Day 4: Mango Ice Cream

Took the recipe for low-cal strawberry ice cream and substituted it by Alphonso mango.

To Remember: Heat the milk and cornflour mixture till it become a bit thick.

Suggestions: Not a big fan of artificial sweeteners in desserts due to the slight bitter after-taste so just used regular sugar.

Time Taken: 30 mins of actually work plus the time for it to set.

Recipe Rating:4/5 a great guilt free dessert.

This whole experiment has got my brother hooked who's offered to be my assistant and do the grunt work (Thinking grunt work is easier, little does he know that it's the most time consuming). Let's see how that goes.

Day 3: Spicy Spinach Rolls

Back after a long hiatus so it's technically not Day 3 but what the hell. Made two dishes Spicy Spinach Rolls and Mango Ice Cream but more on that later. The Spinach rolls are essentially a version of the Gujarati dish Patra with a curd dip.

To Remember: Make sure you have the larger spinach leaves or it will take you forever to clean and stuff it with the filling.

Suggestions: Instead of mixing all the ingredients on the gas for the filling and adding water melt the jaggery in water and mix in for a smoother batter. Imli can be used to substitute the lemon juice.For presentations the longer rolls look better but to serve cut in smaller pieces and drench with the curd dip.

Time Taken: 60 - 75 mins to essentially clean the spinach and slop the filling.

Recipe Rating: 3/5 largely due to the curd dip

Day 2: Pitla

Was out of town for 2 days so didn't get around to making anything. Got up nice and early today so decided on pitla which looked simple and quick. I mean its only besan and methi right ?? Wrong just cleaning the methi took me sooo long that I had to skip my walk and then I realized I didn't have enough curd so had to run down and get it. Besides that simple enough. Thankfully didn't tear up while chopping onions atleast.

Didn't you know that cooking can be a great replacement for a workout ?? My arm was hurting by the end of it because of the stirring. By the end of this experiment Im definitely going to have stronger biceps if nothing else.

To Remember: Make sure all ingredients are there in the necessary quantity (Mom always told me this...Guess Ive learned my lesson). The curd was sour making the entire dish a bit sour. Need to be careful about that

Time Taken: 75 mins

P.S Family polished the entire apple rabdi (4 cups). Was a bit surprised they liked it soo much. I think its entirely due to the walnuts which added the crunch and woodiness

Day 1: Apple Rabdi pg168

Thought I'd take up a simple recipe which requires less effort and ingredients. Chose apple rabdi. Followed instructions to the T. Actually not, used large apples instead of medium so too much apple. Was a little like apple and sweet milk. The walnuts were a nice touch and added crunchiness (Is that even a word ??).

Nevertheless brother polished the bowl, but that could be because he's just a glutton :D (He's super excited about this experiment thinking he's going to get good food everyday....Little does he know)

To Remember: Chopping before peeling makes the apples dark. Well second try around was better. Though they all did get dark being out for that long.

Suggestions: I think it would be better if one boils the milk some more till it becomes a little thicker. Brother dearie suggested some chocolate shavings so going to add that tomorrow.

Time Taken: 30 mins

Recipe Rating: 2.5/5

P.S God bless the person who invented peelers and graters...Makes life soo much simpler. I know the picture looks a bit weird and not that appetising.

And so it begins....

How: Happened to come across the whole Julie Julia saga and found myself drawn to it. Haven't seen the movie but definitely plan to.

Who: For someone whose never seriously stepped into the kitchen(Maggi doesn't count) it sounded like a great experiment. Yes I know a 26 yr Gujju girl not knowing how to cook is something unheard of and I can see most Aunties shaking their heads. So Ive decided its high time I learn.

What: Didn't want to start with the routine since that would have definitely derailed the plan. Have all possible cookbooks ranging from Tarla Dalal to Sanjeev Kapoor to Nita Mehta and Asha Khatau and more since years but never really bothered to open them till now. Finally decided on "The Don’t Diet Diet Cookbook - Suman Agarwal and Tinu Shanghvi" and Asha Khatau as a close second. Asha Khatau is far more exotic but since I'm counting calories decided to start with the other book.

When: Maybe not daily due to work(not work hours but traveling to it everyday) but as often as I can