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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Cooking food on one's own

Contrary to what you, dear reader may think, this is neither a gripe about the task of cooking nor a snub to female readers for whom cooking is a daily chore that they often come to despise. I am merely writing this to share my experiences about this essential task of living. 


For single males who have never cooked in their lives, a stint of work in a country like Saudi Arabia, and more particularly, in a small town like Al Muweh can be a daunting task. The reason is not too far to seek: there are no decent restaurants here; I mean, there are a few places, but they all have a limited menu of from 5-15 items in all, and not all of them are cooked well. Also, there are just a few cafeteria where fast food is available  - not the delicious food that you see in Pizza Hut or McDonald's but indigenous concoctions that are designed to be prepared and fried easily (yes, fried ... that is the only variety you will get in the small joints), are not too costly and are tasty enough for one to eat and to return to eat again and again.


Thankfully, I can manage quite well. The proof is that I have, in the last 1 1/2 months, cooked a varied repertoire of dishes, including chicken masala, yellow dal, black dal, cabbage, mixed vegetables, mutton mince, ready-to-fry samosas, noodles, soups, sevaiyan, brinjals, french beans, potatoes bhaji as well as fried, etc. Today, I made Penne pasta in a tangy tomato sauce, and kadhi with onion pakoda. Here are the pictures with a picture of a salad I made:


I am planning on an ambitious dish within the next twenty-four hours, and will display pictures of the same if the dish and its preparation are something to talk about. Watch this space tomorrow. 


The beauty of cooking here is that food prices are quite low, and it is possible to make even exotic things. That's all I am going to say for now. 


Bye for now. 

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