Food for the soul

What is your ‘food for the soul’? Is it meditation? Or shopping or talking to a close friend or maybe even listening to your favorite music? Well, for some ‘food’ is the 'food for the soul'. Eating good food enriches not only your body but also your mind and soul. Natural food made with natural ingredients is the best way to cook your food. As they say, your body is like a temple. So eating good food will make it live longer and your thoughts and mind would also be positive as a result.

I really don’t like to cook so much; though I love food. Trying out different cuisines, cooked differently is one of my most favorite hobbies.  After a lot of criticism from my near and dear ones, I have started trying to prepare a dish or two. I must say it is a good experience; cooking is a form of art, just like writing or dancing. Hence I am going to write about what I cooked today. As I said I am not a fan of cooking, so I have started with simple, basic things. I like to cook at times, but I most certainly can’t do it every day.  I am a graceful person, but I don’t know why I transform into this clumsy person as soon as I step into the kitchen.  I hardly ever manage to prepare a dish successfully, but mostly manage to break a dish or a bowl. My mom gets very irritated due to this and I don’t blame her.

I have often heard that a good writer should be able to describe the dishes in his/ her stories very well, so that the people reading them actually start feeling hungry. So I thought let me improvise the famous US pizza salad bar today with the garlic bread minus the pizzas. I ended up making everything differently except for the “carrots and dried black raisin salad”. I was chopping vegetables for almost two hours before I started mixing them with dressings. Here’s my menu for the night...

1. Green salad

I prepared this with a green paste(made of coriander, mint and green chillies) and curd. I added boiled corn, sprouted beans, roasted and salted peanuts and green and red bell pepper to the paste. I squeezed a lemon on my salad and mixed it. I garnished with mint leaves after adding a little salt. 

   2. Potato and apple salad

This is an interesting mix of fruit and veggies. I made a paste of little mayonnaise and seasoning and threw in some chopped boiled potatoes and freshly sliced apples. I also added red cabbage, cucumber, grapes and bell pepper. I sprinkled oregano and chilli flakes. Added salt to taste. 

   3. Frozen boiled egg and fried egg plant(brinjal) salad

Yes, I really got the idea of mixing eggs and egg plant as they both have the word "egg" in them. I boiled three eggs and froze them and chopped one egg plant and deep fried it. I mixed the two and sprinkled little salt and pepper and voila, the salad was ready!

   4. Carrot and dried black raisin salad

I heated little milk and added sugar in it. I added grated carrot and the dried black grapes in it. Let the mixture cool and added a dash of mayo. 

   5. Spaghetti in red sauce

For this one I made tomato puree, also added onions to it. I dashed in some cinnamon powder and salt. I added boiled spaghetti into the paste and added seasoning. I garnished with lots of oregano and chilli flakes. 

   6. Garlic bread

I put little butter on the bread. I also put very thinly sliced ginger, chopped garlic, green chillies, boiled American corn, green bell pepper and onion on it. I sprinkled some grated Mozzarella and Amul Cheddar cheese and toasted the garlic bread in the oven. 

   7. Mango, orange and lemon mock-tail with sliced apples

This is a preparation of mixing Rasna Mango, Orange and Lemon flavors and adding some sliced apples. I served it chilled.

I love my food... 

But I realized, when you prepare dishes for your loved ones, you feel happier when they enjoy it. Your satisfaction comes from the fact that they liked the food you prepared. At some point, you don't bother about how much you enjoyed your food. 

Hence I say, cooking is an art. It satisfies your soul even when you cook; not just while eating it. 

Kudos to all of those who cook with love and care for their family everyday. All the dishes have a secret ingredient that is the most unique, the ingredient which is made of the love the person feels while cooking.