This year has started in full swing. On the home front, we are in the midst of wedding planning for Natasha and my nuptials in November. We are also about to start the first steps of renovating our new home. The job front is less hectic, which scares me. I am so used to having a busy schedule that this independent work is starting to get to me. While I love working from home, I struggle to enjoy working in a single-person team. It scares me because of how much (and minor) responsibility I tend to have. There also seems to be no learning coming through from this endeavour which makes me worried about future education and the advancement of roles.

Clearly, I am a little bit of a mess, but what has kept me grounded is cooking. I have somehow resumed my cooking schedule like I used to back when the blog started — cook when you can and cook what you enjoy. This has resulted in a substantial library of content, but not much has been pushed because the daily stream of posts seem to take up all the energy I have in a given day. The wedding has subsequently taken up the weekends. No complaints here, just a rationalisation of why I can’t seem to get myself to write long-format content. Cooking, however, has been a saving grace. It’s the one constant in a stream of variability. Last year, we were constantly time-bound to make the food the audience wanted, but through January, I have only cooked what I want to eat. I made some chicken piccata because I wanted to play with the concept of capers as a flavouring as compared to a preserve; I made some cashew chicken because I missed cooking Chinese-adjacent meals; I even made some pasta from scratch just because I loved both the stress and effort it takes to make something that can literally be bought with ease.

Cooking right now is the only thing in my life that I am finding easy. I’m using it as a defence mechanism to shun the rest of my adult responsibilities. And to be honest, it helps me. I love seeing my phone filled with meals that are new and fun. To see vibrant colours and take pictures to increase the emotional connection that someone may have with the food. It once again becomes my therapy, and I’m thankful for it. I feel useful again. I feel like I’m contributing to something by investing my energies in something positive while learning new things.

I love sweet potato fries, but it’s hard to make them in India because we don’t get good sweet potatoes. We don’t get American sweet potatoes — the deep orange-coloured spuds that are super sweet with a firm exterior and a super soft interior that turns into mashed potatoes once cooked. The orange potatoes have ruined me, so I avoided making these fries. On one of my many random online grocery searches, I found some tremendous purple sweet potatoes from Krishi cress and decided to make some air-fried spuds immediately. Purple sweet potatoes have super amped-up anthocyanin-like blueberries, which are great for colour and antioxidants. It isn’t the reason why I (or you) should be choosing these potatoes. The only motive should be because they look so damn cool! The fries that came out of this were amazing. I loved the thinly sliced crispiness of each fry and how the sugar caramelised to give these spots of charred veg reminiscent of a breakfast toast. I hope you try this recipe, and I cannot wait to show you all the new content in store!

Glimpses from the week

Ingredients

200 grams of sweet potato / purple sweet potato

2 teaspoons Olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika or chilli powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Method

• Preheat the air fryer to 195°C. Peel the sweet potatoes, then slice each potato into even ¼-inch thick sticks.

• Place the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl, and toss with olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and paprika.

• Cook in 2 or 3 batches, depending on the size of your basket, without overcrowding the pan until they’re crispy. I recommend 12 minutes, turning halfway. This may vary based on your air fryer.

• Serve immediately with your favourite dipping sauces.