Cooking it up

You start small and every recipe seems easy enough. The ingredients are neatly listed.
1 tsp cumin
5 chillies
2 pods of garlic
salt to taste
…The list is neat and simple. So you attempt it with positive gusto. You set alive the flame and add in all the elements, slowly and surely following the recipe, line by line under the method section. Slightly apprehensive to have everything mixed in time after all the fire is on, nothing should overcook, or stick, or burn. Then comes the questions— did it say tomatoes now? Add water when pulpy? ‘Hmm is it pulpy enough?’ It is now officially time to wait.
Wait for the ingredients to finally look like the picture in front of you. ‘Is it getting there?’ ‘Is there scope?’ ‘Should I have a taste?’ ‘Will it redden?’ ‘Will it mix together?’ The questions are endless and there isn’t much to do except pretend to stir and hope for the best.
Your heart’s racing, should you just order in? Make burji? Chuck it all in the bin? Is there anyway you can save it still? Does it need saving? Is the salt enough? Did you remember to add in all the ingredients?
And finally! It looks done! You give it a little taste. Seems ok. Add something more? Is something missing? Or is it just too hot to taste? Wait it out.
At the dinner table— your moment of victory, your apprehension is worth this sweet moment of success.
Cooking is much like life itself and the hardest part is the waiting. The thing is if we put in all the ingredients the best we know how, we should know that the work is done. The lesson I know is clear. Enjoy the wait. I only wish I knew how.