Fast Recipes Feature: Awesomecuisine.com

Praveen Kumar’s Awesomecuisine.com is an easy-to-navigate collection of Indian recipes.   Praveen discusses  the features of and the inspiration behind Awesomecuisine.com.

Could you tell us a little about yourself?

I am an accidental techie. Wanted to become a chef, but became a software/internet/web dev person. Have a PG in Internet Technologies from the University of Bedfordshire, UK and currently run my own company based out of Chennai, India.

What was the inspiration behind creating awesomecuisine.com?

It's actually a long story. I started out basically to show certain people that a website need not be glam and glitzy, but one that needs to focus on the users and give them what they want in as less clicks as possible. As I started to build it, I realized India has such a huge variety of food recipes with an equally exquisite cuisine that not many people are actually aware of, including myself. People take food for granted as it is readily available these days over the counter. But to really enjoy the taste, one must get their hands dirty and cook for themselves to actually understand the whole process. Anyone can put a few ingredients together and whip up a recipe, but it is not as simple as that.

India has a huge tradition spanning over 2000 years. Most of these recipes are either dead or simply do not garner enough patronage amongst the people, so they eventually disappear. With the internet accessible to everyone these days, it is where people start first when they want to learn cooking or try out new dishes. My idea is to collect and make available all the delicious (Indian) recipes and share them with everyone, not just within India, but with the whole world, so that everyone has a chance to cook and enjoy a wide variety of awesome Indian dishes.

What can readers find on Awesomecuisine.com?

Simply said, good food, or rather how to make delicious Indian food that is simple and easy to make at home. The site has a very good collection of traditional Indian recipes that are passed down from generation to generation. People have this misconception that good food needs extensive preparation and takes a lot of time, but the recipes on awesomecuisine.com are simple to make, take a very short amount of time and most of all, taste delicious.

What are your favorite things to cook/bake?

It's a tough question and very tough to choose from a variety. I love good food, so it's not that easy to choose one over the other.  Here are some of my favorite dishes:

a) Bhel Puri
b) Dal Makhani
c) Sambar (esp the one made with Lady's Finger)
d) Dal Fry
e) Dosa with Chutney
f) Pongal
g) Potato Podimas
h) Pizza
i) Chicken and Chips (at times)

If you could summarize home cooking into one quote, what would it be?

There is nothing better than getting yourself into the kitchen and making yourself a good meal. After that you will appreciate good food and understand it is not an easy job as one thinks :)