Jo Sawant - the concepts and ideas behind SizzlingPots

 

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Jo Sawant- passionate about Cooking-Jo Sawant left a career in Property Management so she could focus on her primary passion, cooking and all things culinary , as a full time career.  .

Jo Sawant left a career in Property Management so she could focus on her primary passion, cooking and all things culinary , as a full time career. With a post graduate background in Economics as well as Information Technology, work experience in Marketing and general management, and a skill developed since childhood in cooking and specifically, innovative and fusion dishes, it was a logical step to launch her own website that addressed the interests of cooking enthusiasts worldwideHer concept and unique ideas slowly but surely were realized into SizzlingPots.com, a website that leverages technology while serving as a information resource for cooking fans - whether novices or master chefs, vegans or non-vegetarian, regardless of which part of the world...SizzlingPots.com is an innovative website that unlocks the secrets of gourmet cooking. With the recipes on the website you will discover how easy it is to make delicious dishes that amaze people around you just by following the quick and easy directions provided. The website is packed with interactive features designed to provide you with a productive and fun experience with dependable results while allowing you to unleash your creativity.

 

• Try out a wide variety of recipes, spanning vegan and non veg recipes around the world. Recipes ranging from authentic and traditional to stylish and fashionable-don't worry, turning out delicious is always an essential feature of every dish
• Forget the suspense- these proven, dependable recipes have been extensively revised and adapted to achieve authentic results in the shortest time.
• Experience recipes through a variety of formats that fit your life style and schedule – high definition video recipes, downloadable audio recipes and off course visual recipes with stepwise directions and images.
• You can become an essential part of the website and its community by interacting with Jo & other visitors through features such as real time commenting, rating recipes, voting on polls, joining the discussion on website forums, sharing on your favorite websites like Facebook, Digg etc.
• Become a registered SizzlingPots member to unlock  special features such as being able to submit your own recipes or members-only pages
• Keep up with the website happenings and events through features like following Jo on Twitter, subscribing to the website newsletters and RSS feeds.
• Follow latest trends and happenings from around the world on everything food related through articles and blogs
• Look up an extensive reference to cooking ingredients such as herbs and spices integrated with search features that will let you look up recipes by any keyword.
• “Jo's innovations” highlights interesting variations and unique recipes such as fusion between Indian and world cuisines

 

We will be adding several new features over the months and we are hoping you will be an active part of the journey as sizzlingpots evolves to become an essential and and a unique experience for everything cooking related. Dont forget to take the sizzlingpots tour when you visit the website. You just have to experience it for yourself. We are also counting on your support and encouragement to spread the word to your friends and other contacts and to make this a resounding website. We look forward to seeing you soon on http://www.sizzlingpots.com 

Here's what Jo Sawant says:

Cooking has been my passion since childhood, it just came naturally to me. As far as I remember, I pretty much showed my interest for cooking when I was just 6 years old

Growing up in a typical Indian family, I always loved helping my mother in the kitchen with the simple things like cutting and chopping but I distinctly remember the first tortilla that I made when I was 6 years old, learning to make them even from all sides to make a complete circle and then cooking it so that each one fluffs up to perfection. It was like learning how to balance yourself on the bicycle. Once you know how, you never forget it all your life. My dad being in the army, I had the exciting opportunity of traveling to different parts of India, with friends and neighbours from different cultures and places, and that's how I got my expertise in different styles and cuisines in Indian cooking. My mom played a big role in teaching me the basics. Cooking food was a special part of everyday activities and and she did it with utmost care and love. Like many other moms, she considered herself as an ordinary cook, serving delicious meals years on end, without realizing that that she had the most extraordinary flair and expertise. This is exactly where I learnt my A B C’s of cooking, in my mom's little kitchen.

I always had an intense curiosity in understanding how and why each ingredient is used rather than simply, the process of how each dish is made. Indian food is popularly known for its spices, and this curiosity gave me a good knowledge of and insight into each magical spice and herb. To understand the basics of cooking it is very important to know how each spice tastes and how it could be used. 'Garam masala', also commonly known as curry powder, is a blend of spices unique to its own region where it is made. Even today, I love experimenting with different spices instead of making just one curry powder and using the same in all my dishes.

 

The best part of my cooking time was when my brother would come back home from boarding school on vacation. He obviously loved home food , and his vacation time was the perfect time to experiment with new stuff. I would try out a new dish almost every day and though I'm sure not all of them came out well, but I would receive his appreciation without fail. He would just simply eat everything that I made. The best critic was my dad. Although he doesn't know how to cook very well, he can tell you in seconds, what's wrong with the dish and what's missing . So basically he's a good food taster and played a tremendous role in making me a better cook. But I think I am a good critique of my own creations. No matter how others appreciate it, sometimes only to make me happy, I always know when my dishes did not come out right. Another person who played a big role in making me a better chef is my sister. She is a fan of my recipes and even today if she wants to make something, she will pick up her phone and ask me how such and such a dish is made.

 

When I was in college, other activities took precedence, and college dorms were not exactly the right place for experimenting with food! However my passion for cooking showed up every now and then. When I was doing my Masters in Economics at Pune in India, I stayed in a small apartment with three other roommates. I have tried many of my food skills here, and one of my famous dishes was the mutton/ chicken pickle. My friends used to simply love it and am sure that they will vouch for this even today. I must have made this dish on several occasions. After my college I started working in a software company at Pune in India. I would come back from work tired and even then cooking was a great stress reliever. Although I never got to experiment too much during that time, I continued cooking regular day to day meals. That is when I got better with my regular dal soups, vegetables, rice etc.

My marriage completely changed my life both on the cooking front and environment front. After I got married I came to Houston, and this was a great opportunity of getting exposed to a completely new culture, or cultures, I would say, with American, Latin , Italian and so many others. Once again my passion for making new dishes and experimenting with food to impress my husband came alive. I had the opportunity of tasting many different cuisines, as Houston has a diverse variety of cuisines to try out from. Mexican and Italian were two such cuisines that are very popular. Although I had read and heard about these cuisines, I had never tried them before. Each time I ate a different dish outside, I came back home and tried it out at home. Once I knew how to do the basics of a particular cuisine, I would start experimenting on it to fuse with other cuisines and make a new dish altogether.[/span]

My first food video was one I created in 2002. But I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do with this video at that time and then I got busy working in corporate America. I soon started working in the Property Management industry. I loved my job and it was pretty demanding so my home cooking really took a back seat at that time. Though I would still try out new recipes now and then but the time constraints did not let me do much on the cooking front. When I was managing Apartment properties, I met people from all over the world both as colleagues and as residents. I also learnt about many different cultures and their food styles, the significance of American holidays and the festivities that went with it. It was during this time that I learnt in depth about Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter, and the special food and traditions that go with it. It was at this time when I made my first turkey on one of the thanksgiving dinners that we had organized for the residents and it had come pretty decent I think .

I had always wanted to do something with cooking for a long time but I just didn't know what then. I wanted to start my food blog but I was always too busy at work or at home with my day to day stuff. I never had enough time to really sit down and think on what I could do to share my food skills with the others. My husband would often give me ideas about different things that I could do with all my food talent. It was around August 2008, when I was at home and was going to join a new job as a property manager in one of the management companies. I had about a few weeks transition period before I could join another job, and I had ample time to think about my food passion and such. After much discussions, brainstorming and thinking I finally decided that I must do something on these lines. I gave up my Property Management Career and decided to launch myself on my own career in the food world

Next couple of months I made plans as to how I wanted to share my food knowledge with the world. The idea behind this was to teach every person out there, the basics of cooking. To teach them the basics of cooking and then lead them to doing there own experiment into more gourmet cooking. To tell people that cooking is an art that you can have fun with, while eating more healthier food each day. To make food from scratch and use the healthy produce to give your family a nutritious lifestyle. I thought of different ways to teach people how too cook and share my recipes with them. It was then that I remembered about my first video I had made a long time ago. Keeping in mind the fast growing viewers for internet published videos, I thought of making my own food video and audio recipes to reach out to people.

I finally started making my own home videos in my own kitchen studio. It was a long process and I faced many obstacles but I tried to improve myself each time. This whole project was my husbands idea and I am thankful to him. The result is SizzlingPots.com, a labor of love and hard work and experience. I'm sure the website will further evolve over time. I acknowledge all the people who have shown me anything to do with cooking, little tips and tricks, tasted my food, appreciated it as well as critiqued it. This website is not only to share my recipes with you, but also to show in a step by step manner through my videos and recipes, how each one of you can easily learn cooking in your own kitchen . I also want the people to know about the different cuisines and dishes out there that many of us are unaware of. In this process I hope to learn new food techniques, explore more cuisines, experiment with my own recipes, document my success and failures and hopefully inspire other aspiring cooks out there.

This site includes compilation of some of my own innovative recipes. All of them have been lovingly tried and tested at home, and I'd now like to share these with all of you

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