What food would you pick to represent your country?
When there is a request, can you show some food from your home country what food would you choose to present it to your fellow international friends?. So I had several things going on in my mind..Several recipes came into my mind. which made me to take a hard choice. Because of India’s diversity there are so many varieties of food in every region.
Below are my recipes that I have planned for the live cooking session. Keeping the current situation in mind, my first idea was to show some immune boosting food from Indian cuisine.
There are also several factors that I have considered.
People working from home have to manage office, kids and also cooking food during lunch during this season. So, I wanted to show a bunch of recipes, so each one of them can be cooked for an individual meal. I planned to give a bunch of Indian recipe collection that can be easily cooked also during their lunch breaks.
There are several factors that I have considered.
- Healthy food
- Easy availability of ingredients
- Minimal spices to get rid of extensive shopping
- Quick recipe
- Set of recipes
- Picking the food from different region of India….
And at last, how effectively I can show the diversity of Indian cuisine? Indian food culture, spices, and cooking technique is spread across the country. During the session, I tried to make a point sometime that this is not entirely India and there is much more😊Regionally things can differ and showed some of the common spices across India. I also tried to include an everyday cooking technique that is done all over India with Tempering.
Here are the ones that i have choosen…
Butter chicken originated from capital city from North India, Spinach is from south Indian kitchen (Keerai Kadayal).
Rice is a staple which is consumed all over India. I choose a simple method to cook rice considering everyone’s kitchen Eqiupments!
Kheer is a traditional dessert made all over India.
Immune boosting salad. This salad was chosen to show a bit of modern Indian kitchen, with flexibility in adding your ingredients and introducing a simple flavor. Though the flavor is mild, it is an eye-catcher with high-density nutrition and packed with good stuff. ( I used homemade sprouts and micro-grain )
Spinach in coconut milk is a special recipe and it is from my mother, passed on to her from her Grandmom. I have always inspired from my mother during my childhood and I used to wonder, how the dishes she made was magical and turned out so good. We used pick up fresh Indian baby greens from our garden for this recipe. The fresh baby greens taste that i remember from my childhood is still frozen in my mind.
Whoever cooked with me, I am sorry that I took a little roller-coaster ride with me to Indian cuisine. The session was a bit fast, as I read from the comments and feedback from the video…The only Motivation that I had was to cook/show complete wholesome meals with carbohydrates, fat, protein, and vitamin & Minerals including a spice introduction. During these difficult times such a healthy meal is much needed.
In case you did not note the details on the plate…First Banana leaf from this season is picked from my plant and I used it for serving Rice. The small green leaf is Sorrel leaf just adding some color. You can also see that I garnished Butter chicken with a drizzle of cream and my homemade Fenugreek Microgreens on Salad on Green Gram sprouts salad. Saffron stands on Kheer is also added to Garnish:-)
I would be interested to know it from my readers that which foods are typical from your point of view to show your cuisine to your International friends?