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Have you ever witnessed a conversation amongst nature?
Where the mountains speak and the birds reply.
Soft mutters are heard by a pond nearby
The rustling of the leaves too have a lot to say
For it’s not the end of day
Hovering around are the clouds witnessing the ongoings
As they make way for the stars glowing.
A conversation best described as harmonious
A conversation that can be heard only in silence

Chapter 5: Soup Stories

I am going to tell you a story about Bok Choy - Chinese cabbage. I am extremely fond of Chinese Cuisine; yes even though I’m a pure vegetarian, I do enjoy Chinese cuisine and yes you do get vegetarian food in this cuisine. Fun fact: you get more vegetarian food in China than you can imagine! I came across a recipe for making bok choy broth with noodles! YUM! I knew exactly where I could find bok choy and headed on to the store and picked it up for the first ever time in my life. I was ecstatic and was awaiting to use this wonderful green vegetable. I must admit, I was a bit confused the first time I saw the vegetable in its purest form. I questioned myself whether this was the right vegetable and asked about 3-4 people just to confirm my doubts. The OCD in me will never end! I got home the bok choy and realised I have no idea how to prepare it - what a wow moment! Nonetheless, youtube to the rescue and I managed to swiftly look through some videos. Believe it or not, but making soup ain’t as hard as expected. What needs to be bang on are the flavours and once that is on point, everything else falls into place. You get the water boiling, add on the standard Chinese spices: ginger, star anise, soy, garlic, vinegar and chilli sauce. To this boiling, flavoursome pot of goodness, add on your most preferred vegetables; I add bok choy, mushrooms and carrot.

Cooking tip: Cook the noodles in the broth, in order for the noodles to soak in that awesome flavour and then be gobsmacked by it!

And that’s it! There is your classic noodle soup! Meant to be “eaten” - anytime! :D

Chapter 6: Cottage Cheese All Day

In our household, paneer is a staple; it is as important as rice! Yes, we love paneer :P

The first recipe I tried out with paneer was Garlic Paneer: create a marinate consisting of cornflour, pepper, chilli powder, garlic paste, red chilli sauce and oregano. All you need to do is marinate the paneer in this mixture and pan fry it. Um um ummmm :)

I wanted to take cottage cheese to the next level, so I attempted at making Paneer Manchurian - a classic Indian - Chinese dish. For some reason, I thought I would just pan fry some paneer with a bit of oil.

Cooking tip: Never do the above! You will be left with paneer that is hard and dry - not a great texture I must say.

The base of the dish, however, is the sauce and this is pretty simple: oil (obviously!), garlic, spring onions, tomato sauce, chilli sauce, soy and vinegar. It goes without saying that salt is needed according to taste.

Taste: check! Texture: Ugh!

The third time was the charm: Chilli Paneer! A favourite among us Indians and for good reason.  The secret to this recipe is to take the main two components of the previous recipes and merge them together - match made in heaven! So you marinate the paneer with pretty much the same ingredients as mentioned above with the addition of maida and you fry the paneer. Warning: the oil splutters so beware! Make the sauce and combine the two together and you have got yourselves a good ol’ bowl of chilli paneer - comfort for any situation.

Chapter 7: Grocery Shopping!

I am not a shopaholic; I used to love shopping only for two things: books and stationery; ‘now added to the list’ (get it?), grocery shopping! I totally and utterly love grocery shopping - it instigates the peace within me - zen mode on.

It gives you a chance to see what are some of the new things you may want to try; it inspires me to come up with some wacky ideas. It teaches us about fresh produce and how we must always use fresh ingredients no matter what - ground rule of cooking.

I walk through all the aisles, knowing I would not have anything to buy but will look through them just to broaden my knowledge of food. Maybe this is why no one likes to go grocery shopping with me cause I take my own sweet time. Now maybe they know why I dislike going shopping with them for clothes and what not!  

And it was in one of these trips to the shop that I came across Fennel. I had heard about it, seen it on television and always wondered what would this taste like? What could I possibly make out of it? More to come about fennel in the next chapter. Keep Cooking!

Chapter 8: Discovery of Fennel

Fennel is now one of my favourite vegetables. The minute I saw it, it was love at first sight. I was captivated by it; by the bulb at the bottom, to the stalk and finally the fronds - so beautiful in its own essence and existence. I had no idea how to use it or what I would make out of it but the way I felt clearly gave me the signal to pick it up.
I’m back home and narrating this beautiful love story of fennel to my mom as though I just wanted to admire it and not even use it. Don’t worry I did use it. I started to look up how it is to be treated and prepped. There were many who said that the fronds can be used but there were some others who said it was best not to use it. I decided not to use the fronds as this was the first time I was cooking with it and I wanted it to be as perfect as possible.

Heated a pan with some olive oil, sauteed some garlic with butter and added the fennel to soak in as much flavour as possible. I then garnished it with some chopped parsley and viola! The best salad ever with as few ingredients as possible.

Cooking tip: For this particular recipe, it is best to serve the fennel hot!

I would definitely want to experiment more with this beautiful vegetable and make as many dishes as I possibly can!

Chapter 9: Om Nom Nom

Disclaimer: Potato is a God sent gift and we must respect it to the highest level possible! I love potatoes! And it is such a versatile vegetable and can be consumed in ways which would ignite the utmost level of happiness within us. Here, I am going to share my love for potatoes with you all.

People always criticise potatoes for being too fatty and what not! Although, my opinion is that potatoes are the base of innumerable dishes and without them, the world would not be complete. Be it mashed, boiled, sauteed, fondants, grated, pan fried or deep fried, they are enjoyable in every which way. Personally, I love mashed potatoes the best! But I am going to pen down my experience of grated potatoes here.

One of the ways I used grated potatoes was I made them into potato pancakes :) It is the most simple recipe: all you need to do is combine the grated potatoes with corn flour, gram flour, pepper, jeera (cumin seeds) and chilli and pan fry this mixture and ta-da! You’ve got yourselves some really delicious potato pancakes.

Another variation of the grated potatoes could be, potato waffles. For my version of potato waffles, I combined grated potatoes with cream cheese, spring onions, chilli flakes, oregano and salt with some flour for binding. Take a scoop of the mixture and spread it across the waffle pan and you’re done! It can be eaten as a snack or for breakfast itself cause that’s the charm of potatoes!

Chapter 10: Misses :(

Quinoa, the most decorated healthy grain. I too wanted to know what the fizz about quinoa was. I had absolutely no prior knowledge about quinoa, no idea how to cook it, what to make with it etc. One day, I decided to make quinoa pulao and started to look up ways to make the same. The first step is to soak the quinoa for a good 60 minutes. A heads up for all of you: this is first time I’m attempting to make pulao; yes any kind of pulao. I was excited to use all the masalas (whole spices): bay leaf, green cardamom, cloves, star anise as well as all the goodness of spices like turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder. Just a whiff of all these aromas and your mouth starts salivating for some sumptuous deliciousness. You then need to add the drained quinoa and cook on low heat.

Final product was delicious; you could taste the quinoa, the spices all individualistic in their flavours but an amalgamation of them a flavour bomb in your mouth. The recipe that I tested out was for a trial to see how my family would enjoy this dish. Some of us consumed it immediately after it was prepared. The remainder was kept aside for the evening and by then, the taste had gone bitter and all that deliciousness had evaporated.

Cooking tip: Always (and I mean always) consume quinoa immediately after it has been cooked. If only I had read up on this more ….

Well, that doesn’t stop me from having a go at quinoa again!

A complete turn of events, the world as we know it, remodelled
"The new normal is here" is the word around town,
And that just brings everybody down.
Words that were once never in our dictionary,
Now seem eerie.
A lockdown was once never heard,
The thought was always absurd.
But here it is, and we are in it,
A situation we never expected to be in, yet we must admit.
Troubled are these times
But it does not define our decline.
We shall rise too
And the world as we know it, will be anew.

Take the paint off the leaf and brush it across the canvas,
With the backdrop of the clear blue sky.
A canvas themselves in reality, not needed to be replicated
As the original landscape is a masterpiece in itself
Which needs to be experienced in its truest form,
In its natural beauty - in its own existence.

The space bar waiting to be hit,
The next word waiting to be heard and understood,
The punctuation marks are on point,
And the feelings are ready to ooze out on paper.
The ink pen ready to write a story
That are for many but only a few can understand it.

The scent of rain,
Makes us forget our pain.
The essence of the morning dew,
Cherished by many and a few.
The aroma of the ocean,
Brings out a sense of devotion.
The smell of the beach,
For many it can teach.
The scent of an orchid,
For nature is always rewarded.
The whiff of fresh paint,
Makes everything feels so quaint.
The fragrance of life,
Makes one alive.

A lost tradition brought back by unforeseen forces,
They make, build and nurture relations
But also put to test some,
Sibling rivalries emerge and teams within the family are formed,
There are no greater conspiracies than the ones created while playing board games.
Screaming with excitement and laughing so hard that your 'gut' hurts,
And at the same time, quarrels quickly and quietly resolved as the game goes on.
Board games brings the people under one roof together,
Unity is formed and love is shared unconditionally
As the game continues....

A nation wide lockdown,
Panic and havoc in the streets initially
Are substituted by silence.
A silence so quiet, it is deafening;
A silence that can be seen.
The cities turn into ghost towns and daily routines disturbed.
With only a few humans on the outside, the birds are chirping, rejoicing,
The plants breathe fresh air,
The animals return to their homes,
The water pure,
Nature is nourished again
Nature wins - always.