A Recipe To Your ....

It is often heard that it only takes a spark to set a fire glowing! However, how much of a fire would our hardened grains warrant to lure taste buds? Let’s catch a glimpse of a taxing, yet tantalizing recipe to our very own ‘Khayali Pulao’, only hoping a ‘Khichdi’ doesn’t cook up instead.

As high-school has just got done with peeling off our chaff, we make it into our desired sacks basis our grades. All content in our respective bushels, it dawns on us that it’s quite a journey until we make it into a silver platter, ready to serve the world. All said and done, we finally make it to a scintillating kitchen, its air rent with angst – the pangs of uncertainty for a delicacy yet to sizzle. This delicacy is none other than a more polished version of our grains entering the big bad world catapulted out of our nestled kitchen – NMIMS.

To kick it off, let’s get an overview of the added ingredients needed to concoct our very unique ‘Khayali Pulao’:

· 3/4th helping of ‘SHAHI’ jeera for a Gujarati tadka

· 1 ‘tej patta’ to help you pass your time between lectures

· 1 ‘star anise’ to spice up your assignments

· A pinch of ‘stone’ flower for a much needed high

The following are the steps to drive you up a ‘glass building’, if not a wall:

Step 1

Our Basmati rice may first be rinsed under the running water or parental apprehensions. Furthermore, fry the spices with onions and chillied questions.

Ensure that the water (parents’ concerns) cleans and refreshes the grains without draining out their vital vitamins and minerals required to face the upcoming rigor. Chilli up the spices with questions such as “what if my grains don’t turn out straight?” and “what if my tiny grains ‘burn-out’?”

Step 2

Finely chop the much detested veggies (social stigmas) of racism and body shaming. Mix and sauté away!

This is crucial to be able to blend well in this melting pot of cultures. Each ingredient is unique in its own way. Thus, it is imperative to imbibe the flavours of all for a sumptuous meal. In this dish, all vegetables have their own gimmicks. Bring out the choicest flavours of each. You may even sauté with some ‘salt’ or garlic paste to drive off raw odours (bad company). ‘Club’ together some mint leaves for they often bring out the best in your preparation. Ensure you get the consistency right, for sooner or later, the rice has to leave the cocooned walls of the kitchen (fly the coop and make one’s mark in society). Keep sautéing for as long as a ‘2 hour lecture’!

Step 3

Pressure cook and garnish with toppings.

Your pulao will never seem cooked well enough without the heat and grime of a ‘pressure’ cooker. However, this ‘pressure’ can’t be done away with. It only helps the grains ‘open up’ (unleash one’s inner confidence). Once steamed well enough, you may butter up your dish with a dollop of parental care to make the grains feel at home. Last but not the least, to make your #KhayaliPulao look ‘cool’ and help it compete with the bad boys, you could also throw in a cucumber raita!

In a nutshell, long drawn recipes will always come your way! It’s up to one’s own discernment to pick and choose what suits his/her taste buds.

However, we can never do without certain constants to make aromas emanate from a kitchen, some of which are:

· A ‘circled’ up pan of pals to round up your flavours

· The guided hand of a chef and indeed, his/her ‘noteworthy’ recipes

· Tears while getting to the grind and chopping up onions

· A tart full of parental love to serve your dish presentably

A closing global cinematic note to the doting parents of our awfully ‘ardent’ peers: