During the lockdown days, I would excitedly wait for weekends even though weekdays and weekends were merging into one because I would be cooking with my friends!
I had no clue that a random plan to cook something together one Saturday would turn into a much-loved tradition.
It started when my friend Pooja from Mumbai messaged that she had made butter chicken. I shared my cooking experiments with her - by then I had ventured into the kitchen to rustle up anything from a simple hung yogurt dip and salsa to chocolate cake, dalgona coffee, dal makhani, tacos and focaccia bread. And I was enjoying every minute of it.
We decided to cook together one weekend on a WhatsApp video call and settled for pizzas from scratch, including the dough. She then pinged me saying she’s asking an expert to coach us – her childhood friend who’s based in Singapore, Rima.
The first dish we made was this pizza
That weekend Rima patiently guided us on how to knead the dough (oh how I love that process) and make the tomato sauce base. We topped the pizza with sausages, olives and cheese and finally put them in the oven. Frantic messages were exchanged on how good the pizzas were and we all agreed that we could not stop here. So, the next weekend we chose to make Garlic and Herb rolls – crisp outside and soft inside. We realized our common love for all purpose flour or as we know it - maida. And hence our WhatsApp group name is 'Flour Puff Girls'.
Next in line was tandoori chicken followed by delicious mango mousse. Before we realized it, this became a ritual. We would exchange recipes through the week, decide on what to make by mid-week, order the ingredients and then wait for the weekend. We raised the bar each time taking on something more challenging and tough than our last preparation. We made bagels, butter chicken with garlic naan, pigs in a blanket, ravioli and even Indian mithai like kaju katli. I think the super soft marble cake and fried chicken baos were the winning dishes so far.
We were so proud of these chicken baos
What I love is our bonding and obsession with food and cooking something more complex each time. They make fun of the overactive yeast I have and call it pregnant and tell me I need mental help since I love kneading the dough so much. The only time I had a disaster was when we made kaju katli. I started earlier than them and my proportion of water went haywire. They got beautiful looking barfis, while I got lumps – tasty sure, but not too aesthetic! But I guess this is part of the game.
Here are a few pictures of what we have made so far.
According to me this melt-in-the-mouth marble cake was one of the best dishes we have made. Pooja dug out this recipe from Instagram and we followed her instructions while putting together this wonderful dish.
How can anyone go wrong with butter chicken? Like maida, we are obsessed with this dish as well. Pooja shared this recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor and the flavour was exactly the way butter chicken tastes in restaurants. We didn't cheat on the butter and cream. What came as a surprise was this super simple recipe of naan. I had no idea it was so easy to make it at home. So glad that we gave this a shot.
Oh these delicious bagels. The recipe was a bit complicated but we went ahead with it and the result was this. Definitely worth the time and effort that went into this.
We made sausage rolls or pigs in a blanket on different days. First Rima tried them - gave them a green signal, then Pooja baked these and I was the last one to do it. I made it for my dad's birthday and he loved them. I used bread flour instead of all purpose flour as it contains more gluten which makes the bread softer. Slathered some butter and ate it hot when it came out of the oven.
I LOVE pasta so much that we ended up making spinach and ricotta ravioli from scratch without a pasta machine. After being in the kitchen for 4 hours and trying to roll out the dough as thinly as we could, we were happy with the final product - especially the incredible sauce made of white wine, cherry tomatoes and cream. Next time I will try it with the pasta machine.
That is all for now folks. Can’t wait for the coming weekend already. Can you guess what we are cooking next? Follow me on Instagram for more updates on our cooking sessions.
