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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a food you like to eat at home.

You should say:

• what it is
• how it is prepared
• who prepares it at your home

and explain why you like this food to eat at home.

Model Answer 1:

My mother and sisters-in-law just love experimenting with different cooking ideas. So, it is quite natural that I get to try a lot of different kinds of foods at home, even though, I should say that I don’t necessarily like all of them. But, today, I would like to talk about a food item, my mother and sisters-in-law cook, which I really like.

The name of this food item is “Rogan Josh” which is an aromatic mutton dish of Persian origin. Rogan means “oil” in Persian while “Josh” means hot, boiling, or passionate". So, together, Rogan Josh thus means cooked in hot oil at an intense heat.

Now, I am not sure from where the ladies in my family got the recipe for this particular dish, but I am assuming that they might have got it from the many cooking shows that are aired on TV on a daily basis. But, regardless of where from or how they got it, the truth is, this is one of the most delicious and mouth-watering food items I have ever eaten.

Now, in order to cook this delicious dish, one first needs to cook seasoned lamb in hot oil over high heat until the lamb is browned. After that, cook the onions separately for about 4 minutes until they become brown also. Then, add the ginger, garlic, curry, turmeric, cayenne and bay leaves with onions and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato, yogurt and water; bring to a boil. Finally, mix the lamb with all the spices and simmer them over low heat until the lamb is very tender. Now, your Rogan Josh should be ready to serve with rice or “naan” bread.

Anyway, I like to eat this food at home, mainly because the ladies at home cook it to perfection, unlike some of the restaurants where I have tried it. Besides, very few dishes manage to bring my family members together at one table in joys and happiness like this particular food.

Sample Answer 2:

I like to eat fried rice with vegetable and fish curry at home. In fact, this is a common dinner item in our country and I often eat these items at home. Fried rice is prepared by boiling the rice and then fried with eggs and vegetables. Vegetables are mixed and prepared by using other spices and water. Finally, fish curry is cooked using the fish, spices, water, oil and salt. When these items are cooked individually, they are served together for either the lunch or dinner.

At our home, my mum mostly does the cooking stuff. She most of the time prepares this food item but sometimes my younger sister helps her cooking this item. The fried rice with egg, vegetable and fish are my most favourite menu. I eat this menu at least 4-5 times in a week and yet I never get bored with this menu. If I eat rich foods like Chinese menu or Thai menu 2/3 times in a week in a restaurant, I feel like not to have it again. But the menu I am talking about is quite delicious, tasty and nutritious. One will never feel uninterested eating it.

This is a common dish in our country and because of the geographical location we grow plenty of paddies, vegetables, and have lots of fishes in our rivers and ponds.
My mother has a special skill of cooking and the fried rice with vegetable, and fish curry she cooks is simply second to none. These are the main reasons for me to like this menu. 

Sample Answer 3:

I love to take paratha and mutton bhuna at home and this is a delicious menu. This is a great cue card topic to talk about and I feel lucky with this.

The preparation process of this food is simple. You will need some flours and prepare them accordingly to make the parathas. But cooking the mutton is a bit complex and takes more time than preparing the usual foods. You will need to clean the mutton properly before cooking and then apply some mixed types of spices with the meat. Preserving the prepared meat for half an hour will help the spices to get into the deep of the meat. Finally, put the mutton in the cooking pot with the expected amount of water. It needs almost half an hour to complete the cooking process.

Usually, my mother is in charge of cooking at our home. But sometimes, I help her out in the preparation process. Besides, I also help mom when she falls sick and cannot continue the cooking for the family. In fact, cooking for a large family is really difficult and needs lots of preparations. So, often it becomes hard for mom to complete all the tasks. Further, the maid, who has been appointed for help in cooking, also is irregular. So, when it is about cooking the mutton and making the paratha, I extend my helping hand to my mother.      

Paratha and mutton have an especial appeal to me. The taste is different from the other types of food. And they do not make me feel bored. The paratha that I take is fried with a special type of oil which raises the taste while the mutton becomes tastier with the addition of potatoes. So, I like this food item very much.

Similar Cue Card Topics

Your ability to talk about this Cue Card would enable you to talk about the following Cue Cards as well:

1. Describe your favourite menu.
2. Describe a menu you like to eat at a restaurant.
3. Describe a dish you liked very much.
4. Describe a food item you would like to try.
5. Describe a food item you know how to cook.

• IELTS Cue Card

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