First Cooking Memory

My relatives and mum recall this incident (also I recollect certain parts of this episode) specially because I was 7 and probably too young (at least for them) to be writing down our family mutton curry recipe. It's goat meat marinated in a special mom-made spice blend and slow cooked/ braised with sauted onions and garlic-ginger.

So, it was a Sunday and unusual for my mom to be working. For some reason, her bank changed rules to accommodate customers who wished the banks were open on a Sunday. Anyhow, she was working. I was home with my sister and dad. I think my grandparents were away or maybe not there that day. Sundays are always feast days in my family. We always treat ourselves to mutton/ chicken rassa, jeera rice, chapatis. Sometimes fresh seafood- prawns, pomfret, bombay duck and what not. But mommy was away this time and a Sunday meal just could not be boring. Yes, I was only 7 and spoiled enough to not eat a boring Sunday lunch.

Therefore, the day before my dad got fresh meat and mom marinated it the night before- Saturday night. Apparently I wrote down the steps to make that curry in Marathi (our native language) and not trying to brag but, they were pretty effing precise. With help of my dad, we followed the recipe and cooked ourselves a treat. Do not remember how it turned out but now when I use that same recipe, I think it's not too hard to follow. Pretty straightforward once meat is marinated. Again, do not know how one of our relatives found the piece of paper with the recipe scribbled on it. She was surprised for two reasons- 1. I could write Marathi 2. It was a recipe for a meat curry. Not usual for an ordinary 7 year old to be doing this.

This story comes up or is brought up at least once, each time we have a family reunion or a social gathering . And this would be my first memory cooking something. Few scenes from that episode, that still flash in front of my eyes, are: 1. Me standing on a chair by the stove and my dad watching over to make sure I don't hurt myself. 2. The piece of paper with recipe ( it's gone missing now). Sweet ol' days!

Another cooking memory would be me making batata kaachra bhaji ( potato stir fried with turmeric, red chili and mustard seeds) for my aaji in her house, before we sold it. I was probably 8 or 9. She was overjoyed to taste how beautifully I had seasoned the potatoes. Albeit she was proud, I was humble enough to accept that oil was too hot for the turmeric and it, sort of, had burned on me. But you know how grandparents are! They love you for anything and everything, right from your first breath until their last breath.