Contributed By Piyush Suri

Ed: Piyush is getting married in December. This article is quite well timed isn’t it?

Food is probably one of the most exciting things in bachelorhood (I said ‘one of the’) - you move out of the realms of delicious mom food and venture out to the vibrant cuisines of the world. While you still love the occasional dhaba outings, you crave home food flavor. I’ve lived and traveled in many countries and after having the salads, roasted meats and other delectable offerings, I still crave the simple ginger-garlic cooked veggies. Also, while you have plenty of options in the West and in many parts of Asia, options in India are fairly restricted what with most healthy / different food being either expensive or hard to obtain.

Things don’t stop here. If you are any of the following; healthy eater, busy at work, live in an expensive area or don’t have room mates, then food is more than a challenge – God help you.  Ah, and this is where my story begins.

I love food, have balanced, healthy eating habits, am super busy with work and live in Hauz Khas, New Delhi.  I moved to Delhi about 7 months ago, after living away from home for 3 years. At that point I decided to set things in order – healthier, cheaper and more efficient cooking would become priority. That’s what this article is about!

One of the things we will start with is making a Productivity Plan. Okay, don’t get scared – I am not going to take the fun away from cooking. Basically, I’m talking about an approach to better manage your cooking. Here are some pointers to get started:

1. Grocery shopping: I like to buy stuff from the new age grocery stores that have come up. I have realized that I waste more food than I cook, so I stick to buying the minimum amount possible. I also like to pick up healthy cereals.  You can pick up Post or Kraft which are very good options. Cereals can come very handy when you want a quick healthy meal, even in the evening or late at night.

2. Cooking: I divide basic meals into 3 categories -

a. The home food craving busters: There is a basic method for most home cooked dishes. You start with ginger, garlic and chopped onions in oil, once brown put some tomato puree. Everything else after this is just a variation. After adding spices, you can add meat, paneer (cottage cheese), mushrooms, gobhi (cauliflower) or anything else you want. You can occasionally vary this routine with the addition of dairy products – cream or small a portion of milk (on days when you’re feeling healthy), dried or chopped coriander, minced dry fruit. I like to mix and match chicken masala, garam masala and sometime tandoori chicken masala.

b. Exotic food made easy + healthy: My other favorites apart from Indian food are Italian and Chinese. To make these healthy I carefully monitor the amount of oil and replace anything starchy with their whole wheat variations. There are many pre-made sauces available – Italian Ragu has plenty of options, in Chinese food Ching’s sauces are a big hit. You’ll find these at INA market, Le Marche, Defense Colony Market or any other fancy grocery shop. My favorite are Peanut sauce and Schezuan sauce. The number of dishes you can make with these are incredible.

c. Quick Fixes: This group is critical for when you’re dead tired and just want to quickly make a healthy snack. Here’s the list of things to keep in stock – Eggs, Cereals, Milk, Olives in brine, veggies for salads, your choice of salad dressings, frozen meat, brown bread, Muesli and Oats among others. Experiment with your omelets, you’ll love your breakfast. There are plenty of good meat options available at places like Green Chick Chop and Republic of Chicken. One can find these stores almost everywhere. Making salads, omlettes, cereals/oats and meat sandwiches becomes quite simple.

I know I haven’t shared many recipes, but the idea of this article was to get single busy foodies to get started on cooking – not everyone is as experienced as Sid.

The contents of this article are solely the author’s views and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Chef at Large.