Before I  start sharing my ‘Not So Secret’ recipes , let me tell you a short story (by now you probably know its not going to be short 😛 ). I am the youngest among my siblings which automatically implies that I was the pampered (read ‘very spoilt’) one. Growing up in Karachi, we always had domestic helpers to help with the house hold chores. My mom used to cook herself for us though she had a cook to help her in the kitchen, a maid to help with the other house hold chores and a driver to drive us around (and yes these were the perks of living in Karachi for a middle class family like ours 🙂 ). Whenever we had a dinner/party at our home, my elder sister (who btw loved experimenting new dishes back then and is a very good cook now ), would help my mom in the kitchen as well.. and ALL I did was just set the dinner table!! I rarely stepped into the kitchen…

Then Reality struck me and I got married ( *sob*… just kidding Mr. Incredible ) and to make matters more REAL, I moved out of Karachi, a week after the wedding.  Not only did I travel from Karachi to Doha, I also made the journey from being a ‘Spoilt Princess’ (in my parents home)  to becoming a ‘Home maker’ ( with NO domestic help!!!!!!!!!)  and that also within a week!!! (*sigh*). My aunt always said ( And I 100% agree )

“If a son moves out of Pakistan .. its because of his MAA KI DUA (mother’s prayers)

If a daughter moves out of Pakistan… its because of her MAASI KI BAD-DUA (maid’s curse)”

A couple of months before the wedding, I started making a recipe book – annoying my mom with thousand of questions …

My Mom: Put a little bit of salt

Me:  How much in terms of tea spoons? (how do I know what’s a little bit ….for a beginner like me!!!)

My Mom: Hmmm..  may be about one teaspoon…

Me: Heaped or Leveled?

I did this for EVERY ingredient, of EVERY recipe my mom dictated to me.. (she had no written recipes .. that’s the kind of cook she is.).  My father was really worried of what I would feed Mr. Incredible. He would see me writing the recipes sitting on a sofa with my mom and tell me

Atleast go in the kitchen and see HOW she is cooking it.. How would writing recipes help you when you have never stepped into the kitchen!

But I still just wrote.. 🙂 My reputation was pretty bad in the family too, so much that my cousins gave me a recipe book they compiled as a wedding gift. The disclaimer on the first page of the book would give you an idea of what everyone in my family thought was coming ahead in Mr. Incredbiles life.

   

But to everyone’s surprise (especially my Dad’s and MYSELF ),  I cooked pretty okay from Day One. I was labeled a good cook by the friends we invited over for dinners. I didn’t trust Mr. Incredibles word for it as he might be just ‘saving the day’ (and his life) by saying that the food is really nice! The secret to this success for a beginner like me was the recipe book I compiled, full of my mom’s ancestral recipes. 12 years later, I still cannot cook without that book and would be totally lost without it!

So in this section, I will share those recipes with you – ‘My family Recipes’ that have never failed me. I hope you find them useful too.

Check out my recipes here..