Welcome to #recipesforRuchita
vegetarian recipes which are easy to cook & taste great
About
I have a young Indian friend whose name is Ruchita.
She grew up with her extended family, surrounded by Aunts, Uncles, cousin sisters, cousin brothers & her own immediate family.
She grew up as a vegetarian with the cooking mostly being done by her Mama. She never learnt to cook as a child, she never needed to.
For one reason or another she didn't learn to cook as a young adult either.
We met when she came to complete post graduate study here in New Plymouth.
She now lives in New Zealand & wants to learn to cook.
She has remained vegetarian & absolutely loves food.
In fact, she's one of the easiest people I've ever cooked for.
Her appreciation of vegetables is astounding.
The fact that someone else will cook & share food with her is one of the most special things in her life.
She finds it almost impossible to eat alone . . . again for many reasons.
Last time she visited (june2016) we cooked together & she really enjoyed the entire process . . . including the eating.
We've come up with an idea to help her learn to cook in a way that focusses on her enthusiasm & passion for having fun.
At the same time as increasing her repertoire of cooking skills I want to encourage her use of ingredients which are seasonally abundant & consequently cheaper. I believe this will provide variety & better balance in flavours, textures & nutritional value.
I also believe that with learning these new skills her confidence & capabilities will begin that uplifting cycle of positive reinforcement which is so important for us all.
3 important things regarding Ruchita;
Ruchita is dyslexic so reading recipes in their usual format is extremely difficult for her. She is absolutely a visual learner.
Food & eating for Ruchita has always connected her with her family & friends. She now lives thousands of kilometres away from her family, the thought of cooking & eating alone makes her incredibly lonely & home sick, so we're doing this together.
We live over 800 kilometres apart. She lives in the South Island of New Zealand & I live in the North Island.
I find recipes I think she might enjoy cooking & eating.
I 'test' the recipes by making them for dinner for us, altering them as I see fit. I also try to remember to take a photograph of the meal plated up before we eat !
I have a folder which lives on my kitchen island & it is dedicated to #recipesforRuchita.
On the 1st page I draw the ingredients, adding a few handwritten notes about preparation or any special techniques needed.
On the 2nd page I write the method of cooking as clearly & succinctly as possible. I try to add drawings to this page as well.
On the 1st Tuesday of the month I email a copy of the pages to Ruchita so she can print them out, colour them in if she wants & then at some stage before the end of the month she'll cook using the recipe I've given her & let me know how it goes.
We can msg, FaceTime, Skype, or otherwise contact each other if she has any questions, concerns or difficulties.
I'm thinking that as time goes on & as the recipes become a little more complicated I might be able to video different things for her & share those with her too.
She grew up with her extended family, surrounded by Aunts, Uncles, cousin sisters, cousin brothers & her own immediate family.
She grew up as a vegetarian with the cooking mostly being done by her Mama. She never learnt to cook as a child, she never needed to.
For one reason or another she didn't learn to cook as a young adult either.
We met when she came to complete post graduate study here in New Plymouth.
She now lives in New Zealand & wants to learn to cook.
She has remained vegetarian & absolutely loves food.
In fact, she's one of the easiest people I've ever cooked for.
Her appreciation of vegetables is astounding.
The fact that someone else will cook & share food with her is one of the most special things in her life.
She finds it almost impossible to eat alone . . . again for many reasons.
Last time she visited (june2016) we cooked together & she really enjoyed the entire process . . . including the eating.
We've come up with an idea to help her learn to cook in a way that focusses on her enthusiasm & passion for having fun.
At the same time as increasing her repertoire of cooking skills I want to encourage her use of ingredients which are seasonally abundant & consequently cheaper. I believe this will provide variety & better balance in flavours, textures & nutritional value.
I also believe that with learning these new skills her confidence & capabilities will begin that uplifting cycle of positive reinforcement which is so important for us all.
3 important things regarding Ruchita;
Ruchita is dyslexic so reading recipes in their usual format is extremely difficult for her. She is absolutely a visual learner.
Food & eating for Ruchita has always connected her with her family & friends. She now lives thousands of kilometres away from her family, the thought of cooking & eating alone makes her incredibly lonely & home sick, so we're doing this together.
We live over 800 kilometres apart. She lives in the South Island of New Zealand & I live in the North Island.
I find recipes I think she might enjoy cooking & eating.
I 'test' the recipes by making them for dinner for us, altering them as I see fit. I also try to remember to take a photograph of the meal plated up before we eat !
I have a folder which lives on my kitchen island & it is dedicated to #recipesforRuchita.
On the 1st page I draw the ingredients, adding a few handwritten notes about preparation or any special techniques needed.
On the 2nd page I write the method of cooking as clearly & succinctly as possible. I try to add drawings to this page as well.
On the 1st Tuesday of the month I email a copy of the pages to Ruchita so she can print them out, colour them in if she wants & then at some stage before the end of the month she'll cook using the recipe I've given her & let me know how it goes.
We can msg, FaceTime, Skype, or otherwise contact each other if she has any questions, concerns or difficulties.
I'm thinking that as time goes on & as the recipes become a little more complicated I might be able to video different things for her & share those with her too.
There are very few things Ruchita doesn't like & I simply miss them out in the recipes I re-write for her e.g. cinnamon, dates, cardamon pods, oats & coriander seeds.
If I think those ingredients really make a significant contribution overall I will leave them in the recipe, to see if she notices them & let her remove them if she wants to.
If I think those ingredients really make a significant contribution overall I will leave them in the recipe, to see if she notices them & let her remove them if she wants to.