Among the various people who have adopted me as their own, a notable pair from Mumbai, is ND and his lovely bride RD. ND without fail will call me every Sunday morning to check if I am still alive and to assure himself that I have not removed his name from my last will and testament.
Today was no exception but, our conversation took off into a different orbit when he grandly announced, to irritate me, that RD was making Undhiyu for lunch today.
That took me to my younger and more adventurous days when I used to travel extensively and taste local cuisines wherever I happened to be. I have had Undhiyu the way it should be had; under a warm winter sun in an open field in a farm with the dish being cooked in the field. I have also had the dish made the modern way using pressure cookers in a number of places and, one notable occasion was when ND’s sister in love JD, one day caught an early morning train from Mumbai to come to Pune for a day to cook Undhiyu for us. She brought all the ingredients from Mumbai as she had doubts that she could get some of them in Pune. She landed up at 11.15 am, came home, cooked and had lunch with us. She then caught the 3.30 pm train back to Mumbai.
So many memories of this particular dish today and to rub salt in my wound the rascal ND, decided to send me a photograph in WhatsApp of what RD had made.
