Say you’ve never made a dish in your life..
You can make chai, pasta, toast, etc.
What are some tips/tricks/things to know when one first starts cooking? In fact, what IS a good starT? 
Re: Amateur cooks
buy a fire extinguisher.
Re: Amateur cooks
Re: Amateur cooks
The basics for cooking any desi curry dish is frying the onoins which takes the longest time, and having all the spices ready as soon as the onions are light brown, add the spices and brown em before adding the meat, brown the meat thoroughly, add water then let it simmer for 35 to 40 minutes after it comes to a boil. depends on how tough the meat is it should be ready to be served when cooled.
all this is also available on the net and on the National and Shan masala packets.
***Good Luck:) ***
***Oh yeah is it true that You Just got Married, Congratulations to the Happy Couple, and remember the way to a Mans Heart is by way of his stomach…
***
Re: Amateur cooks
A good start for me was to watch and obverse how the best cook I know, my mom, actually cooks. I stood right beside her and assisted. Pretty soon I just tried it myself and asked alot of questions. Slowly I developed my own tips and tricks. It's just a matter of practice and confidence. Getting some recipes and cook books may help too. But the best meals are usually the most simple with fresh ingredients. Try simple meals first and you'll be fine.
Re: Amateur cooks
when my cousin got married and moved across the continent, she didn't know how to cook. so she looked up recipes frm teh internet. recipes about EVERYTHING. like for example naan. she also asked around...her friends, her khala etc about recipes. and she tried em. and now, mashallah after 8 years, she can cook pretty much everything. but a lot of it is practice. after a while you get the hang of stuff and don't really end up measuring every thing and instead eye ball stuff :p
Re: Amateur cooks
try chinese first they are easy
Re: Amateur cooks
Do you want to learn to cook desi dishes ? American/continental dishes?
If you want to learn desi dishes, learn from a mentor – relative or desi friends. Adult Education programs often offer Indian cooking classes and they are often sub-par (compared to your home cooked desi cooking).
If you want to learn to cook non-desi cuisine, grab books and magazines. Cooks Illustrated is a great magazine and you can find lot of good recipes online (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/).
If you are a novice cook, I recommend starting with non-desi dishes since they are easier to make. Start with some pan-seared salmon or shrimp scampi and work your way towards more complex dishes and desserts. After you have prepared some meals without burning yourself, the meals or the kitchen itself, and have acquired some skills like chopping onion w/out crying your eyes out, or crushing garlic, take desi lesson from a relative. Learn to bhoon which is the most important step of desi cooking that non-desis can never seem to master. 
Re: Amateur cooks
good desi sites
www.desicookbook.com
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if you can learn how to make basic masalas for curries and tarka for dhaal's you'll be fine...
Basic Masala's can consist of the following: salt,red chilly powde,haldi, fresh tomatoes, crushed garlic, crushed giner, oil - and then you can add other spices if required.
Tarka can consist of the following: oil, crushed garlic, zeera
Hope that helps.
Re: Amateur cooks
invest in good quality non-stick cookware :D
Re: Amateur cooks
has anyone ever cooked something for the first time and it didnt taste good- did u order a takeaway/pizza instead or did u try again?
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There is a 'first time' for everything. Try everything thats mentioned above..if you mess up, dont worry, after a couple of tries, you will be fine..and basic recipe to everything is pretty much the same with some addition and subtraction. Once you learn to make one dish, next one would become alot easier..
and you should try to cook basic daal first cuz thats the easiest...ask your mom for help. I used to do the samething that saimanyc has mentioned, and before i knew it i was cooking all by myself :)
Re: Amateur cooks
start with packet masalas :D
well I was sent recipe books from my hubby but I refused to open them up and try any recipe until he is there to eat however it turns out to be.l.but yeah when I started cooking etc. I realized that I can follow shan packet masala recipe easily and it's a good start!
Re: Amateur cooks
awww sara when i got married i was 20 (late last year), and I only knew basic stuff, after i got married since we were both in school we got by on dorm food for a while, but after when we finally got our own place i was so overwhelmed, and i didn’t have any family close by to help, so i would find recipies online, and then call my mom to see if the recipie sounded right. So after i tried a recipie i would reccord it in a book…and now i would totally give up by husband before i give up my book :halo:
Re: Amateur cooks
when i started learning how to cook, which was a few years after i got married 
i thought i better learn essential dishes. i started out learning chawal…it took me a few tries to get it perfect. then i slowly worked on chicken. like tandoori chicken - or something easy you can just marinade and throw in the oven. after the chicken, then i started on meat salins using the pressure cooker (ie. achar gosht) and then veggie salins in non-stick.
what really worked for me is to get my mom to tell me EXACTLY what she does for making salin including exact quantities of things and i just follow it like a cook book recipe. it usually works…but there are some things i’m just not able to as well as my mom like biryani or keema salins 
good luck. and don’t give up.
Re: Amateur cooks
I'm like the "thread killer".
Re: Amateur cooks
^^ you thread killer :D
I guess I learned how to cook by observing and helping mom in the kitchen (helping was basically lay, clean the table and chop cilantro or maybe make the green chutney in blender :D, ya my mom never made us do any real stuff....anyhow...) and then mostly by trail and error. Cooking for me is an art, my philosophy is to be creative and don't hesitate experimenting. Also if you have good sense of food, then you can kind of make sense which ingredients will or can complement each other and which ones can not. Be patient and give yourself some time in the beginning as you are learning. Last but not least…make it enjoyable for yourself then pain in ass…:)
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I observed my mom alot but never really cooked a lot at home. When ammi was on vacations is when I would cook, but simple stuff nothing extensive. Once I got married, I thought I would try out some new things like bhagary baingan which took me a good 1 1/2 hours to make! But they tasted so Yummy that it was worth the effort (atleast once ;)) I would say learn the basics from your mom or from good websites online. Even Daagh has some good recipes on his site.
Re: Amateur cooks
I can’t cook with my mom there, she just gets annoyed VERY easily, she has a very short temper, so i’d rather not deal with it..
but parents r goin away soon, so when the parents are away the cat will play 