Maria Goretti launches debut recipe book

Only when Video Jockey turned food blogger Maria Goretti's son turned nearly two did she realise the need to learn how to cook and later became a "crazy demon" in her kitchen.
Penning her culinary journey since 2011, in the form of an assortment of her favourite recipes, the 43-year-old released her first book "From My Kitchen To Yours: Food, Love And Other Ingredients" (Om Books International and BollyGoods) at Hyatt Regency here recently.
"Frankly it started because I needed to cook for my little boy. I had never really learnt how to cook but, when I got into it, I realised that I loved the whole process so much that I actually turned into a crazy demon.

"I just wanted to learn each and every dish and wanted to acquire new knowledge about baking, chopping, frying, tearing and about every little process that was involved in cooking," she says.
For Goretti, despite having a degree in 'Food and Baking' from Tante Marie Culinary Academy in the United Kingdom, and being an active food-blogger since 2010, becoming a published food author was certainly not something she had thought of.
"In a blog, I could just say either put this or that and if that does not work for you, then tweak it a bit. But, when you write a recipe book, you need to be specific. You need to be able to say, 'this is how you do this and this is how it will turn out then,'" she says.

Goretti's book celebrates the model-turned-cook-turned author's spirit to live life, while giving the readers a peek into recipes close to her heart.

With an array of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian gastronomical delights, it contains memorable recipes from her mother's East-Indian spreads, aromas from her grandmother's kitchen, food that she has seen, touched and tasted over her many travels across India and the world.
"To me, this book has been a journey into my past and my present. It has been a long tedious, interesting journey and like a holiday of discovery into my own being through ingredients and simple cooking techniques," the Mumbai-based author writes on her blog.

Divided into 12 months, with each month having a six course meal layout (soups, salads, starters, non-vegetarian and vegetarian main course dishes, and desserts), the book has 72 recipes in all and Goretti has dedicated each month to a person, an occasion or an emotion.