We know the old Hindustaani proverb is the other way round: Ghar ki murgi daal barabar. In other words, when cooked at home, even chicken (murgi) seems as commonplace as lentils (daal)—a euphemism for the fact that what is easily available tends to be undervalued.
And this is precisely where we come in, with the homemaker’s eternal quest to make the daal cooked at home as appetizing as murgi from the best restaurant!
Here, the term ‘homemaker’ is by no means limited to women who stay at home. A ‘homemaker’, according to us, is every individual—male or female—who tries to create a pleasant, rejuvenating and wholesome ambience called ‘home’. And creating delicious, appetizing, satisfying and nutritious food for the family is surely a crucial element of homemaking.
A warning at this point is in order: We are not the standard food site or blog that gives you recipes for dishes that are ‘different’ to create a stir (pun unintended) at get-togethers. Of course, we intend to do that too, along with restaurant reviews. But our primary focus is on making everyday food fun and easy to cook, nutritious, and good to eat.
A friend who has spent a large part of her life globetrotting recently commented: ‘We Indians really take our food seriously’. But in today’s whirlwind world when people have less and less time to really get down to ‘home cooking’, either this critical task is passed on to hired help, or, more often than not, takeaways or packaged ready-to-eat foods end up as the ‘nutritive’ mainstay of most double income households.
This, in effect, detracts largely from the satisfaction quotient of life in such households. And, although it sounds a little clichéd, ‘my mom is an excellent cook’ still remains a child’s most joyful expression of well-being—one that is driving more and more extremely busy mothers to somehow take out the time to cook for their families, even if it is one-pot dishes or a cake on weekends!
And this, as we said earlier, is where we come in—with our simple recipes that make everyday dishes both easy to cook and delicious to eat (as well as some exotic ones for those who want them) that will help you add that personal touch to your family life.
Our food being an integral part of our lives, a number of recipes will be accompanied by real life anecdotes—funny, or heart-warming, or simply touching! Some have folk-tales attached to them.
We welcome contributions from our readers, by way of both food stories and recipes. Restaurant reviews accompanied by pictures would also be welcome.
Bon Apetit!