Issue #27 - The Girl Who Can Cook Chicken Curry
Welcome to the second to last issue of 2023! I hope you’ve been eating well! I hope to write a longer note next time, to really encapsulate what our journey together has meant. Until then, please enjoy this lovely essay that walks us through Meenakshi’s cooking journey!
Padya
Meenakshi Bhatt
Meenakshi Bhatt lives in India. She writes a blog on Medium and likes writing poetry, short stories, and essays. Her writing has appeared in We Have Food At Home, Reflections, Cornice magazine, and IHRAF Publishes.
The Girl Who Can Cook Chicken Curry
There is something comforting about ordering takeout. The food is hot and delicious. And if you are like me and order the same things over and over, the food is also perfectly suited to your taste. Every time I order takeout, I feel pampered and cared for.
Not long ago, I relied heavily on takeout. I had an exhausting job. More importantly, I had no confidence in my cooking. This was despite the fact that my family enjoyed the food I made. The problem was, I didn’t know how to cook the things I enjoyed eating.
Chicken curry was a case in point.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make a dish of chicken curry that I liked. The gravy was too thin, the meat was too tough, the taste was too bland, etc., etc.
It also didn’t help that I balked at the thought of following a recipe precisely. I don’t know what is it about recipes that brings out the rebel in me. After several failed attempts, I concluded that there was some critical skill that I was missing. Something was wrong with me, I thought. I gave up trying.
Then one day, I was talking to my close friend, and she told me how she had cooked an excellent chicken curry for a party at her home. I was immediately interested. We had been friends since college. At that time neither of us was an expert home cook. Though we frequently talked about our day-to-day lives with each other, I had somehow never talked to her about cooking.
I felt encouraged by her success. I asked her for detailed instructions on preparing the dish. She gave me all the information I needed. This time, I approached the task of cooking chicken curry with renewed vigour. I did not follow her recipe exactly (needless to say), but I stayed as true to it as possible. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the dish.
A few years ago, I listened to a conversation between Ed Mylett and Tom Bilyeu. Both of them are entrepreneurs and YouTubers. Mylett came from a poor family and had an alcoholic father. No one could have predicted his dazzling success in the business world. During that conversation, he explained how he managed to change his identity. Sometimes, through a burst of courage and effort, we are able to achieve something that we never thought we could achieve. After that, we can never go back to who we were. Not only does the world see us differently, we see ourselves differently. That is what Mylett did. He tried things that he did not think he could, and with every success, his identity changed.
I couldn’t be more different than the two driven and energetic gentlemen engaged in that conversation. I am happy being an average person living a slow life. Yet, in that interview, I found a nugget of wisdom that has stuck with me. I applied Mylett’s advice to various areas of my life. I learned a few new skills, and I tried some new experiences. Bit by bit, there was a gradual change in my identity. I became someone who could gingerly step out of her comfort zone and live to tell the tale.
That day when I ‘tasted’ success in the kitchen was an important day for me. Since then, I have cooked chicken curry in a few different ways. It doesn’t always turn out to be the way I want it to be. I learn from my mistakes. I do a better job the next time. I no longer think that something is wrong with me.
I am a girl who can cook chicken curry.