When I first moved to Hyderabad 7 years ago I hardly knew how to cook. In fact, I was staying away from home for the first time in my life. I was sharing an apartment with three girls. Back at home there was nothing I needed to do, no cooking, no cleaning up, no washing, so I learnt nothing at all!

When I reached this new home of mine I appeared like one pampered spoilt fool. At this point I must tell you all that my flat mates were really sweet people; especially, my room mate. She would cook and I would eat! One of them told me that I look like someone who has never stayed away from home. They were so nice that they decided that I would help them in cutting and chopping vegetables as they understood that I could not cook to save my life. I could not have asked for more!

After living there for a month or so, I realised that all the people I knew in Hyderabad knew that I did not know how to cook. I could not figure out what was the big deal about that. Pay some money and get a cook! Well, such things don’t normally happen when you are sharing an apartment with other people. 

One day, out of sheer desperation, I tried my hands at making Potato Sabzi. Ask me why potato, because that was the only vegetable I ate! My friends used to leave for work in the morning. Since I was a freelancer, my work time was very flexible, so after the three left I went into the kitchen to cook!

First read the recipe and then I will tell you what happened while making this dish.

Potato Sabzi Recipe (my way, hope it works your way too!)

Ingredients

Potatoes - 6 – boiled, peeled and cut into big pieces.

Oil - 2teaspoons, go up to 5 to 6 teaspoons if you like (remember all good food is yummier and unhealthier!)

Salt - to taste

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder – 2 tsp

Cumin Powder – 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 8-10

Coriander leaves – 1 small bunch

Method

1. Take a kadhai, preferably a non stick heavy one, and heat the oil in it.

2. Add urad dal, mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter. Add the curry leaves.

3. Add the potatoes, turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. Mix the ingredients well and cover for about 2 minutes.

4. Add the coriander powder and cumin powder. Mix and let it cook on high for 3-4 minutes.

5. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves

This is a quick and simple dish for novices. It only takes 8-10 minutes to make.

One can fine tune this dish by adding salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder, as much as one wants!

 
Getting back to the point where I left… I went into the kitchen, took 5 or 6 potatoes, and put them inside the pressure cooker and filled half the vessel with water and closed it. I found it a little difficult to close the lid, but with some effort I managed. My first experience in using the pressure cooker, felt great! Then I put the pressure cooker on the gas oven. I had no idea how long would it take the potatoes to get boiled, all I knew was that there will be a few whistles. I waited for about five minutes, but there was no whistle. I waited for another two minutes or so, yet no whistle. At that point I thought there was something wrong. So I decided to take the pressure cooker off the oven and opened it to see what went wrong. I waited a little to take the lid off as it was very hot. After a couple of minutes I tried opening the lid and it would not open. I tried harder as I remembered that it took a little effort to close it. I kept pulling the lid with all my strength and I heard an explosion. It was so sudden that I did not realize that the lid flew away from my hand, and the hot water fell on my head! I got so scared that I did not know what to do. I had heard of pressure cookers bursting and I feared the worst. It took me a few minutes to recover from the shock. I had burnt my right hand and head; fortunately, nothing major happened. I rested for a while and boiled the potatoes for almost an hour in another vessel, and promised not to touch the pressure cooker again. I should have waited for the hot air to come out before opening the lid. No one taught me that… not my fault! Just that I suffered. The only good thing that happened that day was that the potato sabzi turned out to be quite tasty.

I do use the pressure cooker now, but I am extremely scared to use it. I avoid it as much as I can! Looking back, it was a good learning experience. It was a little painful; however, I learnt how to cook and work in a kitchen. Hope those of you who are reading this will try the recipe! J