Two-Minute Cooking School: Prospectus

The idea of the Two-Minute Cooking School is to present a recipe which can be learnt in just two minutes!

Almost all the recipes are for Indian dishes. The recipes may not be 100% authentic, the way it is made in your state, village or home. However, they are 100% yummy. The first time I've tried most of these dishes and tasted them, I've gone, "Whoa! Did I really cook this myself? I wish I could show this off to my mom!" Many of these dishes, as cooked by me, have been tasted and appreciated by friends. So, you can be sure that the recipes are tried and tested to work.

Every recipe is accompanied by a picture taken in my kitchen, soon after the dish is prepared and ready.

Past recipes: Vaangibath, Lemon Rice, Aaloo-paalak, 7-Layer Dessert, Baingan Bharta.

The main target students for this school are young Indians like myself, who are neither total dummies in cooking nor accomplished experts and who like to try new recipes. I don't go into every basic step, nor describe every tiny detail, nor give the exact weight and proportions of the ingredients. I just describe the recipe so that it can be learnt in two minutes. I assume that the target students, who are not novices in cooking, can figure out the tiny details and proportions for themselves.

I have learnt most of these recipes from casual conversations with family and friends, from experimentation and intuition born out of eating my mother's South Indian dishes for almost a quarter century, from the Internet and even from packaging boxes of masalas and spices. Almost none of these recipes have actually been learnt in a kitchen, watching an Indian cook them in the authentic way. So, I make no claims for the recipes to be 100% authentic. I welcome feedback and suggestions from readers, but please don't crucify me when I am not being authentic or following tradition to the T.

I know several Indian languages, but I am not an expert in any of them. I know the names of cooking items and ingredients in some, all or none of these languages. I just use the names in any language that feels most convenient to me at the time. I will try to name the language I use in a recipe and I will try to provide the English or any other commonly known translation, but there will be inconsistencies. Please excuse.

If you try these recipes, please post a comment and let me know. I will be very thrilled if this Two-Minute Cooking School helps even just one poor (forced*) bachelor/ette, far from home, to get a taste for some yummy self-cooked Indian food!

Finally, here are some quick tips from personal experience, on learning to cook.

*Forced Bacherlor/ette: S/he is a married person who is currently forced to live the single life, due to circumstances. The circumstances are usually a work assignment in a different state or country.