Anu Chenji

Orthodox families of some decades ago in India had lots of food prohibitions – can’t eat this, that and the other – it’s polluting! Meat, of course, was quite simply, out of the question in vegetarian households!

Outside food was a strict no-no to my paternal grandmother, who would even carry a brass ‘chembu’ full of coffee decoction with her when she traveled – a source of great curiosity to us when younger and much hilarity later in life – during adolescence – to us… kids can be pretty awful and awfully judgmental too!

My parents, on the contrary, belonged to the generation fired by the zeal of India’s independence movement and willing to throw all orthodoxy by the wayside and so they took quite happily to Hyderabadi cuisine (no non-veg food was ever cooked at home though), never imposed any restrictions on what we could eat – in friends’ homes mostly – no one could afford to eat ‘out’ those days!) with the result that my brother Arvind became a ‘strict’ non-vegetarian for the better part of his life while my older brother Anand and I never took to it and stayed ‘ghaas-phoos’ eaters – vegetarians!

In most homes though, there was a clash of generations over this whole issue – with the older people obviously horrified by what the younger people considered edible and even yummy – statements like “how can you eat that stuff? Why can’t you eat the ‘good’ stuff made at home instead??!” For the young, thirsting after the thrills of ragda-pattice by the wayside, Chicken-65 at a friend’s birthday treat and the giddy heights of Chinese cuisine (Japanese and Thai were a long way away from Indian shores – for all we knew, the Japanese probably didn’t even have food!), the ‘good’ stuff at home consisiting of rasam, dal, spinach and suchlike was anything but appealing! Five decades on, most of us are quite happy to tuck into the rasams, dals and spinach gravies though – but that was much in the future then…

A friend of mine, coming from a strict vegetarian family of Jains, had tasted omelettes for the first time at another friend’s home – this friend’s family owned a poultry farm and we could eat as many omelettes as we wanted when we visited – phew, luxury! Aruna, the veggie friend, fell in love with eggs and wanted desperately to try them out at home. Living in a joint family with grandparents, sundry aunts and uncles, horror at home when she announced that she wanted to eat eggs! Normally the sweetest and most biddable of girls, Aruna put her foot down on this one. And reluctantly, the family gave in – with a caveat. The offending eggs must not come in sight of the kitchen!

And so, armed with a discarded saucepan (never to be brought into the kitchen again(!), a spoon and the rest of the paraphernalia, the children set up a ‘fireplace’ with twigs and sticks in a corner of the garden – lucky they had a LARGE garden – out of offending sight of the old people – and proceeded to make a glorious mess of omelettes!! For a household renowned for it’s tasty Jain fare, this was the most exciting meal the children had ever had!

Bread was the other item generally not allowed in the house – “double roti” as it was called in Hyderabad – was considered impure because it had to be bought and who knew what ‘polluting’ things went into it!!

India has changed – vive la change!

Here’s a celebratory abhishtu food – banana, walnut and cinnamon loaf:

BANANA, WALNUT AND CINNAMON LOAF

• Whole wheat flour – atta – 1.5 cups
• Maida – plain flour – 1.5 cups
• Yeast – 1 packet
• Milk powder –  1 tbsp
• Sugar – 3 tsp
• Bananas – overripe – 4 – mashed
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Butter or sunflower oil – 30 ml
• Walnuts – 1/2 cup broken into bits
• Cinnamon powder – 1 tsp

Prove the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients except the walnuts and mix the dough. Sprinkle the kitchen counter with a little flour and knead well, pulling and pushing and folding over – this part is a great workout and great fun, particularly if you have little kids – this is licence to create a mess and how often do we get that??! Cover with a damp cloth, leave in a warm place and let it rest for about an hour till it has doubled in size. Knock back, add the walnuts and shape into a loaf in a loaf tin (where else?!)

Let it rise again – about half and hour and then bake at 190 C for about an hour till it sounds hollow when you tap the tin at the bottom.

Eat the non-abhishtu bread with impunity right at the table, not hidden away in a corner of the garden!

A few days ago, I blogged the story of one of the rites of passage of adolescence – smoking… today, following up with another rite of passage – drinking!

My mom was a teetotaller, still is because she thinks that all alcohol smells like kullipoyina regipallu (spoiled ber fruit/regipandu/ ezhandam pazham/Indian plum/jujube/Zizyphus mauretania) – thank goodness she’s never been to Scotland  or visited a brewery! Dad liked an occasional drink but never had much of a head for liquor – a quality inherited sadly by me… one drink would make him happy, the second one and  he’d be snoring in his chair!

Parties at home usually involved a large number of family and friends, with the cook making biryani in huge pots on a outside fire because the kitchen was never large enough… loads of cousins generally there so we loved these occasions.

Once, however – i must have been about 16 or so, there were only two of us cousins – Naresh and me. The adults were drinking and playing cards and doing generally very boring adult things so we decided to have dinner early. Biryani was better than the conversation at the adult table anyway! Post our dinner, we went back to the drawing room and then the older people all trooped off to dinner… leaving a half-finished bottle of Chivas on the side table.

The same thought crossed our minds – this looks interesting! AND they’re not likely to be back for at least an hour. Shall we? Yes, we shall! But the glasses were all in the dining room… what the heck, who needs glasses anyway?! And so, Naresh, younger to me by some three years (sorry for leading you astray, Naresh!) and I proceeded to pour capfuls of Chivas for each other – luckily Chivas’ bottles have long caps which can hold almost an ounce of liquor!) and knock them back. Loved the taste! Some four capfuls each later, we were giggling helplessly over the depleted contents of the bottle! Noises emananting from the corridor of older people coming back after dinner. Oops… they couldn’t fail to notice that the level in the bottle had shrunk appreciably. Quick thinking was called – after two large pegs each, poured down the hatch with no niceties like soda or ice, quick thinking was not so easily come by! But between the two of us, there were still enough wits left to quickly fill the bottle up to halfway level with… water!

And then we quietly sneaked off, wishing everyone a polite goodnight 🙂

We never heard anything about it so decided that adults must have thought they spilt water in the whisky by mistake… or whatever… why look a gift horse in the mouth??!

Thirty years on and my dad’s genes are too strongly embedded in me – one drink and I’m happy , two and I’m snoozing away…

The quick fix that we did with the whisky that day is sometimes all that you have time for… like these quick fixes for food below – sent to me very kindly by Divya, the daughter of my very dear friend from childhood, through college and life… Viraja.

Here are Divya’s quick fixes, not one but five – none of which involve any alcohol, btw!

1.KOBBARI PERUGU PACHADI / COCONUT AND YOGURT DIP:

In a little bit of oil add garlic and tamarind, urad dal, cumin seeds, red chilies, green chilies. Fry a bit and grind this along with a little fresh coconut. Mix this paste with yogurt and salt – Voila!

Optional – Just before serving add small cut pieces of onion and chopped coriander.

2. EMERGENCY MASALA RICE: 

If we have leftover rice but no veggies what i do is::

Fry onions, add jeera/cumin seeds, turmeric and kasooti methi.

Then put the rice in this onion fry. Mix it well, add jeera/cumin powder and little garam masala, red chili powder, salt and done!

3. EASY PEASY DESSERT:

Shallow fry or toast white bread in butter

Place in baking pan

Put one layer of custard milk( custard powder mixed in milk)

Then one layer of orange marmalade.

Another layer of custard milk.

You can do how ever many layers you want.

Bake for 15 mins done!

4. SUPER EASY INSTANT CAKE-Y DESSERT!

Dip regular glucose biscuits and/or choco chip biscuits or Marie biscuits in coffee milk.

Put them in layers refrigerate and eat. Heheheh!

And if you’re feeling really adventurous, pour chocolate sauce over before refrigerating!

5.DATE SHAKE

Soak seedless dates in warm water for sometime, if no time to soak, microwave dates in little water.

Grind it into a fine paste.

Then add little vanilla essence and milk, put in mixie again… enjoy.

“DAGNABBIT, YOUR OPPONENT HAS LEFT THE CHANNEL” flashes the message on my new… very new, few-hours-old iPad which Arch has bought me as a gift. The first thing I discover is the Quizup programme and like all ex-quizzers, am very thrilled to figure out how much i remember from my quizzing days of over three decades ago! Sadly, not much!

Been playing like a maniac – and let no one warn younger people of gaming addictions – in my experience, it’s always older people who go at it like their lives depend on it! My mother, at 83, is definitely the ‘free cell’ champion of the world! And I tend to be almost as bad with my word game addictions!

Kanch and a friend of hers who’s visiting are chatting quietly until they hear an explosion – from yours truly – “Dang, why does that Dagnabbit have to leave the channel? I was about to thrash him!”

Stunned silence from Kanch and her friend. Followed by some very serious attempts to stifle giggles… and then an attempt to explain to me that, “Amma, Dagnabbit is NOT an opponent. It’s an exclamation!!” Dagnabbit, why doesn’t anyone ever tell me things??!

Completely out of date with my quizzing- though I’m getting better at it now and even more out-of-date with current slang, I am disgusted with myself!! Till I figure out a strategy – I will use 80’s slang – no one below their mid-forties will understand it and I can pretend that I am very up-to-date when my kids look at me in puzzlement…

And so new terms came into the home… CTs for cheap thrills. Deadly for really cool. Frock or gown for dress. Stud for a very good looking guy. Crush for an infatuation. Wannabe for someone wanting to be someone else – and failing! “Happening” for something very in – happening is not happening at all nowadays!

Well… you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice and men etc… all i got for my troubles were weird looks which made me feel quite Jurassic!

And so back to pre-Dagnabbit days lingo…

Where food is concerned, old is always gold in the household though and I can get away with all the Dagnabbits I want to!!

And so here’s a hoary old but much loved “tiffin” item… easy as sin and goes down even faster!

MANGALORE BONDA (called goli baje in Mangalore itself!)

• Maida/plain flour – 1/2 cup
• Rice flour – 2 tbsp
• Rava/sooji – 1/2 tbsp (optional)
• Onion – 1/4 cup finely chopped
• Green chillies – 2 – finely chopped
• Coriander leaves – finely chopped 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – finely chopped – 1 tbsp
• Ginger  – grated – 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Coconut pieces – thinly sliced – 1 tbsp (optional)
• Thick sour curd – 1/2 cup
• Cooking soda – A pinch
• Salt – As needed
• Water – 1- 2 tbsp ( if needed)
• Sunflower or peanut oil – To deep fry

Mix all the ingredients except the oil and let it ‘sit’ for 4-5 hours – in the Madras summer 2-3 hours is enough! The batter should be slightly sticky and a bit ‘loose’!

If you do not have time to let it ferment, add 1/2 tsp cooking soda or 1/2 tsp Enos salts and make the bondas immediately.

Heat the oil. Make small lime sized balls of the batter with your fingers and drop into the hot oil. Fry till a deep golden brown. Serve immediately with coconut chutney. These are delicious to eat right away but cannot be kept for later – they become a bit elastic – Dagnabbit!

“Please, Kanch, hurry up with your bath… we’ll be late for school, please Kanch… ”

Sounds of humming punctuated with chatter in a squeaky little voice emanate from the bathroom – I’ve never met anyone so able to drown out other people’s voices as my younger daughter – my “only” younger daughter as she refers to herself when she’s trying to wheedle something out of me!

With two bathrooms and five people to get ready, our home, like most homes with schoolgoing children, was a mad rush till 8.30 a.m. Rush of bathrooms, breakfasts being hurriedly shovelled down throats, leftover breakfast (I am VERY nutritionally-conscious!) being packed quickly into small dabbas to be eaten on the way to school, other dabbas for lunch, instructions on which were which – all this flurry took place about two feet above Kanchu’s head – while she remained oblivious to the whole scene and proceeded with her leisurely bath, talking to the pictures of Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse on her bathroom walls!

These Disney tiles were a bit of a novelty in the ’90s, when we built our first home and Kanch was completely fascinated by them – not being quite sure whether they were alive or not! And so, just to be on the safe side (sounds a bit like the way most people pray to various deities – just to be on the safe side!!), she’d talk to them, tell them stories and proceed to carefully wash them with soap and hot water along with her own bath and shampoo them on Sundays!

We may have been late for school on occasion, but we definitely had the cleanest tiles ever!

It broke her heart when we moved away – to leave her beloved Mickey and Donald behind (particularly Donald, i think!) and we shifted into a home where we had a floral dado on the bathroom walls instead – imagine talking to flowers!

One of the very few kids I’ve seen who loved soft toys, Kanch was never without her favourite toy – a fluffy blue dog – which took turns to being a baby, a girl and a dog – named Just Born, Suhasini (Suva for short!) and Just Born again – no Betties and Dollies for her – they had to have Indian names!

True to her nature, Kanch loves slow cooked food – the slow roasted vegetables, Amritsari chana cooked overnight… AND her four square meals a day – we do NOT snack, tyvm! Snacking is for the birds and the parents!

Here’s one of her favourites and ours too…

LOW FAT SLOW ROASTED CHAAMAGADDA CHIPS  WITH CURRY LEAVES

(Slow roasted arbi/colocasia/chepankizhangu)

• Arbi – wash well – 1/2 kg
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1 pinch
• Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp or more
• Tamarind paste – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – 3/4 tsp
• Curry leaves – a handful – wash well – crisp for two minutes in the microwave

Boil the arbi till a skewer inserted in the centre goes through easily. Or pressure cook for one whistle and switch off immediately.

Cool, peel and slice into thin chips – 2-3 mm thick. Spread out on a plate and dry overnight, open, in the frig or leave to dry in the open air for a couple of hours.

Heat oil in a pan, add the tumeric and asafoetida. Immediately drop in the arbi pieces and tamarind paste and stir well to coat.

Roast, without a lid, for about 20 minutes. Add the chili powder and salt and roast for a further 15 minutes till very crisp. Crush the curry leaves over. Switch off and serve with rice and a dal or rasam for a really comforting dinner!

You could always offer some to Donald too – provided you are willing to shampoo him off later 🙂

Pappannam eppudu pedathaaru? When will you feed us dal and rice? – a nice, euphemistic way of asking, “When are you getting your son/daughter married?”

Pappu or dal or lentils if you must, so dear to the heart of every Telugu, like most protein foods, has always been more expensive than other foods – cereal foods, basically… and so, for a poor family, served only during celebrations – weddings, festivals…

Even then, the Telugu is inordinately fond of his pappu – those who can afford it, eat it every single day, in preference to any other side dish that will go with the main cereal – rice or roti or millets. To confirm this, I did a study amongst my friends and family – Telugu, Tamil, Kannadiga – and while most of the non- Telugu households will have substitutes for it, like vatha kozhambu (tamarind based sauce), mor kozhambu (buttermilk based, majjiga pulusu, majjige huli) and so on, the Telugu household might make these but… BUT without the pappu alongside, staring at you comfortingly and positively inviting you to ladle on the ghee – will feel positively bereft!

I’ve even been told by Tamil friends (no, they did NOT stay friends after that!) that Telugus are gullible because of the amount of pappu that they tend to eat! Have also been told that the prices of dal in Chennai have gone up after I moved here… I have an answer to that… HUMPH!!! Am sure by that token, the price of tamarind must have gone down!

There’s even a saying which goes, Appu chesi pappu koodu meaning to live it up on borrowed money – here too the idea of luxury is to eat pappu! And how about the world-famous in Andhra (wink!) surname called Pappu? Must have been a big man (manchi personality as we say admiringly!) who could afford to eat pappu every day!

Hmm…. the song “Pappu can’t dance, saala” springs to mind – yes i know it’s a bit of a stretch but pappu really can’t dance, you know – it’s a sober entity which sits on the side of the plate or on the mound of rice or wherever you put it without a cheep of a protest! So maybe pappu can’t dance is actually a compliment?! A pappu on the plate which can dance must be so thin it runs all over the plate and you have to chase it – horrors! Watch the song and tell me what you think of Pappu vs pappu the dal – click for YouTube video.

And to prove my case, you can take a Telugu out of his or her homeland but try taking the pappu away and you’ll have a fistfight on your hands!

Here’s a rather unusual but simply to die for pappu…

TOMATO MENTHIKOORA PAPPU (TOMATO AND FENUGREEK LEAF DAL)

• Toor dal – 1 cup
• Turmeric – 1 large pinch
• Water – 2 cups

Pressure these together till soft – about 3 whistles and simmer for ten minutes. It helps to soak the dal for at least ten minutes before cooking.

• Tomatoes – 3 large – slightly sourer country tomatoes are better for this – chunked and roughly pureed
• Methi leaves/menthikoora/fenugreek leaves – cleaned and chopped – 1.5 cups
• Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
• Onions  – chopped – 1 medium
• Garlic – 6-7 pods (optional  but desirable!)
• Tamarind paste – 1/4 tsp – can omit this if the tomatoes are very sour
• Jaggery – 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Oil – 1 tbsp

TEMPERING:

• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Methi/fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Red chilies – sliced – 2
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1 generous pinch
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the rest of the tempering ingredients. Then add the onions and garlic and fry till golden brown. Add the methi leaves and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook till softenend. Mash the mixture with the back of a spoon. Add the salt, dal, jaggery, tamarind paste and red chili powder.

Serve with hot rice and ghee. Bet even you will dance after this!