By Brent Pritchard

Recently I got some great unsolicited advice: “If you work with your mind, you need to rest with your hands. If you work with your hands, you need to rest with your mind.” This nugget of wisdom came after I decided to commit 12 Indian dishes to memory before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. I want to eat healthy and be able to put a curry dish on the table in no time. The act of cooking Indian food, in particular, relaxes me. Regardless of what you think about Indian food, who doesn’t like a twofer?

I’m learning how to cook Indian food asynchronously and with the unbeknownst tutelage of Atul Kochhar, a Michelin star chef. Check him out on YouTube. He’s great!

Screenwriters talk about the three-act structure, which at its most basic level breaks a story into a beginning, middle, and end. The same structure works with books as well. Thanks to Steven Pressfield and his work (Turning Pro and Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t), I kept this structure in mind as I wrote Would Your Boomerang Return? This year, in addition to getting back into a regular writing routine, I also want to learn how to cook Indian food. Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve found a kind of three-act structure to cooking Indian food?

Two of my greatest skills are quickly identifying patterns and simplifying complexity. I’ve come to understand a beginning and middle and end as it relates to cooking Indian food. Just like every good movie follows some version of the three-act structure, so too does every good Indian dish (I think):

• Beginning: gently toast dried, whole spice(s) in hot oil followed by green chiles and ginger or garlic and then onion (if you’re looking for a tearjerker).

• Middle: main ingredient after which the recipe is named enters the cast iron skillet followed by masala that 9 times out of 10 includes coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chili powder.

• End: dish is further differentiated with the supporting ingredient(s) and finished with other powdered spices and such.

The dish I’m learning in February is Khatti Gobi, which I understand translates to sour cauliflower. Even if this pattern to Indian cooking is just a figment of my imagination, it works for me. I know that cauliflower enters the p(l)ot at the start of Act 2, and that lemon juice is probably making an appearance in Act 3 when the p(l)ot thickens.

How are you finding balance and resting with your hands or mind?

Brent Pritchard is an author and college finance educator with over two decades of industry experience and cofounder of Boxholm Press, LLC, a family-owned-and-operated publishing company providing educational content, products, and services. He pioneers an innovative and approachable new way of learning and teaching the Time Value of Money as well as thought leadership in other business topics. His most recent book is Would Your Boomerang Return? You can contact him on his website here.