My grateful thanks are due to the Sunday Times for featuring me in their June 6 edition of Taste.
I hope you all see my website for which I am thankful to, Norman Burns, Glenn Nicholas of OM4, and web designers Diane Wilks and Fanita Farcic and last, but not least, Craig Kinder for his wonderful photographs of the mouth watering dishes.
Cooking has been a passion with me since I was a young child. But constant thoughts and positive thinking has brought me to where I am with help from friends I have in the media.
The recipes that I have selected to teach in my classes have been developed over the last 35 years.
I was not born with cooking talents – it has been developed over the years with encouragement from a lot of people.
For a party to be a success apart from the ingredients that go into the dishes, I believe one must have the correct frame of mind in wanting to produce a good meal.
Then one has to select a menu that will blend well and complement each dish.
I have had so many comments from my students that when they look at a recipe book they get put off by the list of ingredients. I quite believe that.
To produce a good curry, one does not need, for instance, coriander seeds plus coriander powder.
When I make a fish curry my ingredients are: fish, onions, chilli powder, salt, curry leaves, whole garlic, fenugreek seeds, tamarind and coconut milk.
I looked up a cookery book for a recipe for cooking fish with tamarind and believe me, there were about 20 ingredients. This could even put me off cooking a fish curry!
As far as I am concerned, cooking should be enjoyable and not a chore. The art of cooking is therapeautic and creative.
As mentioned in the article I certainly would love to publish my own cookbook but everyone seems to want to publish a book on curries and the competition is very high.
As I always say, adding cumin and coriander leaves does not make a curry. But in the meantime refer to my recipes on my website and enroll for my classes and keep cooking curries.
Until next time!
Sarogini
I agree with you on this: Cooking must be enjoyable and not a chore!
Many South Indian recipes use coriander powder and curry leaves as the primary ingredients, so does my mother-in-law when she makes fish curry.
I am glad there is something different here. Am going to cook fish sans coriander powder like you do. Have learned different cooking styles from my mother and mother-in-law who come from different parts of Kerala,India. Am going to try your recipes and add to my knowledge base.
Thanks for sharing!