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The Art and Science of Cooking

Today, while preparing sambar, I asked my daughter to bring the sambar powder. As she cut open the packet and filled the bottle, she asked, “Oh, you have to put sambar powder in sambar?” I looked at her, not at all surprised—she was asking the same intelligent question I used to ask before I learned how to cook.

Though my mother handled most of the cooking, my strongest memories are of my dad’s cooking. He only knew how to make chapati, and while he rolled them out, I would help cook them. Then there were those rare occasions when my mom wasn’t home, and my dad had to prepare a meal. We knew we were heading for disaster, but watching it unfold was half the fun.

Except for sugar, coffee, and tea powder, every available ingredient in the kitchen somehow found its way into the kadai. It was only while eating that we realized the dish was missing a particular masala. So, we would open the lid, sprinkle the masala over the watery concoction, and wonder why it never dissolved but just floated on top. Science explained this happened because of Surface Tension.

My cooking journey truly began when I rented a house with a friend. One day, we decided to make a simple delicacy: idiyappam. Carefully, we poured water into the rice flour and mixed it. Then, we loaded the Idiyappam Press with the dough and tried to squeeze it—but nothing came out. I had seen my mother press it effortlessly, so why weren’t we able to? Determined, both of us pressed from either end, but instead of getting idiyappam, we managed to break the Idiyappam Press! The scientific principle we missed here was Starch Gelatinization.

Though I am a great cook now (certified by a foodie and retired chef—my husband), he never lets me forget the time I messed up fish curry. I had followed the recipe but missed one major step. Malayalis from Kottayam would have stared in disbelief at how I had cooked that fish! When we tasted the curry, we knew something was off—it didn’t have the familiar, comforting taste of regular fish curry. So, I checked the recipe again and realized I had forgotten the main ingredient—Garcinia cambogia (locally called Kodampuli). Just one missing ingredient, and the fish curry met an untimely end. Ever wondered why Garcinia cambogia is essential in fish curry? Well, it is for its pH Regulation and Trimethylamine Reaction, a secret even most Kottayam locals might not have thought about!.

Then came the bhindi (okra) curry incident. I had noticed that for any curry, you need to add water. So, I chopped the bhindi, added the required ingredients, tossed it into the kadai, and placed it on the burner. But then, my favorite TV program was on. I poured water till the brim and went to watch TV. When I returned, my bhindi had turned into a slimy mess! The water had evaporated, but the slime remained. Science explains that okra turns slimy due to the presence of mucilage made up of polysaccharides and glycoproteins. This mucilage is stored inside the cells of okra pods and is released when cut or exposed to moisture. Next time, handle Okra carefully.

Years of eating, cooking, and gaining weight have taught me that science greatly influences what happens in the kitchen—so much so that we are not just eating rice, chapati, or biryani. Instead, we are consuming carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins (A to Z), iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, fiber, and much more.

So today morning, I did not cook Idli and Sambar. I cooked:

  • Carbohydrates 
  • Proteins 
  • Fiber 
  • Healthy Fats
  • Vitamins & Minerals 

Cooking is not just an art—it’s science served on a plate!

Nisha Kurian

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