---
title: My Mother's Recipes | Bachpan Diaries
description: A personal memory about a mother's handwritten recipes, no measurements, just ingredients, and what's missing when you try to recreate them. In Hindi too.
image: https://bachpandiaries.com/hubfs/bachpan-diaries-theme/blog/featured%20images/PNGs/My%20Mothers%20Recipes.png
---
[Skip to main content](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-mothers-recipes#main-content)
[.svg) .svg) Bachpan Diaries](https://bachpandiaries.com/)
- Stories
- [Quizzes](https://bachpandiaries.com/quizzes)
- [Dor - Mini Game](https://bachpandiaries.com/dor)
- [Our Story](https://bachpandiaries.com/our-story)
- [Contact Us](https://bachpandiaries.com/contact)
EN [हिं](https://bachpandiaries.com/hi/stories/amma-ki-recipe-book)
Aa
Reading Mode
Default
B&W
Night
Paper grain
−
Subtle
\+
Font size
A−
Default
A+
↺ Reset preferences
Browse by age
Every age has *a story.*
Five sections — one for every chapter of childhood and memory.
[All stories](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
[**Nanhe Sitare** 0 – 6](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-nanhe-sitare) [ The Turtle Who Talked Too Much](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-turtle-who-talked-too-much) [ The Stars That Counted](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-stars-that-counted) [See all Nanhe Sitare →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-nanhe-sitare)
[**Padhna Seekho** 7 – 12](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-padhna-seekho) [ Three Suitors and Somprabha](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/three-suitors-and-somprabha) [ Two Friends and the Bear](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/two-friends-and-the-bear) [See all Padhna Seekho →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-padhna-seekho)
[**Kisse Kahani** 13 – 17](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-kisse-kahani) [ The School Trip](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-school-trip) [ The Last Bench](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-last-bench) [See all Kisse Kahani →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-kisse-kahani)
[**Bachpan Diaries** 18 – 40](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-bachpan-diaries) [ Do You Remember Shaktimaan?](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/do-you-remember-shaktimaan) [ What He Left Behind](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/what-he-left-behind) [See all Bachpan Diaries →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-bachpan-diaries)
[**Yaadein** 40+](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-yaadein) [ My Grandmother's House](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-grandmothers-house) [ The Letters We Never Sent](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-letters-we-never-sent) [See all Yaadein →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-yaadein)
Browse Stories
[All Stories](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
[**Nanhe Sitare** 0 – 6](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-nanhe-sitare) [**Padhna Seekho** 7 – 12](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-padhna-seekho) [**Kisse Kahani** 13 – 17](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-kisse-kahani) [**Bachpan Diaries** 18 – 40](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-bachpan-diaries) [**Yaadein** 40+](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-yaadein)
Recent Stories
[ Padhna Seekho Three Suitors and Somprabha](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/three-suitors-and-somprabha) [ Bachpan Diaries Do You Remember Shaktimaan?](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/do-you-remember-shaktimaan) [ Nanhe Sitare The Turtle Who Talked Too Much](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-turtle-who-talked-too-much) [ Padhna Seekho Two Friends and the Bear](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/two-friends-and-the-bear)
[Quizzes](https://bachpandiaries.com/quizzes) [Dor - Mini Game](https://bachpandiaries.com/dor) [Our Story](https://bachpandiaries.com/our-story) [Contact Us](https://bachpandiaries.com/contact)
1. [Home](https://bachpandiaries.com/)
2. /
3. [Stories](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
[Yaadein](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-yaadein) [Family](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/theme-family) [Nostalgia](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/theme-nostalgia) [🌐 हिंदी में पढ़ें](https://bachpandiaries.com/hi/stories/amma-ki-recipe-book)
# My Mother's Recipes
By Manoj Rajput • April 13, 2026
Now Playing My Mother's Recipes
0:00 / —
1×
My mother kept her recipes in a green notebook.
Not a special notebook — a school exercise book, the kind with a multiplication table on the back cover. She had covered it in contact paper at some point, the clear kind that had yellowed at the edges. Her handwriting inside was small and slightly sideways, the way people wrote when they learned to write quickly by hand.
The notebook was kept in the second drawer of the kitchen cabinet, under a stack of old bills and a small torch that had not worked in years.
When she died, we found it there. My sister brought it to me.
I sat with it for a long time before I opened it.
Inside, the recipes were not really recipes. There were no quantities. No timings. No method. Just a list of ingredients, sometimes with a note — *cook on low* or *more than you think* or, in one case, just the word *careful*.
I tried to make her kheer from the notebook. I read the list of ingredients. I added them. I cooked it on low. I tasted it.
It was not her kheer. It was close — closer than anything I had made before — but not the same. The missing ingredient, I understand now, was the thirty years of mornings she had stood at that stove, adjusting, correcting, learning the particular way this pot held heat, learning what this particular milk needed.
The recipe was never in the notebook.
The notebook was just the beginning of it.
I keep it in my kitchen now. Second drawer, under the torch that still doesn't work. I have not tried to repair the torch.
✦
✦ Kahaani Khatam ✦
Region [Pan India](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/region-pan-india)
Format [Text](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/format-text)
Source [Personal Memory](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/source-personal-memory)
Characters [Everyday Heroes](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/char-everyday-heroes)
Read time [Short](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/time-short)
[← Previous story The Last Day of School](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-last-day-of-school) [Next story → The Old Neighbourhood](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-old-neighbourhood)
Does this remind you of something? [Leave a comment below](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-mothers-recipes#post-comments).
Share [WhatsApp](https://wa.me/?text=My+Mother%27s+Recipes+%7C+Bachpan+Diaries%20https%3A%2F%2Fbachpandiaries.com%2Fstories%2Fmy-mothers-recipes) [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=My+Mother%27s+Recipes+%7C+Bachpan+Diaries&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbachpandiaries.com%2Fstories%2Fmy-mothers-recipes) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbachpandiaries.com%2Fstories%2Fmy-mothers-recipes)
Copy link
Manoj Rajput
I'm the founder of Bachpan Diaries. I started this project chasing down the small, ordinary memories of growing up in India that never seem to get written down anywhere, madaari shows, school bells, dabbas from home. I still read every story myself before it goes up.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
## Continue the Journey
### [ Ages 40+ हिं My grandmother's house smelled of mustard oil and old wood and something else I have never been able to name. Read story → Yaadein · 2 min read My Grandmother's House Family My grandmother's house smelled of mustard oil and old wood and something else I have never been able to name. Manoj Rajput Jun 9](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-grandmothers-house)
### [ Ages 40+ हिं My father was not a man who wrote letters. Read story → Yaadein · 2 min read The Letters We Never Sent Family My father was not a man who wrote letters. Manoj Rajput Jun 7](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-letters-we-never-sent)
### [ Ages 40+ हिं My father taught me to tie a kite. Read story → Yaadein · 1 min read Teaching My Child What My Father Taught Me Family My father taught me to tie a kite. Manoj Rajput Apr 15](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/teaching-my-child-what-my-father-taught-me)
[All Stories](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
## Comments
Advertisement
MORE LIKE THIS
### More on this theme
[](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/what-he-left-behind) [What He Left Behind](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/what-he-left-behind)
He used to grab hot, burning plastic with his bare hands sometimes, quick, almost bored about it, moving it aside before it could do real damage, like his hands had already decided this was fine. He was a supervisor in a factory that used to build plastic containers, Delhi, night shifts mostly. For two years, when I was ten, we lived inside that factory. Not near it, inside it.
[Read story →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/what-he-left-behind)
[](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-grandmothers-house) [My Grandmother's House](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-grandmothers-house)
My grandmother's house smelled of mustard oil and old wood and something else I have never been able to name.
[Read story →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-grandmothers-house)
[](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-letters-we-never-sent) [The Letters We Never Sent](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-letters-we-never-sent)
My father was not a man who wrote letters.
[Read story →](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/the-letters-we-never-sent)
EXPLORE
### Other chapters
- [🌟 Nanhe Sitare Ages 0–6](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-nanhe-sitare)
- [📚 Padhna Seekho Ages 7–12](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-padhna-seekho)
- [🎭 Kisse Kahani Ages 13–17](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-kisse-kahani)
- [📖 Bachpan Diaries Ages 18–40](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-bachpan-diaries)
- [🕰 Yaadein Ages 40+](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/tag/section-yaadein)
STAY UPDATED
### New stories every week.
No spam. Unsubscribe any time.
Advertisement
Share
Copy
Continue where you left off?
Resume
Dismiss
[.svg) .svg)](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
Bachpan Diaries
- [Stories](https://bachpandiaries.com/stories)
- [Our Story](https://bachpandiaries.com/our-story)
- [Contact Us](https://bachpandiaries.com/contact)
- [Privacy Policy](https://bachpandiaries.com/privacy-policy)
- [Terms of Service](https://bachpandiaries.com/terms-of-service)
© 2026 Bachpan Diaries. Stories for Every Childhood
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "BlogPosting",
"author" : {
"@type" : "Person",
"name" : "Manoj Rajput",
"url" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/author/manoj-rajput"
},
"dateModified" : "2026-08-27T16:30:51.766Z",
"datePublished" : "2026-04-13T06:00:00.000Z",
"headline" : "My Mother's Recipes | Bachpan Diaries",
"image" : [ "https://bachpandiaries.com/hubfs/bachpan-diaries-theme/blog/featured%20images/PNGs/My%20Mothers%20Recipes.png" ],
"mainEntityOfPage" : {
"@id" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-mothers-recipes",
"@type" : "WebPage"
},
"publisher" : {
"@type" : "Organization",
"logo" : {
"@type" : "ImageObject",
"url" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/hubfs/bachpan-kite-icon.svg"
},
"name" : "BachpanDiaries"
}
}
```
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "BreadcrumbList",
"itemListElement" : [ {
"@type" : "ListItem",
"item" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/",
"name" : "Home",
"position" : 1
}, {
"@type" : "ListItem",
"item" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/stories",
"name" : "Stories",
"position" : 2
}, {
"@type" : "ListItem",
"item" : "https://bachpandiaries.com/stories/my-mothers-recipes",
"name" : "My Mother's Recipes | Bachpan Diaries",
"position" : 3
} ]
}
```