Anu Chenji

A trip to Japan almost a decade ago. Still fresh in my mind because of just how different everything is. The cleanliness (true of any place you are traveling to from India!), the flowers – it was spring and cherry blossom was showing off for all it was worth but other flowers were in abundance as well, the incredible discipline of people. Even the punkiest-looking guys with hair teased into the most fascinating hairstyles, coloured all colours of the rainbow, the so called ‘rebels’ were rebellious only in the way they dressed themselves – I stood behind a long line of them while waiting for a train and not a man-jack of them broke the rules, not one broke the queue, stepped beyond the yellow line on the platform, spoke or even laughed loudly!

Thanks to the friends who hosted us, we saw a good deal of Kyoto, Kobe, the ancient temple town of Nara (breathtaking!), watched a kabuki performance (during which i am ashamed to say i went to sleep halfway through and woke myself up with a gentle snore!), a tea ceremony, got dressed in kimonos and did all manner of tourist-y and wonderful things!

We were staying in Kobe on a manmade island (Rokko) and went down for a walk on a Sunday morning – to discover a flea market in progress. I have an awful weakness for flea markets and went racing back upstairs to get my purse and thereafter empty it!

While I have no Japanese beyond a ‘sayonara’ and a ‘konnichiwa’ – neither of which is of any use in bargaining  and the vendors no clue of English, there was much dancing around, miming, gesticulations (no rude ones, i swear!) – the universal language of bargaining – I am absolutely positive that the vendor has as much fun as the buyer in the process!

My final stop was a couple of young chaps selling an assortment of pottery, cutlery, paintings and a bunch of other stuff. I do the act – with my eye on what I really want while i bargain for something else and casually, very casually get around to asking him for the original at the end! The two guys are smart, very smart indeed and figure out exactly what i want. Finally, in mime, i express that I have come many thousand miles and surely they cannot disappoint a visitor to their beautiful land (dance mudras are very useful in doing all this !) Much giggling from the sellers before they decide they’ve got their money’s worth of a performance from this funny lady and give me what i want. Not a solitary word of English in this whole 20-minute affair by the way.

I strut away, proudly carrying the spoils and turn back to wave bye to my audience – only to be wished by the duo in shuddh (pure) Americana – “have a great day sistah! and enjoy your stay in Japan!”” Bums!! They made a real kaddu out of me! 

And here’s my favourite kaddu dish south of Japan!

YELLOW PUMPKIN KOOTU (GUMMADIKAYA, POOSANIKAI/PARANGIKAI)

• 250 gm yellow pumpkin – peeled and cut into large chunks.
• Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
• Sambar powder – 1 tsp
• Grated coconut – 3 tbsp
• Green chilies – 2
• Peppercorns – 6-8
• Cumin seeds -jeera – 1/2 tsp
• Salt

To season:

• 1 tsp  coconut oil or sesame oil
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Chopped spring onions – shallots – 1 tbsp (optional)
• Asafoetida – 1 large pinch

Cover and cook the pumpkin with the salt, turmeric and sambar powder till half cooked. Grind the green chilies, coconut, cumin and pepper into a smooth paste. Add the paste to the pumpkin and cook for a few minutes more till pumpkin is tender but still in pieces, not falling apart.

To season, heat oil, add mustard seeds and let them pop. Add the urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida.

 Add chopped onions if using.

Best eaten a side with rice and sambar. Great with rotis.

“And when I get seetaphal (custard apple) in the tree growing out of my stomach, i WON’T give you any!”

“Hah, and and before you get those, I’ll get mangoes growing out the tree from my stomach. Think I’m gonna give you any? Double hah!!”

“Blah!”

“Blecch!”

“Yaaah!”

“Yaaah yourself!”

“@#$%^&*!!”

“Annee nuvve” (all that backatcha!)

My brother and I fighting over something or the other as usual – who gets to read the new Enid Blyton first, who got the bigger peice of cake, who gets to eat off the small silver plate, who gets to sit on Daddy’s “special chair” and so on… there was no end to the number of things we could and did fight about, the fights often degenerating into fisticuffs! This exchange of compliments was the usual prelude to those. 

We had been told by some cousin ahead of us in years (Ramana, time for you to feel guilty?) that if we swallowed a seed while we were eating a fruit, we’d grow that tree out of our stomachs and through our mouths! For some weird reason, this seemed a very desirable outcome – after all, we could then eat all the sapotas/mangoes/seethaphal or whatever it was we’d swallowed! How we were going to eat it, or anything at all for that matter, with a tree growing out of the palate was a practicality that did not enter our calculations!

Arvind and me, being only a year apart in age, were sparring partners throughout our growing up years. Anand, being a couple of years older, not to mention of a much more peaceable temperament, generally gave in without too much of a fight – to our entreaties!

Much water has flowed under the bridge, many seeds have been swallowed with little success but I’m definitely more than happy to share any fruit or food with my brother now!!

Here’s the fruit of my aebleskiver (koozhi paniyaaramu/guntha ponganaaalu/guliyappa) pan.

With my daughter home for the holidays, all of us fed up with rich food but wanting something special – this is a low-fat alternative to the deep-fried kofta. Just as yummy and in a light and easy-to-whip-up gravy rather than the usual heavy kofta gravy… this entire meal took me all of twenty minutes to whip up from scratch!

PANEER KOFTAS IN PAN

• Grated paneer (cottage cheese) – 1 cup
• Besan (kadalemaavu/ senagapindi/ gram flour) – 2 tbsp
• Chopped onion – 2 tbsp
• Minced green chilies – 2
• Ginger – grated – 1 tsp
• Coriander pwd – 1 tsp
• Cumin pwd – 1/2 tsp
• Chili pwd – 1 tsp
• Kasooti methi – 1 tsp
• Chopped coriander – 2 tsp
• Baking pwd – 1/4 tsp
• Salt
• Oil – 1 tbsp
• Ghee – 1 tbsp

Kuzhipaniyaaram / guntha ponganaalu / aebleskiver pan – see picture

Mix all the ingredients together and shape into small balls – the size of small lemons. Drop a few drops of oil in each hole of the pan and heat till below smoking point. Gently place the balls in each hole. Do NOT drop them in – the oil is likely to splatter on your fingers! Pour a few drops of ghee over each kofta.

Cover and cook for about 3 minutes on a low flame and test – they should be brown on the underside. Turn over and cook, uncovered on the other side for a further 3-4 minutes till all the sides all brown.

Set aside.

GRAVY

• Finely chopped onions – 1 cup
• Ginger – 1/2 inch piece – grated
• Garlic – 2 flakes – minced
• Tomatoes – 4-5 chopped very fine
• Tomato puree – 2 tbsp
• Green chili – minced – 1
• Cloves – 3
• Cinnamon – 1″ piece
• Bay leaf – 1
• Green cardamoms – 2
• Black cardamom – 1
• Fennel pwd – 1/4 tsp
• Red chili pwd – 1/2 tsp
• Coriander pwd – 1/2 tsp
• Cumin pwd – 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• Kasooti methi – 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 1/2 tsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp

Heat the oil and drop in the sugar. When it caramelises, add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms and fry for a few seconds. Add the onions, green chili, ginger and garlic.  Fry till the onions brown. Add all the other powdered spices and tomatoes and mix well. cook, covered for 3-4 minutes till tomatoes are softened. Add 1.5 cups water and continue to cook till the gravy is thick and cooked. Add the koftas and switch off.

Serve with plain white basmati rice.

And please DO share the fruit of your tree!

“Amma, do you know that Tara and I are sidekick?”

“Huh? What?”

“We are sidekick, Amma. Don’t you know – like when i know what she’s going to say before she says it?”

Cue: much laughter – off and on stage!

“Kanch, the word is psychic, not sidekick!”

A disappointed “Oh” as she digests the fact that the BIG WORD that she has used is not quite the right word! But hold on, maybe it’s applicable to something else? “What about when I guess what she’s brought in her lunch box? Aren’t we sidekick then??”

“No, Kanch not even then! The word is still ‘psychic’!”

“Humph” and off she goes… to digest yet another piece of illogicality in the adult world!

But more gems await… “Amma, what time are we going to the sugary tomorrow?”

Blank look from me. “What sugary?”

“You know – you said we were taking Akka to the doctor tomorrow. His office is named sugary, right?”

Hahahaha… the doctor’s surgery! Bet the doc would have felt flattered with so sweet a moniker!

And now for a truly ‘sidekick’ pairing – Osmania biskoot (how can you call something so heavenly a mere biscuit??) and Moroccan mint tea (see earlier post for the Moroccan tea).

OSMANIA BISKOOT

• Maida – plain flour – 2 cups
• Cornflour – 1/4 cup
• Butter – i prefer salted table butter – 1 cup
• Powdered sugar – 1 cup
• Flavouring – either powdered cardamom or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• Milk powder – 2 tsp
• Milk – 2 tbsp
• Crystal salt – pounded to a rough, grainy powder – 1 large pinch
• Baking powder – 1 pinch 

Sift all the dry ingredients together (except for the crystal salt). 

Cream the butter and milk together. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix into a firm but slightly crumbly dough. Gather it together,cover with a cling film and refrigerate for about 25-30 minutes. Take out, roll out to about 1/4″ thickness. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Gather up the remnants and repeat. 

Place the cookies leaving about 1″ space on all sides, Brush with milk and bake at 375 F (190 C) for about 15-17 minutes. 

These biscuits are unusual in that you get a salty kick in every bite.

A biskoot a day keeps the Hyderabadi away ….from the sugary!!

 

 

 

“So while Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were wandering around in the forests during their exile from Ayodhya, they came across a small habitation of forest dwellers. Seeing the noble bearing of the wanderers, the villagers all came out to greet them. While their chief  bade Rama and Lakshmana welcome, the women clustered around Sita, exclaiming over her beauty.

“One of women asks Sita, ‘So which of these is your husband?’ Sita, full of the proper spirit of womanly shyness, indicates Lakshmana and says, ‘That is my devar (brother-in-law)’… and the women take her in etc. etc.”

My Hindi teacher relating the story to a class of 7th standard kids – in the mid-70’s. She goes on to praise Sita extravagantly – saying what a woman blah, blah…

The class stares back at her, trying to figure what on earth she was trying to get at. What was so interesting about what Sita did? “Why couldn’t she just have pointed to Rama and said, ‘This is my husband?'” asks one innocent sod.

The teacher’s turn to be shocked: “Don’t you SEE?? (we didn’t!). Sita was so full of vinamrata (humility) and all the womanly graces that she could not even say her husband’s name out aloud!!” We still don’t get it! What we DO get from the teacher next is a diatribe on modern manners, modern girls, their lack of vinamrata, shyness (in a bunch of rowdy 11-year olds??!) and various other qualities supposedly desirable in women!! Ah well, those were the 70’s and the teacher was particularly old-fashioned but those ‘modern, mannerless girls’ in the bunch did pretty well for themselves in terms of making their own ways in the world!

What did stick in my mind from that lesson was that the teacher had said they were wandering around in thick forests of mango trees at the beginning. My one thought was, “Wow, they had mangoes back then???” They couldn’t have been so badly off during their exile, could they? And did they just eat the mangoes raw, with salt and chili powder on the slices or cook them into something? If the teacher could have seen inside my head, i’m sure she’d have been aghast at the very non-vinamr, practical and gourmet thoughts running around in it! Reveries about food and creating food have been an underlying theme in life – here’s the latest…

SWEET AND SOUR MANGO PACHADI

• Semi-ripe mango – 2 cups – cut into large chunks. If the seed is hard, save it. If still at the tender ‘jeedi’ stage, discard it.
• Jaggery – 1/2 cup (approx – more or less may be needed depending on the sourness of the mango)
• Salt
• Slit green chili – 1
• Chili powder – 1 tsp
• Roasted and powdered fenugreek seeds / menthulu / methi daana/ vendiyam – 3/4 tsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Jeera – cumin – seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Asafoetida – 1 large pinch
• Oil – preferably sesame – 1 tsp
• Turmeric – 1/4 tsp

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add urad dal, jeera, asafoetida and the curry leaves and fry till crisp. Add the green chili, turmeric and mango. Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes. Add the salt, jaggery, methi powder, chili powder and a little more water if needed to get a thick consistency. Cover and cook till the mango is tender and falling apart. Taste and adjust the jaggery and salt. 

Superb as a side dish with dosas, pesarattu or plain dal and rice.

And you don’t even need to be a Sita to serve it or eat it all by yourself 😉

And continuing the saga of the battle between Hindi and Chennaivaasis… (people of Chennai).

Scene : A school. An exam hall full of students either busily scratching away on paper with their pens or scratching their heads not knowing what to scratch on paper!!

Q1. Please write a story (in Hindi) based on the series of pictures below. 

The pictures depict a little girl on crutches and a series of sad events – the child being left behind as all the other kids run down the hill to play, the child looking sadly on etc. etc – you get the picture?

And so, our 13-year old student of Hindi (likely to remain so for a very long time, going by her mastery over the language so far, i’m afraid!!), Gayatri, has a brainwave – and writes a story – a very moving story about a little girl with only one leg who gets left out in the cold all the time… no one has the time to help her catch up… she has no friends and so on and so forth. She comes out of the exam hall looking very pleased with herself – the examiner CANNOT but be pleased with such a tear-jerking saga! As she compares notes with a friend who’s also done the same exam, she casually asks, “By the way, the word for ‘leg’ in Hindi is “pauda” right?”!! Pauda? PAUDA??? Pauda is a plant! So here we are with an examiner scratching her head trying to figure out what the girl in the story is doing hopping around on a tree, not able to run coz she has only one tree, feeling sad that she can’t join the other kids in the playground coz she has only one tree??!!!

Thankfully, not all foreign languages have had such a disastrous history in this country! For instance, look at the Hindi word for ‘tea’  – “chai”. Originally from the Chinese “cha”, chai today is recognised as a common Hindi word all over the world!

One of my favourite teas in the Moroccan mint tea which I learnt on a TV travel show and have completely fallen in love with!

MOROCCAN MINT TEA (makes 4 cups)

• Tea leaves – 2 tsp (prefereably Orange Pekoe or any fragrant tea)
• Mint leaves – 1 handful
• Sugar – 3 tsp
• Lemon  – 1/2
• Boiling water – 5 cups

Rinse the teapot out with hot water and drop in the tea leaves. Pour the boiling water in and let steep for two minutes. Open the lid and drop in the mint leaves. Shake the pot and let the tea brew for a further two minutes. Strain out, add sugar and juice of half a lemon. Serve hot.

And if you’re writing a Hindi exam and have to translate this – the phrase is “Morocco-wali pudina ki chai”!