How did you learn cooking?

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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Before moving to US I did not know how to even boil an egg. But back home we had joint family and a lot of folks living in the house. All bhabian, chachian and my mother used to discuss and share the tips and tricks of cooking with each other. I was picking up these tips and tricks through overhearing and unconsciously
I guess nature was preparing me for a bachelor’s life in US. I started cooking after a week of landing in US since I got tired rookha pheeka western food. I needed mirch masala in my food. I was living in a college town and in the dorm, there was no desi restaurant for miles. So I started cooking my own food and all those tips and tricks in my memory helped me to prepare the same food I enjoyed back home. I made relatively very few blunders. I still make blunders once in while but most of the time I do a good job. So am I told.

The inspiration for this thread is this post:

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

6Chora*graphy

*Aap bachpan sai hi apney maa-baap ki ankhoon ka tara theey. Aap nai ibtadiee taleem fiza-e-yaa school sai aur tarbiyat aammi ji k bawaerchikhaney sai hasil ki. Aaap larakpan sai hi khaney penay kay shauqeen theey (TLK and KKF will get ideas from this i know..) liken unhoon nai kabhi apni walida ko zehmat na dee. Aanday ubaltey ubaltey aur chai banantey banatey na janey kub aap nai snacks (like samosey, namakparey, bhail puri waighara) bananey shuru ker deyee jaisey wiraney main chupkey sai bahaar aaaa jayee.

Unees sau satanway main aap nai USA hijrat ki. keyun k aap tan-tanha rehtey theey, tu khaney peney main mushkilat k paish-e-nazer aap nai apni walida majida ki tarbiyat sai istefada kerney ka faisla kia. Aap nai pehli dish qeema aaloo banaya jub mcdonalds ka fish sandwich kha kha ker aap ki shakal bhi fish jaisee ho gaee. Bus wo din hai aur aaj ka din hai, aap nai pechey mur ker nahi daikha.

Phir aap rishta-e-iizdewaj main band gaeey ause aisey bandhey k hath paoon hi bandh gaeey. Bajaeey iss k begum mohterma khaney peney ki zamedari aap ki nazuk khadhoon per sai lai laiteen, unhoon nai halaat sai bharpoor faida uthaya aur aaap ko kitchen sai baher na nikelney deya.

Tareekh (aur paitoo qasim k dost) aap ko hamesha achey cook k taur per yaad kareen gai.

:chai:

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

Hahaha, that's funny...6choragraphy.

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And that's about the only thing I understood :(

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^He basically wrote a pseudobiography for mirch.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

Kia khoob kahani hay. Maza a gaya :biggthumb:

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

wao. my brothers dont do any thing related to household chores and cooking stuff. :bummer:…what they do help in washing clothes or bring things from market thats it. my bros dont even set their room or even wardrobes…they r so shahxadaas, and they dont help in kitchen
even my sister dont help. only my mother and me do the kitchen, cooking, cleaning stuff:wub:

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

and yes… i can cook well…even i cook for my bro farmaish… like achari alu, halwa. pyaz tamater omellate, biryanis, alu bengan and many many more:biggthumb:for other family members also

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

inspired by chefs on GS :D

I am not proud to admit but I always found someone to cook for me, be it home, or the dorm.. I had friends whose moms sent food especially packed for me so I just never had the need to cook.

I used to like the posts on GS and prepared my first meal for a guppie family who was visiting us.. everything turned out great which encouraged me to keep trying. So I mastered a few things such as matar palao, mahru's chicken (recipe from GS ), chicken patties, and may be a few more. I got married to an amazing cook so once again I never had the need to cook and learn... 8 years in marriage, 1 kid later, I quit my job to stay at home and all hell broke loose! I started to cook.. I made blunders, big and small, but I have had a good set of GS chef friends to guide me and one year later, I hosted an eid dinner for 50 people.. food turned out great or so they said :D

ps! my mom was never a good cook either.. my dad cooked better than our mother so we used to watch him cook and wish for a husband like him :D

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

I learned all the techniques from my mom & dad, and later on developed/modified into my own ways.

My parents rules were…Nothing ever canned/or processed. That has helped me look at food always in a different light.

My dad insisted that I learn to cook at an early age which I did; at 12 years old, my dad taught me how to make ‘karahi gohsht’ along with scrambled eggs and I think shahi-tukray If I remember correctly. I gradually got so good that my dad still says my curries always come out better than his :slight_smile:

I would practice at home, coming home from school, before my parents/siblings got in and had dinner ready some nights, their praise and encouragement always gave me the confidence to do better and better alhamdulilah. My sister still reminisces about my ‘prawn masala’ :hehe:

So yes in so many ways cooking became more of a lifestyle for me, Its therapeutic almost.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

:rotfl: :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I can translate but it is not going to be as funny as he wrote in Urdu.
Basically he is saying that he learned cooking from his mother. It started when he was a little kid. You will enjoy it if someone can read it to you with proper Urdu accent.
SaeedInPakistan did it for you link is below.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

Love this statement. It is good for self esteem also. When you get compliments from those who enjoy your cooking, that is such a big morale booster and uplifting.

Cooking can be used as therapy. It is as creative as any other art form. I wonder why someone did not write a book about all the wonderful effects of cooking on personality development.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

This pretty much.

I don't remember how I learned but I guess by watching my mom and asking her - I know I started very young though. I remember calling her when she used to be at work and ask her what to make and how much to add of everything.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

The little bit that I know of cooking, I learned from my mom. And few things here and there from online recipes. I have yet to learn how to make the more fancier dishes (biryani, nihari, etc etc) from my dad.

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I used to cook here and there when i was in high school, mostly American food that my mom no longer wanted to make for me and my sister lol. Then properly learned (desi food) the summer my mom left for Pakistan and i had to cook for my dad and sister and myself.

It is definitely therapeutic... experimenting and playing with flavors, trying new things. It's relaxing, for me.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

Well my mom was/is an excellent cook but she never had me help out bc she thought I should focus on my schoolwork…you know, I guess she thought, I’d be doing this for the rest of my life anyway, might as well enjoy my free time…which I knwo many would criticize or disagree iwth, but wahtever, this isn’t the time/place for it.

When I was around 19 or so I did my first “experiment”…my mom had boiled white rice and chicken, and I went crazy with it…played around, added diff ingredients. I made it a few times and would share with friends and they complimented it. Still I never really cooked, since my mom was around, or I was eating out.

When I got married, I would watch my MIL and write down what she did, but I still never really cooked. After some time, I was living with my brother and his wife and my parents were in Pakistan (long story), that’s when I really felt I was on my own since my bhabi would never cook or leave anything for me. This was around…2008? I was also in school and had work at the time, so I didn’t have a lot of time or energy, but some of my experiments were daal chawal, singaporean rice, etc. I remember some of these meals took FOREVER to cook. I would ask my mom for tips and she’d say order out.

Later that summer, I moved in with my husband and boy did I go nuts…experimented with everything. For desi dishes I’d ask my MIL, I’d go on GS, ask other guppans, consult books etc. Eventually I came across bajiascooking on YouTube and that was a great help. I also picked up on the art of being creative with leftovers. One of the biggest perk of living w my parents is that the kitchen is fully stocked with almost every ingredient I’d need, so I learned how to repurpose salans, different stir friesa nd omelettes etc..just get creative..I get that from my dad. We don’t cook together and he never taught me eitehr but he’s the one who gets more creative with ingredients and leftovers.

So now, 6-7 years later (WOW!) I’m pretty comfortable in the kitchen. Right now, we all live together and I work, so my mom takes care of hte bulk of the cooking, but I’ll make a special dessert or dish that he likes at least 1-2x a week. I love to cook, and I Love to take pictures of it :sid: but the best part is when it tastes good and my husband praises it all the time. I haven’t done any davats, save for one for my in laws a while ago, but I’ll bring things to potlucks and I’d get compliments on it.

Not bad I think from someone who didn’t know jack up ntil a few years ago.

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Re: How did you learn cooking?

D6C’s story now in Urdu audio.

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Wow impressive. That will help Sara516.

Sounds very professional. Are you in media?

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^ Your post gave me the idea of recording it.

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I am learning now.