Gabfest: And Thereby Hangs A Tail

I fell down in a sewer once and my mom recognised and accepted me as her child after undergoing great trauma.

So, aquafaba might be less traumatic to my inured mom.

 

And raise funds for our club!

You are aware that we are collecting funds for an air fryer and Instant Pot. Every little mouse or mousse helps in this fundraiser.

 

Ayyoyyo! This cooking diversion is giving me another school creeps, anxiety and insomnia. Wondering, am I missing out a big part of life. I have no modern electrical gadgets in my kitchen except for a microwave and hand blender. My cherished tools are a knife, a peeler, a rolling pin, a small hand blender and few pots.

I make all my biryanis, koftas, kebabs and desserts with them. I don't even have a grinder or a pressure cook. I soak daal and microwave and grind and mash up the next day in a hand blender. I am having xanax-level anxiety now on hearing about all these appliances. The only reason I had my eye on air-fryer is because I was unhealthily deep frying the koftas and I love vegetable kofta. I reason that I cook only for one or two people so my need is less that I can manage with a knife and pot. Last month a friend asked, how do you make your biryani in rice cooker. I said I have no ordinary cooker, forget about rice cooker. I soak rice and boil and take the parboiled rice and layer it up, slow cook and wrap a towel on the lid. Do you use oven? No. Do you use mixer? No. I roll the roasted spices or use the hand grinder and if both are not feasible I use store-bought masala powder. How many knives? One rugged knife for paring, chopping, boning, carving and sometimes I use that knife to open a packet also instead of scissors if I am too lazy. On seeing my kitchen, one of my friends commented that if I am lost in a trail, I can survive in the woods for three days before rescue is sent just with fire and tortoise shells.

I have to upgrade my cooking techniques. I feel so Jurassic still using archaic cooking processes.

Also note: My cooking quantity is less, so I am able to make do with these primitive tools.

 

These days there are so many quality posts that our next march should be “FP easy access button”

Phew! Such a relief on reading your prompt response. What in the name of Le Creuset is an avocado peeler?! I used a knife for peeling the avocado this afternoon for making guacamole. Where is the space in kitchen to stock and stack these wares?! My kitchen is so tiny that I have to throw away two mugs to make space for one new plate. I liked your explanation on a “unitasker”. I follow the same approach. If an appliance is a multi-tasker and makes similar and discrete tools redundant only then I (might) go for it. I had a rice cooker and pressure cooker few years ago. I abandoned them both as I was using very less of them. I use the masoor or moong daal which cooks in microwave and easy to fork up and mash later. Tuvar doesn't cook well in microwave so I use less of it.

I came across augerbine recipes like bharali vangi and air-fried aubergine in the Lunch Ideas thread. Trying out that bharali now. Will post pictures later. For a moment, I had a panic attack there thinking if everyone has moved over to hi-tech gadgets while I am languishing in my chula. In that panic I even called up a friend and inquired if he is using cooker ..any cooker any fryer...any gadget marketed in the past ten years to which he inquired if my anxiety also includes frying pan for omelette, his only loyal aide. That’s the reason I prefer men as friends. They come out too innocent and confused with my untimely pokes.

 

Where is the picture? How can people not take a picture when they make such delicious curries?
I eat beef but only as meat balls. Beef and pork meatballs and pork sausages. I think I had once beef rendang.

You better come up with a good excuse for not taking a picture again this time.

Are you still thinking what excuse to come up with? Think hard. Three back-to-back temptations and not one picture. You better come up with a sturdy excuse.

I wish I could use such nifty gadgets to get the work done swifter and finer. My constraints : (1) My kitchen is too small. When I took the apartment, cooking was the last thing in my mind. Cooking and me? No way (2) I get bored of things very quickly. In my excitement I bought a juicer and within a month gave it away to a friend when my fascination wore away. (3) I get very confused with gadgets (any kind, not just kitchen appliances). (final) Wait and watch, I will move over to ceramic pottery or channapatna wooden toys in few days and my (disused) stove hob will be used to host the artwork I fancy.