From Maria's kitchen

"After my family, it's food that I am truly passionate about," says Maria Goretti. This mother of two has just started her blog, which is like a daily journal of her experiments in the kitchen. She chats with CS about her culinary craze:


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Food for thought

I have always been interested in food. Cooking is my hobby and I love to shop for exotic ingredients and cook books. In fact, I wanted to do a travel and cooking show for quite awhile, but nothing took off. Then, I thought of enrolling for a cooking course. But there are no classes in Mumbai that let you cook and learn. Everyone gives you a recipe and tells you to prepare it at home. That didn't work for me.
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Online start

On Mother's Day, I decided that I have procrastinated long enough, and had to get going now. I wrote my first blog that day. It's been two weeks and everyday I have been trying to cook a dish, and post my experiences online. There's so much food at home now! So, I am making a list of all the dishes that I am going to cook during the week, and informing my family/friends about them. They can come over for lunch or dinner to sample some of it.
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On a hunt

Once Arshad (Warsi) and I went to Vienna, and we wanted to eat the famous Wiener Schnitzel, a meat dish, somewhat like our bhajias. After freshening up in the hotel, we immediately started hunting for the referred restaurant. We got lost and after almost two hours of walking, we found the place. Needless to say, we were thrilled. But it was such a sinful indulgence that we didn't dare to repeat it again. Also, on a trip to Milan, we had heard a lot about a particular old bistro that served heavenly pasta. We walked all the way to the place only to find it closed. We were just left standing tired, hungry and huffing outside the entrance (laughs).
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East Indian magic

My mom makes the most amazing mutton moine and fugias in the world. Fugias are small fried balls of bread that are totally yummy. I all get the East Indian masalas for my cooking from my mom.