Do you remember your first dish ever cooked by you? Surely there was someone who taught you how to make it. My first learning was with 2 great ladies in my life. At 10 years of age, Sadiya my best friend who had a knack of already trying out dishes at home, helped me to make Potato tikkis. These are a delectable snack to be had piping hot with tea. Also served in Ramzan Shareef its a tasty treat to have with green spicy chutney. ( An Indian household always has to have chutneys accompanying their food) Potato tikkis are simply potatoes boiled, given a nice tadka ( tempering) with a few spices, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. A dash of lemon juice and chopped coriander all mixed into the potato mix. Then small flat tikkis made to be shallow fried rolled in flour/egg. Aloo Tikki with crisp outside soft inside is a real treat to taste buds at anytime. It’s so delicious that just name itself gets digestive juices flowing in mouth.

Another dish I learnt quite early was making daal ( Hyderabadi way), tomato curry and then almost everything from my dearest mother. Ammi always let me do things step by step. She would make sure I write everything down so I dont forget and of course a day would come when she would test my culinary skills. Of course I have burnt chapatis, rice, daal ( lentils) and basic omelets and lots of recipe books! But that is what makes you learn to be more patient and loving. I think that is when I learnt that if you put your heart into anything, it always turns out to be special. So you have to go that extra mile to achieve it. Thank you my dearest mom, you have been my biggest source of inspiration always. I am sharing the tomato chutney recipe. Its highly recommended. Can be had with rice or with rotis/chapatis. Bon appetit.