The Art Of Cooking When You Short Of Ingredients.

The adventurous spirit raises its exciting head...

Is there anything nicer than looking at other people's creation and imagining that one attempt to copy it? Often one can taste it before even making it. The use of YouTube cooking tutorials is a great help as it brings the written words to life. And, it does look less complicated when action replaces theory.

Living in the sticks means that often I don't have this or that bit that most chefs deem necessary for their dish. All well and good if you live in a well stocked kitchen equipped with all the mod cons they tend to use to whip up this or that at the drop of a hat!

But anyway, this morning I did the rounds of YouTube cooking videos and found a dish that made me want to cook it straightaway. A sweet potato and red lentil curry. It looks easy enough to make and I have put it on tonight's menu. Nothing nicer than when Bob loves my cooking enough to lick the plate clean. Yes, that is top marks from him. Conversely, when he leaves bits behind, I know to cook it again when we have a tiff!!!

One of the ingredients I need is coconut cream and alas I don't have any which prompted me to enter our local village shop to look for a can. When I asked the owner if he had any, he looked at me in bewilderment and said; ' no '. Oh well, there could have been a can lurking in the corner somewhere. Never mind, tonight's run will be a trial and if it passes the lick-test, I shall get coconut cream on Friday.

Hold thumbs that my curry is going to turn out well. There are a couple more ingredients that I don't have but with a bit of imagination one can substitute lots of other things. Isn't that what makes cooking so exciting, creative and subjective?

Biggi