My mother has pretty much taught me everything I know about cooking. I had to recently cook Butter Chicken for forty Dutch kids, all by myself, for the very first time and you can bet I face-timed my mom the entire time. She had her take me through the recipe step by step, right from the moment I bought the chicken, up until I poured the final dish into a serving bowl.
However, I can’t exactly call my mother every single time I forget what condiment I need to add next, because at some point, I will hear yet another rendition of that classic “What will your in-laws think of you” speech. A tradition in every Indian household.
Equal Parts to the rescue!
Luckily for forgetful souls like me, Equal Parts is a company that helps you set up your kitchen and learn how to cook just about anything you like in the duration of an 8-week course. You get to pick out your pots and pans depending on your needs and then use the text-based coaching service.
So far, the only way to access the coaching is by buying utensils, but as they are easy to clean and non-stick, I they are a worth the investment. This service is also ideal for college students and people moving into new homes.
How it works
Once you have purchased your required items and set up your account, you can simply drop in a text to Equal Parts and then you’ll be put forward to a professional chef within 2-5 minutes who can answer an and all questions you may have.
In addition to providing you with tried and tested recipes and taking you through every step, the service also helps you with your grocery shopping for any dish that you want to make.
Equal parts also sends you little nuggets of encouragement throughout the month to stop relying on Zomato and get back to the stove. And if you’re ever stuck with a weird assortment of ingredients in your fridge on a stormy night that you might think you can’t make anything of, simply text the service a list of what’s available in the pantry and they’ll help you whip something up.
Learning how to cook from a cell phone or a video, is naturally very different from having an actual person stand next to you to tell you when exactly to stir or lower the flame. But the service is extremely useful in the sense that it completely eliminates the odious task of having to surf the net for hours to find that perfect, Martha Stewart approved recipe and lets you get to the cooking part in mere minutes.