About me
Hi – I’m Ekant Veer – by day I’m an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand – by night, I like to cook. Actually, I LOVE to cook. And I don’t mean microwave meals, I mean cooking from scratch. Why? Because I find it therapeutic but I also find it important for my and my family’s health. This blog is dedicated to my curries and other Indian foods that I learnt mostly from my amazing mum (doesn’t every Indian learn from their mum?)
What’s the Blog Name All About?
My name is Ekant. All through my life people have called me “I Can’t” so I thought it’d be a cheesy play on words – it’s both “Ekant, Cook Curry!” and “I Can’t Cook Curry” to help those who want to learn how to cook Indian food but area a little afraid of getting started.
Why don’t you use pastes & packets?
To be honest, I do, from time to time (the best, in my mind, is the Patak’s range). BUT, I also think it’s important that we know how to cook from scratch – why, you ask? Well, from my perspective, all the luxuries in our life have been created to make things quicker because we value time so much. The problem is, in saving time by using ready made microwavable meals we are slowly killing ourselves with preservatives, sodium intake and numerous other ingredients that don’t need to be there – all this is shortening our lives. So, in saving time with our cooking, we end up losing time at the end of our lives. An extra half an hour every day can mean extra years at the end of our time. No one deserves to die just because he/she wanted to save time. Take time and savour what you’ve got. Enjoy it. It’s precious. Don’t take it for granted.
What’s with Using Photos?
Pick up an Indian cookbook – what do you see? A list of ingredients that takes up most of the page – it’s daunting – it’s the sort of thing that puts people off straight away. I’ve tried to create a way of explaining Indian cooking with simple pictures and short instructions. There’s still an ingredients list you can copy and print off, but in general, this is your chance to walk through the steps with my photos. I haven’t done any videos because if you’re anything like me, I skip through most video recipes and end up missing vital information – with photos, you go at your own speed.
Do you take all your own photos?
Yes, I do – occasionally I’ll get help from someone in the family, but all the images are homemade, just like the food.
I love this blog and really look forward to it growing with more recipes. I haven’t tried any recipes yet because I tried to cook Indian in the past and messed it up. This is giving me new inspiration (and making me very hungry)! Thank you so much. I look forward to being a subscriber
Thank you for sharing your love of cooking. I have recently begun exploring the flavors of India. I had read a medical journal that evidenced the health effects of spices. Those listed were typically used in Indian cooking. There are so many variations and styles of Indian cooking, it is daunting. So, ya, thank you for all the pics as they really help!
Hi Ekant!
Love your blog! How can I get in touch with you?
That’s a very good point – I have no contact info on here 🙂 feel free to email me on ekant.veer@gmail.com
Found you from Reddit! Told you I was coming to your blog! Loved your chicken recipe!
Glad you found it! Ps, love your name 🙂
This is on reddit? not the same one as in TMSE?
I just made a kitchiri from the Oxfam book. I love that book, but I thought I’d google because I’m a visual learner, and besides I googled Kitchiri. There are more ideas here, and I put too much water in it because I probably didn’t measure it…………now what…..??? Help I don’t want to strain and waste all the lovely good stuff so I am boiling without lid on to get rid of some of the water. Crikey….first time and I mucked it up…such a simple dish….but I will stick with it, cause I like simple food
It may end up soggy, even if you lift the lid. Wait till the rice and lentils are cooked. Once they are, drain the lot in a colander – then let the excess water drain away – the rice and lentils will stay warm, but won’t have the slightly crisp bottom from having a dry pan – that’s ok, it’s still good! Serve it up quickly 🙂
Hi! I found your blog from reddit and I really enjoy your recipes!
I would like to be able to save them in my ziplist recipe box, but the ziplist extension on my browser (chrome) doesn’t seem to recognise that there’s a recipe on the page. Is there something to do about this?
Thanks!
Hi Ekant,
I’ve made a number of recipes from this blog and found them to be better than others from different websites. I wonder though… do you think you could post a recipe for Jalfrezi? As a British person I’m obviously a great lover of curry, and the Jalfrezi is one that never disappoints. I have tried to make a couple from other websites, but nothing comes close to the version found on most British high streets. I was hoping that you might be able to do a better job…
Si
http://ekantcookcurry.com/murgh-mughlai-creamy-chicken-curry/
This came out so good! Can’t wait to put it on rice and probably throw on some raisins as well as almonds. I still haven’t added the garam masala because I can’t find it and I’m too lazy to make it 😉
My yogurt did “shock” but the blender fixed that!
Lauren
Would you consider doing a series of video lessons for dumb people who don’t really know how to cook?
Just found your blog, I was googling recipes to serve with a curry chicken and rice dish that I’m doing a cooking class on in July, and wanted to say thank you. I’ll be back to look up more recipes.
Hello, here from baidu, i enjoyng this, i will come back soon.