Spurred by the success of his early experiments, Phadke has since graduated to more complicated recipes and has been cooking regularly for the past year. ``I am better at meat and fish preparations in red gravy with onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger,'' he says, substantiating his cooking motto: the spicier, the better. His forte? Chicken curry and anda bhurji. In the vegetarian department, it's kali daal and alu gobi. ``He won't make simple things like daal chaval. It's too simple for him,'' laughs wife Lavina.

Phadke's job as territory manager at Hutchison Max Telecom keeps him busy, so he usually reserves cooking for the weekends. ``Cooking needs time and patience. Initially, I'd want to cook everything as fast as I could but it does not work that way,'' he says. Phadke's basic tenet when cooking is to get one's onions right - just the right shade of golden brown.

Phadke finds cooking fun. ``I'm a television freak and cooking takes my mind off it. Besides, my wife welcomes this break - that's when she can watch TV''!

It is cutting and chopping vegetables that Phadke finds a chore. ``You need to get everything right - whether the vegetables are to be chopped long or fine - it's all too time-consuming. '' Chappatis are another thing Phadke is yet to fathom. ``No, it's not just their shape. I can't even seem to get the flour right''.

Not for him any last-minute dash to the market for the missing ingredients. ``I need to have all the vegetables, meat and masalas ready before I begin to cook. I check to see if everything's available and even my wife will admit I'm better at this than she is,'' he says with a grin.

``There haven't been any major mishaps so far, other than some Hyderabadi biryani that was undercooked because we ran out of cooking gas half way,'' he confesses.

Now Phadke plans to master the intricacies of Maharashtrian cooking. ``I did make pitla once but... I don't even want to talk about it,'' he sighs. But Phadke remains undeterred. ``I'll get myself a cook book and follow instructions. I also plan to experiment with new sauces''.