Last week, I spent a very pleasant few hours with a young friend, KS who dropped in and stayed for lunch with us. As he was leaving he suggested that I come over to his place this week for another meeting and perhaps lunch at his home. I readily agreed and saw him off.
Later the same day, a cousin rang me up to chat and we were reminiscing about our respective mothers who were sisters. Among the discussions the topic veered to favourite food made by each other’s mother and I recollected a combination food that my aunt used to make called Thiruvadirai Kali and Ezhu Kari Kootu. . This is an unusual combination of one sweet dish accompanied by a savoury one. One has to eat the combination to appreciate the unusual experience one has with this combination.
I mentioned to my cousin that the last time that I had this particular combination was sometime around the late nineties of the last century. This combination is usually made only during that particular festival once a year but, my late mother used to make it specially for me whenever she visited us or I went wherever she was camping. My cousin promised to come over and cook it for me one of these days and we went on to talk about other matters.
It suddenly occurred to me that KS’s mother was visiting him and she would be able to perhaps come up with this combination and I asked him if he could persuade his mother to make it for me when I came over for lunch. He checked with his mother and confirmed that I would have it for lunch and fixed the date as today.
With much anticipation I trooped off to their place earlier today and lo and behold, the dishes plus a few other goodies had been prepared for the occasion and I had a feast. The LOH had taken a great deal of pains to make both the dishes to perfection and frankly, I over ate. To cap it all off she had also made a sweet dish with pumpkins which again was out of this world. I regretted having over eaten the main attraction and could not do justice to the dessert.
While I was busy eating and also enjoying the visuals of the lunch, KS took this photograph to save the occasion for posterity.
Oh how wonderful that you could enjoy the food of your memories!
When will WordPress ever start remembering my data so I don’t have to keep reentering it? 🙂 Seems to do so on some other WP blogs I visit, but they have often offered a check box requesting my info be remembered.
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I am indeed sorry that this problem continues to bug you, me and many others. I hope that WP does something about it soon. My go to person for my blog’s problems has conveyed this to them but, there has been no action from their side. Let us hope that they will soon do something about it.
Saapaaturamana (glutton)….enjoy… Treats come by rarely.
KS and his mother have promised to spoil me whenever the mood takes me!
I’m glad you have someone in your life to spoil you—you deserve it! The food looks fabulous, and in this picture, you look like you are contemplating whether to not you can manage another bite!
Diane, I am fortunate that I have many people who spoil at me every opportunity that they get. I suppose that I get the maternal instinct out of them! You hit the button right on its head. I was indeed contemplating exactly that when KS, without my being aware of it, took that picture.
You have lovely hands, Ramana. It’s the sort of thing I notice. Also, may I say that you always look a lot fitter than some of your reports on your health convey. Though where is your signature beam in that particular photo? Diane Dahli is probably right – you look like a man defeated or at least questioning where to put it all.
Hope you’ll be pleased to hear that I have taken up Indian cooking big time and in all seriousness. No, not just throwing any old “curry powder” and a few poppadums at a dish but making up spice mixes from scratch. OH MY GOD, Ramana, I am in seventh heaven, the variety, the nuances when putting spices together as to the final outcome … a true Aladdin’s cave. Not, of course, that I can ever match the bred-in-the bone skills of your very own mother(s).
Being an enthusiastic cook I have come to the intricacies of Asian cooking relatively late. And let it not be said that the vastness of the Continent and geographical takes on dishes will defeat me. What delving into it has done though is humble me.
Talking of Aladdin and his cave of treasure, the other day the Angel and I (over a meal of Indian morsels) talked about senses. Interestingly, he reckons that the sense of smell is one of the more vital, not least in relation to our ability to “taste”. In the wake of which I found it most disconcerting that I then found out that, apparently, the sense of smell is the first to get fainter and fainter as we age. Brilliant. No wonder some very very very old people eat so little. After all, I suppose, appetite is stoked by smell and taste. Where that’ll leave Shackman with his American diet (joke alert) I do not know. I suppose when the time comes I could feed him my oh so delicious mini falafels tucked into mini burger buns to keep the illusion.
U
Thank you for admiring my hands. I plead not guilty for their appearance. I am fit enough to be sitting around. It is when I begin any activity standing or walking that my problems start. That is why I have become so inactive.
Many moons ago, I was told that the correct meaning of “flavour” when it came to food was the combination of smell and taste of the dish. So, I am not at all surprised that you find Indian food intriguing. The spices and their combination inevitably add scent as well as taste to the dishes. You can try your mini falafals and mini burgers using substitute meat on me too.
That food sounds and looks good. I’m hoping to be in India for the first time in October and am looking forward to some new tastes.
I hope that your travels in India bring you to my hometown too. I can point you in the right direction for some local food.
you have my ‘simple white dishes’ Rummy!
in other words… “let the food shine.” 😀
and the food choices do look intriguing.
For Indians, food is very important. And, the choices indeed are mind boggling. Just to give a lead to more information about it, please read this https://www.hinduwebsite.com/symbolism/symbols/food.asp
what a wonderful and memorable feast – both the description of it and the comments made by others…thanks for sharing everyone
to the person bemoaning the fill-in procedure…what I’m most pleased about is that w/press fixed the “error box when you tried to comment at mostly w/press blogs”
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Yes, it was and I have received other messages via other media about how some have got the dishes made at home just to revive old memories.
Boy does that look good. I swear I could be vegan with the proper chef LOLLOL.
Very simple Shackman. You emigrate to Pune. I guarantee that you will not face immigration problems for such a noble cause.