Easy and fun cooking: June 2011

About Easy and Fun cooking

The word ‘easy’ itself says presenting without any effort and difficulties. Here comes my blog that introduces a new style of cooking- effortless and full of fun and joy, so as the name. If you are one of those who really hate to cook, but love to eat, then you are not alone this year. Here is a very simple solution for all your worries. In fact it would be strange if I say that i was one of those on one or more occasion. So what’s the deal? Why does cooking make so many of us utterly miserable? There is a very well said line- “Motivation is what gets you started and habit is what keeps you going”. So here is correct time when you will really enjoy cooking and make your family happy with few easy recipes mentioned in this blog. With this book one would really start loving cooking as it would make you prepare the yummiest delicacy in a short period of time and tons of fun as well joy.

Ranjan Samal, Executive Chef at The Tamara Kodai, Kodiakanal, has emerged as an innovative and prolific chef who is using microgreens to enhance his dishes and create delicious yet healthy recipes.

Ranjan’s dishes and recipes have an innovative blend of microgreens, that have emerged as one of the hottest food trends in recent times for their numerous health aspects.

Born in Odisha and raised in Bengaluru, a multicultural city that is known for its amalgamation of different cultures, Chef Ranjan has always been intrigued by various mouth-watering dishes the city has to offer. In conversation with Sachin Kulkarni, Blooming Greens, Chef Ranjan talks about how his childhood at Bengaluru fascinated him to pursue a career as a Chef, his experiment with lotus leaf recipes, his innovative dishes, and his journey so far.

Always a passionate cook who loves to experiment with unique methods of cooking, Ranjan decided to prepare a signature dish while working at Tamara Kodai, and that is how he came out with a dish with the main ingredient as lotus leaves, which is a synonym of Tamara.

Another culinary practice that distinguishes Ranjan from other chefs is his use of microgreens in his recipes. He likes adding microgreens to the dishes he prepare because it makes the food more presentable and full of nutritional values that are good for health. Also, he likes the flavors the freshness of microgreens brings to his dishes. Besides using them for garnishing, Ranjan also uses microgreens as main ingredient in salad, sandwiches, and filling stuff in certain dishes. Ranjan always prioritizes on creating dishes that not just look good but taste amazing too.

Ranjan’s childhood in Bengaluru led him to go for a course in Hotel Management in Kolkata where people are passionate foodies and celebrate every festival with exotic food. It was at Kolkata where Ranjan first began to understand the various aspects of Food & Beverage (B&F) industry. Once he started his career as an Executive Chef, Ranjan got to know that besides being an excellent cook, a good Chef also has to be well-informed about other factors including human resources, food cost, labor cost, design, union rules, cleaning, and public relations etc.

Ranjan puts a lot of emphasis on food plating or as it is more commonly known as, food presentation. He likes to put his creativity in simple dishes making them more special and presentable to the guests. At times, guests find it surprising when they come to know that the dishes are the regular ones but prepared in a much better manner.

In every profession, there are ups and downs and Ranjan’s professional journey is also not untouched by the critics. Talking about his experience as a cook, Ranjan said that the kitchen is like a firework place where sometime you get burns, cuts, and scratches. However, you must always fulfill the guests’ demand with a smile. He said that even after putting a lot of efforts, you sometime get to hear not so positive feedback from the customers but instead of getting disheartened, you have to rework on the recipe and make it better.

When asked how he comes out with his innovative recipe ideas, Ranjan said that he often travels across the country to explore and learn about numerous types of spices India has got to offer. He has been bringing all such spices and is adding them to his unique dishes since the pre-opening .

•Indian spices have lots of medicinal ayurvedic value, and easy to prepare all spices/ masala at home. In market-ready masala have lots of adulteration, which unhealthy.

• Make a big batch of Indian Spice Mix ( coriander, Cummins, turmeric, red chili, black pepper, etc). Dry roast the spices and ground using traditional hamdasta or grinder, store in an airtight container.

• Five spices that must be available in every kitchen like Cinnamon to lower blood sugar, Turmeric to Fight Inflammation, Ginger to Relieve Nausea, Black Pepper to stimulate digestive enzymes of Pancreas, Mustard Seeds highly anti-oxidant.

• A traditional Indian cure for mild toothache has been to pop a clove into your mouth and nurse it there: it acts as a mild analgesic!

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