Diwali is by far the best time to be at home. The weather is changing, lights are up and about everywhere, and consuming large volumes of carbs somehow become acceptable at my home. With work and GMAT studies on full blast, the time spent in the kitchen has been scarce but fruitful every time. This weekend, Natasha and I decided to throw a Diwali party for our friends and I found myself cooking brownies while dad was making biryani and the realisation that this was the first time dad and I were cooking together. I was taken aback by this; not in a negative way but more like a feeling of happiness and a sudden out of body experience where I began questioning how I even got here?

I dont know if this happened to people, but there are times where an existential part of me wakes up and questions the actionability of my actions— almost like what closed captions do to a movie. They describe the emotions and move the visual descriptors to audio landscapes which not only ruins the effect of the movie but, in a way, also describes the etymology of the action in the first place. “Why did she open the door,” “Why did he change his voice from normal to sarcastic and back to normal again.” These closed captions are gateways into understanding actions and how characters got into the predicament that they’re in. The same treatment could be used to understand the out of body experiences that I seem to face every now and then.

The one that I felt on Saturday seemed interesting. It was the first time I realised that my life I am old enough now that there are significant decisions that I have individually taken to mold my life. All from K-12, decisions aren’t really up to me so even the ones I took didn’t make huge differences since life was so well constructed and positioned to move from one grade to another with college in near sights. I chose where I wanted to go for college, but then again, that was more of a familial function than a singular one. In college, I made some significant choices, like the major I wanted to study, how I spent my summers, and the classes that defined my education, but like college, there was a trajectory. However, post-college, more and more decisions have become singular. My decision to come back instead of struggling around in America had been one of great significance— something that has changed my life considerably. Additionally, the choices for jobs, friends, and GMAT classes are constantly decisions that I have chosen to navigate my life.

Why this out of body experience came to me during making Aloo Tikkis, while standing next to my dad making lamb biryani is beyond me but the feeling of being back home, aged 24, standing next to my dad, making food is an experience a high school Archit would never have thought of and to be honest, it feels pretty amazing. Not a lot about the tikkis with this post but I felt like I needed to share something more personal since I’ve been AWOL for a while. I hope you like recipe, and if we don’t see each other before October 27, Happy Diwali!

Ingredients

2 large potatoes (boiled)

2 teaspoons garam masala

3 slices of white bread

Pea filling

750 grams green peas, loose

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 small granule of Hing (asafoetida)

1/2 teaspoon of black salt

1 teaspoon Amchoor (dried mango powder)

1.5 teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon white sugar

7 green chilies finely chopped

3 inches of ginger grated freshly

2 tablespoons veggie oil

Salt to taste

Method

1. Moisten 3 sliced bread by running them under some water and mash well

2. Peel boiled potatoes and mash with a fork. Add garam masala and the bread and mash well. Mix until the potato forms a perfect ball and no potato lumps are visible (this can be achieved by a cheese grater too if you dont want the extra workout.

For the pea filling

1. In a pressure cooker on medium heat, add oil and the peas. Let them sweat for a minute (don’t touch the peas) and add spices. Cook them down for one minute and add the ginger and chilies. Once the ginger releases its aroma, shut the lid and cook for 2 whistles (about 5 minutes). Let them sit in the cooker until all the pressure is released.

For the assembly

1. Take a tablespoon of potato and make a flat disk, the size of your palm.

2. Add the filling and place a thumb-full of potato on top

3. Fold the sides on to the dough on top. Circle around closing the filling.

4. In a heavy-bottomed cast-iron skillet on medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil. Place the tikkis on the skillet and cook both sides for about 3 minutes or until both sides form a golden crust.