Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
Sadiyah, I will be lucky if she feeds me toasted slices of bread! Heck yeah, I will take anything in a quickie.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
We use SHan masalas for biryani at home. I personally prefer home-made masalas like Afia baji here. And i dont think it makes you pohar if you do use Shan. I mean, whatever floats your boat. :)
Ready made parathas and stuff, i like the ones from Dawn. They are so fluffy, light and non-greasy. And oh, did i forget to mention take 5-7 mins to be cooked? Ofcourse i know how to make parathas from scratch :p
Instant meals are good if they are not nutritiously criminal and taste ok. I dont think they make you lazy and not-so-sughar.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
I'm a big fan of ready-made parathas and read-made Dawn Sheermals. They make life so much easy.
funguy, you definitely sound like a very nice husband. Otherwise, the mean ones would be forcing their wives into fixing meals for them.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
^^ Oh he is mean alright, he just hides it well:)
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
I've been making those frozen paratay for my husband and daughter. They love them so much. We just bought 5 packages today from Asia Foods on Venice Blvd. We did our one stop Desi shopping there today. I also like the Shaan masalas especially the ones for chicken and kabaabs.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
using ready made food is fine. My mom even uses the packets from time to time and all the aunties i know do use them as well from time to time and they all know cooking very well. It's just that people like to try new things and different tastes and they do that.
We do get the frozen shermal..and once in a while i do buy those crispy or shana parathas. I love trying every new thing on the market and i do that and i do know how to cook
and all the guys i know don't mind it..as long as you don't keeping feeding them the same stuff on the continuous basis..once in a while is fine.
and just like Afia, what i usually do..i do write down the list of ingredients off the masala packets and use them to enhance my own recipes.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
Hey Saadiyah, I'll be honest with you here, and not like some people here, (yes FG, you know who you are!) who try to put people down every chance they get by not only sitting on their laurels but having their laurels get sooooo overgrown, they grow into their a** and out of their mouths and yet employing the same shortcuts the rest of us "mere uneducated mortals" do, (Whew! What a LONG waiver statement...) Anyway, you COULD use the ready made masalas. Heaven knows, we all do a lot of these shortcuts all the time and try to pass them off as our own creations.
However, you WILL admit, it never tastes like Mom's (or the Khansama's, depending on how much money Daddy had).
The best way I have learned is:
1. Yes Ma'am, those cookbooks are written for people who do not know how to cook. (Duh!). Join the club.
2. Once in a while, we are all too tired/lazy/culinarily (sp?) challenged to tackle a tough one on our own.
3. And, yes, we do like the food we grew up with, we would love to cook like that, and it's okay to make mistakes along the way. Much as it may seem Mom (or the Khansamah:)) was born cooking that way, they weren't. It's okay to f*** up a few times to get the hang of it.
4. Forget FG. He's got a strange mixture of narcissism with OCD (only when it comes to judging others... Like his wife). His opinion only counts in OCD Anonymous. Most likely he's "not just a member, he's also the President".
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
I always thought shan masala was cooking from scratch 
to me instant meal is, heating something and eating it 
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
i ate loads of pot kormas at uni...trust me saved a lot of time...and tasted ok too
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
I don't use the packet mix spices as I think the extra effort of using home spice is worth it. But I do buy packets of frozen samosas......I'd never make home made samosas otherwise as it's just not worth the effort and hassle for one person.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
I don't know what the fuss is all about. I know that like 7-8 years ago when we used National masalas in Pakistan, all you had to do was use the masala and nothing else. So that could count as a instant meal. But now if you use Shaan or National you have to put so much of your own stuff in there as well. Like ginger and garlic and tomatoes and what not. So it is sort of like cooking from scratch. The only part thats missing is putting the spices in, which even if you were doing without the Shaan masala wouldnt be a big deal. So it doesnt really matter if someone's using teh Shaan masala or not, the effort's the same.
Wesey we use the Shaan masalas for Biryani only.
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
Shaan masalas are good...they are handy when you are short of time but not for everyday use as...welll i would call them too muraghan...
Re: How do you feel about instant desi meals?
Did you know that ready made 'matar paneer, allo matar, dal makhani, saag paneer is available in most Desi stores. Excellent for one or two persons.