Simple foods, priceless joys!

“People normally think that beauty queens are very choosy about their foods and diets, but I believe there’s no harm to indulge sometimes,” says Anupama Aura Gurung, Miss Nepal 1st Runner-up 2011.

She advises to have everything and anything, but in the right proportions.[break]

She remembers when she had to cook for the first time in her secondary school. “I had taken food and nutrition class and the final test required us to cook a full meal.

Then I took a crash course in cooking from my mom,” she says.

She likes to describe herself as a compulsive cook as she lays her hands on cooking only when she really needs to.

“I cook fried noodles after my best friends and I come home from Friday night-outs, as I can’t wake anyone up at home at midnight,” she says with a good smile.

Although she confesses that she seldom cooks, her mother praises her cooking sense. Gurung agrees with her mom, “I never had a disastrous cooking. I cook less often but whenever I do, it turns out to be good.”

Food is a good means for Gurung to lift up her mood when she is feeling real low. She chooses pastries as her comfort food.

But when asked if she has ever tried baking one herself, she comes with a witty answer, “When there are so many good ones that can be bought easily, why put in all the effort?”

She does not prefer foods which are complicated or difficult to cook. “I prefer simple foods that are relevant to people from all walks of life. And when simple traditional foods can bring joy to people, it’s pointless for people to try to impress with international cuisines,” she opines.

She is involved with the NGO Smile Nepal which works for feeding street children.

So, when she served Aloo-Puri and chicken wings for The Week, she said she had chosen them because she thought of the kids when she made it.

“You should see them smile when we take puri or chicken. One might say these are simple foods but it’s equally valuable and priceless.”

Aloo-Puri

Ingredients

Potatoes: 5 pieces

Chopped tomatoes: 5 pieces

Sunflower oil: ½ liter

Salt: 1½ tbsp

Turmeric powder: ½ tbsp

Cumin powder: ½ tbsp

Chili powder: ½ tbsp

Water: 1½ cup

Garlic: 2 pieces

Fenugreek: some

Coriander leaves: some

All-purpose flour: 2 cups

Methods

For Aloo:

• First take the potatoes and boil them in a pressure cooker

• After 10 minutes, take the potatoes out from the cooker and peel the skin when cold

• Cut the potatoes into cubes

• Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan

• Add few fenugreeks in the pan and let them turn dark brown

• Add garlic after that and after it turns brown, add chilies to the oil

• Then, add tomatoes in the pan and stir it till they simmer down

• Add the chopped boiled potatoes to the mixture

• Now add salt and turmeric powder and stir the mixture gently

• Add coriander leaves for garnish

For Puri:

• Put flour in a bowl and knead it with water

• Divide the dough into equal portions, roughly the size of a golf ball and roll them evenly till you have a smooth circle

• Meanwhile, heat ½ liters of oil in a pan

• Fry the round puris in the heated oil

• Now serve the aloo and puri on a platter

Chicken Wings

Ingredients

Chicken wings: 10 pieces

Special Kentucky seasoning: 3 tablespoons

Soy sauce: 1 tablespoon

Sunflower oil: ½ liter

Method

• Marinate the chicken wings in the mixture of special Kentucky seasoning, soy sauce and water

• Heat oil in a pan

• Deep-fry the chicken in the heated oil

• Keep frying the chicken till all sides of it are cooked properly

• Let the excess oil dry up before you serve it with tomato ketchup or chutney