happinessculinaryartist

[happinessculinaryartist]

HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR YOUNG ONES TO COOK

The Legends of Future

Don’t tell me you missed out on looking at the most aww-adorable 1-year-old munchkin Chef-Kobe!!!

Kobe not only surprises everybody with his innocent handling of the pots and eatables but the reactions he makes on every step takes your heart away. The child is no less than a prodigy to hook over 1.4 Million followers on Instagram to see what he makes.

Although assisted in a great way by his parents through the preparation and recipes, his cuddly cheeks steal the show.

And you gotta be kidding me if you didn’t hear about the little Kicha (Nihal Raj) who is conquering hearts through his passion for cooking and the ease with which he enjoys performing in the cookery videos without a script! This talent-house hails from Kerala, India.

I would like you to ponder over something now. When we water a plant properly in the bud stage, would it not flourish for a longer period? Obviously YES! Cooking is the most basic life skill, and if taught early promotes a positive attitude and enjoyment for life.

The skill of cooking might turn out to be the biggest source of pride for the adolescent.

Any kitchen is like a learning lab for children, where they are encouraged to involve all of their senses.

Get your kids cooking at a young age and you gift them the most important prowess of life. The Lifetime Gift! I mean tell me one person in the entire universe who does not eat? And what better than to cook your own meal? I think it makes complete sense!!! Doesn’t it?

Patience is a key skill required in the kitchen space. Ask your kid to wash up some veggies and transfer in a pot. Teach them to watch the veggies until cooked/ tender. Trust me they will learn the art of- “Waiting for something”. You show me a better activity to teach them patience. I’d love to hear from you. Delayed Gratification (wink)

Needless to mention, that through this skill; the value of money will be programmed in your toddler’s being at a very early age. They will be like- “Mommy! If we can cook up amazing food at home then what’s the point in eating out?

 Cooking is all about living and feeling your ingredients. The idea about healthy foods and healthy cooking methods will go deep in the mind and all by itself, the kid will choose healthy over junk. Doesn’t this sound great to all the parents out there?

Well, what’s more for the kids? Language, cognitive, personal awareness, socio-emotional, fine, and even gross motor skills are refined when they undertake activities such as chopping, pouring, grating etc.

 Let me not bombard you with loads of information now. Enough!!! LOL. Cooking is simple and good old- fashioned fun. Period!!!

 Akshay Nand’s tips

• Let the kids be around in the kitchen and observe. At that tender age, they need supervision, but let them explore and learn on their own under you.

• If you grow your own vegetables (which if you do is fabulous!), have your kids be in charge of it. Allow them to water them and pick their foods.

• Once they've picked the food, help them come up with a recipe/ dish they can call their own.

• Get them involved in the dish preparation. Let them name it on their own, so they really get invested in the process.

• Teach them the nuances of taste as they cook. Help them fall in love with their creation as you go!

• Let your child present his/ her dish to the rest of the family members so that everybody knows that they prepared it, and not you. Appreciate/ Applaud them. Help make them feel proud of their cooking by giving them small memoirs from time to time.

• Let’s raise self- sustainable adults who know how to make something other than a bowl of cereal or a cup of Maggi!

 Trust me! Tell them, “It’s fun, and you get to eat something yummy at the end.” And let the magic unfold!

 Stay happy with FOOD! If finding difficulty in doing that, then anchor me!!!

Until next time!

XoXo

[happinessculinaryartist]

HOW TO GET ANY INDIAN KITCHEN SUPER SORTED

Save Money and Amplify your Productivity

Did you know that one of the studies by Harvard states a link between a clean space and better productivity?

It goes something like this: “When people cleared the clutter from their work environment, they were better able to focus and process information, and their productivity increased.”

Therefore, it is highly recommended to boost your own productivity by organizing the disarranged areas in your life.

I have this bug inside me for a very long time. I tend to keep things arranged. Although that’s not what you call OCD, I like to access things that are sorted, and honestly, it feels great to have things spick and span in your life.

My work environment, area, or station is the Kitchen, where I discover myself and create spectacular recipes. And it is a no-brainer that sorting your kitchen means ensuring that your pantry is set in the right tone. 

Just because I am a Culinary Artist and a lot of my work involves the kitchen, it should not discourage you from arranging your own kitchen pantry. A chef or no chef, everybody needs to keep their kitchen space neat and tidy because that’s the area that brings out the food, feeds the entire family, and keeps them up and running.   

I often do a cleanup and sorting of my pantry and would be glad to share my bit and run you through the process and also provide some tips and tricks to help you succeed. So let’s dive in.

First, you want to categorize everything

Before you even start to organize your pantry, you want to categorize all of your ingredients.

For example, one shelf would be reserved for your jars of aromatic whole spices like black or green cardamom, cinnamon or star anise. Another shelf could be used to store jars of flavoring whole spices like clove, cumin seeds or coriander seeds, and so on. 

Another category will be of ingredients which you pair together to use all at once when cooking your meals. For example, we Indians adore our Dal-Chawal (Lentil-Rice) or Khichdi (Indian Risotto). So keeping the various lentils and rice on one shelf will be super helpful.

Not to mention, your spice box should be pristine and have all the daily use spices in there. Reaching out to different locations for each spice jar is not part of the kitchen efficiency.

Doing this will help you come up with a quick and interesting pairing for your meals.

Next, you want to inventory everything 

After you categorize everything, you want to see what you have and what you need to buy from the store.

After you categorize your lentils, nuts, spices, flours, rice, etc. you will be able to easily see what you have enough of and what you need more of. You will also want to get rid of anything that has expired in this step. Letting stale ingredients stay in your kitchen is like doing serious damage to your own health.

After you have inventoried everything, you’ll be able to know what you need to buy and what you have plenty of.

This will prevent you from unknowingly stocking packets of flour, boxes of lentils, bags of rice, etc.

Finally, it’s time to sort

Here comes the fun part. Now that you have optimum stock levels, you get to start sorting. What’s great is that you don’t even need exceptional organizational tools to do so.

The approach I use in my kitchen is to give each category of items its own shelf. Now, your pantry might be set up a bit differently from mine, as everybody stocks according to their palates. However, this approach is still beneficial. 

Give each category its own shelf/drawer/section, and then organize items by size, color, type, or whatever else you’d like.

Let’s me share with you how I organized my pull-out pantry drawers/ shelves 

To the right of my working area, I have jars of all my whole spices set in different rows as per usability. It’s easy access and super convenient while cooking. Basically an effortless reach.

A pro tip here is to put the daily use whole spices in a row which is at your eye level/ have easy access. Spices like cumin, fennel, or coriander seeds might come in this category. This way you won’t be struggling with at least the basic cooking.

For the ones who are a novice, putting name labels on cute transparent jars would be a great idea. Name labels anyway doesn’t harm even the experts. It amplifies your organizational skills.

Next, I have one section of all my breakfast options

Everything healthy which can be cooked in a few minutes is kept here. From natural rolled oats (not the flavored ones) to beautiful vermicelli, then your all-time favorite Poha (flattened rice) and not to forget the freshest pack of luxurious eggs.

The key takeaway here is to line everything up neatly and group it in a way that makes it easy to find each item.

Next are some miscellaneous snacks, condiments, and nuts

It is completely ok to have a shelf of random stuff, but it will be easier if you can see everything clearly. Even with a random snack drawer, you try to separate everything into sections.

For example, on a single shelf, I have my pickles on the left side and all the nuts on the right side. The back of this shelf houses the random snacks, which are purposely kept there so that it stays out of sight and thus out of mind (wink wink)

Even though there are a variety of things on this shelf, I can still see everything I have. 

The takeaway is to make sure you can actually see everything in your pantry.

Finally, there will be this shelf/ drawer somewhere on top (doesn’t mean it should be out of your reach and a chair is needed to grab stuff from there).

I’d like to call this the Indulgence shelf. It has some of the stuff I reach for special occasions. Like funky shapes of pasta, various dried herb seasoning bottles, certain canned foods, etc. Sometimes you do feel like to make an exotic meal for your loved ones. So this will be the place where you will stock for that special meal.

Final Thoughts

Not only will a clean and tidy place make everything look beautiful, but it will also help you to get rid of the distractions and boost your overall productivity in the kitchen and life.

Leave your comments and tell me how you manage your kitchen. I would be more than happy to learn new hacks from you.

Stay happy with food!!!

Until next time!

XoXo