Home cooking gets more variety

Home cooks are adding items like palak idli and air fried donuts to their daily menu

Bengaluru home cooks are tired of the mundane and are experimenting with new dishes and cuisines.

The pandemic has changed much in our lives, including the food we cook at home. Earlier, home food mostly meant traditional Indian dishes. Now, foodies dish out delights they used to order from restaurants and food apps. These include lasagna, baked foods like cakes and buns, and chaats.

Both men and women are consulting blogs, YouTube and Facebook and innovating beyond the boundaries of traditional food.

Many went online and posted pictures of their creations. On Instagram, #homecooking has about 19 million posts. Bengalureans shared with Metrolife about their experiments in the kitchen.

For Vinutha Lakshman, a homemaker, the pandemic gave rise to concerns about hygiene and safety.

“With family members at home, consuming staple south Indian dishes all the time, was not an option. Everyone wanted variety,” she recollects.

This led her to adding hot soups and health drinks to the daily menu. “Kids were happy trying new dishes. Though restaurants are open and the option of ordering in is available, I still make chaats, hot soups, breads and cakes at home,” she elaborates.

Spare time

For Priyadarshini Chaturvedi, senior merchandiser of a clothing brand, the pandemic allowed her to experiment with breads and cakes.

“Since my family stopped eating food from outside, they encouraged and supported my innovations. My air fried donut is a big hit with the family. Inspired by my progress, I also started a social media food channel called ‘Tantalising flavours’ to help and inspire other home cooks,” she says.

She regularly makes beetroot bread, carrot bread and other vegetable breads now. In dental surgeon Dravya Rao’s home, simple south Indian fare was the norm. Staying indoors meant Dravya had lots of leisure time.

“When restaurants were closed, I made lasagne, cakes, pizza, chips, chaats and momos, which my son loves,” says she. Despite a packed schedule now, Dravya still bakes cakes, breads and buns, when her son asks for them.

Hobby cooking

Trying new recipes meant escape from the usual Vysya cuisine, for Nirmita P Ravi, a student.

“Cooking was the best stress-buster during the testing times. For me, aroma and colours of food are the best way of understanding the combination of flavours,” she says.

Post lockdown, on weekends, she treats her family with garlic noodles and Chinese gravy, rajma and chawal, rasmalai, palak idli and other dishes.

Healthy, cost-effective

Ajit Bhaskar, a scientist at a leading FMCG company, realised that healthy food is not always cost-effective.

“This led me to experiment with homemade food. My ‘Make it from scratch’ approach has been an inspiration to more than 10,000 followers on Instagram, who love how I make everything without using any
commercial sauces or products,” he
says.

His family loves pasta, Thai food, and all types of Indian food. “Idli and dosa are my son’s favourites. I cooked a poori chole brunch for my mother-in-law. Post lockdown, availability of fresh green leafy vegetables and other ingredients has helped to enhance the dishes,” explains Ajit.

A tasty spin to veggies

Is it hard to convince your children to eat vegetables? Make a vegetable bread.

Beetroot Bread
Ingredients

1 ½ cups maida

½ tbs yeast

½ tbsp sugar

½ tbsp salt

½ tbs butter

½ tbsp yogurt

3 tbsp beetroot.

Method

Knead all the ingredients together, with water.

Air fry for eight minutes.

(Recipe courtesy: Priyadarshini)

MilletSurMeraTumhara

Use leftover cooked millets in this dish.

Add finely diced bell peppers, bread crumbs, cheese, salt to taste, and fresh basil.

Shallow fry it and enjoy!

(Recipe courtesy: Ajit)