All my growing up years I've fattened myself on my mom's cooking ...from the regular rajma chawal which is a staple in any true blooded punjabi household to the Sunday mutton curry with garam 
tawa rotis, to the best cakes in the world, to what now seems so difficult - matthis, balushahis, gujias, gulab jamuns, besan burfi , namak pare, assortment of chutneys!! Mouth watering delicious!! Awesome and incomparable. And oh so taken for granted. In those days there was no culture of take aways, ordering in or even eating out except on special occasions. So home food was what we had save the greasy school canteen grub or of course street food. Therefore my mother doled out all kinds of treats - fried, roasted, ba
ked or plain simple stove cooked.The kitchen was her kingdom (despite having a flourishing career in teaching and administering a school.), her domain and unquestionably her department.
So much so that I never entered the kitchen till the time I was married. Imagine my consternation when I looked blankly at the kitchen cabinets not being able to identify dals beyond yellow and black! Masalas were an enigma, cutting vegetables, kneading dough, mechanics of the erstwhile pressure cooker ...seemed daunting mysteries to me.
The first week after the honeymoon was traumatic in the kitchen - the milk would boil over or if I would put it on slow flame --would burn!! The Rajmas (my favourite!) would be under cooked, the masalas would be in excess - since I was clueless on quantity to be used. It was no solace to constantly hear from the husband and mother-in-law ''we just like home cooked food''.
By and by with mom's help and numerous frantic conversations (on phone and in person) spanning tips, detailed descriptions and practicalities I now am somewhere between a good and a great cook. My repertoire does not have time consuming, elaborate recipes
like hers but recipes designed to succeed with my son and husband and selection of friends. My cooking is more contemporary and eclectic - more practical as in having fewer dishes to wash! I rustle up creamy pastas,
tangy spaghetti, farfalle in pesto sauce, stir fries using assorted vegetables, sumptuous chicken dishes, fish and prawns sauteed or grilled,mutton rogan josh worth dying for, spicy chutneys, varied fried rice, pizzas, fluffy idlis and a fragrant and soothi
ngly tasty halwa among lots more culinary gems!! Sadly though nowhere in my list can I mention chappati - the simple phulka, the must have on any north Indian menu. Not to suggest that I haven't tried. I so have and so many times - using so many kinds of dough - fresh, refrigerated, hard, soft - but the perfect phulka still eludes me! Its not round - its doesn't blow up on the flame and its not light and soft!
The pleasure of making naram naram garam garam rotis eludes me totally!
