For me food isn’t just food; it’s something around which my entire life revolves. It’s something that runs in my family, I feel very proud and elated in saying that I inherit all my cooking skills from my nani (grandmother), my mother and my father. While I learned innovation and uniqueness in cooking from my mother, the much-required perfection in cooking was achieved through my father.
I still remember the first time I tried cooking, when I was in Class 5 as a helping hand to my mother in the kitchen. All of us in the family have always been fond of cooking healthy and tasty food. Thus experimenting with the khichdi, dalia, poha, dahi, suji and all other healthy food items were a part of our daily routines.
However, my journey as a professional cook began during my high school summer vacations, when my maasi (maternal aunt) introduced me to her art institute. I started taking these three-hour classes and introduced the concept of ‘microwave cooking’.
I taught them around 100 recipes that can be easily cooked in microwave, which surprisingly was my personal record breaker!
At the young age of 18, I joined a cooking class with a batch of 45 ladies from the age group 40-50 years. The dedication with which they followed me, boosted
my confidence beyond my expectations.
This started off as a mere time-pass, but eventually ended up as the biggest turning point in my life. At that time I realised my never-ending passion for cooking. But being a vegetarian, I left it midway fearful of the prospects of having to cook non-
vegetarian food.
Today, I’m practising corporate law, but five years down the line, I see myself as the head chef of my dream food chain, ‘Food without Guilt’. The name itself signifies that
I will always cook food that is healthy, yet deliciously tempting.
I was following a regular yoga and gym regimen and ran out of options for cooking one day. I only had dalia (broken wheat) and vegetables in front of me. And hey presto! Dalia Rolls happened! They are one of the fantastic outcomes of my experimentation. The dish is tasty, healthy and irresistible. I can bet none can resist from having at least four of them at one go! It’s a dish one can have both for breakfast and for dinner. Since it’s easy to digest, it works wonders for the dinner and being very filling, serves as an ideal breakfast item.
As told to Garima Arora by Gopika Rathi
Recipe
Dalia Rolls
Ingredients
1½ cup bhuna pisa dalia (lightly browned, finely ground )
½ cup suji (semolina)
½ cup besan
(Soak it overnight in khatta dahi (sour curd), for the batter)
¼ tsp of black pepper powder
¼ tsp bhuna zeera
¼ tsp bhuna saunf
¼ tsp bhuna dhania seeds
2 finely chopped and minced green chillies
¼ tsp grated ginger
2 finely chopped (medium sized)
onions
½ finely chopped
capsicum
1 finely chopped carrot and half a cup of chopped French beans
Salt to taste
For Filling
100 gms grated paneer
2 tsp of finely chopped coriander leaves
half, finely chopped onion
¼ tsp black pepper powder
Salt to taste
Method
In a bowl add half a glass of water and all the chopped vegeta bles to the soaked
batter
Make sure the batter is not very thick, add
water if required. Add all the spices and stir properly
Spread one tea spoon of ghee on a non-stick pan, pour the batter and cook on low flame.
Do not touch the spread until light brown from one side (cook in low flame)
Cook in full flame for another two minutes.
Add a tea spoon of ghee on the uncooked side and slowly turn it over (cook in medium flame)
When it becomes light brown, add the filling in a linear pattern right in the middle of the spread and fold it in the shape of a roll, make small-sized rolls for convenience
Serve it hot with mint chutney and tomato ketchup.
Published 24 June 2015, 14:29 IST