She tucked in the pallu of her saree, took out her glass gourmet cook & serve and put it on the stove. She opened a bottle of ghee and generously dolloped the molten magic into the vessel. She spread it around, tracing the golden pattern it made with her eyes, unconsciously licking her lips. She broke a stick of cinnamon into two and inhaled the enticing scent, smiling as she traveled to a cassia tree plantation in picturesque Sri Lanka in her mind’s eye. She laid the sticks on the bed of warm ghee. She added a handful of other spices; green cardamom, black coarsely crushed pepper corns, cloves and star anise watching as the condiments jumped and danced while the ghee splashed about looking like a party of children playing in the rain. She tossed in some finely chopped pink onions drawing in a giddy delicious breath as the onions and the spiced ghee mingled creating a mouth-watering aroma. She added firm red juicy bits of tomatoes and watched as they slowly yielded to the power of the ghee becoming soft, forming an almost hypnotic pattern of red and pearly white. But it dissolved as she mixed in a dash of turmeric powder. In almost no time, all the ingredients took on as many complex and beautiful hues as a sunset. She crumbled in a stock cube before adding diced sausages to the already tantalizing vessel and as the smell of sizzling sausages permeated the room, it was all she could do to fight the urge to pop a piece into her mouth. She turned her attention to the rice instead and gently teased every last one of the bright white long grained Basmati out of its soaking bowl into the vessel. She stirred it lightly, almost caressing the contents of the vessel, marveling at how the grains of rice slowly separated and each blended with the spices and sausages individually, slowly taking on some of the bright yellow. She poured in water and then put her fingers into the salt jar to take out a pinch, letting the salt fall into the water like the first snow falling on the ground.
All that was left to do now was wait.
Before long the most titillating fragrance reached her and drew her, nose first, to the kitchen. Looking through the glass vessel, she could see sausages appearing here and there between the soft rice. It was ready.
Happily, she took out her serving dish and put spoons of the pulav lovingly onto it. Each one she lifted sent a wave of scrumptiously heady aroma her way. For finishing touches, she added some green to the saffron by carelessly throwing chopped mint and coriander leaves on the top. The plated pulav looked like spring time, bright yellow and orange flowers, their leaves a lush green, almost completely covering the rich brown ground.
Unable to resist the temptation any longer, she took a small spoonful. The party that was so far going on in her nose and eyes extended to her mouth. The combination of the fried spices, ghee, sausages and rice was a completely flawless confluence of flavours.
Grateful for Borosil and it’s many offerings to make her cooking experience more enjoyable, she completed setting the table by lighting diyas. Just then, the doorbell rang. She grinned. It was now her family’s turn to go on a culinary adventure.
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This post is part of IndiBlogger‘s “My Beautiful Food” contest in association with Borosil. (www.myborosil.com)
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