Feeding a hungry army

FOODIE

Painter Illoosh Judge Ahluwalia is having a hectic day, but then by her own admission most days are busy. She says, quoting from a source, "Only the people who don't do anything say that they don't have time." Busy people like her keep adding to their day. It's in that context that we manage to catch Ahluwalia to cook something even though she is in the middle of many things, like preparing for a solo in August; being a consultant to an airhostess training academy that she helped set up; setting up an ambitious omnibus art mart; riding; and now, also learning jazz and salsa dance forms. With all this as part of her regular timetable, Ahluwalia still tries to squeeze some more out of her day by carrying a book in her bag all the time. She says, "I don't like wasting time. If I am waiting somewhere, instead of wasting my time just sitting around, I pull out my book and read."

"My children keep asking me to make something nice. So I keep inventing things as I go along." For Business Standard too, Ahluwalia has invented a dish "" originally a non-vegetarian dish, but decides to do a vegetarian version even though she hasn't tried it before. Ahluwalia says that she honed her cooking skills soon after she got married. Her husband, who was in the army, was the first to get married among a group of 12 bachelors. The remaining 11 bachelors weren't too fond of the food that the army mess served so would land up at the Ahluwalia residence every day for meals. Ahluwalia tried not to repeat the dishes. That daily presence of 11 hungry men wasn't an imposition on the newly-wed Ahluwalia. She says, "I love cooking." Sometimes cooking can take on a complicated hue, with multiple and difficult to procure ingredients and cooking time that spans hours. Ahluwalia's cooking style differs from this. She says, "Cooking doesn't need to be complicated." And we witness this firsthand, when she puts together two dishes in a matter of minutes. And though the time taken to put it all together is short, the food looks exotic.

Even though Ahluwalia makes the food in a jiffy she isn't casual about her cooking. In fact she is a purist, doing her best not to let flavours clash.

Food is cooked and eaten and Ahluwalia is off and away, not wanting to waste time as her family awaits her for a meal together. And if there is a moral to a food story, here it would be that creating good food needn't mean being locked up in a kitchen for hours, if not years.

Favourite Recipes

Broccoli and mushroom in rosemary and red wine sauce

One small head of broccoli
200 gm mushrooms (one packet)
Quarter tsp rosemary
1/2 cup of red wine
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp cornflour
Little vegetable stock
Salt, Black pepper to taste

Once the extra virgin olive oil is heated put in the rosemary. Then add the broccoli and mushrooms and saute it. After a little while put some vegetable stock (if available) and the red wine. Allow it to boil for a while and then turn the gas down to simmer. Mix cornflour with cold water and add some black pepper, adding this mix to the simmering dish. Serve hot.

Buttered corn rice

One cup basmati rice
A cup of corn
75 gm yellow butter
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Grated mozzarella cheese

Boil the rice and keep aside. Heat the extra virgin olive oil and then add the butter. Once the butter melts add the corn and toss it around. Then add the boiled rice and salt to taste. Mix it properly and place it in a shallow dish. Sprinkle evenly the mozzarella cheese and either let it cook over a gas flame or put it in an oven just before eating. Cook till the cheese melts.