What cooking eh?

Cooking is the best way to pass time! No No, its not something i proclaim or follow, but it is something my past flatmates have always said to me. Luckily for me, until now, ive never found it necessary to set up a full fletched kitchen at my on-the-move home. Of course for more than 22 years i was previledged to eat lovely home cooked food. But then things changed, I moved to Pune and home food was now only for 3 days a week. Still not bad, huh! For 3 years or so, that I stayed in Pune, the only thing i ever cooked was MAGGI!! yes, the 2 minute magic. I never made anything else in that kitchen in Pune. Only Maggi. Of course I was not on a maggi diet for 3 years. Some other places where i regularly ate from were Swad in Aundh, my home tiffin wala in Baner and a few restaurants here and there.
Then comes Malaysia. Exotic eh! Not really, when it comes to food, Malaysia is harder to survive than Pune. In Malaysia, the tamil food house at Cyberia was out fav huntdown. Roti Tulur, aka Egg Paratha was my fav for quite sometime. Once i got bored, moved to plain Masala Dosa. Once i got bored with that, moved to Egg fried rice(thanks to prasanna). And yes, the lunch time meal was fixed. Rice+Sambar+Baby Corn Fry(if available) else Chicken dish. I had this meal for almost 4 months. But it was fun. Malaysia thought me one thing. Dont try and act too smart. It will come to haunt you. Poor Prasanna and Me once went for Dinner. I heard the word Goreng many times in Malaysia, but never knew what it meant, or what was it made from. Prasanna was hungry(as always). I ordered safe, 1 plan dosa... Prasanna said he would eat a Maggi. Yours Sincerely, added.. "Aare Prasanna.. eat Maggi Goreng man, it is nice". FYI, I had never even seen Maggi Goreng till that moment. The sweet fellow that Prasanna is, he said YES. Maggi Goreng came, Prasanna almost puked. I was happily enjoin my Dosa. I said "Prasanna, why are you not eating?" With a very confused look he told me.. "Dude, it does not taste good and smells worse". How worse could Maggi be? I could not believe he was making fuss of Maggi Goreng. Btw, this Maggi Goreng, looked pretty normal. It has a blackish colour, which i presumed was because of the Soya Sauce. it had pieces of meat in it. Of course the vegetables were sprinkled all over. So kewl, isnt it. I was like, "Dude... come on.. dont be fussy.. eat the chicken atleast" It looks good. In the meanwhile, I ordered another Plain Dosa!!!
Prasanna stared at his plate, looked and me and ate one small tiny piece. He almost puked again. I did not bother. My Hot dosa came, i hogged it. Prasanna had not eaten anything.

Then the smart me came forward. "Buddy, how bad can this be" I got the plate closer to me and almost threw the entite Dosa into the Maggi Goreng plate!! It was ..... yuck!!!!

Poor Prasanna, he now ordered for 1 plain dosa. I paid for my 2 dosa's and the maggi goreng which i almost forced my dear friend to eat!!!!

It is funny that sometimes, we expect others to do things we presume are simple and easy. Only if we stepped into their shoes, or pulled their plated towards us and had a look!!!

More about the cooking stories in my next blog!!

Adios Amigos!