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KOZHAMBU, RASAM and KAI.
Always, this was the menu for lunch at my pukkaam.
Sometimes add-ons were thovayal, thair pachadi and appalam. Typically South Indian, with slight Andra touch, because my mil lived in Andra before her marriage. By the way I want to tell you all that she was Vahitha Rehman's class mate in school. In my pukkaam, food was cooked in large quantities because we were a big family. We were not the touch and go kind of eaters. We liked all vegetables, none of us were finicky about garlic and onions. My mother in law cooked very tasty food. She spent a lot of time in kitchen. She liked to serve all of us and then eat.
But but but......
I missed the variety that I was used to in my mom's kitchen. She cooked quickly and came out of the kitchen to watch her favourite TV soaps. She was not very fond of staying in the kitchen, she just went in to do her duty. At times she tried Mallika Badrinath recipes, and we used to make fun of it. If Appa was out of town, she just made rice and aviyal in 2 large cookers or just a few extra idli and sambar. My mother knew how to take off and have fun. I have taken that quality from her. If she felt bored, we would go out and eat or she would just make a pulav or a kootu + sadham. Or sometimes I would offer to cook. I would lock myself in the kitchen to give her a surprise and also to avoid her from nagging. She would peep in and say - stove a slow pannu.... 😞
Roti sabjee was a regular in my porandhaam. Mom made soups on sundays for breakfast and we used to have late lunch. Some time bread with banana slices neatly sandwiched were made for breakfast. That was my fathers idea of giving amma some rest. Once in a while we used to go on an outing to Besant Nagar beach in the early hours of the day, walk till Marina take an auto to Mount road and then lunch in Buhari. Those days Buhari was a different kind of a place to eat. Now it is not so good.
We have many a times packed our dinner to Krishnaveni theater. Suddenly we would decide on watching a movie, my sister and mother would go to get tickets for 9 pm show while the rest of us would pack food in 5 stiffen boxes, one each for amma appa and the three of us. Krishnaveni was very close to our house. Another theater Srinvisa also was close, but they did not show good movies and it was lonely to get back home. We would take spoons, towels and newspaper to clean up. Eating curd rice during interval was a regular in all movies that we watched. Nanna erangum. Onnum vaangi thara maata. 😞
I miss roti sabji the most after my Kalyanam to Madras and Watson. In their house, Garam masala is a bad word. If anybody had slight tummy pain or gives an extra visit to the washroom, the culprit is always Garam masala. Even if it was not used. Somebody might have seen it or smelt it. That kind of hatred. Poor garam masala.
Roti side dish was an asattu kootu or potatoes with onion if it was not Ekadesi or ammavasai.
Roti was not roti, it was chappathi. 😞
Back in my mom's house, my mother made roti sabji often for lunch. We used to have roti sabji dhal and a cup of curds. And sweets or ice cream.....That's all. This food made us all very happy. Therapeutic!
She made spicy Tinda sabji often....because I liked it. Tinda is a poor mans vegetable and there are many jokes about it. Hindi movies make fun of it. It's called apple gourd. It's like our humble upma a being made fun of.
She used to bring Tinda sabji in a dabba whenever she came to see me. Till 2014, when she fell ill she would come in an auto and sometimes deliver roti and Tinda sabji in school just before lunch time. This morning, I felt good to be making and eating Tinda sabji. I felt like eating from her dabba.
It's therapeutic to talk about all this, more so for me to write my memories.
KOZHAMBU, RASAM and KAI.
Always, this was the menu for lunch at my pukkaam.
Sometimes add-ons were thovayal, thair pachadi and appalam. Typically South Indian, with slight Andra touch, because my mil lived in Andra before her marriage. By the way I want to tell you all that she was Vahitha Rehman's class mate in school. In my pukkaam, food was cooked in large quantities because we were a big family. We were not the touch and go kind of eaters. We liked all vegetables, none of us were finicky about garlic and onions. My mother in law cooked very tasty food. She spent a lot of time in kitchen. She liked to serve all of us and then eat.
But but but......
I missed the variety that I was used to in my mom's kitchen. She cooked quickly and came out of the kitchen to watch her favourite TV soaps. She was not very fond of staying in the kitchen, she just went in to do her duty. At times she tried Mallika Badrinath recipes, and we used to make fun of it. If Appa was out of town, she just made rice and aviyal in 2 large cookers or just a few extra idli and sambar. My mother knew how to take off and have fun. I have taken that quality from her. If she felt bored, we would go out and eat or she would just make a pulav or a kootu + sadham. Or sometimes I would offer to cook. I would lock myself in the kitchen to give her a surprise and also to avoid her from nagging. She would peep in and say - stove a slow pannu.... 😞
Roti sabjee was a regular in my porandhaam. Mom made soups on sundays for breakfast and we used to have late lunch. Some time bread with banana slices neatly sandwiched were made for breakfast. That was my fathers idea of giving amma some rest. Once in a while we used to go on an outing to Besant Nagar beach in the early hours of the day, walk till Marina take an auto to Mount road and then lunch in Buhari. Those days Buhari was a different kind of a place to eat. Now it is not so good.
We have many a times packed our dinner to Krishnaveni theater. Suddenly we would decide on watching a movie, my sister and mother would go to get tickets for 9 pm show while the rest of us would pack food in 5 stiffen boxes, one each for amma appa and the three of us. Krishnaveni was very close to our house. Another theater Srinvisa also was close, but they did not show good movies and it was lonely to get back home. We would take spoons, towels and newspaper to clean up. Eating curd rice during interval was a regular in all movies that we watched. Nanna erangum. Onnum vaangi thara maata. 😞
I miss roti sabji the most after my Kalyanam to Madras and Watson. In their house, Garam masala is a bad word. If anybody had slight tummy pain or gives an extra visit to the washroom, the culprit is always Garam masala. Even if it was not used. Somebody might have seen it or smelt it. That kind of hatred. Poor garam masala.
Roti side dish was an asattu kootu or potatoes with onion if it was not Ekadesi or ammavasai.
Roti was not roti, it was chappathi. 😞
Back in my mom's house, my mother made roti sabji often for lunch. We used to have roti sabji dhal and a cup of curds. And sweets or ice cream.....That's all. This food made us all very happy. Therapeutic!
She made spicy Tinda sabji often....because I liked it. Tinda is a poor mans vegetable and there are many jokes about it. Hindi movies make fun of it. It's called apple gourd. It's like our humble upma a being made fun of.
She used to bring Tinda sabji in a dabba whenever she came to see me. Till 2014, when she fell ill she would come in an auto and sometimes deliver roti and Tinda sabji in school just before lunch time. This morning, I felt good to be making and eating Tinda sabji. I felt like eating from her dabba.
It's therapeutic to talk about all this, more so for me to write my memories.
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