And the cooking spree continues......

The satisfaction of home-cooked food cannot be replaced by anything else in this world. It may not be any gourmet French or Italian or even Mughlai, a simple dal chawal with papad and a home-made pickle for accompaniment is enough, totally satiating. The presentation also does not have to be fancy, as long as it is neatly placed in front of you.

Everyday cooking can be a bit boring, though one tries to incorporate variety be it with vegetables, different meats, or cereal …. conscious always of the fact that at the end of it one needs to produce a balanced meal at the table.

The most difficult part is what to cook?! Without much help from the consuming counterparts one has to think of the menu singlehandedly, keeping everyone’s individual likes and dislikes in mind. I am not very fond of cooking per se and have always been lucky to have khandani cooks working for me, completely spoilt in that respect. To the extent that the menu and each person’s specific preferences were all taken into account!

Well now for over four years I’ve been cooking on my own, without much help. With the girls working besides husband dear they do look forward to a hot meal made with all the love and care. Many-a-day it is a one-dish meal, on others it is left-overs, maybe supplemented by a take-away, or on other days we simply order out. Occasionally I attempt some elaborate cooking like Biryanis, Pulaos, Khormas, once in a while Idli-Dosa-Sambar, but most days it is simple. And of course in the cooler months, some BBQ.

All this reminds me of one or two cooking classes I joined many decades ago where they tried to teach us recipes which one could never reproduce on a day-to-day basis. It was repeated once and never again. Recipe books I do follow but generally try to improvise and do my own thing. The food programs on TV and the YouTube are useful for some quick tips. But I think when it comes to cakes and desserts one needs to find and follow a good recipe step by step, no cutting corners.

Talking of fancy cooking, AS and I decided to try out some blueberry cheese-cake. A rare moment when the daughter wants to try a recipe …. we went ahead and the results are in the pictures below.

 

Pour a mixture of  240gms cream cheese,1 cup sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar,1teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons of allpurpose flour, and 4 eggs into a readymade crumb base. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 160 degrees.

For blueberry glaze, cook 1/2 cup sugar,1tablespoon cornstarch,1/cup water and 1cup fresh blueberries  over medium heat till mixture is clear. Cool completely.

Pour cooled blueberry glaze over cooled cheese cake.Cover blueberry cheesecake and chill in the refrigerator.Ready to serve.