Sunday, April 3, 2011

Food: A Love Story

You know wot really ties things together? A coconut milk based sauce to drizzle over the chicken and rice. It's times like these that I wished I could plate nicely, so that I would actually want to take a picture of my glorious concoction and post it up for all few to see. My moon has this magnificent ability (mashallah) to plate things so that the colours and smells coexist on the plate in perfect harmony. I tend to just put things on the plate and go at it, my method lacks a bit of artistry necessary for it to look good and photogenic.
          In the meantime, you'll just have to take my word for it when I say it came out delicious. The chicken was marinated just long enough, so that yoghurt wasn't too overpowering, and the last minute sauce added the ingredient that made the two elements of the dish work. I used to want to be a chef, work in a restaurant....just make food. I love cooking because I feel like it combines so many things into one room. It's art and math and science. You have to invoke so many different sense and so many different parts of your brain to make the dish come out right. You need to know when to be creative and eyeball it, and when to be precise with the measurements. You need to trust your instincts, rely on the smell and taste and look of the food to tell you when it's done, when the spice you've added is enough. You need to know when to let loose, and when to reign in the temptation to experiment.
          There's beauty and precision and life in cooking. It allows you to connect with so many cultures, both past and present, simply with an addition of an ingredient or two, or with a slight change in method of cooking.
It's history and tribute and therapy.

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