL as much as Megs!
Now before you start thinking Megs is someone who likes eating let me correct you! Megs doesn't like eating, she likes food! To give you a comparison, shes Anton Ego and Remy and Sanjeev Kapoor all rolled in one. Her one favourite hobby is trying different cuisines and by different I mean DIFFERENT! As far as I know she's tried Indian, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan and probably some more I don't know of alongwith the different variations in each! Trust Megs to be the RestaurantRank for the best eatouts in town.
But this blog isn't about Megs being a connoisseur of food. Its about me missing her cooking. To know why lets flashback 6 months to a time when last summer just ended and it was almost a year since I had had any food with fresh vegetables in it. But life in Tuscan Bend K2 was like staying in the gingerbread house. Always full of spicy aromas, always well stocked with fresh vegetables. We had frozen coconut! And fresh garlic! And curry leaves! And mango pulp!! To give you an estimate, between me, Megs and Av we consumed 2 dozen tomatoes a week :)
With Megs I learnt to cook onions till they are just translucent enough. To cut garlic into really tiny pieces. To NEVER eat frozen food. To use a wooden spatula on non-stick vessels. To plan meals and think over what you want to eat next. And to just enjoy your meal or snack.
For someone who never stepped in the kitchen back in India, I came a long way in the last 1 year. All of the recipes I know to make and like now, most are Megs originals including Masala Dahi, Papadachi Bhaji, Watanyachi Usal, Pithla and Tomatochi Bhaji!
And this blog although it looks like is dedicated to Megs, its actually to everyone here who has taught me to cook and like food. Adding to that list of recipes above are Swati's chicken pulav, fish cutlets and aloo matar, Av's kolombo (I hope I got that right), Nikhil's Ragda and Tilache Laddu, Mandar's sabudana khichadi (which I never tasted) and Vamsi's Sambar, Upma and Poha.
Hopefully this delicious blog is a good first blog of 2009. Meanwhile I'll just go and enjoy my freshly cooked Tomatochi Bhaji :D
EDIT: Addition on request from Sumeet (Maru) that Tomatochi Bhaji and some other recipes here were originally his. I know only Megs versions of these but acknowledge here that Maru falls in good cooks category too! (He cooked while 3 gals watched on when he visited GNV last fall!)
