Okay, this is an achievement post. For those that don’t know why I seem so excited, it’s because
I’ve never cooked in my entire life.
Apart from putting together Nutella or jam on toast… or asking one of my friends how to turn on the stove to make pre-made paratha. Yea, really had no clue how to cook. I’ve always wanted to learn but either I didn’t make time for it or I lowkey feared burning up the entire house.
Before coming over to Asia, I told myself I need to get an apartment that has a kitchen, why? Because this is the perfect opportunity to learn and I should try to take advantage.
Anyways, before starting how to cook, I asked a lot of Malays (landlord, colleagues and newly-made friends) if they cooked on their own. And the response I got from every single one of them were:
“no, no need to cook when you can buy food here, it’s so cheap. The time and money it takes to cook, is the same as buying.”
I wasn’t shocked at all. I mean Malaysians are widely known for their abundance, diverse and amazing food. Also, it is very cheap, about $2–5 CAD for an entire meal. So you might ask, why try to cook when you can buy quality food so cheap?
This was the first time in my life I had alone time from everything back home, and this was the only and perfect opportunity to learn. I didn’t have to learn but I chose to. That being said, I didn’t restrict myself from buying food (I mean how can you).
Now it’s time to talk food! When I went grocery shopping, I was so overwhelmed; there were so many items to choose from. I also walked in with no idea and no list of what to get. As one would expect, I left … with chocolate cookies at hand of course.
The next day I decided to watch a video on how to make pasta, now this video was completely in Bengali (my mother tongue) so I won’t post it here but it was a great start on what I should buy from the grocery store (i.e. my grocery list — finally). After buying all the ingredients and watching the video 3–4x with multiple pauses in between, I made a spicy pasta. After that I went on a cooking frenzy and within 2 weeks I made 5 meals. I was both shocked and astounded as to what the recipes yielded. I still couldn’t believe I made a dish and I devoured every bit I could.
As you’ve noticed, I haven’t written down any of the recipes of the foods mentioned above, this would’ve made the blog more exhaustive than it already is; but if you’re ever curious, I can send you the exact ingredients + how-to recipe.
Till next time ✌🏽
Thank you for making it here:
- if you’re curious to know about the Cansbridge 19’ bootcamp and my journey there, click here.
- if you’re curious to know about my first few days in KL, click here.
- If you’re curious to know where I’ve visited and what I’ve been doing so far in KL, click here.
On another note feel free to follow me on insta as I post on my story quite often: @nayemwizdom ✌️
Originally posted on Medium a part of the Cansbridge Fellowship