Cooking in this time of quarantine and lockdown can be daunting. Trips to the supermarket are necessarily few, and even once you get there, ingredients may be in limited supply.
With the daily challenge of finding recipes using ingredients in the pantry, food vloggers are now putting out simple, healthy and ‘lockdown-friendly’ recipes to cater to the needs of their followers. Like Juleey Aji, who has been Googling for easy, one-pot recipes. Channa biriyani, a recipe she discovered on Anu’s Kitchen, a YouTube cookery channel-cum-vlog, has become a hit at her dinner table.
Lekshmi Nair
She says passing the time indoors has meant making the most of what’s in her larder and getting innovative. “My family and I enjoy trying out new dishes. However, as ingredients, especially vegetables, are becoming scarce due to the lockdown, I search for recipes that can be made with what I have on hand.”
Says popular cookery show host-turned-vlogger Lekshmi Nair: “Though most people have stocked up their kitchen shelves and refrigerator, many are still left with a limited set of ingredients.” Lekshmi, who posts recipes thrice a week on YouTube, has started posting daily recipes due to a flood of requests from her subscribers. Many of her new followers are attempting cooking for the first time. “Most of them are bachelors who are looking for easy to prepare dishes,” she adds.
So Lekshmi shares everything from breakfast recipes to desserts that require minimal ingredients. For instance, her post on bread pizza says its requires just onion, tomato, capsicum (optional) and cheese. “Omit ingredients when not necessary and be creative with what’s available at home. One can do wonders with leftover food as well. I had recently put up a video on how to use the previous day’s chappathi to make kottu paratha. Similarly, you can use leftover idlis for masala idli,” says Lekshmi, who plans to introduce a few simple and nutritious meal plans as well.
Sameera Nizarudin
Cooking meals together can help pass time and adds to quality family time, feels vlogger Sameera Nizarudin. Her channel Salu Plus, which zooms in on her daily life, has touched a million subscribers on YouTube. “Viewers feel as if they are part of our family as they watch my family and I go about our daily routine, especially during this time of social distancing. The video shows us preparing our meals, playing games, going about our household chores...,” says Sameera.
Suresh Pillai, corporate head chef of The Raviz Hotels and Resorts, encourages the use of vegetables, herbs and fruits that are available in ones backyards and kitchen gardens for daily cooking. “First of all, clear up old food and use the perishable ingredients in your larder and refrigerator before moving on to your garden. Raw papaya, jackfruit, mango and root vegetables like tapioca, elephant yam and colacasia can be turned into tasty dishes,” says Suresh, over phone from London.
Chef Suresh Pillai
Suresh was on a visit to the UK when the lockdown was announced. If, his earlier posts on Instagram contained just photographs of the dishes along with the recipes, he now posts videos of the dishes he makes. “Quite a few of my subscribers are new to the kitchen. The videos help them follow the recipe.”
Chef Suresh’s egg curry
Maximising with a handful of ingredients is even more important now when food suppliers are struggling to meet the sudden surge in demand, he says. His recent video of a 'chammanthi' made with just whole red chillies, shallots and tamarind went viral.
Suresh is on a quest to promote “responsible and sustainable eating”. “Perhaps, cooking nutritious meals for yourself and your loved ones has never been more important,” he points out. He adds: “Just because you have only a handful of ingredients it doesn’t mean you can’t spice it up and serve it innovatively. This is the time to awaken your inner chef.”
