If the garden is where I find patience, the kitchen is where I find off. Cooking is the one thing that fully unplugs me from a screen — hands busy, no notifications, and a result you can actually taste at the end of it.
Over the years a few things have become "mine" — the dishes people in my house request by name:
- Chhole bhature — the weekend showstopper, the one that turns an ordinary Sunday into an occasion.
- Anything with paneer — the most forgiving ingredient I know, and a reliable way to make everyone happy at once.
- Rajma chawal and curry chawal — comfort food that tastes like home no matter how the day went.
And then there are the kids' picks. Ask the boys and the answer is usually simpler: a good sandwich, made the way they like it, beats anything fancy I could attempt.
I'm not a cook who measures. I cook the way I learned — by smell, by memory, by feeding people I love and watching the plates come back empty.