I have always loved food…be it a classy restaurant or street food, they attract me equally! However, I seldom cook. I do watch Masterchef Australia, but that is more to drool over a finished product than to learn any recipe. Therefore, if I cook, it is far from anything fancy….

Now it so happened that the Mommy Group from my son’s school decided to have a play- date. I hate play -dates! You have to monitor your child for 3-4 hours, you eat high calorie food, you get to know exam syllabus and how all have finished it and above all you look misfit when others are in smart trendy designer outfits! This time there was an additional catch, the play date was not at a mall like it usually is…it was at a farmhouse and each one had to prepare something great on the spot. In addition, it was the next day after this message was shared.

A hectic day at work ensured I did not check any Sanjeev Kapoor or Nisha Madhulika tutorials. Next day, I reached the destination with anxiety as I had always claimed in previous meetings of being a fan of the cookery shows and of replicating most of them home. It was indeed a bad day as the dish to prepare was written in chits one had to pick, the paper folded so many times over to avoid any peek!

Break-pakodas, Pasta, Sandwiches all the easy ones were gone…I picked mine faking a smile….. it said Nachos…Nachos yay! One cannot make them at home…right. We always buy them off the shelves. I just had to go and get them…hell I will get the ones with dip free for them.  I smiled (genuinely this time) and turned.

“It is Nachos.” I said jubilantly.

“Wow! So you do know how to make them! We are so happy you got that…Among all of us, only you can do it.”

“But they will take time…should we not get those ‘spicy’ ones from the store?” I tried my luck.

“No! We want to prepare everything here…! And we get to learn from you.”

Now this is how loud-mouthed idiots like me are cornered and in trouble.

Only a miracle could have saved my reputation.

It was then that my memory skills came to my rescue. Once while one of my mother’s friends was making makki ki rotis and failing at them as they broke, my mother had taken over from aunty and had made rotis by hand. I also recalled how she had made the dough instantly with warm water, mixing a little semolina for binding and crispiness…I copied her trick, rolled rotis, cut them in triangles with a pizza-cutter and deep fried them. As mom would have commented- bas makki ki tikoni poori hi toh banayi hai!  

I put kasoori methi and indian spices in them and called them Fenugreek Nachos…Everybody loved them, I was a hit!

Have started loving play-dates since then.