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I have been cooking since the age of fourteen. The desire to create new dishes always excites me. For a few years, I had given up the reins of my kitchen (for medical reasons). I re-entered the kitchen arena in 2010. It is now a passion that grows with each passing day.

I began cooking at our cookery class in school. I was in the ninth standard at the time. I constantly hounded aunts, cousins and great-aunts to teach me anything and everything they could teach about food; be it cleaning and cutting a chicken or delicately removing the membrane from a lamb’s brain. I wanted to learn it all and learn it, I did!

My mum hated cooking, so I never learnt to cook by sight. I always jotted down recipes. I asked dozens of questions with regard to the method told to me and then re-created the recipe/s in my own kitchen. I have always been a home-cook who cooks with what I call, ‘perfect recipes’. By ‘perfect recipes’, I mean recipes that have precise proportions mentioned for each ingredient and a well documented method that’s easy to follow. When people give me recipes without proportions and ask me to try them, I refuse! My reasoning for this is very simple. If I have never tasted a dish, if the dish I am to make is something totally new, how in the world am I know how spicy, sweet or sour the original dish is when all I am told is : ‘add some chili powder, some sugar and a dash of lime?’ My intention at that moment is to re-create ‘their’ dish to perfection, the way ‘they’ made it. I will surely adjust the flavors to my liking, and according to my culinary experience when I make it the second time, but how am I to make it without proportions the first time around?

Having gone through the torture of being asked to cook recipes without perfect ingredient proportions, I decided never to put my readers through the same pain. My recipes will always have perfect proportions for each ingredient. The method, too, will be clearly defined. I have gone a step further to ensure the time, effort and money you invest into re-creating my recipes does not go waste, ever! At the bottom of each recipe are ‘Chef Notes’. These are small details that will enable a smooth culinary journey whenever you choose to recreate any of my recipes for your loved ones. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading a recipe (in my case, Chef Notes too) to get a feel of what you are about to cook. Read, re-read, the recipe and keep the basics ready. Cooking then becomes a smooth, easy process.

My recipes are, always, tried and tested by me. I never post recipes I have not tried in my own kitchen. Each recipe created and posted feels like a newborn baby. I teach it to walk but when you successfully recreate it in your kitchen, you set it free... to fly. You, my dear friends, are the ones who give it wings. Feedback (negative or positive) is always welcome because it helps me hone my cooking skills to create better dishes. If you try a recipe from my repertoire, please let me know how it turns out. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cook elaborate dishes or simple ones, but cook them with love. And, if i may quote Penelope Cruz from the movie Woman On Top, "Share it with someone you love". 😊

Kainaaz Writer Bokdawalla