Hi! I’m Saima and I’m so glad you stopped by my site.
I live in Edmonton, Alberta with my husband and twin boys, and I love cooking fresh and tasty Indian meals for them. Won’t say that I never take the easy way out and never use the occasional can of beans, but I do try to keep the unhealthy stuff to a minimum:)
My relationship with Indian food goes back a long way. Born in an Indian home, my earliest food memories are of my mother cooking parathas (a kind of flatbread cooked in ghee or clarified butter) on weekend mornings.
Pure ghee has a very pleasant smell and when my mother cooked with it, the entire house was filled with its aroma. Smelling the ghee, I would run into the kitchen and she would make a special smiley-shaped paratha which I ate with dollops of fresh cream and sugar.
But I did not just want to eat those parathas! I also wanted to ‘help’ Mama make balls from the dough and roll them out. I must have gotten in her way, but they were my very first lessons in cooking.
Those mornings spent in the kitchen with my mother sparked an enthusiasm for cooking that led to many culinary adventures (with a few misadventures) in my teenage years. I loved surprising my parents with my creations and fancied myself quite the chef par excellence.
In later years, this enthusiasm waned somewhat but was rekindled when I got married and realized I was in charge of the food department. I needed to put practical meals on the table everyday, not the elaborate and exotic experiments of my youth. So back to my mother for help. With her tried and tested recipes, sometimes dictated over the phone (I was in the Middle East then), I got along extremely well.
Since those early days, I have added to my repertoire and improved as a cook, or so my family tells me. I’m especially partial to simple and fresh food that doesn’t take a ton of effort to make.
In fact, there is a little test I have for including a recipe in my collection. One, the ingredients that go into making a dish have to be fresh, natural and whole. Two, the dish itself should make the taste buds sing. If a recipe passes this two-pronged test, it’s in. Simple.
Two updates
- As this little blog of mine has evolved, I have included a few international recipes as well. Because who doesn’t like some variety? Like all kids, my boys too love having mac and cheese or hamburgers for dinner occasionally instead of dal chawal or shami kebabs. Do check out these too:)
- Also, ever since I discovered the instant pot, I haven’t really used my stove-top pressure cooker any more. Cooking in the instant pot is so much easier and simpler. Since I love it so much, I had to share all my recipes with you, of course. Instant pot recipes are really the best!
There’s no greater pleasure than making good food for the people you love. So, join me on my cooking journey as I discover and share with you better ways of cooking awesome Indian food, the kind that’s eaten in my home …. and in Indian homes everywhere.
Cheers,
Saima Zaidi
