Shaneta Mendes, 37, has spent the most part of her life cooking, and enjoying it. That changed when the nationwide lockdown was announced. Given that she had to supervise her children, aged five and 10, during their online lessons, there was barely any time left to step into the kitchen. “I would only reach the kitchen by 1 pm, which is lunchtime. My husband, Shaun, is very particular about eating our Goan home cooked food. So, I made curry pastes, refrigerated them, and told him, ‘Now, you cook. I’ll handle the kids.’ He did that and our life became easy afterwards,” she recalls.

Chicken xacuti made using the paste