Our cook's food has twice the oil of mine, and now my son only wants hers

lagoon_balcony_321120 Jun 2026

Our helper started cooking for us on weekdays in May, and her food is lovely. It is also swimming in oil. Poha, bhaji, even the dal gets a tadka you can see from the door. Now my son, who used to eat my weekend varan bhaat without complaint, says mine is 'hospital food'. He's in class 4 and suddenly very sure about it. I don't want to insult her, and she's not wrong that he eats more now. Has anyone got a cook to cut down the oil without it becoming a whole thing?

2 comments

bronze_balcony_751120 Jun 2026
I grew up on my aunt's cooking during the week and my mother's on weekends, and my mother's always lost. Not much help, sorry 🙂 What worked in my parents' house was buying the oil in a smaller bottle with a measured spout. Nobody had to say anything.
- cedar_compass_486520 Jun 2026
  small bottle trick works. we also asked our cook to make one dish a day 'for the doctor', meaning me. less oil in that one, and everyone ended up eating it
lilac_sparrow_754320 Jun 2026
Framing it around the family's health rather than her cooking usually goes down better. 'We're all trying to cut oil, can we measure it?' is easier to hear than 'your food is too oily'. My two complained for about a week when we did this at home, then stopped noticing.