What is your favourite meal to cook?

The prompt for Bloganuary today at once transported me to the story of  a just released Film, ‘The Menu”.  Directed by Mark Myeloid, and acted among others by Ralph Fiennes and Anya Taylor-Joy, it splices horror and comedy with skill and delight, and  is a satire  of class, privilege, and pretension, But the remarkable thing is that all the messages that the film contains are conveyed through a supremely entertaining account of finer aspects of cooking. 

Yes cooking is a great thing. And when I say great, it really means great in all its meanings, and implications and effects, including providing inspirations for superbly crafted stories of human pretensions, conceit and prejudices and revenge.

But it is not a compulsion for me. Well -provided as I am and more than adequate and willing assistance is at hand to take care of my alimentary needs, cooking for me is at best be a hobby, a pastime, a passion. But it is  truly engaging and immensely rewarding.

And it is compelling, compelling as  passions are and as exhilarating  as a joy after heart. Tomes have been written about the psychological and emotional benefits of cooking. A sizeable body of scientific studies speak about the therapeutic value of cooking. While I endorse them enthusiastically, I cook because for me cooking is a simple and pure joy, offering  me a beautiful and serene semblance and illusion of becoming an instrument of creation.

That cooking involves coordinatoion of senses and organs, several of them, is evident. What is not evident is that it also offers a concentration, not a planned or contrived one but a sub-conscious one, of mind and thought. For me, it is like undergoing a session of meditation except that it also has a tangible by-product. The process of creating this by-product is nurturing and strengthening for the  soul and a manna for the corporal body.

It is said that ‘Real cooking is more following your heart than following recipes.’ It follows therefore, that it is not the sophistry of recipe that makes a great dish, it is not the complexities of craft but the intensity of love and care that plays in the mind that converts a collection of ingredients into a great culinary accomplishment.

My favourite dish is a rice pudding cooked in milk. It’s a traditional Indian dish. Commonly known as ‘Kheer” in Hindi and ‘Ksheer’ or ‘Payasam’ in Sanskrit, it is often prepared as an offering to the deities  and gods. In terms of the qualities it possesses, it could be compared to mana, the god’s food. It is sweat, contains sugar, jaggery or honey, is garnished with grated dry fruits like almonds, pistachio and Kaju with raisins and saffron thrown in.

I use the finest quality long grain Basmati rice, sugar, full fat milk and cardamoms, nuts, raisins and saffron to cook this pudding. The ration of rice and milk is roughly 1:16 by volume. The rice is cleaned, then washed in running water and drained and kept aside. The milk is then placed in a heavy bottom pot and allowed to be heated up till it boils. In the mean time the nuts are blanched and diced into small bits but big enough to offer crunch to the dish. the cardamom is crushed. Once the milk comes to boil, the soaked rice is put in the milk and stirred constantly. After about cooking for about 10 minutes, and when the rice has become soft and mushy, the  sugar is added, followed by diced nuts and crushed cardamom. After about five minutes of cooking on medium flame, the  pot is removed from the fire. Sweet raisins are added and in the end a sprinkle of saffron completes the cooking.

Few dishes are as simple and easy to prepare and yet taste so delicious. A south Indian and Bengali versions also are popular, known as Rice Payasam and Bengali Payesh respectively. The south Indian version uses short grain rice, ghee and jaggery, while another variety of rice, Gobindbhog, and date palm jaggery is used to prepare  Bengali Payesh.

My claim to acquaintance with cooking is confined to my self-proclaimed excellence  in preparing this dish alone.  

Cooking demands love, full and complete, with abandon and devotion. It, as Judith B.Jones. has said ‘demands attention, patience, and above all a respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving thanks.’ 

Three cheers for this form of worship!