Stir fried Potatoes

Yellow, green, brown...

I am posting this just for the sheer fun in enjoying the colours in this photo.
The bright yellow of the potatoes (turmeric is the secret),
The vivid green of the curry leaves,
The various shades of brown of the fenugreek seeds and fried onions, and the coconut coated with red chilly powder,
The occassional black dots of the mustard seeds...

I had added sambar powder to this potato stir fry and it gave a wonderful spicy taste. The onions and the fenugreek seeds were fried to a crisp which gave the occassional crunchy texture too. We loved it and gorged on it.

A Coorg Get away - Stewart Valley homestay

It was on a whim that I decided to stay in Stewart Valley home stay in Madikeri. The inner critic gnawed my thoughts day in and day out questioning whether it was right to risk taking my parents to a place which has not been listed in trip advisor or reviewed anywhere. “What the heck? Let’s go and see” I thought. All I knew when we drove into Madikeri was that it is a red painted house in which Mr.Ganapathy and his wife lived. The house is an old but tastefully re-furbished and well maintained ancestral house. He gave us directions to reach the house (past the TV tower) and was waiting outside the house to make sure we dint get lost (which of-course, we did). But even if he wasn’t waiting, I think we would have identified the house, after all who would miss a huge red-painted house bang on the road? 

The courtyard and garden

Gerberas in the garden

The moment we drove past the gate and stepped out of the car, somehow I felt very relieved. May be it was the sight of the smiling Mr. Ganapathy and his wife Veena, or maybe it was the sight of a beautiful portico and a beautiful garden with flowers, or it was the cool breeze brushing our  sweaty, grimy faces. Whatever the reason was, it was a really cozy, homely feeling that swept over me and I felt relieved that I had chosen rightly. The house is sort of in the middle of the town, just a 5-10 min walk downhill (yes, it’s kind of the highest point in Madikeri town) and you will be walking past Raja’s seat, Gen. Thimmiah circle, the markets, the bus stand, good hotels and everything else. Despite being so close to the town, you are never perturbed by the hustle and bustle, being far removed from the noise and dust of the city. You can simply laze around in the veranda surrounded by the garden and enjoying the view of the hillside, or you can sit in their back yard and do nothing and snooze. We stayed in 2 rooms on either side of the house. This was kind of good; being in a house and at the same, not unncessarily bumping into other people. The bathrooms were extremely neat and clean and modern (yes, we are fussy bathroom people), they had also provided soap etc.etc. The rooms aren’t that big as you would expect in a hotel, but then who would want to remain cooped up indoors in Coorg, when there is so much to see outside?

A what's- its-name climber in the garden with beautiful pink flowers

They give complimentary breakfast and we had kadubu, sambar and a delicious coconut chutney to go with it. R also had some bread and honey. It was a welcome break after all the hotel food we were eating from outside. Veena aunty was always ready with coffee or tea whenever we requested.

Kadubu with sambar

My father had interesting long chats with Mr.Ganapathy. My mother was happily doing rounds of their beautiful garden with vibrant flowers. R even managed to try his hand at Mr.Ganapathy's airgun. He gladly regaled us with vignettes of Kodava culture. He was more than ready to tell us how to drive to Abbi falls, Talacauvery and other places, where to buy wines from and so on. We also had a tryst with Blacky, the family dog who was in a playful mood and had to be dragged back into his cage. We had to leave at 5.30 in the morning and Aunty graciously offered to make breakfast that early also but we declined. I can confidently say that one of the highlights of our trip was our stay in Stewart Valley.

[ PS: the credit for the pic below goes to R, he hinted he would kick my a*# if I dint mention him in the credits ;-) ]

A night view of Madikeri from Stewart valley

A Coorg Getaway- the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe, Kushalnagar

We decided to put the series of holidays in this week to maximum use and head to Coorg or Kodagu. The taxi driver pulled out at the last moment and we gingerly took up the gauntlet to drive the odd 270 kilometres all the way to Coorg. It was a decision which sparked much concern and confusion from R and me; ours is a 10+ year old car, nowhere near top condition, never taken for such long rides, lots of dents, bumps and scratches, and to top it all, no A/C!.  On the pros side, we both could drive in turns and the car was our trusted foot soldier since our courtship days and it would be our first road trip. Thus at night 10'o clock, we finally decided to take the plunge and place our trust in our rickety car to take us all the way to Coorg. At night 10.30, we were frantically looking at Google Maps, Google Earth and all other possible resources to identify the route; yes, we dint know the 'how to' part of the getaway. I searched and searched for a good free GPS app and finally gave up.

We set out before the crack of dawn at 5.00. The road was smooth and devoid of any traffic. Till Srirangapatna we had absolutely no confusion, it was a straight road. After that at major junctions, we asked the locals for help whenever in doubt. I learnt that the best GPS is to ask around! Never once did we lose our way till we reached Madikeri. We reached the Tibetan settlement  in Bylakuppe at around 10.30. Bylakuppe comes 4 kms before Kushalnagar. It is home to the second largest Tibetan settlement in India.

Bylakuppe, of the Tibetan settlement

 We headed straightaway to the Golden temple and the Namdroling monastery. It is a 4 Km drive  from the main road.The place was swarming with visitors. The Golden temple is an imposing structure, visible from a long way off. The monastery has monks of all ages staying and studying there. Inside the temple, there are 60 feet tall idols of 3 Buddhist gurus. The walls are decorated with murals depicting the life of various gurus. The paintings are intricately done beautifully in vibrant colours.

The first look

The 60 feet tall idols of 3 Buddhist gurus

Young monks in prayer

The intricate doors with murals of guardians on either side

The interplay of light and colours

A female deity

There were two things about the paintings which struck me. One was the depiction of female deities in the paintings. The second thing was depictions of evil spirits/ deities in some of the murals. Both these are owing to my ignorance of Buddhism, but from a layman's point of view, I was quite struck by it as I was unaware of  any female Buddhist goddesses. Also I also associated Buddhism with peacefulness
and hence was surprised to find depictions of menacing figures on the walls.

A mural of one with a fierce countenance

Purple through and through

We did see this interesting plant on the monastery grounds. It had purple leaves in addition to purple flowers.












Within the monastery compound there is a shop selling curios, Tibetan fans, trinkets, hangings etc. It is managed by 2 monks.

Trinkets, I wanted to buy every one of them!

Good luck charms

The Tibetan houses within the settlement prominently display multicoloured Buddhist prayer flags. I thought they were simply plain flags but a closer look showed they had prayers written on them.

Prayer flags fluttering in the breeze

Prayer flags in close-up

 The Tibetan cause invariably finds resonance in the minds of the settled people, as is evident from this girl sporting a t-shirt with 'Save Tibet' logo.

Championing their cause

You can spend hours together inside the various temples which are less crowded by tourists. The grounds of the monastery are vast and fit for a peaceful stroll.

Another look at the temple

The Final word: It is a must see for any tourist to Coorg.

A shocking face/off with Dill

True to my ignorance, I dint even know there was something called Dill till about roughly 2 years back. Then I saw it in one of the recipes and googled it. The main reason for this ignorance was that it has never been cooked in my house. In Kerala it is hardly ever seen or used in any cuisine. As far as I was concerned, it was something you would use  to garnish, just sprinkle on the top. So imagine my shock when  a palya/ upperi of dill leaves was served with some roti. It was the kind of reaction as if someone gave you a stir fry of cilantro leaves which you are supposed to use for garnish. More than that the taste was a shocker. The leaves just refused to go past my tonsils. I tried hard not to contort my face in front of them who had offered food to me so lovingly. I guess its an acquired taste. And I acquired it in a bad way!

To satisfy my curiosity, I googled Dill palya and found that it is a common part of kannada cuisine. I had not encountered it because they hardly ever serve it in hotels. It is popularly known as 'sabbsige' in kannada. Now I think I know why I can never be a foodie. My palate is so unforgiving to new flavours. Now I truly, deeply admire all those tv anchors who bite into ox tails and beatles without blinking an eyelid and even manages to give a thumbs up for it!

The plantain leaf wrap or Vazhayila pothi

I was coming back home from "the home" in train. In the next coupe, there were around 10-12 kannadiga men singing kannada and haindi songs as and when they came to mind. The balding man in the old couple sitting opposite me was occassionaly following the tune of familiar old hindi songs by tapping on his thigh as his wife listened dispassionately. I was wondering what these kannadiga men where doing singing songs randomly. My initial thoughts were they were playing Antakshari. But when I listened closely, it became clear, that was not the case. They were singing just like that, one song leading onto the next. I should say that I was kind of relieved, for, the image of grown-up men playing antakshari had made put a scowl on my face. Antakshari was not by any measure my remotest idea of 'games'. Too bad that this seemed to be the only game everyone wanted to play whenever we went for picnics from school and college.

It was around 8.00pm. The old couple had alighted at Ottapalam. Now there was a 30ish young man sitting opposite. The young couple in the side berth in the coupe had opened a plastic cover and started devouring the food in a wrap in it. Soon, the young man too succumbed to the salivating aromas reaching him. He too opened a packet from his bag. It had a plastic wrap around the rectangular package. Inside it was again a layer of newspaper wrapping. The innermost was the plantain leaf wrap. I think it had kept safe a couple of chappathis and some curry for the last few hours. So he started eating. Midway through his meal, a kannadiga who was seen walking up and down the compartment a couple of times came up to this guy. He asked, "Did you all get this from the train or did you bring it from home?" The surprised young man (without showing any surprise) told he got it from home.

By the time he completed his meal, I too had succumbed to the wafting aromas and opened my own carefully prepared wrap from home. It had brown rice, fish curry, long beans upperi and beef roast. Aaah...even now the thought makes me salivate. Later I was thinking.... Almost every single mallu on that train would have opened a pothi sometime in the night. It was a well known method of packing food for long journeys. I cant help but marvel at the "Locally appropriate and entirely affordable" technology. An added advantage is that it is easily disposable and bio-degradable. And waterproof too! Gosh...truly ingenious.

And this has been practiced over centuries by mothers in evey home, long before any aluminium foil came into existence.The striking thing about the plantain wrap is how it preserves the flavours. Once the leaf is rid of its moisture by passing it over a flame, it just browns up and becomes tougher and water resistant. The flavors are kept tight and packed. If anything, it adds the smoky, leafy flavour of its own to the rice.

A little surprising was the ignorance of the Kannadiga, after all he is from a neighbouring state. Yeah but plantains are not grown in all parts of that state. So they may not know.

Long live plantains and their packages which will continue to feed many more mouths on numerous journeys
back and forth.

This pic is courtesy google. I'm cursing myself why I dint photograph mine. But then this post was not born then....

Traditional Kerala kitchen.... nostalgia

This post was inspired by two cookery shows I watched in the space of an hour!
The old traditional Kerala kitchen is far from the gleaming modular ones we see these days. It is dark and grubby and can cover you in sweat in no time. Yeah, exhaust fans were unheard of then. And they used firewood for fuel, so you can just imagine the heat and the smoke. Sure, there was a smoke outlet which helped just that li’l bit.
I remember my grandmother’s kitchen. It was always hot there. They had a small gas stove, the likes of which may not be seem today. In addition there were two hearths which had wood going into them. I liked pushing the wood inside the opening which of course I was not officially allowed to do. The embers used to sparkle even after the fire went out and it was a favourite pass time to stoke it with a long metallic pipe which made a whistling noise everytime you blew through it. I think we (me & sis) used to do it even when the oven dint need any fire, just for the heck of it! Then what I remember about the kitchen is a false ceiling, from which there used to hang a dark, grubby pot. It contained the ‘unakkameen’, the smoked fish. The salty smell from the pot used to make me salivate, still does.

Another thing is remember is the old ‘ammikkallu’. With the advent of technology it has been replaced by the ‘mixies’ or the food processors. But any curry with ground pastes from the old contraption still has a unique taste which the mixie quite can’t match. Even my mother stopped using it around 10 years back. And all my attempts at it have been unsuccessful. So that is equipment that is going into extinction along with the once ubiquitous “aattukallu”. Who has the time and energy for putting in gigantic efforts for using these when all you have to do is just switch on a device instead.

May be these are fragments of a culture dying a slow death, fading into oblivion. The helplessness at reviving them makes me sad. But maybe it has happened throughout the course of history of human civilization. May be that’s what progress is; moving onto better things. Today’s’ modern homemakers can no longer be tied to these age old equipments but at the same time as part of a cultural memory we need to preserve them. What a dilemma?!

How to make bread crumbs at home - the rudimentary way

 
That is the last of the 12 potato croquettes I made. I did try out a couple of things i've not done so far in the kitchen. Well not that its a big deal, but 'twas a first for me.
For one, I made bread crumbs the way it would be made in a primitive kitchen....without a food processor or toaster or oven. I heated up the bread over a dosa thattu till they were brown and crispy. Then put it in a hole free plastic cover and bludgeoned it with the steel mortar i have. Turned out quite well.
Next up new was the rolling in egg stuff of the croquette balls.Its a very messy thing but could finish up the whole batch without much fuss and mess.
The croquettes were in high demand though I dint find them much suitable to my palate. But it went down well with the ketchup anyways.

Grow your own turkey!!

Growing your own lunch...seems quite a good idea. Most people would take that to mean having your own kitchen garden and growing some greeny stuff . But what if it means growing your meat? Well...that's the idea chef Gordon Ramsay has about his family's christmas lunch. He was growing turkeys in his backyard, fattening them up and giving them space for 'exercises' in their coop...all for the lunch. He has made his family pitch in too....his li'l kids, aged somewhere below 8 yrs all are a big part of it. They get to pick the turkeys from the farm, name them after famous chefs (there is a Nigella and a Gary!!). They even squeal in pleasure when Papa says "This is Antony and we are going to roast him after 8 weeks" !!

I'm not sure that's quite a great idea...teaching your kids the idea that...well whatever it is...something like- its ok to be butchering. Well i may not be putting it across well. What I mean is, if I were to be in their place, and there was a turkey I was caring  for 8 weeks time, I dont think I'll be feeling comfortable seeing it browning on the grill. So may be if you are telling them its alright  to do that and you dont have to feel clammy about it,you're kind of making them insensitive....or un-feeling....or whatever is the word. The bottom line is I wont feel confortable growing such a luch with my kids.

Supposedly Gordon's take on this is...he wants his kids to know that their christmas lunch doesn't come from the supermarket. He wants to show them how it actually happens. I dont know...may be you could just  buy a turkey and kill it at home and show them that instead, instead of fattening it up and making lunch out of it. Well the line is a thin one...but I know which side I'm on.

Dinner time

This is what we had for dinner.... chick nuggets, salad and liquid.
Usually too many cooks spoil the broth. but in this case we shared the spoils! The chicken nuggets were cooked to perfection by R, with nice brown crusts and soft insides. Then there was the salad I drummed up with tomato, grilled paneer and sauteed, finely chopped capsicum (because i dont like big lumps of green), topped with grated cheese, drizzled with 2 tbsp of olive salt and finally seasoned with salt and pepper. Finally there was mango juice; courtesy tropicana. The end line is, we were jus' too lazy to cook up something... but 'twas light and comfy dinner in the end peppered with lots of blah-blah. Lights out.
PS: this is my heavily picasso'ed snap taken with a mobile...hence the quality

The Bingo-Mirinda paradox

Most of the ramblings, i guess at this point of time, would be based on the journeys i make everyday. So let this be the first one. Actually I always thought the first post will be explaining the spring onion story...but guess that will have to wait!
Coming to the paradox.... Yesterday in the bus there was this woman sitting in front of me.. she was talking in what i guess is telugu. The only meaningful word I could make out was 'necklace'. So I guess it had something to do with jewellery...ah...great guess??!!
Sorry back to our paradox again. So the thing was....mid way through the ride, she tore open a small packet of Bingo, the potato chips kind of stuff. It must cost around Rs.5 I guess. From the way she was munching on it it pretty much seemed she was relishing it. My attention got switched somewhere in between...you can imagine what the chaotic roads of Bangalore will do to your attention! When she came into my view again, she was drinking a vottle of mirinda, the orange coloured one. This time i was plainly shocked. What is shocking in someone eating and drinking you might ask. Well the thing is, I dint describe the women. She was clad in a type sari which typically the poor wear. She had a huge sack of flowers from the Market, so onviously she made a living selling garlands she made out of them. So the income is also likely to be low in her case. What surprised me was a woman from a low socio-economic status consuming typical junk food which is as far as it can get from healthy food. Even though I may not have to think twice for spending that much money, Ihavent had a Bingo or such stuff for a year or so!! This is the paradox which has been seen in developed countries like US where the poor tend to but cheaply available but unhealthy foods like burgers...and their health goes down the drain. Never expected to see the thing happening up close here... that explains the shock I hope. That is a curt closing line coz I'm afraid if it continues in this line it will become an academic discourse which will bore even yours truly...!