Cooking it Up

She shows off her newest addition of appliances— a non-stick griddle with small pockets that can make pakoras without frying them. Incidentally,Gakhar has always made efforts to cook healthy and make everyday meals exciting for her family. In order to be more innovative,she even hired a cook and spent many afternoons in the family kitchen “experimenting” with recipes.

“The bookstores are flooded with books on gourmet cooking,specially international fare. I wanted to present Indian vegetarian dishes,which are equally appetising to serve and savour,” says Gakhar,whose recipes make the most of easily available,local ingredients. “People already lead stressed lives and I don’t want to make it difficult for them to cook too,” quips Gakhar,who has got Dr Aditya Rattan,a city-based cardiologist and RP Batra,former consultant (Dietics),PGI,to pen chapters on healthy cooking.

Though Indian recipes form a major chunk of the chapters,the book is well-illustrated with colourful photographs and also features a variety of Continental and Chinese recipes. But its recipes for dishes like Chinese Samosa with sumptuous vegetable filling,carrot paneer cake and aloo halwa cake that get us curious. “The aloo halwa cake was a result of my experiments. It’s sweet and fast to make,though it is hard to imagine a cake made from potatoes,” shares Gakhar,who has also included a chapter on how to get something as simple as every day pulses more flavoursome. “While I have been sending recipes for publications,my late son-in-law pushed me to author a recipe book. I have dedicated this book to him,” says a misty-eyed Gakhar,who got ample encouragement from her student and now Union Minister for Culture,Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation,Kumari Selja. A formal release of the book will be held in early June. “I am also penning a book of recipes in Hindi that will be released later this year,” says Gakhar. Sounds like a treat.