Since childhood I had tagged along with my mom to many places. I would help her voluntarily with the kitchen work. I would never shy away from slogging whenever there was need to get work done.
My early memories of tiffin were of grinding at the stone, rice, urad dal into a thick consistency. Mom would soak it all and ask me to grind them and keep it ready for the evening tifiin. If there was an item missing I was expected to rush to the Mozamjahi Market to fetch and include the same too. These were my first lessons in cooking from my mom from a tender age. The instructions were strictly followed and with time I would know how to grind for each of those batter-based tiffins like Idli, Vada, Dosa and Adai.
For Idli and Dosa the urad dal and rice would be soaked separately for a few hours in 1:4 proportion where for every one measure of urad there would be four of rice soaked.
If we kids wanted vada another tiffin then one more measure of urad dal would be soaked and ground to a fluffy paste and immediately deep fried into vadas.
Vada:
Urad would be ground separately first until it was fluffy, buttery and the paste filled half the vessel. This soaked lentil, when constantly ground with little water, would fluff up to 10 times its volume! Very airy and very soft batter would be so good for making vadas.
Vada is made of urad dal and a bit of salt and asoefotida. a little is taken on a wet hand and flattened into a roundel and a deep hole punched in the middle with a finger and then deep fried in hot oil. Its a staple tiffin all over Southern India and best when eaten when just out from the hot oil pan. The best accompaniment is thin sambar and fresh coconut chutney.
Idli and Dosa:
When urad is ground, next the rice is ground and mixed into the urad paste and let to rest for one whole night so that it ferments overnight. Idlis are steamed which is said to be the best nutrition-wise and best for breakfast. Again sambar, fresh coconut chutney and idli powder is best as accompaniment for this all time favourite of the South Indians. In fact Idli is the nickname given to all Indians hailing from South India!!
The same batter can be used to spread delicious and crisp dosas. Idli is steamed whereas dosa is spread on a hot plate and a little oil is added to the sides and on top so that it cooks to a nice crispy paper-thin circles. The same accompaniments are popular for the dosa too. For dosa many like an additional mate in the form of potato masala curry. And then there are many types of dosa with fillings too.
Idlis, Vada and Dosa all belong to one group.
Adai is a bit heavier with many lentils plus rice and other spices to pep up the taste. Its protein rich tiffin and even if we have one or two it is filling. Too much of it could upset the stomach, so many mothers restrict the numbers to each member of the family.
Adai:
Now for the most popular recipe of the Adai which I used to grind for my mom since the time I was very young.
Rice 2 cups
Tuvar dal 1/4 cup
Pesar dal 1/4 cup
Bengal gram dal 1/4 cup
Urad dal 1/4 cup
Red chillies 15 numbers
Curry leaves a generous handful
Asofoetida a generous 2 Teaspoons
Salt to taste. Rock salt best for Adai.
All these are picked for stones or impurities. Then washed and soaked for at least an hour in 3 cups of water. When you pinch bengal gram dal it should break. This is a test to see whether the dals and rice have soaked in water.
All the above ingredients are ground together in thick, course paste.
If this batter is fermented for at least 8 hours one need not worry about digestion problems. Fermented batter would make a lot of difference to the taste also.
Some add finely chopped onions just before shallow frying the adai.
Adai batter is spread on a hot plate just as you would a dosa. Though it takes a little bit more time to cook on both sides and a generous dose of oil should turn adai into a crispy tiffin.
Best accompaniments are avial (a medlay of all vegetables stewed in its own juices, salt, coconut milk, cummin seeds, curry leaves and coconut oil), jaggery, butter, jackfruit jam, ginger chutney.
Since it contains all the dals plus the carb in the rice it makes for an ideal meal by itself and is very filling too.
Through the years I have experimented with different proportions, different ingredients like onions, ginger, fresh corriander, drumstick leaves, omam or ajwain, jeera, methi, green and red chillies, etc to give my adais a special taste each time.
My sons would love these tiffins and I enjoyed looking at them eat with relish.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Summer Camp Part - 3 Making of the Jackfruit Jam
This one was a summer camp learning the process of making the annual jackfruit jam at Ananthpur.
These were carefree times spent at my paternal grandpa's palatial house. No lessons to read. No handwriting pages of Hindi, English and Telugu. Except the morning ritual of reading out aloud 'The Hindu' newspaper to my grandpa there was nothing but fun in the day ahead.
The morning would be a hot cup of the best filter coffee with fresh cow's milk delivered at the door step early each morning. Then reading the daily newspaper. Then having a bath, praying and an errand boy would carry a big parcel of our breakfast of hot idlis and the fluffiest of vadas as breakfast from a nearby vegetarian hotel - I think an Udipi hotel. Grandma would add a dollop of fresh butter onto the hot steaming idlis and laddle out some coconut chutney and delicious sambar and a vadai or two onto our plates. That would be filling and would keep us away from hunger until 1pm lunch time.
I have memories of wandering around in the backyard which had huge drumstick trees and a huge well around which many trees surrounded and reflect their green leaves in the water below. The well would be covered with a locked iron grill plate so that we kids would not accidentally fall into it anytime.
The kitchen's door would be connected to the backyard so I would go in and out of the kitchen into the backyard often.
Evenings would be fun as there would be car or bus rides as all new vehicles would be test driven by someone from the company. In the absence of long drives, it would be to the theatre to see the latest movie, mostly Telugu movies. During the Dasera it would be a ride in the family owned private tonga to the houses of many even if it were for showing off the thanga kaas malai, or some rare manga necklace or my new pattu pavadai or a diamond raakudi or to sing a few songs at someone's house out of habit and not out of passion or interest! I was hardly 9 or 10 then. I wonder how Ananthpur now looks like these days! There would be a relative called Rajappa who would be kind and smiling, who would take us out on those test drives of vehicles. What fun such trips to Ananthpur during summers would be.
As Bangalore is quite near Ananthpur, we would get many exotic vegetables and fruits right at our doorstep. Also grandpa had a good motor parts and motor sales outlet right on the main road facing the main bus stand, cars going to Bangalore would bring loads of vegetables and fruits on their return.
Whatever be the seasonal fruits or vegetables would be enjoyed by all of us.
Jackfruits were aplenty here. Grandma would ask the errand boy to cut open the big jackfruits and deseed the fruits inside. It would be so absorbing to watch how the fruit would be plucked out from a maze of wiry mess inside the thorny outer cover of the jack.
Many pieces would be heaped into a big vessel to be washed and cleaned of all the natural glue which the fruit is famous for. The errand boy would dip freely into a plate of oil kept beside him to grease and ease his hands of the messy glue, not to speak of the sharp knife he would handle with great ease even while it kept slipping away from his oily hands now and then.
Granny would sit at the grinding stone to make a fine pulp of the fruit. The pulp would then be measured. A similar measure of broken-down jaggery would be made into a thick syrup which would be filtered of all impurities. The jackfruit pulp would then be added to this syrup for further cooking. This mixture is piously stirred patiently for a long time, until it becomes a very thick semi-solid paste like a jam. The quantity would be really huge as it was an annual preparation. Huge quantities of clarified butter or ghee would be added and stirred for some more time. The aroma would fill the entire house but the kids would be kept away from the hot jam as it retains high heat for a very long time.
This gooey mixture is allowed to cool off really well until the next morning perhaps. Clean and dry glass or ceramic jars would be used to store it for the year long use in making sweet jackfruit based preparations like payasams, pradamans, etc.
This jam is called as 'chakka varratti' from which 'chakka pradaman' and other delicious items are made. This is basically a preserve which lasts an year depending on qauntities used on occassions.
For special guests payasam using this jam would be made becuase this fruit is very seasonal in nature. The jam is too sweet and aromatic to be true. The taste makes us eat more than we can digest leading to stomach upsets often. Therefore, good quantities of dried ginger powder is used while preparing the payasam, etc. Some add it to the jam itself. Dry ginger is an effective digestive.
This jam is a great accompaniment for adai (which is spread like a dosa but has more variety of lentils which are ground alongwith rice to a batter consistency).
Again there is a special tiffin made using this jam alongwith ground raw rice, patted into roundels and steamed on banana leaves which is called 'elai adai'. This is a tasty tiffin using this jackfruit jam as the main base.
This was an all purpose preserve of jackfruit while in season. Later during festivals and special occassions a portion of the jam would go into making many interesting dishes mentioned above. All mouth-watering.
From Ananthpur I watched the process of making annual items like the jackfruit jam which I can never forget. I dont make it for the entire year. I make it fresh and consume it within a couple of months and in small quantities. Nevertheless the family enjoys such special treats which I love making for them. The jackfruit jam is a favourite among all members of my family.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
These were carefree times spent at my paternal grandpa's palatial house. No lessons to read. No handwriting pages of Hindi, English and Telugu. Except the morning ritual of reading out aloud 'The Hindu' newspaper to my grandpa there was nothing but fun in the day ahead.
The morning would be a hot cup of the best filter coffee with fresh cow's milk delivered at the door step early each morning. Then reading the daily newspaper. Then having a bath, praying and an errand boy would carry a big parcel of our breakfast of hot idlis and the fluffiest of vadas as breakfast from a nearby vegetarian hotel - I think an Udipi hotel. Grandma would add a dollop of fresh butter onto the hot steaming idlis and laddle out some coconut chutney and delicious sambar and a vadai or two onto our plates. That would be filling and would keep us away from hunger until 1pm lunch time.
I have memories of wandering around in the backyard which had huge drumstick trees and a huge well around which many trees surrounded and reflect their green leaves in the water below. The well would be covered with a locked iron grill plate so that we kids would not accidentally fall into it anytime.
The kitchen's door would be connected to the backyard so I would go in and out of the kitchen into the backyard often.
Evenings would be fun as there would be car or bus rides as all new vehicles would be test driven by someone from the company. In the absence of long drives, it would be to the theatre to see the latest movie, mostly Telugu movies. During the Dasera it would be a ride in the family owned private tonga to the houses of many even if it were for showing off the thanga kaas malai, or some rare manga necklace or my new pattu pavadai or a diamond raakudi or to sing a few songs at someone's house out of habit and not out of passion or interest! I was hardly 9 or 10 then. I wonder how Ananthpur now looks like these days! There would be a relative called Rajappa who would be kind and smiling, who would take us out on those test drives of vehicles. What fun such trips to Ananthpur during summers would be.
As Bangalore is quite near Ananthpur, we would get many exotic vegetables and fruits right at our doorstep. Also grandpa had a good motor parts and motor sales outlet right on the main road facing the main bus stand, cars going to Bangalore would bring loads of vegetables and fruits on their return.
Whatever be the seasonal fruits or vegetables would be enjoyed by all of us.
Jackfruits were aplenty here. Grandma would ask the errand boy to cut open the big jackfruits and deseed the fruits inside. It would be so absorbing to watch how the fruit would be plucked out from a maze of wiry mess inside the thorny outer cover of the jack.
Many pieces would be heaped into a big vessel to be washed and cleaned of all the natural glue which the fruit is famous for. The errand boy would dip freely into a plate of oil kept beside him to grease and ease his hands of the messy glue, not to speak of the sharp knife he would handle with great ease even while it kept slipping away from his oily hands now and then.
Granny would sit at the grinding stone to make a fine pulp of the fruit. The pulp would then be measured. A similar measure of broken-down jaggery would be made into a thick syrup which would be filtered of all impurities. The jackfruit pulp would then be added to this syrup for further cooking. This mixture is piously stirred patiently for a long time, until it becomes a very thick semi-solid paste like a jam. The quantity would be really huge as it was an annual preparation. Huge quantities of clarified butter or ghee would be added and stirred for some more time. The aroma would fill the entire house but the kids would be kept away from the hot jam as it retains high heat for a very long time.
This gooey mixture is allowed to cool off really well until the next morning perhaps. Clean and dry glass or ceramic jars would be used to store it for the year long use in making sweet jackfruit based preparations like payasams, pradamans, etc.
This jam is called as 'chakka varratti' from which 'chakka pradaman' and other delicious items are made. This is basically a preserve which lasts an year depending on qauntities used on occassions.
For special guests payasam using this jam would be made becuase this fruit is very seasonal in nature. The jam is too sweet and aromatic to be true. The taste makes us eat more than we can digest leading to stomach upsets often. Therefore, good quantities of dried ginger powder is used while preparing the payasam, etc. Some add it to the jam itself. Dry ginger is an effective digestive.
This jam is a great accompaniment for adai (which is spread like a dosa but has more variety of lentils which are ground alongwith rice to a batter consistency).
Again there is a special tiffin made using this jam alongwith ground raw rice, patted into roundels and steamed on banana leaves which is called 'elai adai'. This is a tasty tiffin using this jackfruit jam as the main base.
This was an all purpose preserve of jackfruit while in season. Later during festivals and special occassions a portion of the jam would go into making many interesting dishes mentioned above. All mouth-watering.
From Ananthpur I watched the process of making annual items like the jackfruit jam which I can never forget. I dont make it for the entire year. I make it fresh and consume it within a couple of months and in small quantities. Nevertheless the family enjoys such special treats which I love making for them. The jackfruit jam is a favourite among all members of my family.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi.
Summer Camp Part 2 - Making of Avvakkai & Preserves.
Come summer and it was time to plan for the rains and winter ahead.
I still recollect how another of mom’s sister and her daughter, Jaya akka of East Marredpally and me would go to the Monda Market near the Secunderabad Railway Station to buy raw, sour and bright green mangoes in bulk.
It would be around mid-March and all houses would pool together to make large quantities of Avvakkaya pickle.
The needs of each house would be kept in mind before going to the market.
If uncle’s need was for 50 mangoes, aunt’s son’s for 50 mangoes and her daughter’s for 25 mangoes, then 3 of us will go to the market to get 110 mangoes as some 15 extra mangoes will always be thrown in by the seller for free, due to bulk buying.
Then I remember how we went around doing some more processing before returning back home with bags full of cut mangoes. As the mangoes were raw they would be hard to cut. This pickle needs to be cut alongwith the tough seed cover intact. So there would be a special shop just to cut these raw mangoes for Avakkai.
8 pieces to a mango would be the count. (First a powerful blow from a sharp sword-like cutter would halve the mango. Then one half would be cut into 2 and again these 2 will be cut into halves). That makes 8 pieces to a mango.
One of us would hold the bag into which 50 x 8 pieces of cut mangoes would go. Similarly for another 50 and then for another for 25 mangoes. It required manpower to lug around such dead weight and I would be the first to volunteer for such outdoor activities.
We would move on with the loads to the grocer’s to buy the whole spices for the pickle preparation. Rock salt. Red chillies. Mustard seeds. Gingely oil. Whole Bengal gram dal. Fenugreek seeds. The quantities were carefully pre-calculated and bought just for the pickles. The red chillies would be from a particular district in Andhra like the famed Guntur chillies which would be spicier and more reddish in color than the other chilly varieties.
Then we would hop onto a cycle-rickshaw to come back with the load. The elderly two would sit on the seat while I would sit at their feet on one side with my legs hanging freely down below - at times touching the road surface if I was not careful. The bags would be adjusted in whatever available space with all of us holding this or that so that things arrived all intact. All this was so much of an adventure.
The process of cleaning the mango pieces would take a long time so all the other ladies would join hands to quickly deal with the task while two of them would start supervising the maid servant with the pounding of the mustard seeds, salt and the red chillies into a fine powder with a wooden pestle. There would be a certain rhythm to this pounding and the maid would sing softly to reduce her strain. Or she would just mutter a 'sshh', 'sshh' with each powerful pounding stroke.
Elsewhere in a big room, another important activity of removing a thin film-like sheet inside the kernel of each and every piece of the cut mango would be taking place. Simultaneusly the mango piece would be wiped clean of all dirt. The contents of each bag would be emptied and cleaned separately, one by one.
Then in a huge vessel (which would be taken out, washed, dried and again wiped clean), a batch of the cleaned mango pieces, salt, chilly powder, mustard powder, fenugreek seeds, Bengal gram dal would be added according to the quantities of cut pieces. I would keenly listen to the elders comment about last year’s pickle and its taste and the proportion of the various powders for this year, the price rise, of course, even then this was a hot favourite topic to discuss.
(Each and every year the standard procedure of adding about 250gms each of salt, red chilli powder and mustard powder, for cut pieces of 25 mangoes still rings in my ears and I follow the same ratio todate while preparing avvakkaya at home) 50gms each of fenugreek and Bengal gram dal and mixed well with bare hands so that each piece is coated with all the spices. Then that batch was packed in large, clean and dry ceramic jars. Oil was then poured over it until the eye could see the oil layer floating freely on top of the mixture below in the tall jar. I should not miss telling about the measuring cup of those days. It was a circular tin like the ones we get milkmaid in these days. Those days these tins were called as 'cigarette tins'. Perhaps these tins were packed with cigarettes before it came to households to be used as a measuring units. Each would hold about 250gm of salt or whatever powder we filled it with. So for every 25 mangoes, one cigarette tin of mustard powder, one of red chilly powder, one of salt, a 5th of whole fenugreek and a 5th of whole bengal gram dal would be added to be mixed well. Roughly 750ml of gingely oil would suffice to soak these mangoes in a ceramic jar. These are the proportions followed for the lime pickle but the ingredients are lesser with only salt, slit green chillies, slit fresh ginger, a tablespoon of turmeric powder and a tablespoon of asoefotida would make the best lime pickle in the world but only with the right process employed while making them.
Coming back to our mango pickling. Note that nothing is cooked. Everything is used in its raw state only. Then the jar is sealed well so that the pickle will be let to soak and soften the mangoes with all these spices. The Bengal gram dal and fenugreek also would soak in the spices and would be so tasty to eat.
More than the taste it was the group effort from the eldest to the youngest in making pickles and preserves like vadams or vadiyalu which was fun learning and knowing many things which cannot be taught in a class. There would be interesting gossip about this relative and that. Those were the days. Without really making an effort we would all learn new things each and every day through such activities like making a list, judging quantities, budgeting, finance, taking appropriate shopping bags, shopping for things, getting things done before we could get to taste the fresh avakka pickles of the year. There was a special taste to these things because of our direct participation in making them.
It was not only avakka. There were gooseberry pickles to make. Gooseberry jam to make. Papads, rice cakes preserves to make and dry in the hot sun. the tasting sessions would be the best. The worst would be to sit in the hot sun in the terrace to drive away crows and other birds who would also like to taste the items before they could turn bone dry. These would be deep fried. A small piece of dried rice cake would flare up to become such a big piece in hot oil and would be so tasty too. Not even potato chips can replace this taste.
Varieties of mango pickles like sweet sour, the one with fenugreek, asoefotida, chilli powder, oil and salt – called the mendia manga, manga morabba (mango marmalade), etc. then the lime pickles. The summer kept us all busy with such activities. By coming together we were helping each other prepare the bigger volume things which were useful on rainy days when vegetables would be scarce.
I prepare these things even now but alone. Quantities never scare me as I have handled and seen great quantities being made from my childhood days. At 56 the enthusiasm still persists but my arms beg me to take rest more often during such attempts. Anyway I don’t make for 5 families. I make for only my own family of 5 which has shrunk to 3 with the two kids away for the past 2 years now.
In Summer Camp Part 3 I would like to say something of a special jam I watched in the making at Ananthpur at my paternal grandma's house.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
I still recollect how another of mom’s sister and her daughter, Jaya akka of East Marredpally and me would go to the Monda Market near the Secunderabad Railway Station to buy raw, sour and bright green mangoes in bulk.
It would be around mid-March and all houses would pool together to make large quantities of Avvakkaya pickle.
The needs of each house would be kept in mind before going to the market.
If uncle’s need was for 50 mangoes, aunt’s son’s for 50 mangoes and her daughter’s for 25 mangoes, then 3 of us will go to the market to get 110 mangoes as some 15 extra mangoes will always be thrown in by the seller for free, due to bulk buying.
Then I remember how we went around doing some more processing before returning back home with bags full of cut mangoes. As the mangoes were raw they would be hard to cut. This pickle needs to be cut alongwith the tough seed cover intact. So there would be a special shop just to cut these raw mangoes for Avakkai.
8 pieces to a mango would be the count. (First a powerful blow from a sharp sword-like cutter would halve the mango. Then one half would be cut into 2 and again these 2 will be cut into halves). That makes 8 pieces to a mango.
One of us would hold the bag into which 50 x 8 pieces of cut mangoes would go. Similarly for another 50 and then for another for 25 mangoes. It required manpower to lug around such dead weight and I would be the first to volunteer for such outdoor activities.
We would move on with the loads to the grocer’s to buy the whole spices for the pickle preparation. Rock salt. Red chillies. Mustard seeds. Gingely oil. Whole Bengal gram dal. Fenugreek seeds. The quantities were carefully pre-calculated and bought just for the pickles. The red chillies would be from a particular district in Andhra like the famed Guntur chillies which would be spicier and more reddish in color than the other chilly varieties.
Then we would hop onto a cycle-rickshaw to come back with the load. The elderly two would sit on the seat while I would sit at their feet on one side with my legs hanging freely down below - at times touching the road surface if I was not careful. The bags would be adjusted in whatever available space with all of us holding this or that so that things arrived all intact. All this was so much of an adventure.
The process of cleaning the mango pieces would take a long time so all the other ladies would join hands to quickly deal with the task while two of them would start supervising the maid servant with the pounding of the mustard seeds, salt and the red chillies into a fine powder with a wooden pestle. There would be a certain rhythm to this pounding and the maid would sing softly to reduce her strain. Or she would just mutter a 'sshh', 'sshh' with each powerful pounding stroke.
Elsewhere in a big room, another important activity of removing a thin film-like sheet inside the kernel of each and every piece of the cut mango would be taking place. Simultaneusly the mango piece would be wiped clean of all dirt. The contents of each bag would be emptied and cleaned separately, one by one.
Then in a huge vessel (which would be taken out, washed, dried and again wiped clean), a batch of the cleaned mango pieces, salt, chilly powder, mustard powder, fenugreek seeds, Bengal gram dal would be added according to the quantities of cut pieces. I would keenly listen to the elders comment about last year’s pickle and its taste and the proportion of the various powders for this year, the price rise, of course, even then this was a hot favourite topic to discuss.
(Each and every year the standard procedure of adding about 250gms each of salt, red chilli powder and mustard powder, for cut pieces of 25 mangoes still rings in my ears and I follow the same ratio todate while preparing avvakkaya at home) 50gms each of fenugreek and Bengal gram dal and mixed well with bare hands so that each piece is coated with all the spices. Then that batch was packed in large, clean and dry ceramic jars. Oil was then poured over it until the eye could see the oil layer floating freely on top of the mixture below in the tall jar. I should not miss telling about the measuring cup of those days. It was a circular tin like the ones we get milkmaid in these days. Those days these tins were called as 'cigarette tins'. Perhaps these tins were packed with cigarettes before it came to households to be used as a measuring units. Each would hold about 250gm of salt or whatever powder we filled it with. So for every 25 mangoes, one cigarette tin of mustard powder, one of red chilly powder, one of salt, a 5th of whole fenugreek and a 5th of whole bengal gram dal would be added to be mixed well. Roughly 750ml of gingely oil would suffice to soak these mangoes in a ceramic jar. These are the proportions followed for the lime pickle but the ingredients are lesser with only salt, slit green chillies, slit fresh ginger, a tablespoon of turmeric powder and a tablespoon of asoefotida would make the best lime pickle in the world but only with the right process employed while making them.
Coming back to our mango pickling. Note that nothing is cooked. Everything is used in its raw state only. Then the jar is sealed well so that the pickle will be let to soak and soften the mangoes with all these spices. The Bengal gram dal and fenugreek also would soak in the spices and would be so tasty to eat.
More than the taste it was the group effort from the eldest to the youngest in making pickles and preserves like vadams or vadiyalu which was fun learning and knowing many things which cannot be taught in a class. There would be interesting gossip about this relative and that. Those were the days. Without really making an effort we would all learn new things each and every day through such activities like making a list, judging quantities, budgeting, finance, taking appropriate shopping bags, shopping for things, getting things done before we could get to taste the fresh avakka pickles of the year. There was a special taste to these things because of our direct participation in making them.
It was not only avakka. There were gooseberry pickles to make. Gooseberry jam to make. Papads, rice cakes preserves to make and dry in the hot sun. the tasting sessions would be the best. The worst would be to sit in the hot sun in the terrace to drive away crows and other birds who would also like to taste the items before they could turn bone dry. These would be deep fried. A small piece of dried rice cake would flare up to become such a big piece in hot oil and would be so tasty too. Not even potato chips can replace this taste.
Varieties of mango pickles like sweet sour, the one with fenugreek, asoefotida, chilli powder, oil and salt – called the mendia manga, manga morabba (mango marmalade), etc. then the lime pickles. The summer kept us all busy with such activities. By coming together we were helping each other prepare the bigger volume things which were useful on rainy days when vegetables would be scarce.
I prepare these things even now but alone. Quantities never scare me as I have handled and seen great quantities being made from my childhood days. At 56 the enthusiasm still persists but my arms beg me to take rest more often during such attempts. Anyway I don’t make for 5 families. I make for only my own family of 5 which has shrunk to 3 with the two kids away for the past 2 years now.
In Summer Camp Part 3 I would like to say something of a special jam I watched in the making at Ananthpur at my paternal grandma's house.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
Best of Summer Camps In Childhood - Part 1
Times change and how.
These are the days of enrolling kids in summer camps.
There are subjects like maths and science, taught in some.
Some teach hobbies like painting, crafts, pottery making, etc.
Many kids learn a little about such activities during summer before the school reopens for the next grade.
In the absence of vacationing with grandparents or aunts and uncles, summer camps are a very good option to keep the kids engaged in a very positive way. Learning something and not getting into trouble when parents are not around are worth it but at a cost. Skills are learnt but not the life skills of interacting or bonding with others.
We too had our fair share of summer camps.
Most were at East Marredpally, Secunderabad where my mom’s sisters and brothers and their families lived in a complex of 5 houses inside one common compound wall.
We would hop from one house to another.
My aunt (maami) would cook for us all and lovingly serve us heavenly food.
My uncle (maama) being the eldest son, was the head of the family. He was revered and his advice was sought for on all matters, however small. We lived separately at Hyderabad and came on visits or during vacations.
There was so much bonhomie. My uncle would engage us in quiz. He would come forward to prepare some sweet, helped by all of us. I still remember the white pumpkin halwa he made for all of us. There was a kitchen garden in which the season's vegetables would be grown. White pumpkins were aplenty at home. Pumpkin in all dishes like dals, sambar, kootu, pachadi and still so many pumpkins left. Maamaji decided he was going to pluck some and make halwa out of it. We watched the process with so much interest. Pumpkins were cleaned and the thick skin scrapped away. Then the flesh was freed of all the seeds and grated finely. Then so much grated pumpkin for so much sugar to make the halwa. Such fun we had peeping into the huge hot vessel to check whether the pumpkin had cooked and become glassy. He would keep stirring the halwa and explain about the sugar, water, grated pumpkin, cardomom powder, etc.,
Each day at noon time we would look forward to some project in the kitchen. He would ask my aunt (maami) to prepare snacks like murukku(twisted flat in 3" dia roundels made from raw rice powder, etc), cheedai(marble-like snacks made from raw rice powder, butter, etc) or thattai.
We would help twist the murukku, roll the cheedai or pat the thattais but before that my maami would make a tiny pyramid with a little dough and apply some turmeric on it as a symbol of Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. This was a superstition followed to avoid accidents from the wet dough bursting while dropping them into the hot oil. This pyramid was the last piece to fry.
After these snacks were deep fried, we would watch how the first ones would be dropped from a height to check its crispiness. If it broke into many pieces and made a good hollow sound then the snacks would be crisp. All of us would eagerly wait to taste them. These had low salt and buttery to taste. Of course now it is freely and readily available in any of these numerous sweet shops across Chennai.
We kids would wait for my uncle to play a familiar game each time cheedais were made. My uncle would hold a few cheedais in his closed fist and ask each of us to guess how many cheedais were there in his fist. The one who guessed the numbers right would get to eat that lot.
My mom’s eldest sister who was a teacher, would make us all write 3 pages of handwriting, one page of English, one of Hindi and one of Telugu. Then we were given a few sums to work in maths lest we forget our lessons altogether!
I was very mischievous so I would sit and write pages and pages of handwriting much ahead and submit one set each day with the current date marked and escape into the open to play in the hot sun for a longer time.
She found out one day and made me write an imposition - 'I will not repeat this mistake' a 100 times! I was careful never again to waste my time in writing them ahead.
These memories are from the time I must have been hardly 10 or 11 years old. Living among many elders and learning so many things make us what we are today.
More on learning the art of making pickles, jams, dry preserves, crispy preserves called vadaams or vadiyaalu in our 'summer camps' in my next blog.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
These are the days of enrolling kids in summer camps.
There are subjects like maths and science, taught in some.
Some teach hobbies like painting, crafts, pottery making, etc.
Many kids learn a little about such activities during summer before the school reopens for the next grade.
In the absence of vacationing with grandparents or aunts and uncles, summer camps are a very good option to keep the kids engaged in a very positive way. Learning something and not getting into trouble when parents are not around are worth it but at a cost. Skills are learnt but not the life skills of interacting or bonding with others.
We too had our fair share of summer camps.
Most were at East Marredpally, Secunderabad where my mom’s sisters and brothers and their families lived in a complex of 5 houses inside one common compound wall.
We would hop from one house to another.
My aunt (maami) would cook for us all and lovingly serve us heavenly food.
My uncle (maama) being the eldest son, was the head of the family. He was revered and his advice was sought for on all matters, however small. We lived separately at Hyderabad and came on visits or during vacations.
There was so much bonhomie. My uncle would engage us in quiz. He would come forward to prepare some sweet, helped by all of us. I still remember the white pumpkin halwa he made for all of us. There was a kitchen garden in which the season's vegetables would be grown. White pumpkins were aplenty at home. Pumpkin in all dishes like dals, sambar, kootu, pachadi and still so many pumpkins left. Maamaji decided he was going to pluck some and make halwa out of it. We watched the process with so much interest. Pumpkins were cleaned and the thick skin scrapped away. Then the flesh was freed of all the seeds and grated finely. Then so much grated pumpkin for so much sugar to make the halwa. Such fun we had peeping into the huge hot vessel to check whether the pumpkin had cooked and become glassy. He would keep stirring the halwa and explain about the sugar, water, grated pumpkin, cardomom powder, etc.,
Each day at noon time we would look forward to some project in the kitchen. He would ask my aunt (maami) to prepare snacks like murukku(twisted flat in 3" dia roundels made from raw rice powder, etc), cheedai(marble-like snacks made from raw rice powder, butter, etc) or thattai.
We would help twist the murukku, roll the cheedai or pat the thattais but before that my maami would make a tiny pyramid with a little dough and apply some turmeric on it as a symbol of Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. This was a superstition followed to avoid accidents from the wet dough bursting while dropping them into the hot oil. This pyramid was the last piece to fry.
After these snacks were deep fried, we would watch how the first ones would be dropped from a height to check its crispiness. If it broke into many pieces and made a good hollow sound then the snacks would be crisp. All of us would eagerly wait to taste them. These had low salt and buttery to taste. Of course now it is freely and readily available in any of these numerous sweet shops across Chennai.
We kids would wait for my uncle to play a familiar game each time cheedais were made. My uncle would hold a few cheedais in his closed fist and ask each of us to guess how many cheedais were there in his fist. The one who guessed the numbers right would get to eat that lot.
My mom’s eldest sister who was a teacher, would make us all write 3 pages of handwriting, one page of English, one of Hindi and one of Telugu. Then we were given a few sums to work in maths lest we forget our lessons altogether!
I was very mischievous so I would sit and write pages and pages of handwriting much ahead and submit one set each day with the current date marked and escape into the open to play in the hot sun for a longer time.
She found out one day and made me write an imposition - 'I will not repeat this mistake' a 100 times! I was careful never again to waste my time in writing them ahead.
These memories are from the time I must have been hardly 10 or 11 years old. Living among many elders and learning so many things make us what we are today.
More on learning the art of making pickles, jams, dry preserves, crispy preserves called vadaams or vadiyaalu in our 'summer camps' in my next blog.
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Monday, August 16, 2010
My Mom
She is over 83 years now.
She keeps herself active through the day.
She has this good habit of reading the latest in Tamil Magazines excepting the ones with Cinema as their main reportage. She loves to keep in touch with the most modern happening be it lifestyles, cooking, health, things spiritual, temples and their significances.
She used to walk everyday to the library. A couple of years ago she had several minor falls and from that time onwards I had to press into service a door delivery of all the latest books for her and some latest and wonderful English magazines for myself.
She has an early bath before 6am. Right from 5.30am onwards her TV is on with Jaya TV's religious matters. At 7am its the cookery show on Kalaingar which she watches with so much interest even though she may have done those traditional recipes in her yesteryears so often for all of us. Then its my eldest sister's (sis1 from now on) call for a brief chat to catch up with mom's well-being.
Then its either spiritual lectures on CDs or some shlokas she likes to listen on her tape recorder for at least an hour. (My sister {sis2 from now on} from America has always bought her the best of tape recorders always. She has the latest this time too, one which supports the MP3).
Then the library man arrives with his offer. She returns the previous set in exchange with this new set every alternate day. She goes through them.
By that time the morning meal is ready for her. As I like to serve her hot and freshly prepared meals every day, she has that in her pure silver plate gifted by my sis2 which she felt was good for mom's health. It has a gold coin embedded in the centre.
She would lounge in her ease chair and watch a couple of TV serials before noon, which were shunted from the night prime time to the daytime.
Then she lounges in her bed reading and sleeping alternately for about 3 hours.
By then its almost 3pm and tea time for us. She prepares the tea and distributes it to us - me if I am home and my husband.
Later its the thrill of thinking what tiffin to prepare for the evening.
She loves to experiment a lot from the recipes she reads in the magazines and also the cookery shows that she does not like to miss each day.
Day before it was Kachipuram Idlis,
yesterday with the leftover batter, it was masala dosas (she loves to cut onions and tomatoes and potatoes to make them into a masala curry)
and today its idli upma made from mashed up leftover kanchi idlis but with a generous toss of madras onions (sambar or chinna vengaayam) and lots of tomatoes! If the quantity is less then I have to make something for ourselves but we both get to taste whatever she makes for herself in small quantities.
All this when her health permits. Otherwise she is on good old kanji (porridge) or lemon juice.
She has a love for all things sour. Lemon juice, tamarind based dishes like tomato-onion pacchadi, ellu-inji pacchadi, puli kaachal, puli gothshu, (lemon and orange candies) are all her favourites. And she makes them so well. I have never been able to replicate her recipes the way she makes them. Perhaps its her special touch that lends it that unique taste.
By the time she finishes making her tiffins she is putting her cell phone on charge-mode. Again my sis2 from America who has been calling her each and every day during a particular time of the evening (in America its early morning before she gets ready to go to office)since the past so many years has become a habit and a pleasure for my mom. She waits for this call so eagerly as a child would for its mom. Sis2 who holds such a big position in her office yet it looks as if she has as much time as mom wants to speak to for the day! She listens to mom giving her view on this shloka or that from Abhirami Andadi, the Bhagawat Geeta, etc. It is this sis2's patience, tolerance and kindness which always manages to make mom feel so happy. After that call, she has her tiffin, watches TV serials from 8pm right upto 10pm and then off she goes to bed.
My mom is indeed blessed as each of her daughters who stay away from her do such a lot for her. They get her special gifts which she uses everyday and tells nobody in particular that this is Uma's - sis1 - special brown rice packet, this is Usha's - sis2 - bedsheet which is so nice and soft and this is Asha's - sis4 - red kettle with black coating inside which heats water in 3 minutes flat and whistles when done! She has so much love for her last daughter sis4 who always does special things for mom in her very gentle and soft way. All sisters are gentle, kind and will anything for mom with love and affection and with no cribbing at all.
My mom is special as she went through a lot of personal struggles just so that she could provide us with a roof over our heads, an education she was keen we all pursued even in the worst of scenarios in our lives. She worked as a teacher for 25 years without a break. She helped herself, she helped us children, she got help from her relatives during crucial times. She was a brave woman who knew how to bring in help from outside when the time arose not to speak of the barbs and hurtful words which all have to go through during such times. But help did come by and the positive goal was achieved. That is what matters in the end.
To her we owe a lot. To my maternal side of the family who helped us tide over our tight financial times, we owe a lot. My pranaams (salutations) to God are incomplete without a pranaam to my mom.
There is God above and he could not be everywhere so he made moms.
Jai Ho Maa.
Mahalakshmi.
She keeps herself active through the day.
She has this good habit of reading the latest in Tamil Magazines excepting the ones with Cinema as their main reportage. She loves to keep in touch with the most modern happening be it lifestyles, cooking, health, things spiritual, temples and their significances.
She used to walk everyday to the library. A couple of years ago she had several minor falls and from that time onwards I had to press into service a door delivery of all the latest books for her and some latest and wonderful English magazines for myself.
She has an early bath before 6am. Right from 5.30am onwards her TV is on with Jaya TV's religious matters. At 7am its the cookery show on Kalaingar which she watches with so much interest even though she may have done those traditional recipes in her yesteryears so often for all of us. Then its my eldest sister's (sis1 from now on) call for a brief chat to catch up with mom's well-being.
Then its either spiritual lectures on CDs or some shlokas she likes to listen on her tape recorder for at least an hour. (My sister {sis2 from now on} from America has always bought her the best of tape recorders always. She has the latest this time too, one which supports the MP3).
Then the library man arrives with his offer. She returns the previous set in exchange with this new set every alternate day. She goes through them.
By that time the morning meal is ready for her. As I like to serve her hot and freshly prepared meals every day, she has that in her pure silver plate gifted by my sis2 which she felt was good for mom's health. It has a gold coin embedded in the centre.
She would lounge in her ease chair and watch a couple of TV serials before noon, which were shunted from the night prime time to the daytime.
Then she lounges in her bed reading and sleeping alternately for about 3 hours.
By then its almost 3pm and tea time for us. She prepares the tea and distributes it to us - me if I am home and my husband.
Later its the thrill of thinking what tiffin to prepare for the evening.
She loves to experiment a lot from the recipes she reads in the magazines and also the cookery shows that she does not like to miss each day.
Day before it was Kachipuram Idlis,
yesterday with the leftover batter, it was masala dosas (she loves to cut onions and tomatoes and potatoes to make them into a masala curry)
and today its idli upma made from mashed up leftover kanchi idlis but with a generous toss of madras onions (sambar or chinna vengaayam) and lots of tomatoes! If the quantity is less then I have to make something for ourselves but we both get to taste whatever she makes for herself in small quantities.
All this when her health permits. Otherwise she is on good old kanji (porridge) or lemon juice.
She has a love for all things sour. Lemon juice, tamarind based dishes like tomato-onion pacchadi, ellu-inji pacchadi, puli kaachal, puli gothshu, (lemon and orange candies) are all her favourites. And she makes them so well. I have never been able to replicate her recipes the way she makes them. Perhaps its her special touch that lends it that unique taste.
By the time she finishes making her tiffins she is putting her cell phone on charge-mode. Again my sis2 from America who has been calling her each and every day during a particular time of the evening (in America its early morning before she gets ready to go to office)since the past so many years has become a habit and a pleasure for my mom. She waits for this call so eagerly as a child would for its mom. Sis2 who holds such a big position in her office yet it looks as if she has as much time as mom wants to speak to for the day! She listens to mom giving her view on this shloka or that from Abhirami Andadi, the Bhagawat Geeta, etc. It is this sis2's patience, tolerance and kindness which always manages to make mom feel so happy. After that call, she has her tiffin, watches TV serials from 8pm right upto 10pm and then off she goes to bed.
My mom is indeed blessed as each of her daughters who stay away from her do such a lot for her. They get her special gifts which she uses everyday and tells nobody in particular that this is Uma's - sis1 - special brown rice packet, this is Usha's - sis2 - bedsheet which is so nice and soft and this is Asha's - sis4 - red kettle with black coating inside which heats water in 3 minutes flat and whistles when done! She has so much love for her last daughter sis4 who always does special things for mom in her very gentle and soft way. All sisters are gentle, kind and will anything for mom with love and affection and with no cribbing at all.
My mom is special as she went through a lot of personal struggles just so that she could provide us with a roof over our heads, an education she was keen we all pursued even in the worst of scenarios in our lives. She worked as a teacher for 25 years without a break. She helped herself, she helped us children, she got help from her relatives during crucial times. She was a brave woman who knew how to bring in help from outside when the time arose not to speak of the barbs and hurtful words which all have to go through during such times. But help did come by and the positive goal was achieved. That is what matters in the end.
To her we owe a lot. To my maternal side of the family who helped us tide over our tight financial times, we owe a lot. My pranaams (salutations) to God are incomplete without a pranaam to my mom.
There is God above and he could not be everywhere so he made moms.
Jai Ho Maa.
Mahalakshmi.
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