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Chapter 4: Boiling Eggs

My first attempt at boiling eggs, I cracked open the shell and out poured a runny mess of egg white and yolk. It’s one of the few things that you can’t tell for sure if it’s done until you’ve looked inside, and once you do there are no redos but, once I had the technique down I could pretty much guarantee the perfect hard boiled egg.

I filled a sauce pan with water just enough to cover the eggs and brought it to a rolling boil on high heat. When the water started bubbling I added my eggs in with a slotted spoon. I set a timer for 11 minutes and in the meantime I prepared an ice bath. The ice bath was just a mixing bowl filled with cold water and ice. It’s always handy to keep a full ice tray in the fridge for boiled eggs and cocktails! After cooking, I transferred the eggs to the ice bath and set another timer for 5 minutes. The cooling step makes it easier to handle and peel the eggs. To peel, I just cracked the egg at the bottom and the rest of the shell broke off easily in big chunks.

My boiled eggs worked really well in a simple egg sandwich. I mashed two boiled eggs with a fork into tiny chunks and mixed it with some mayonnaise, salt and a little dijon mustard for some tang. The egg mixture was spread over buttered slices of soft white bread fresh from the bakery. The rest of the boiled eggs went in the fridge to be used through the next few days.

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Chapter 3: Chopping vegetables

I spent some time checking out my neighborhood farmers market over the weekend and found a lot of fresh produce. The tomatoes smelt like they were just picked out of my grandmother’s vegetable garden and the carrots with their long green tops looked like they had been plucked out of the ground just that morning!

To enjoy all this great produce I needed some knives and a chopping board. I’ve found that I only need three types of knives - A chef’s knife for most of my chopping, A serrated knife to chop anything with a soft interior like bread and tomatoes, and a small paring knife for peeling and chopping smaller items like cloves of garlic. The correct technique to hold a knife is to pinch it between the blade and handle with your thumb and index finger while the other hand rests on the produce like a claw with the fingers tucked in. For safe cuts a sharp knife is as important as a stable chopping board. To stabilize my chopping board I learnt a handy trick - Place a damp towel under the board so it doesn’t wiggle around while chopping! A small bowl kept next to my chopping board for compost means that I don’t have to walk over to the trash can every few minutes and my chopping board stays clean.

Vegetables come in interesting shapes which aren’t very convenient for chopping. So the first thing you try to do is cut out a flat side that can lay on the board. Cut a spherical tomato into half first before proceeding to lay it on its flat side for a chop. Chopping an onion in half first can make it easier to peel too. When chopping the goal is to cut the vegetable into approximately equal sized pieces so everything cooks evenly. Smaller objects heat up much faster than larger objects, in this case size really does matter! If we think about the vegetable as a three dimensional object we want a few straight cuts on all three axises(along the length, width and height). For longer slices of cucumbers and carrots only a few lengthwise cuts are needed. With peppers you only want the outer shell without the middle core so top and tail it before cutting around the core. With soft herbs like cilantro you can pluck out the leaves by hand and then mince the leaves. To mince, hold down one end of the knife and rock the knife back and forth almost like a see-saw.

The chopped tomato, onions, jalapeños and cilantro with a squeeze of lime came together into a pico de gallo served with warm tortilla chips. The sliced cucumbers, carrots and peppers were served on its own with some store bought hummus.

Cooking for a single person means that I always have left over vegetables that need to be stored. After a vegetable is picked or chopped, warm temperatures can quickly ripen and then degrade the vegetable or fruit. Some vegetables can be left in a dark cool place on the countertop like onions while others like cucumbers need to be stored in the fridge. Some vegetables like tomatoes release ethylene gas and shouldn’t be stored in plastic bags, or with other vegetables. Most herbs can last a few days if kept in a fresh glass of water in the fridge. Salad greens need to be wrapped in a paper towel in a container to soak up excess moisture. Whatever the vegetable or fruit may be, I first wash and dry it thoroughly before storing them in a manner that will keep them fresh the longest.

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Chapter 2: Rice

Growing up in South Asia, Rice has been a staple in many childhood dishes, So it was time to learn how to cook it right.

Fun Fact: Did you know that Rice is actually a seed?

Rice is a great dish to batch cook and store in the fridge for a few days. I’ve found that about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of uncooked rice makes about 1 serving for me. I started off by washing some white basmati rice till the water ran clean, ie. no white murky water. Washing helps remove the extra starch and yields a more fluffy texture.

To cook it, I used the “The Pasta method” which means cooking rice similar to how you would cook pasta. I salted a saucepan of water and put the stove on high to get the water to a rolling boil (till I saw bubbles). Then, I added the rice and turned the heat down to a simmer and let it to cook for about 15-20 minutes uncovered while stirring occasionally. Brown rice takes longer so cooking times may vary. It’s always good to check a few grains to know if the rice is fully cooked. After cooking, I drained out the excess water and left the rice in the hot pot for about 5 minutes covered with a clean towel and a lid to get rid of any excess water.

After my rice had cooled down I stored it in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, I boiled some water in a pot and added one serving of the cold rice on a strainer and de-clumped it with a fork. The strainer went on top of the pot with a lid for two minutes. In this way the steam brings the rice back to life!

My rice came out warm and fluffy with this method! But of course plain rice isn’t great on it’s own so I mixed it with some frozen veggies that I heated in the microwave and added some soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, chili oil and chopped green onions. I also added a fried egg for some protein.

Of course none of this really matters if you have a Rice Cooker!

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Chapter 1: Eggs

To begin my cooking journey I decided to start with the easiest protein I could think of: Eggs

Eggs can be cooked in so many different ways and comes together so quickly into a meal. I practiced with a super simple omelette. 

Turns out eggs can be very sticky and don’t require high heat so frying on a Non-Stick Pan is the way to go. With my new non-stick pan in hand the eggs slid out like it was on a water slide! I didn’t want to have to buy a new pan every time I made eggs, So I was careful to only use wooden utensils and hand washed the pan with a soft sponge.

The best way to crack eggs I learnt was to hit them gently against a flat surface before breaking them open in a bowl. And voila! No Shells! Seasoning with Salt while the eggs were in liquid form seemed to make a world of difference to the flavor. I whisked the salted eggs together till the whole mixture looked uniformly yellow.

Apparently eggs cook very fast, So it’s best to cook them on a low temperature for a longer time. Like a true chef I used a visual cue of Unsalted Butter foaming gently on the pan to tell me it was the right temperature. Once the eggs hit the butter laden pan I started stirring them around so the whole mixture cooked evenly.

When the eggs started to look more solid I added some Ricotta Cheese to one side and rolled the egg into an omelette. I topped the egg with some melted unsalted butter.

I was finally done eating dry, overcooked, unseasoned eggs!