Anu Chenji

I HAVE to start with a BIG thank you to all my readers, commentators, contributors who’ve patiently been putting up with and even strangely encouraging me to put up my stories and food – guys, without you, this blog would have died of disuse, wasting away, consumption, general Victorian ‘decline’ and had a obituary reading something like ” she was SO good at marbles when she was just 4 days old” or something like that because one HAS to say something good about even a dead blog, no? Instead of that, I have become hooked on to the writing, story telling, checking for comments in the middle of the night and generally all the hallmarks of a successful addict! So THANK YOU! and this thanks comes with a special edition of a everyday dish in 4 of the Southern states – a rap to rasam (‘coz an ode to rasam would have been sooo boring!)

“Chachhaara, edchaara? Chachhaara, edchaara?”  repeats the waiter as he comes serving down the long line of waiting bright green plantain leaves and hungry faces towards him. I stare at him in disbelief – did he just ask us if we had died (chachhaara)  or cried (edchaara)?

Then he comes closer and I see that he is serving out rasam/ chaaru/ saar/ mulligatawny (to Anglicise it) and figure out that what he was offering was a choice of cold rasam (challa chaaru) and hot rasam (vedi chaaru)! Delivered at breakneck speed, it sounded like he was wishing us either dead or weepy! 

The links between the languages (as also the cuisines) of the South of India are close but yet so far… causing innumerable confusions in the life of someone who’s lived in and claims a heritage from three of these! 

On another occasion (I may have told this tale earlier), my brother and I as very small children were inveigled into having this selfsame chaaru mistaking the Tamil rasam to mean the same as what it means in Telugu – which is “juice”. Hoping to be served a nice, sweet (very sweet to suit our tastes!) lemonade at a wedding where our tongues were on fire with the food, we called the “rasam” waiter over – only to have what was then our least-favourite dish – watery chaaru / rasam – splashed all over our plantain leaves! And if you’ve ever had to chase a rasam all over a leaf without getting it on your pattu paavadai, well, you’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Today’s post is in honour of four of the South Indian states and a dish which is made across all of these but with very different results- rasam/ chaaru/ saar/ saaru being featured.

My contributor for the Mysore saaru is my aunt Indu Hangal (brilliant cook when she’s not teaching Math!!), for the Andhra ulavala chaaru is Padmaja Nanduri (P.V.Padmaja from my school days), who’s sent me an unusual and yumy ulavala chaaru (horsegram chaaru) recipe, Shruti Nargundkar on the Maharashtrian ‘tomato saar’ – the lady who inspired me to start this whole blog and Hema Sekhar – my co-sister (if ever there was a case for including a term in the OED, this is it – what could be more decriptive??!), co-incidentally also a Math teacher and a great cook! Hmm… am beginning to wonder whether all those stories about bhindi and brain power also apply to rasam and the lil’ grey cells!

MYSORE RASAM (drinking type)- courtesy Indu Hangal

• Tamarind paste – 1 tsp
• The watery liquid from the top of boiled toor dal – 1 cup
• Tomatoes – 2 – cut into chunks or whizzed in the mixer for a second – not pureed
• Rasam powder – 3 tsp (please see my previous post on pineapple rasam for the recipe for ‘correct’ saarin podi) link : http://anuchenji.com/blog/dad-kitchen%E2%80%A6-pineapple-rasam
• Asafoetida – 1large pinch
• Jaggery – 1/2 tsp
• Salt
• Water – 2 -3 cups

To temper:

• Ghee (and no, there is no substitute!) – 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Peppercorns – 5-6
• Jeera – cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves chopped – 1 tbsp

Boil all the ingredients (except for tempering ones) together till the raw smell of tomato is gone. Switch off, temper and add coriander. Serve with hot rice for the most basic of comfort foods of a South Indian!

From my childhood friend and classmate, Padmaja (Nanduri), comes this yummy recipe for an authentic Andhra ulava chaaru

ULAVA CHAARU (HORSEGRAM RASAM) courtesy Padmaja Nanduri

• 100 gm ulavalu-soak overnight. The next day, boil and grind. Reserve the water in which the gram was soaked.
• Lemon sized ball of tamarind – soak and extract the juice.
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder
• Salt

For tempering :

• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Jeera – cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Methi – fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Red chilies – 3 or 4 – broken
• Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
• Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp

Mix the ground ulavalu with the water used for soaking.

In a deep vessel, heat oil or ghee for tempering. Temper with mustard, methi, jeera and red chilies.Add the curry leaves and fry. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for another minute.Add turmeric, ulavalu and tamarind water. Add salt and bring to the boil. Check the seasoning. Let the chaaru thicken. Add coriander leaves and switch off. Serve with hot rice and ghee. Pass GO and collect $200 as you straight to heaven!

 OF SOUPS AND SAARS – Recipe and story courtesy Shruti Nargundkar 

Maharashtrian Tomato Saar

“Saadhu aisa chahiye, jaisa soop subhay

Saar saar ko gahi rahe, thotha de udaay”

Savita Behenji is explaining “dohe” couplets by the poet saint Kabir. 

“What soup is Kabirdaas talking about?” She asks the silent class. 

Questions like this weren’t appreciated during the pre-lunch Hindi lesson. 

A precocious young me, used to (read – forced to) helping Aai at home winnow wheat and jowar in preparation of sending the grain to the local flourmill, smiled smugly as no one in the class answered.

Not only could I winnow the chaff from grain quite expertly, but also sift large stones and clumps of dirt with the large bamboo sieve. I could also proudly pan stones from soaking grains using the two-basin method with the panache of a prospector.What more, I could clean mustard seeds and poppy seeds by placing them in a metal plate and tilting it at an angle of about 30 degrees and pushing the playful pips up. The chaff stayed on the top while the clean kernels rolled to the bottom. 

I was to realise the therapeutic value of cleaning stuff only much later in life.  but really, how many 10-12 year olds studying in a “convent” school could/would do these chores? Even forty years ago…

For the life of me, I can’t understand, nor pardon, those who use the word “convent” to denote any/all boys/girls/coed English medium schools.

I am as humble as Savita Behenji is funny.

“Behenji, the soop is a winnow.” I proffer, putting an end to the little pogrom she had in mind.  I know she wanted to string us out for a while longer, leading the class to discover that the “soop” in question was a winnow. 

Tomato Saar, tomato soup… behenji’s “teacher” jokes would have killed us, if extreme hunger hadn’t already done so. Thwarted, Behenji goes on to describe how Kabir likens a wise man to a winnow that keeps the grain of good sense, while blowing the chaff of “non-sense” away. 

The bell rings for lunch just then, and my classmates’ looks of envy are replaced with gratitude. 

Good sense has prevailed. It’s time to turn to the saar.

TOMATO SAAR 

Ingredients

• 1 cup canned, chopped/crushed tomatoes (canned tomatoes work the best for soups and saar)
• ¾ cup coconut milk, first extract (I use canned coconut milk)
• 1-2 shallots, chopped 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 small green chilli
• 1 tsp oil
• ¾ tsp toasted cumin 
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper 
• Coriander for garnish
• Salt and sugar to taste
• Water as required

Method

Heat a saucepan and a tsp of oil. Lightly sauté the chopped shallot, garlic and green chilli. Blend with the tomato, cumin and pepper into a smooth puree using a stick blender (or mixer). 

Add water to the blended puree to adjust the consistency and bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and let the soup simmer for a while until a bright orange foam forms on the surface. 

Add the salt, sugar and then introduce the coconut milk. Do not boil much after this stage. Check and adjust the flavours. 

Garnish with the chopped coriander and serve hot with khichadi, masaley bhaat, vaangi bhaat or even plain rice. 

Or slurp it up in a cup. 

The epitome of everything essential to warm the cockles of your heart, this soup is for keeps. 

I am sure Kabir had this soup in mind when penning the doha. 

TAMIL RASAM – recipe courtesy Hema Sekhar

•  Rasam (1L- serves 4)
• Small Amla size tamarind-soak and extract
• Salt to taste
• Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
• 1 tomato 
• Rasam powder – 1 heaped tsp
• 2 tablespoon tuvar dal wash and cook and keep aside
• 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp jeera crushed 
• 1 small piece hing
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• Coriander chopped 1 tablespoon 
• 1 teaspoon ghee 
• Mustard to temper 

Method

In a white tin (often mistaken for lead) vessel (to give added flavour- iyyachombu) boil tamarind water, salt, Hing and turmeric and keep on flame. In a small pan, pour ghee, fry mustard, curry leaves, half tomato cut into pieces, then pepper and Jeera and rasam powder. Once mustard splutters, put this into the tamarind water. In 5 minutes, mix enough water into the cooked dal, and pour into the boiling mixture with tomato pieces.Watch till froth appears on the top and switch off. Put in coriander leaves.(Must not boil to preserve flavour)

All purpose podi :

• 250g red chilli powder 
• 200g corriander seeds
• 120g Bengal gram dal
• 100g tuvar dal
• 1 tablespoon pepper 
• 1 tsp jeera 

Dry roast each ingredient slightly, separately. And powder. Into the last mixing stage, add 1 tablespoon turmeric powder. Mix and bottle.

Tiramisu came into my life rather late – i think sometime in my thirties… it was like falling in love  all over again – the sweetness of the amaretti, mildness of cream, bitterness of cocoa, creaminess of the zabaglione, the sheer “rumminess” (!) of the coffee liqueur… all combining to form the most irresistable dessert on earth! I feel the same way when I eat “rasmalai” and so when I have to choose between the two, I feel like King Solomon deciding on which mother-claimant the child belongs to! Luckily since Italian restaurants don’t serve rasmalai and Indian restaurants and mithai shops don’t deal in tiramisus, so far I’ve managed to sit quite successfully on the fence!

We are a family with a combined sweet tooth that would stretch all the way from Trichy to Jamaica (both sugarcane -growing places!). We love sweets and sweets love us – in a diabetic India, there can’t be many households where sweets don’t get a bad press! Deepavali sweets, of which many dabbas are received by every household every year and equally quickly re-distributed by most of those selfsame households are carefully examined and earmarked for consumption over the next few weeks – with the softer, perishable ones going first and the dry fruits and nuts being saved for later!  With Deepavali falling usually in the month of October, is it any wonder that by New Year’s, one has put on enough pounds to drive one into making extreme resolutions – “Not another sweet this year!!” Oh yeah, say the sweets, sniggering away – “We’ve GOT you”! And so they do 🙁

I have known my mother and brother between them to put away a whole kilogram of sweets in the space of less than an hour! My brother-in-law is just as bad. “Gulab jamuns for dessert!” announces my mother-in-law to her guests and goes to fetch the bowl of g.j’s from the counter. The dish feels lighter than it should. Thinking maybe she’s put on some muscle from cooking dinner, mom-in-law carries it to the table and opens it with a flourish – presenting all of FOUR little gulab jamuns for eight people at the table! My brother-in-law, unaware of the dinner guests, had decided his mom had made him a treat for being extra good (or in his case, for having hidden some piece of mischief extra well!) and eaten the other thirty jamuns! There were consequences, obviously, which necessitated him sitting down rather gingerly for the next few days but he says it was worth every jamun!

Here’s my CHEAT’S TIRAMISU: (avoiding all the painful zabaglione making process!)

• Sponge cake – 250 gm – cut into fingers
• Instant coffee – 3 heaped tsp mixed with 3 tbsp Cointreau and 1/2 cup dark Bacardi
• 200 gm + 100 gm whipping cream (very cold)
• Icing sugar – 1 tbsp
• 100 gm condensed milk + 50 gm cream cheese – whipped
• Cocoa powder for dusting – 2 tbsp

Whip 200 gm of cream and fold into the condensed milk, cream cheese mixture.Put back in the frig. In each of five brandy or wine glasses, lay four fingers of cake at the bottom. Spoon over the coffee-liqueur mixture. Put a layer of the whipped cream-condensed milk-cream cheese mixture on the top. Sieve cocoa powder over the top.Whip the 100 gm reserved cream with icing sugar – about 1 tbsp and spoon over. Repeat layers, ending with cocoa. Chill for at least four hours before serving.

JAI MITHAIWALE KI! MITHAIWALA ZINDABAD! LONG LIVE THE PASTRY GUY! And oh, btw, that’s a LOT of alcohol in one lil’ dessert… hic!

Reproducing verbatim a letter written by my daughter Kanchana and her friend Gayatri to the Chairman of KFC when they were both ten years old. Have preserved this gem to give it to him should i ever bump into him – if he is not bumped off by Kanch and Gayatri long before that! Unfortunately, Mr Novak did not see fit to reply – maybe he never got it!

“Date : January 3, 2004 

Kanchana Venkatesh and Gayatri Muralidhar

11/5….

Chennai

India

David Novak, Chairman and CEO

Yum! Brands

1441 Gardiner Lane

Louisville, KY 40213

                                                        Sub: KFC’s cruelty to chickens

Dear Sir,

We are of the opinion that the manner in which you (KFC) treat the chickens is unacceptable. After all, chickens like us have feelings and have the right to live. A chicken’s life is as important to it as your life is to you. Chickens are like dogs and cats but people don’t realise that chickens are as important as dogs and cats. Before you burn the chicken’s beaks, please think of how it would feel if somebody burnt your nose. Before you throw the chickens in boiling water, please think of how you would feel if you were thrown into boiling water.

Please give the chickens more space to live and please don’t separate them from their families. After all, none of us would like to be cramped up with a bunch of strangers, or taken away from our families. Put yourself in their (the chickens) positions – cramped up in a tiny cage with a million other people, dropped into boiling water while you are still conscious, having your bones broken by people crammed on top of you and having your neck slit open while still conscious.

We would appreciate it if you would put the chickens to sleep in a more kindly manner. They might not be human, but they can still feel pain. Human beings are not the only inhabitants of this earth. And it’s only in our minds that we are the most important.

Yours sincerely,

( Gayatri M and Kanchana V)

Ages: 10

p.s. Perhaps you could use chloroform to kill the chickens as it won’t hurt them much.”

My own helpful suggestion is to find a vegetarian option to KFC – presenting Kadhai paneer!

KADHAI PANEER

• Paneer – 200 gms – cut into 1 cm cubes. Soak in warm, salted water and set aside
• Onions – sliced – 2
• Tomatoes – chunked – 2
• Capsicum – cut into 1 cm squares – 1
• Zucchini – optional – 1 cup sliced
• Green chili – minced – 2
• Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
• Ginger – julienned – 1 cm piece + 1/2 tsp fried juliennes
• Garlic – optional – 2 cloves – minced
• Jeera – 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 1/2 tsp
• Chaat masala – 1/4 tsp
• Garam masala – 1/2 tsp
• Salt
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Sunflower oil – 1 tbsp
• Kasooti methi – 1/2 tsp
• Chopped coriander – 1 tbsp
• Chopped mint – 1 tbsp – optional
• 1/2 lemon  sliced

Heat the oil and ghee together in a pan – kadhai. Add jeera and sugar and when it sizzles, add the green chili. Stir and add the onions. Fry till golden brown. Add ginger and garlic and fry. Add the tomatoes, capsicum, zucchini, paneer and salt. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the kasooti methi, chaat masala and garam masala. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes till vegetables are tender but still retain their crunch. Switch off and sprinkle herbs over. Sprinkle some fried ginger juliennes over. Squeeze lemon just before serving with rotis or rice.

And oh, if you happen to meet Mr Novak, give him a dirty look from Gayatri and Kanchana!

“Akka is so bulliput, no?”

“What?”

“Akka is so bulliput”! (pronounced to rhyme with lilliput)

I get it – “Akka is so beautiful”! Kanch, who is still too little to go to school, has woken up from her afternoon nap to find her sister sleeping next to her. K is “watching over” her older sister (two fingers in her mouth) and admiring her!

For all that she is four years younger, Kanch, for the longest time in her childhood, was her older sister’s self-appointed guardian, trying to protect her from bullies and suchlike!

On one trip to the Hyderabad zoo, Kanch was getting too close to the crocodile enclosure and I warned her away. She asked me why. “Because if Paapa (baby – how she referred to herself at the age of two) goes too close, she’ll fall in and the crocodile will eat her”. Both fingers in her mouth, she contemplates this for a while, then “if Akka goes close, will the thothodile (crocodile!) eat her up?”

“Yes”.

More contemplation. then she turns to her sister – “Akka, don’t go near the crocodile. Paapa (self) will go, eat the crocodile and then Akka can go!” Phew!! Akka nods in serious agreement!

The things that Kanch thought edible when she was young had me constantly on my feet to pull away sundry goodies like insects, chalk, glossy mags (only the glossies, mind you!) and in one horrifying moment – a dead rat (saved in time)! That she actually turned out a vegetarian and a strong PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) supporter is a constant source of surprise!

Here’s one of our very vegetarian favourites – gummadikayi perugu pachadi. It’s fantastic with pulihora (tamarind rice) or rotis or as a low-cal snack by itself.

GUMMADIKAYA PERUGU PACHADI/ POOSHNIKAYI THAYIR PACHADI / PUMPKIN YOGURT CHUTNEY

• Gummadikaya (red pumpkin) – sliced into large flat pieces about an inch square) – 2 cups
• Thick yogurt – 1.5 cups
• Green chilies- 2
• Grated coconut – 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp
• Minappappu – urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig
• Jaggery – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric – 1 large pinch
• Asafoetida – 1 pinch
• Salt
• Sesame oil – 1 tsp

Grind the green chilies, 1/2 tsp mustard and grated coconut to a smooth paste and set aside. It’s easier to grind the mustard if you pound it a little in a mortar and pestle with a few drops of water first.

Cook the pumpkin with a couple of tbsp of water, turmeric and jaggery till tender. Add salt and mix. Let cool and whip in the yogurt and the ground paste. The pumpkin will break up a bit – that’s how it’s supposed to be.

Temper – heat the oil in a small “popu garita” (small saucepan with a handle used for tempering) and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add minappappu (urad), curry leaves and asafoetida and pour over the pumpkin pachadi.

Goes superbly with any mixed rice – tomato, tamarind, coconut, raw mango..I eat the leftovers as a snack by itself. Or whiz it in the mixer and make a dip for vegetable sticks.

Better than eating crocodiles and dead rats, eh Kanch??!