The Preserves

Yesterday I had extra time at the kitchen so I took out some rice vadams to deep fry in oil to accompany Bisibele baath.

These preserves are prepared at the onset of summer just like pickles. These are standby items when vegetables are not easy to get or too costly and scarce. But not anymore with better connectivity!!

Vadams are made by soaking rice flour and cooking them with spices. Then it is spread thin on white muslin cloth and put out in the bright sun to dry. It dries and dehydrates to a 3rd of its original size.

When deep fried it expands to 5 to 6 times its size. I marvel at it whenever I deep fry these snacks.

Vathals on the other hand are dehydrating vegetables when they are plenty and in season like cluster beans, potato, ladies finger, green chillies soaked in sour curds with spices, etc. The vadams and vathals are all substitutes for vegetables as they act as stand-alone side dishes as well as tea-time snacks.

A thought occured to me about the tiny seed which is in fact a packed protein growing into a big tree. We humans can dehydrate flour of rice or lentil and deep fry to get 5 to 10 times the size. Mother nature is so good at making a seed grow into a big tree with support from other natural elements like water, air, sunlight that its a marvel. Before mother nature, we are really nothing.

Mahalakshmi.