Club100 || Steemit Engagement Challenge W2- D6 || The Favorite Chef in the family. || It's me..
Cooking is an art. Having culinary skills should be a basic necessity. For too long, cooking has been gender-associated, in South Asia but things are starting to change slowly.
It had been established for a fact that men will bear the expenses of the house, working outdoors while the women of the family will take care of the house and the kitchen. This is the reason why men had been lacking in their cooking skills while women in their public dealing. I'm not generalizing this, but in Pakistan, it has been like this.
This generation brought a change, or maybe because I'm of this generation, I observed it. I think cooking should be learned by everyone regardless of gender, it is the most basic of things a person should do. I come from a family, where I have no sisters. For our family, it gets hectic for our mom to take care of all of us all together. Due to this, I have always had an interest in cooking. Another reason for me to cook was that I had to live alone for quite a long period of time. So as they say desperate times desperate measures. So in this post, I'll tell you who's my favorite chef in my family. I am sure, you already have an idea
Favorite Chef in my family
This post will give a huge I'm my own favorite energy 😂😂
source
I have always loved cooking. It started when I used to disturb my mom in the kitchen. Slowly and gradually I started taking more and more interest in the Kitchen. I used to ask for separate recipes from my mom and aid her in her work. I started with the basics, for example, peeling off potatoes and onions, washing dishes, and learning how to maintain the kitchen.
I started making tea for the family. Though it's very simple I felt accomplished whenever I served my family members tea. I still remember when my dad said that the tea is very good, I felt very proud.
Where and How did I learn cooking?
It all happened when I had to live alone with my dad in a foreign country. It was only my dad and me against all the odds. My dad, though he can cook, he has never been a professional cook. It's obvious, that he never got time living a hard life, earning outside.
So, when we had to live alone, we had to eat of course. And to eat, we had to cook. It was very tough for us. We lived alone for a year. What happened, in the beginning, was that we used to video call my mom and she used to guide us step by step. She guided us from the very beginning of cooking a dish to the end. She guided us on the number of spices that we have to put it, the time we had to cook the meat for, and so on.
For a month, it carried on, and then one day when my dad was in hospital working, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I still remember that day, 8 years ago, I stepped into the kitchen. A small kid walking into the battlefield all alone, all gutted to have victory. That day, I cooked the simplest of Chicken curries that I could. After I had done cooking, I tasted my own production, and to be honest I wasn't satisfied at all. The salt was in huge quantities, the spices were not at all perfect.
Anyway, I waited for my dad to come back home. He was already very tired, yet he directly headed into the kitchen to cook something together. As soon as he stepped inside the kitchen, he was so surprised and happy that I had already cooked something. I set up the table for him and placed the food in Infront of him. I felt like being a participant in Master Chef USA and Gordon Ramsay sitting in front of me waiting to take the first bite of the food and judging me. I was very nervous. As soon as my dad took the first bite, he gave me a huge smile and said that it was the most delicious dish he has ever tasted.
I was so relieved to hear that. It boosted my confidence and from there I started cooking food on regular basis. From there I took on the gloves and started making different dishes. Since then I have cooked:
Prawns
Biryani
Loaded fries
Fried Rice
Chicken Karahi
Chicken Manchurian
Loaded Fries
Prawns
My Favorite Recipe
Over the past 8 years, I have cooked a lot of dishes but of course I couldn't capture them all. Luckily, one of my favorite recipes that I cooked recently, was the one that I captured as well and I'll be telling you about that recipe in this post.
FRIED PRAWNS
I used to hate prawns. Literally hated it. The smell of prawns was enough to make me vomit. One might wonder, how did it change? It changed when my friends forcefully took me to the Karachi's biggest fishery where we bought freshly picked prawns on our own
My life changed upside down from there. In that Kemari fishery, I learned the art of fishing and how all that seafood is cleaned, distributed, and sold. It was an experience of a lifetime for me and truly a changing point in my life.
A kid cleaning Prawns for us
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My friend cooked the prawns for all of us. I was reluctant in eating it at first but as soon as I took the first bite, I felt my life taking a 360° turn. I had never tasted something as tasty as that
So I asked for the recipe from my friend and memorized it. Fast-forward a week, we had a family gathering at our place. All the women were in the kitchen. I headed into the kitchen with my sleeves folded up and told them that I'll be cooking a delicious dish for them. They were all surprised and happy. So I took charge.
medium sized Prawns
oil
cornflour
breadcrumbs
- egg
I put the oil in the pan at slow heat while I started placing cornflour and breadcrumbs on the prawns. It wasn't an easy task and the most important thing was to maintain the decorum of the kitchen or else my mom would have killed me haha. The spices were mixed in the batter and once I dipped the prawns into it, the spices altogether adhered to it.
The most difficult part was to maintain the consistency of the batter on the prawns, as in the beginning, as soon as I placed the prawns in the oil, the batter started to come off. So I had to be extremely careful in this.
The prawns were cooked for an hour. I put them separately on two plates and presented them in front of 30 guests. My mind started to go back to the situation I was in 8 years ago. I was very nervous. Will they all like my food? Or will it be a disaster? There were so many questions piling up in my mind. Though I don't get nervous easily in moments like this, I get a bit nervous.
I got amazing feedback from all the guests who ate prawns. In fact, prawns were the first thing to be finished on that table. It was such a feeling of accomplishment for me.
CONCLUSION
Well, that's it from my side. I hope you liked my blog. For this challenge, I'd like to invite my friends @maazmoid123 @wajihasheikh and @naqshraja1 I'm sure we have a lot of talented cooks among us. Thank you for reading up till this point. Do give me your feedback.
Regards
@huzaifanaveed1
Even though my dad is very busy he still manages to cook sometime for us because he loves cooking. He loves to make karhai and dum pukh and we all enjoy it also.
P.s i had this same love hate relation with prawn i used to love it when i was younger but now not so much :/
I'm sure your dad is an amazing cook. How about you bring something he cooked for us, sometime?
It is true that the kitchen does not depend on gender, but sometimes men have better cooking skills than women. But the question arises who cleaned the place after all this?
Hahaha, I see what you did there. I make a lot of mess in the kitchen whenever I cook something, maybe that's a reason why my mom doesn't let me stay in the kitchen for a long time. I made the mess, so I had to clean it up or else it would have been my mom, a shoe in her hand and me.
What about you, do you cook?
Yes, I know, but I do not show my skills so that my wife does not depend on me for this task.
Hahaha, smart move. Gotta learn a thing or two from you prof, before I get married.
Insha Allah.
Father's are so cute they will always eat whatever you will cook no matter how it tastes .. i remember when i first time made roti and it was burnt from some sides and was so crispy but he ate it and also give me some money as a reward... It really boosts your confidence.. and he himself sometimes makes breakfast for us usually on sundays and we enjoy alot.
I never has pawns in my life, but the way you expressed about it, my curiosity has been doubled.
So will going to come to your house inshallah and you are going to cook it for me 😅
Thank you :)