A name is born and madam ceo is on-board :)

Awesome idea.. we could be the sisterhood of the travelling kadhaai... hehe

I never used to cook at home.. and now that I have started, I find that I quite enjoy cooking. I am also enjoying the process of trial and error.  I think one of the things that I didnt used to like back home was the fact having mum or mum-in-law :P constantly giving tips over my shoulder.. it is nice.. but they never let me do anything wrong and learn.. But in fact I like making mistakes and then rectifying them next time.. I feel like the kitchen is a perfect lab where you can keep modifying ur experiments in a controlled way until you end up with the perfect dish! And jst like a lab you always discovering new tips/techniques/flavours accidentally.. (btw.. dont get me wrong.. I never discovered any 'flavours' accidentally in the lab.. lol.. except once when I acidentally majorly sniffed an unmarked bottle and it turned out to be formalin.. was a bit dizzy for a good 10 minutes after that!.. it prob killed a few brain cells.. )

So here is my tip-de-jour.. when adding masalas to your tempering.. like coriander powder, garam masala, red chilli powder, haldi , salt etc etc.. I dissolve all of them in a little bit (usually half a cup depend on how much masala you are adding) of water.. and then add it to my tadka/tepering (which is usually onion, tomato, chilli frying in oil).. doing this prevents the masalas from burning as it is added to hot oil.. and retains all its flavours and aromas.. it also spreads nicely.. and not in lumps.. and it helps make the gravy thicker.. also allows the tadka to cook for longer as it doesnt dry out quickly..

I got that tip from a friend here.. who I watched doing this once in her kitchen.. I have been using it all the time since then.. :)

Here is my problem for further discussion.. I think pasta is a very easy quick meal.. but the ready made pasta sauces taste crap.. I wonder if you guys have any tricks to make these sauces more zesty or have recipes for a sauce from scratch.. that can be made and stored?? also have you guys tried wholemeal pasta or brown rice?? how is it?

PS: lets keep the title of the email as random tit-bit.. as it will keep these emails all in one folder in gmail.. which is quite handy..

love and peace out,
s (sister of the travelling kadhai - UK) :D