I was disappointed that I could not find lady finger. Thinking about my parents I was walking in the store and I happened to see my favorite vegetable “Bhindi” kept in the shelf in the vegetable section. It was a dream come true and I realized that it is not called as Lady Finger but its known okra around the world. My mouth started watering and I decided to cook fried okra with Indian spices. I purchased 250gms of okra, salt and vegetable cooking oil and I left for home. I reached home and unpacked my bag and kept all the spices aside. What I knew was only chat masala. I quickly heated the oil in a sauté pan and chopped the okra with great difficulty. After chopping, I washed the okra in running water and realized it got very sticky. I realized that the oil was very hot using a spoon, I transferred the raw okra in the sauté pan. I realized that the water vaporized turning into super heated steam, which caused oil to splatter. I screamed in the house in pain and my roommate came running to the kitchen. He saw that I had burned my hand and he quickly turned off the gas, poured cold water and applied an ointment on my hand. He made feel comfortable and gave me a glass of water.
He told me that my cooking basics were not clear. I used the wrong pan to deep fry, and didn’t take any precautionary measures for deep frying. He told me that my biggest mistake was that I transferred the damp okra in the pan. This experience made me realize how important it is to know the kitchen basics and follow all the precautions while cooking food. I was happy that my roommate was a chef and he thought me the basics of cooking.
Today I am not a chef by profession but my family and friends think I can do both cook and teach cooking. Well, I give the credit to my roommate who taught me how to cook. Thus I feel it’s very important for students to know about kitchen safety and they should know how to cook healthy recipes as it is beneficial when they go abroad.
Author: Mohit R Trivedi
Manager Instructional Design and Training Delivery
More in this series:
Home Is Now Behind And The World Is Ahead-Part I
Home Is Now Behind And The World Is Ahead-Part II
