Vegetarian Cooking/Baking Baedeker

So, you got that smartphone/device that can pretty much do everything except placing a satellite in orbit. (Who knows, with the right app and passwords from Houston, you may well be able to do it.) Or cooking/baking is your favourite sport but you wrack your head on what to dish up on any particular day. Well, you can look further, but I suggest you take a closer peek at the AskChitVish app for Android and iOS devices. Kick off the festive season and New Year with this awesome recipe guide.

Putting together a recipe app can be quite challenging and Mrs. Chithra Viswanathan, a cheerful yet reticent (as one website describes her) 73 year old has done it with panache and has saved it for posterity. An arduous task and a yeoman service to society. Her child like enthusiasm for life and a teenager's enthusiasm for technology has made this possible. I haven't seen many septuagenarians having an iPod with a docking station, a good laptop with internet connection and a printer. Technology is only as useful as we know how to get the most out of it and this app called AskChithVish does it in clean style.

Pros:
a) A refreshingly simple app but the content is flabbergasting. More than 3000 recipes!

b)  It is neatly categorized into sections with individual search functions.

c) A lot of handy hints and tips at the beginning of each category.

d) It even has western cuisine adapted to Indian tastes. Baking. Health food section. Even a jiffy cooking category.

e) Each of the recipes has been tried and tested by her personally and not just collated from the net so you cant go wrong anywhere.

f) The recipes don't call for scurry-around-town-for-ingredients kind of thing. All ingredients are available locally.

g) Simple clean interface with good sized fonts which the elderly should be comfortable with.

h) The price! At INR 220 it is a loot.

I) No known bugs, hasn't crashed while we did all the fiddling.


Cons:
a) It isn't a real eye candy app. The UI can be stylised better.

b) The search for recipes inside the app isn't exactly Googlesque. Scope for improvement here.

With the next version around the corner, I expect both these to be sorted out. Otherwise it is a must have app for all food lovers. Can keep you occupied for ever exploring the recipe options. A real electronic hookbook.


The AskChitVish app can be downloaded for Android OS here and for Apple's iOS here


Disclaimer: I paid to download the app from the Apple App Store. Afterwards, we would be guests at Mrs. Chithra Viswanathan's house. 


Screen Shots of the App on the iPad: