I was amazed by OJ’s culinary skills as she planned and cooked a number of dishes for a gathering of friends last night. It was Indian Social Night with dinner, songs from famous Bollywood movies and, of course, Bollywood-style dancing.
Indian cooking is far from easy. It certainly looked more complicated than Chinese cooking. I didn’t expect OJ to make naan and sauces from scratch. She marinated the chicken for chicken masala the day before. She had a team of friends to help her cook yesterday, but the bulk of the work was done behind the scenes. The shopping list was a long one with some special ingredients, which are not commonly found in supermarkets.
When I saw the pani puri shells I was really excited. I have only had pani puri once, and that was in Delhi, when my colleagues took me out for dinner. They told me to pop a whole pani puri into my mouth without biting it, so that the pani puri water wouldn’t spill. It was a big pani puri, so I bit it. My colleagues were a bit exasperated with me.
OJ’s pani puri had a lot fillings, so there wasn’t much space left for the tamarind water and the pani puri water. It was really good, and it was the best part of the dinner for me.
The main dishes were chicken masala and paneer tikka. The sides were daal, raita and samosas. Apart from naan, OJ also cooked biryani rice. For drinks, OJ made lassi and mango lassi. Dessert was gulab jamun, but it wasn’t home-made. OJ contemplated making kulfi (ice cream), but decided to abandon the idea.
I couldn’t imagine such a meal as last night’s dinner being planned and cooked almost single-handedly by a young student. I was even more impressed that OJ still had the energy to dance after dinner.
A big thanks to OJ and friends for a memorable dinner.
By Chayo, HomSkil Editor 1, 2 March 2025
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