I love food in a way that it is not an infatuation but the true kind. To me, one of the purpose of life (which I usually find myself pondering upon) of being born as a human is to eat and get nourished. When I say eat and get nourished, it is about the joys of consuming food and feeling good after that. I like dining out as that is one of the ways that I get exposed to new cuisines. But, that is not usually fulfilling for me. And specially not if it is from a fast food restaurants like Mc Donald’s or KFC or the many cafe chains. I enjoy street food as it is nearer to something prepared at home. But I enjoy food the most when it is cooked at home with each ingredient prepared or even grown at home.

I belong to a small place called Manipur which is situated in the north eastern part of India. Manipur shares borders with Burma and so the local culture is influenced by it. It is also influenced by the the Bengali culture (of India) due to the immigrants that have settled in Manipur over the years.

I grew up in a culture where every house had its own kitchen garden and food was usually prepared from fresh harvest. As I grew up I shifted to New Delhi for my education and later to Singapore (for a year). As I moved from place to place, the cuisines that I came across fascinated me. What was common food like parsley, thyme, cheesecakes, pastas, biryani, etc. for the rest of the world were exotic for me. And the herbs, vegetables and recipes that I grew up eating everyday were exotic for the people that I usually encountered as I travelled along. The way I consume food has changed drastically and it was only a few years ago that I had realised how precious the way things functioned in my native town was (the kitchen garden system and home cooked fresh foods that is).

In this blog I share recipes that I grew up with or found fascinating or some which I have created. You will find a lot of exotic ingredients which belong to my native cuisine. It is not a conscious effort to share them but a natural course of action. My conscious intention is to help people realise that home cooked foods are healthier and tastier than the ones you get in fast food restaurants…and even the fine dine ones.

P.S. - I can’t bake even if my life depended on it! I have been having all sorts of problems specially with breads (damn that yeast!). I am hoping that maintaining this blog will eventually make me a good baker.

16th September, 2011 (Update)

Some facts about me:

• I don’t have a sweet tooth. So, you will not find that many sweet recipes in here. But, I do indulge in sweet recipes once in a while… specially if I can be creative with the presentation.
• I love curries. Whenever I fall sick and then start recovering, I always crave for a curry (chicken or fish, mostly) .
• I love the simplicity and healthiness of my native cuisine, so I will be flaunting them here from time to time. 
• I like making things from scratch and I believe that it is going to save our race from extinction!
• I support the Slow Food Movement.
• I like exploring new cuisines and I believe that it is one of the first steps to understanding each other and leading to a tolerant world community.
• I like all cuisines and I only hate certain dishes or ingredients (not the entire cuisine). But I love Korean food because my stomach loves it…. I like food that gives me a peaceful stomach after eating. Yogurt does that too :)
• On the contrary I have a high tolerance for chillies and I love eating hot hot chillies. So, if you find that some of my recipes have too many chillies in them, just reduce the amount for yourself.