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Ganesh bainganya namaaha…

 

Shrine to an eggplant! Makeshift temple in Leicester – of all places!! An eggplant which clearly resembles Lord Ganesha! 

No, am NOT making this up nor am i kidding – this is an article in The Mail Online dated Oct 17th – today!! Apparently a caterer’s assistant found a weirdly shaped baingan in a box sent by a supplier and the caterer’s wife “recognised” it as an image of Lord Ganesha and now they’re praying to it till it rots when it will be given a fitting Hindu burial! Hindu burial??? (No disrespect intended – it’s just a funny thing!)

Well, stranger things have happened – like kids learning to love baingan!! When my children were small, it was one of the goals of my life – to make things easier for myself – i guess, to get them to NOT dislike any vegetable. Having had a to train a picky eater of a husband into eating things like capsicum and ginger and jaggery AND to NOT expect appadams with every meal, i came to this with some experience! Am still trying to train hubby to eat garlic – with very limited success 😉 

So – to come back to the kids – each was allowed to choose the dishes for the next day – provided – they ate what the other one had chosen for the family! If they didn’t, choosing privileges were revoked for the next day! Tiger mother?? Yep – BUT – they are not fussy eaters and therefore easy guests! I remember a family of relations who’d visited us once – lovely people – but – one didn’t eat eggplant, one didn’t like potatoes and the third hated sambar! The day’s menu happened to have all three!! My poor mom had to rush off to make something else which suited ALL three while i grumbled about how certain people were not allowed to be picky around the house! 

But that day I decided that i would NOT allow my kids to become fusspots! 

Back to our baingan – i love them as much as the next person (barring fussy family of relations!) but i think i’d draw the line at Om bainganyeya namaha…om kathrikaayaana namaha….om vankaayaaya namaaha…om badnekaaya namaaha ….om tat sat!!! On second thoughts, why not??? I worship ’em!!

I do think though, that the caterer who set up a shrine could have done the baingan better justice by making the best ever bharta out of it! After all, a divinely blessed eggplant has to taste divine!

Baingan bharta

One medium eggplant. smear oil and roast directly on the flame, turning over every 3-4 minutes so that it cooks on all sides and through to the centre

1 large onion – chopped

3 medium tomatoes – chopped

2 green chilies – chopped

Garlic – 2 pods – chopped

Ginger – 1/2 ” piece – finely chopped

Curry leaves – 2 sprigs

Sugar – 1/2 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp

Jeera (cumin) powder – 1 tsp

Dhania (coriander pwd) – 1 tsp

Chili pwd – 1/2 tsp

Turmeric – a large pinch

Asafoetida –  a large pinch

Salt

Oil – 2 tsp

Green peas – optional – 1/2 cup – boiled

Let the eggplant cool – by the time you’ve collected the rest of the ingredients, it should have! Peel and discard peel. Mash the flesh into a pulp using a knife or fork. 

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the curry leaves and the green chilies along with the sugar. Add the onions and garlic and fry till golden brown. Add the chili powder, dhaniya powder, cumin powder and turmeric and stir. Add the tomatoes and ginger. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the mashed eggplant pulp and salt and 1/2 cup or more water till you get a thick dropping consistency curry. Add the peas and bring to the boil. Switch off. Serve with rice or rotis or pooris as you chat your prayers!

 

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Chuck Berry and the Palghat connection, controversial peppers!

 
“GO JOHNNY, GO, GO, GO… JOHNNY BE GOOOOO… DDDD!” belts out a loud, uncontrolled voice.
 
“Ok, ok, Venkatesh. Very nice. Thanks for the song. Now enough.” A calmer voice attempting to soothe the first loud one.
 
“NO, DOCTOR, I WANT TO SING THIS FOR YOU, GO… JOHNNY… ” and it goes on as the voices become clearer and they come down the corridor.
 
The loud voice is that of my husband, who’s just floating out of an anaesthetic haze after having undergone a small surgery and is insisting on serenading the hapless doc and the soothing voice is that of the hapless doctor who has to submit to the serenade – it’s a long song and a loooong corridor!
 
When Arch, my older daughter, called to say that she had attended a Chuck Berry concert yesterday and was still to climb down from the the ninth heaven she was in, this was the song that that she was humming, irresistably bringing the hospital episode back to mind. 
 
My children had grown up with the background of hubby singing the Beatles’, Elvis, CCR and of course, Chuck Berry to them and despite being kids born in the 80s and 90s, their musical tastes were firmly set in an earlier generation’s!
 
For someone who actually has fainted at the sight of a needle, the surgery was quite a traumatizing experience for my husband. Having grown up in and around hospitals all my life thanks to having a doc for a mom, i couldn’t for the life of me understand this completely irrational fear. I did figure out however, that post trauma needs to be treated with soothing noises and hot beverages (courtesy Sheldon Cooper!! For the uninitiated, do watch the Big Bang Theory – BBT for short) or in the case of Palghat husbands, with a large bowl of keerai molagootal and pappadam/vadam combos!
 
Strange sounding dish till you break it down – molagootal translates to “milagu vittutu panninadu” (the thing without pepper) as i’ve mentioned earlier in these chronicles. Palghat cuisine, while being rather tasty and a nutritionist’s dream – low fat, high vitamin, medium protein kind of stuff – uses so few spices that one can actually describe a dish by what one leaves out of it!
 
Me, being rebellious Andhra, insist on putting in a few milagu – peppers – it tastes better – yay for rebellion!
 
Keera molagootal
 
Molakeerai – green or red variety/ Paalakeerai/ Thotakoora/ Amaranthus/ Chauli greens – 1 large bunch, cleaned and chopped
Fresh grated coconut – 3 tbsp
Red chilies – 2
Urad dal – 1 heaped tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) – 3/4 tsp
Rebellious pepper corns! – 6
1/2 cup toor dal cooked in 1.25 cups of water with a pinch of turmeric till soft
Coconut oil – 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Salt
 
For tadka/seasoning:
 
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
Cook the greens with 1/2 cup of water till reduced and soft. Mash with the back of a ladle or pulse in the mixie till you get  a very knobbly purée. Heat one tsp of the oil and add the red chilies, urad dal and jeera. Fry till the urad dal turns golden brown. Add the peppers and the coconut. Stir and switch off. When cool, grind with a little water to a smooth paste. Add this paste to the cooked, mashed greens and bring to the boil. Add the cooked dal and salt and bring back to the boil.
 
Switch off. Heat the remaining one spoon of oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the urad dal and the curry leaves. Pour over the molagootal. Serve hot with rice and a pickle, accompanies by “Johnny Be Good”!
 
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half a worm, anyone??

“Whats’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?” 

“Finding half a worm in your apple!!!”

Ever had the experience?? Back in the 60s and 70s, in the days before pesticides ruined everything for worms, at least 10-15 percent of vegetables for home consumption would include worms of some shape or the other – necessitating careful picking over and cutting. If, god help you, your attention was distracted, you could end up with a mouthful of some doubtful-tasting bhindi (lady’s finger) or as mentioned earlier, half  a worm in your apple! My mom was never fazed with this – if we found a few ants in our food, well, you’ve just gotten lucky – ants are good for the eyesight!! And also for learning your maths. Really, the number of things that were good for maths – we should have been a nation of Einsteins! Added bonus if you got wormy bhindi with ants in it – you were sure to top your algebra test the next day!!

The Green Revolution changed all that and now we rarely see a worm in anything. Time, being cyclical, of course, we have come full circle to going “organic”, buying organic, wearing organic and generally being exhorted to be friendly to worms all over again!! Like a friend of mine told me, if a worm can’t survive off this cauliflower, how can we??  And, as an added bonus, you can rejoice if you find that half worm (can’t seem to get away from it, can we??!) – CONGRATULATIONS, YOU’VE EATEN AN ORGANIC WORM”!!! or half of one! (dang that half worm!) .

Don’t let all this talk of worms put you off your food – scientists are touting insects (adult worms!) as being the best source of protein ever and actively encouraging the consumption of these – apparently they learnt it from the Chinese – like almost everything else nowadays!

Let’s now carefully remove the leftover half worm (sigh….) and make something with the rest of the apple..

Flambeed Apple and Pear Crepes: 

Well, the flambeeing didn’t quite work out, but the crepes were awesome!

For the fruit filling:

  • Apples – 2
  • Pears -2
  • Cinnamon – a healthy sprinkle
  • Butter – 2 tbsp
  • Orange marmalade – 1 tbsp
  • Demerara sugar – 2 tbsp
  • Any sweet red wine – 3 tbsp

Peel, core and slice the fruit. Heat butter in a saucepan and add the fruit. Open cook for 4-5 minutes till slightly brown. Pour over the wine and the sugar and cook for a few minutes more till the fruit is softened and the liquid has evaporated. The fruit should still be slightly crunchy. Set aside.

For pancakes:

  • One cup flour
  • One cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • Pinch of salt. 
  • Butter for the pan

Whisk together everything except the butter. Slide a scant 1/4 tsp butter into a hot pan and swirl around till coated. You’ll need a little more for the frst one. Pour in 2 tbsps of batter and swirl till it forms a thin crepe. Cover and cook for a minute till brown spots appear on the bottom – yes, you’ll have to peek underneath – unless you’ve got a see-through pan! Turn over and cook for another minute, uncovered. Remove and place on a plate. Spoon in some of the filling and fold over in half. Place in a flan dish. Repeat till batter/ filling are used up. If you have filling left over, lick it up. If you have batter left over, find another topping!

for courageous souls only! – To flambee

Heat the wine till about 130 degrees F in a saucpean with high sides. Pour over the crepes and light immediately.  The more wine you pour over the crepes, the less you’ll care about any unwary worms!!

Serve with fresh cream!

 

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Ill mannered brats and unwary American guests – the joys of chutney podi!

 

“Oooh….aaaahhhhh….is this gunpowder??!!” ..was the reaction of a startled American guest when we were quite little. Americans were a novelty back then and so we stood around watching him eat – and his attempts at eating a dosa with a knife and fork sent us small and ill-mannered fry off into peals of laughter – which had to be suppressed till we were behind closed doors as we caught my father’s stern eye! Forks and knives themselves were a bit of a novelty – since our regular eating stuff consisted of a steel “thatta” or plate off which all meals including snacks, were eaten and resultant mess on fingers licked off! 

The gunpowder in question was “chutney podi” – a podi much loved by my father who could eat literally anything with it as an accompaniment – including finger chips!  The story had a happier ending, however, as our American guest, once the fumes out oh his ears and nose and eyes had settled down, began to enjoy it thoroughly and asked for seconds and thirds – much to the delight of my mom – who LOVED feeding up people – as evidenced by the sizes my brother and I have attained! For us, the small and giggly souls, we thought the homily on our manners or lack thereof, that we got from dad later – with his favourite lines “Raanu raanu Rajugaari gurralu gaadidelavuthunnayi” (as days goes by, the king’s horses are turning into donkeys!) was well worth seeing the poor American chappie eat – wonder what he made of us junglees! Actually we knew all dad’s lines so well that we got seriously worried when he slipped up on some of those lines – all was NOT well with the world then!

The south of India is full of podis – it’s a wonder that we are not always sneezing! – and each region and indeed, every household has different varieties. At this very point, for instance – let me take an inventory of my kitchen – not counting stuff like dhania powder and jeera powder, sambar and rasam powders which cannot be eaten on their own – I see idli molaga podi, garlic pappu podi, non- garlic pappodi (thanks to picky eater of a husband!), karepak podi, menthi kootu podi (these last two have already been featured on this blog) and of course, the prince of them all – CHUTNEY PODI! May have missed a few!

Chutney Podi

  • Dhaniya (coriander seeds) – 3 cup measures
  • Red chilies – 2 measures
  • Chana dal (bengal gram) – 1 measure
  • Urad dal – 1 measure
  • Putani (fried gram/ pottukadali/putnaala pappu) – 1 measure
  • Copra (dessicated coconut) -grated – 1 measure
  • Asafoetida – 1 thumbnail sized lump (not if you have hu-MON-gous nails!)
  • Tamarind – 1 measure
  • Jaggery – 1.5 measures
  • Sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
  • Salt – 1 tbsp
  • Sesame oil – 2 tbsp

In a few drops of oil, fry the asafoetida. Add the dhaniya and roast till you get a – roasted dhaniya aroma – what did you expect – Chanel no.5 aroma?? Set aside and roast each of the dals in a few drops of oil separately. The putani doesn’t really need a roasting – just drop it on top of the hot roasted other stuff. Roast the copra also till it yellows. Separately fry the tamarind in a tbsp of oil. The tamarind will turn black and smell a bit. Ignore! Set it aside – it will turn crisp when cooled. Roast the sesame seeds. Grind everything except the tamarind and the jaggery together. Add the tamarind bit by bit to the powder and grind. The mixer will tend to jump around violently but don’t get scared! Add jaggery and grind once more.

When completely cool, bottle and store – not in a frig. This lasts for two months at least. When you need some to eat as a side with idli or dosa or upma or even with yogurt like my dad used to – just take a teaspoon of it and add a few drops of sesame oil. Mix and hey presto – you got a ready instant chutney! 

p.s. Gosh, just realised i’m growing so like my dad that i eat this with yogurt only all the time!

 

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Cloud messengers and mirchi bajjis!

 
Am on a Hyderabai khana trip just now – nostalgia for childhood and the wide open maidans of my growing up year, the smell of the first rains of the monsoon which for some reason promptly induce a longing for mirchi bajji! Also the irresistable urge to buy the pale green, large chilies which are used for making this specialty every time i see them in the market! 
 
While Kalidasa’s cloud messenger Meghadootam) carried the message of the lovesick Yaksha to his lost love, to most Hyderabadis, the Dhoot (messenger) carries the smells of the mirchi bajji vendor at the street corner even more irresistably than Kalidasa’s cloud!
 
Evenings were normally meant for dropping in to people’s houses or receiving visitors – what a civilised practice! – and with the famed Hyderabadi hospitality, it was a rare visitor who left without having dinner. But before dinner came the more important stuff – mirchi bajjis!  I had a cousin who used to visit us almost every day with his wife. They used to walk about half a kilometer to our place, ask if people wanted mirchi bajjis (when did we not???!) and then all of us used to troop off to the bajjiwala next to his house. Then back home we traipsed – to consume the bajjis at home over much chit chat and bonhomie before dinner was served! Repeat five days a week for over a year!
 
I was one of those “phuskies” (gutless characters) who could NOT eat the chili part so i ate only the ‘bajji’ part and a dear uncle (Atchu maama) used to patiently eat the mirchis from all the 40-odd bajjis that we kids were eating! No smoke ever came out of his ears either –  i watched – promise! In later years, maybe as a result of all those mirchis, some hair did grow out of his ears!
 
I have eaten mirchi bajjis in many parts of India but they are just not the same as in Hyderabad  – to begin with, there is no stuffing 🙁 . Secondly, there are no rain clouds 🙁
 
Mirchi Bajjis
 
Fat, pale green bajjiwale mirchis – 10-12 – slit, keeping stalks intact
Senaga pindi (besan/ gram flour) – 1.5 cups
Salt
Tamarind – gooseberry sized lump  soaked in 1 tbsp hot water for ten minutes
Jaggery – 1 tbsp – grated
Ajwain (carom seeds) – 1/2 tsp
Jeera (cumin seeds) – 1/2 tsp
Oil to deep fry
Pound the jeera slightly and  then grind it in a mixer with the tamarind and jaggery and salt. Stuff the mirchis with this and set aside for about half an hour. Make a thick, dipping batter with the besan, ajwain and salt. Dip the stuffed mirchis in this batter and fry in medium hot oil (this is important – do not fry in very hot oil) till golden brown. Serve hot and watch the cloud messenger salivate! 
 
Now if you want to make this exotic self-saucing dish even more exotic, cut each bajji into 1 cm thick slices and sprinkle chat masala and chopped onions on top and serve.