Cooking delights

I love cooking. There are endless ways to do things with a limited set of ingredients. Finely chopping onions instead of coarsely chopping them transforms a recipe instantly. Grinding them and letting them brown over slow heat takes longer and tastes completely different. Fresh coconut can be made into a masala paste with cumin and red chilies and it is miles away from golden roasted coconut ground into a masala paste with the very same cumin and red chilies. I feel free to let my imagination have its way and enjoy the whole process so thoroughly that it stops being a chore and instead is relaxing. But of course that's not for everyday cooking - its for those days when some inspiration hits me and I head for the kitchen to try it out. Sometimes I don't have to taste at all - I can even figure out if the amount of salt is sufficient from just the aroma. Some other times even before I make something I know its going to turn out very well because I feel like making only that dish and nothing else on that day. The best stress buster though has to be kneading dough. I take out all my anger and frustrations on the dough and they turn into the most melt-in-your-mouth parathas in the world (talk about transformations!) My husband must count himself lucky because he not only gets great dinners, he also has a wife who’s not fond of eating and therefore stays irritatingly slim no matter what ;-)