The Art of Cooking, in your Home

Every culture has a unique food philosophy. The way we cook our food tells a lot about who we are.

Plates may be formed by socio-cultural influences, but the act of cooking itself is a spiritual pursuit.

Whether one is cooking daily for loved ones or preparing for thousands in a temple or donning the chef’s apron occasionally over weekends, cooking can elevate the soul to great heights. It is precisely for this reason that the experience inside a kitchen could be heavenly bliss.

Although the art of cooking seems mysterious at first, its elements are easy to define. We can prepare food using different methods, with a variety of equipment’s, ingredients and seasoning.

The great world cuisines came into being when people in diverse ecosystems and climates experimented with limited regional food resources and technologies over long periods of time.

There is a strong sense of pride and accomplishment that cooking from our own meals, from taking ingredients and combining those to create eye-catching and mouth-watering dishes that can please us and our family and friends.  

The only problem for many of us, cooking looks so complex and frustrating that it doesn’t seem worth our time.

The truth is cooking can be simple, fast and cheap. It may take up a little bit more time than say, the drive through, but not much more. And the satisfaction that comes out of routinely preparing our own meals is authentic.

Even amateur cooks dream of creating gourmet meals in their own kitchens. With just a little practice we can learn how to plan meals around basic, healthy ingredients. In most part of the world there is no so much emphasis on variety. We don’t have to tear our hair out to think of creative meals for a week.

Some Rules For cooking at home:

Buy the right quick- meal ingredients:

Choose right healthy meal ingredients always. Tomatoes are an easy way to add flavor to the meal. Quick cooking whole grains are nutritional power house that are ideal for home cooking. For quick and healthy protein beans and lentils are must-have to keep on hand. Adding vegetables to every meal will bring us a healthy life.

Buy Healthy Add-ins:

Heart- healthy nuts are simple way to dress up simple dishes. Rich in Vitamin E , cholesterol- lowering plant sterols, fiber and omega-3’s , nuts are nutrition packed and delicious as salad toppers, stirred into rice or blended into nut butter.

Be Aware of hidden Calories:

Always use heart healthy oils, such as extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, and high oleic sunflower oil.

Pots, pans and other tools can be just as important as the ingredients. A food processor allows you to make healthy dips and purees, and a good blender is essential for fruit-packed smoothies. A nonstick pan or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet allows searing and sautéing with little to no oil. 

Be Fearless:

Courage is crucial to cooking well. As in many areas of life, fear of doing things incorrectly includes paralysis; this is devastating in the kitchen, because we wind up being too hungry to deal and just go out, order in.

Think, what’s the absolute worst thing that could happen by taking risk with our cooking? That’s ruins the dish? Well, yes, but we have learned something valuable in the process.

Cooking should Dissolve, not create Tension:

If we approach cooking as a practice, we can make exceedingly simple food and still have it turn out delicious if we put love and care in it. Guest can feel that too.

We spend so many hours of our lives shopping for food, preparing it, consuming it, and cleaning up after we have done. And most of us do it regularly. If we can rise to this daily event, without fear, dread or anxiety, it can be an anchoring presence for the other parts of the day. The kitchen can become a stress free zone, once we decide that’s what it should be.

Be Mindful:

So much of cooking is simple paying attention. Paying attention to ones, own likes and dislikes, paying attention to what looks on any given shopping day, paying attention to the actual contents of one’s fridge.  

When we are mindful of what we are eating, all kinds of pleasant sensations occur. The bite of a ripe pink apple, when chewed with attention, wakes up the mouth.

Preparing food by ourselves encourages a greater awareness of what we are eating. Becoming as aware as we can to the experience of eating is something worth pursuing. It is a rewarding and profound corridor to pleasure.

Cooking is not a duty. It’s an art. If you think well, you cook well.