The Covid – 19 induced lockdowns has awoken the dormant ‘master-chefs’ residing in most of us. Some had to cook as there was no access to outside food. While for some others lockdown has been a period of culinary experimentation. Whatever be the reason, the results were delicious.
People flooded the social media with pictures and videos of their khana khazanas. Various online food communities witnessed several unique dishes posted by the members.
Talking to Discover East, the owner and founder of Guwahati Foodie, Sisir said, “I believe cooking is more than just a hobby for a lot of people. It is like meditation for people like me. During the lockdown period, a large section of the society is trying to learn and experiment in the kitchen. Lack of ample ingredients have taught people to improvise in their favorite recipes and posting the accompaniments online definitely boosts the confidence. So these trends in cooking and showing off the skills surely helps people in being mentally stable during these pandemic era”. Guwahati Foodie is one of the largest online food community with more than 1,20,000 members.
From the lockdown food diaries, few dishes went extremely viral on social media. Let’s have a look at some of these trending dishes.
Dalgona Coffee
Dalgona Coffee was like the official beverage for the lockdowns. There came a point during the lockdowns, when people felt the need to make dalgona to be socially accepted. Notably, very few people even heard Dalgona in the pre – Corona era. In simple terms, it’s just whipped coffee. Yet, it has been the most viral dish during the lockdown so far.
Momos
Momos are one of the most popular street foods in the Northeast. This Tibetan delicacy is not a common sight in the household kitchens owing to the long preparation time. As the lockdown provided people with ample time, momos became one of the widely made dishes. Although you need a steamer to make them, people without steamers too found their own innovative ways to make this steamed delicacy.
Pani Puri
Pani Puri, Phuchka or Gol Gappa is undoubtedly one of the favorite street foods across the country. The lockdown parted the foodies from their preferred panipuri – walas. Owing to the current situation, people have realized that standing on roadside and eating a panipuri served by the bare-handed Panipuri bhaiiyya is now a distant dream. Hence, to console the taste-buds, people started making pani puris at home. From the usual pani puri to masala phuckas, dahi phuckas, people added their own touch to this street food with whatever ingredients they had.
Jalebi
Jalebi is another tricky sweet dish to make. We love eating it. But not many would take up the challenge of making it because to get the perfect shape of jalebi is an art in itself. But who could stop the tiny Gordon Ramsays in us, and this became another dish lots of people tried during these lockdowns.
Cakes
Birthdays seem incomplete without cakes. However, with the lockdown restrictions, getting a cake is very hard if not impossible. With no or little access to a bakery, people started baking cakes at home. With so many people mastering this skill, bakeries and professional bakers are going to have a very hard time.
These were few of the most popular dishes on the online world during the Covid – 19 Lockdowns.
(Feature image source: Lose it blog)
