Food Therapy

During the course of normal social interaction, I’ve come across people who profess a deep dislike for cooking. The same people have no issues with many other activities involving physical or mental expend. However, cooking is a subject they’d rather not touch upon. Some feel it’s too time consuming, others say it’s a womans job and still more people feel cooking is too complicated an activity.

I’m not going to try and figure out why some people dislike cooking as the reasons can vary. What I can do however is highlight some of the reasons why food and cooking can be treated as therapy for the body and soul. Food Therapy can be really rewarding if we approach it in the right manner.

We’ve all been through the routine – long day at work, mentally exhausted by the time we’re home, collapse on the couch, switch on the television and wait for an intravenous transfusion of alcohol and/or food. Try cooking instead! Not only will it make you feel better, but it’ll soon make you feel relaxed and completely energized.

There are four parts to it:

• Ingredients at hand
• Visualise the final dish
• Turn your vision into reality
• Watch your food being polished off

Step 1 – Ingredients at hand

The first thing to remember is that.we don’t need to sit idle to relax. Any change in activity is the first step towards relaxation. Activities such as going through your refrigerated and dry supplies not only tell you what’s in stock and what needs to be quickly used, they also take your focus off the past day and allow you to unwind.

Pull up a short stool, open your fridge and rummage through the vegetable section. When done, go through your dry stores too. There could be odds and ends of cheese or cold cuts, vegetables, leftovers, old bread, spreads and preserves, chopped vegetables, ready to eat soups, masala mixes, flour and any number of other things. Once you’re done, lay it all out and think of what you can make with the stuff at hand.

Step 2 – Visualise the final dish

Consider  tastes in your head – do you crave a hot, flavorful soup, a filling stew or perhaps a light salad? If you’re nutrition conscious perhaps you want to consider what you or your kids should be eating or perhaps some specific flavor which you or your family look forward too. I do this all the time and on one occasion could only find a couple of red bell peppers, a slice or two of day old bread, and little bits of cauliflower, beans and carrots. While it certainly meant we’d have to go buy vegetables the next day, the immediate situation required resolution. The dry store cupboard yielded some onions, flour, instant yeast, bouillon cubes , the freezer refused to contribute. We ended up with Red Bell Pepper Soup with Vegetables and Toasted Croutons, served with some fresh, pan baked bread on the side, which is as good a meal as any!

Step 3 – Turn your Vision into Reality

The trick is to turn creative and do whatever you can with whatever you have. Given the right treatment, *anything* in your kitchen can be turned into a tasty treat… and you can relax and listen to some music while you do it. To avoid stress however, it is vital to have a rough idea of how you plan to accomplish the tasks at hand. For example, in the case of my soup and bread meal  I needed to:

• Make the dough, then bake the bread
• Roast the peppers, then skin and puree
• Chop the vegetables and steam them
• Make the soup and serve with the bread

Once the high level plan is ready, just fill in the little pieces and you’re all set. The advantage of planning is that you know how much is done, how much is left and how much time it’ll take – helps when people ask how much more time to dinner! This part is also the fun part! Kneading, stirring and chopping are involving activities that have you concentrating on technique and results while simultaneously exercising your hands and fingers. Quite good if you’re hammering away on a Laptop all day and want to avoid repetitive stress injury.

Kneading

Kneading dough is one of the most relaxing activities you can indulge in. First mix whatever’s needed into the dry flour (salt, instant yeast and vegetable fat in my case), then go sit in front of the TV carrying some water with you and switch to your favorite channel. Proceed to knead the dough. Kneading dough is a very important part of making any sort of bread. Well kneaded dough will result in better bread. Adding water in small lots, knead your dough and keep going till it’s soft and smooth. I never tire of poking a ball of dough, marveling at it’s soft and pliable texture. Every once in a while press down on the dough with the heel of your palm and keeping the pressure firm, spread the dough by extending your hand forward. This will result in the dough getting thinly spread on to the utensil or board. Roll it up and do it again later after some more normal kneading. When done, make sure you admire your handiwork for a couple of minutes and let the dough rest for 15 – 20 minutes before using.

Slicing, Dicing, Chopping and Cutting

If you want to do this right, it’s important to have the right equipment. Invest in a nice, heavy chopping board and good Chef’s knife. A good Chef’s knife is about all you’ll ever need and you’ll want to kiss your chopping board goodnight after you use it to prepare a meal for the first time. Chopping is another exercise that if done well, can considerably enhance the quality of your food. Even sized, well cut vegetables not only look good, they cook evenly too. Chopping can be fun – a little time with your new chopping board and Chef’s knife and you’ll be slicing away at 120 words a  minute much to the amazement of your friends and family.

Other Stuff

Try discarding your mixer for some low volume jobs and using a mortar and pestle instead. Feel the spices crunch as they release their flavors and deeply breathe in the heavenly aromas of freshly crushed herbs and spices. Try shopping for fresh vegetables every couple of days instead of buying for the week. Choose each piece and enjoy the textures and smells of fresh vegetables – firm tomatoes, mud encrusted fresh potatoes and moist clumps of green coriander will make you feel good.

Step 4 – Watch your food being polished off

I poured the soup into deep bowls, hacked the bread into pieces and served it with soft butter. Nothing’s more irritating than  warm, fresh bread on the table paired with butter that’s hard and ice cold.

Here’s the last part – sit back and watch your family eat the meal you just cooked for them. Savor each slurp, clink and burp. Finally, if you’re hungry, have a bite yourself. The sheer joy of having come up with a meal that tastes good is reward in itself. The bonus comes as a boost to your ego when you can hear nothing but people eating your food.

It’s a high you’ll want to experience time and again after you’ve done it once.

- Sid

1. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Punjabi Winter Warmth
   
2. How to Cook Indian Food – North India
   
3. Fire, The Park Hotel, Connaught Place, New Delhi