Around India in 29 Plates Part IV

Culinary Treasures of the Northeast

While travel and food are intrinsically linked, sometimes the latter becomes a singular aspect of a culture and a reflection of its way of life.Visiting local joints, sharing home-cooked meals with strangers and eating your way around a place is almost the cryptic route to the heart of a land and its people. This week, we visit the beautiful Northeast through its food. The land of the seven sisters has perhaps the most eclectic and diverse cuisine, combining local produce and flavours with an entirely home-grown eating culture that is as exciting as it is unexplored. And no, momos are not a part of their daily diet! If there was a food spectrum with much flogged tandoori chicken at one end, the Meghalayan Jadoh would be on the other with a far richer flavour palette. This cuisine (which varies across each states with some commonalities arising due to a similar climactic pattern and local produce) is only now beginning to pop up in the urban Indian centres reappropriated as nouvelle cuisine for those who like to experiment. However, the best meals would be eaten at eateries by the side of hill roads or bustling markets in the Northeast, or if you can manage it, someone’s house with some a rather potent local alcoholic brew to wash it all down. It is also extremely hard to choose one dish from each state as different tribes and communities within the same state have dramatically different eating habits. The cuisine is wonderful for many reasons with spices, herbs and methods of cooking that predate modern appliances and are healthy, less oily and masala based and protein heavy.

Masor Tenga (Assam)

With an abundance of rivers, lakes and ponds, this gateway state of the northeast is rich in freshwater fish and this along with rice, forms the chief source of sustenance. The Masor Tenga with fleshy and tender pieces of rohu fish cooked in a light and sour gravy is a delight. Unlike the neighbouring rich Bengali fish curries, the tenga is a light and fragrant staple eaten in nearly every household.
 
Jadoh (Meghalaya)

Jadoh stalls are an extension of the community eating in Meghalaya. Jadoh is essentially a rice and meat stall. However, before you start thinking that this just your ordinary pulav, the unique Jadoh combines the joha rice of the region, fatty pork pieces (other meats can also be also used) and the condiments of fermented soya paste as well as companion dish of Doh Neiong (Pork cooked in a sesame paste).

Smoked pork with Akhuni (Nagaland)

While pork is indeed quite a staple around these parts, the Naga preparations of this meat burst with intense flavours derived from local herbs, dried and fermented leaves, shoots and beans and the famous Naga Morich, a close cousin to the bhut jalokia. This particular dish combines pieces of fire-smoked pork with Akhuni or fermented soy beans, lending it a lovely dark smoky flavour.

Gudok (Tripura)

Tripura’s tribal communities greatly influence the food in these parts. The dish was originally cooked inside bamboo stems, lending it a wonderful flavour. Essentially a black-eyed bean and fish preparation, this dish gets its unique tart fishy aroma from Berma, a fermented fish, which works a bit like the Thai fish sauce.

Pasa (Arunachal Pradesh)

While this dish is somewhat of an acquired flavour as it is a raw fresh fish soup, it is a tribal delicacy. In my mind it is a combination of the flavours of sushi and the French tartare. With a host of aromatics and raw fish paste, this dish was believed to have been a wartime inception when cooked food would have been a giveaway for the tribal soldiers.

Iromba (Manipur)

Combining Ngari or fermented fish with mashed boiled vegetables and a pungent chilli paste, this dish has numerous variations depending on the herbs, leaves and veggies used. The Manipuris eat this as a side dish, an entree with boiled rice and even as chutney!

Sawchair (Mizoram)

This traditional dish from the state of the rolling hills is a rice dish cooked with chicken, duck or pork and veggies. This wholesome all-in-one meal in a bowl is a hearty meal perfect after a hard day’s work


This was published in The New Indian Express Bangalore on 26 February, 2015

Around India in 29 Plates Part III

Food as a Map Through Which we Learn 

 This week, we continue our culinary journey across the country continuing from where we left off, somewhere in between the syncretic fulcrum of food and identity in Kashmir and the simple, wholesome and rustic fare of Haryana and Himachal. This week, as we move from the mountains to the northern Gangetic plains which is the ancient seat of power, the heartland of India and the proverbial rice bowl of the country, the task at hand for this humble chronicler becomes harder as this belt is a vast swathe of influences — from the ancient to the medieval to the modern era in terms of religions, culture and, by extension, the cuisine. Food is the cumulative result of a civilisation’s transitions through history and this week’s picks aim to be a reflection of the same.

Mutton Kebabs (Uttar Pradesh)
It is hard to pick one dish in a state that is synonymous with food. From a royal repast to street food delicacies, from the best of Awadhi cuisine to the princely Nawabi variations of the same, from chaats to an array of desserts, Uttar Pradesh is a gourmand’s dream with every part of the state offering a peek into a way of life and eating and Lucknow is the crown jewel.
While I have chosen mutton kebabs as a representative dish, this is more a sub-genre which covers everything from the esoteric and fragrant kakori kebab, the tender and spiced boti kebabs, the melt-in-the-mouth galawat or galauti kebabs to the robust shami and pasanda discs and the delicately spiced seekh cylinders. There is very little chicken in the kebab lexicon of this region. These kebabs are part of the elaborate set of starters in a traditional Dastarkhwan (a ceremonial meal) conceptualised by gifted khansamas (chefs) as well as the common man’s victuals from the smoky street tandoors paired with a variety of unleavened breads. Uttar Pradesh’s kebabs are ubiquitous as well legendary. Thus there is the myth of the toothless kebab-loving nawab in whose kitchen the famed kakori, or the softest kebab in the world, was born. Then there was the tale of the one-armed genius kababchi called Tundey Miyan who tenderised his meat with the stump of his amputated arm to create perfectly consistent kebabs, earning him legions of fans and a reputation that lasted generations. These stories are part of the food lore of a state whose cuisine has to be experienced to be believed.

Bal Mithai (Uttarakhand) 
The beautiful mountain kingdom of Uttarakhand is washed by the River Ganga, resplendent in natural beauty with its misty mountains, folk traditions, ancient temples and sprawling national parks. The fairy tale setting of the region is in sync with this iconic sweet of the region which is rich, sweet and milky and covered in sugary balls that pop in your mouth. One can imagine this to be the treasured candy out of an enchanted edible house that tempts all with its appearance and aromas. Especially popular in Almora, some version of the Bal Mithai is found in most towns of the state. Cooked with khoya, cane sugar and covered with sugar coated poppy seeds (posto), this home-grown fudge which was invented by an enterprising Almora halwai, is a hit among kids and adults alike. With no cocoa content, it is interesting that this sweet is locally known as ‘chocolate’ and is a delicious treat on winter days that will warm you right till the cockles.    

Laal Maas (Rajasthan)
This list does not escape the bias of the listmaker and in this case, my own love for meat. Despite being an avowed carnivore, this state’s vegetarian food is a treasure trove with offerings that smack of invention and are derived from the local produce. With culinary influences ranging from the all-vegetarian Marwari community to the robust meat-centric Rajput cuisine, Rajasthani food is an amalgam of its land, its weather conditions and its people. Thus one can pick from an assortment of savouries like mirch ka pakora (batter-fried chilli peppers) and pyaaz kachori (onion fritters) and preparations like the ker sangri sabzi (a piquant desert preparation of dried beans and tart berries). But for me, Rajasthani food shall always be the eye-popping and aromatic Laal Maas, a fiery red mutton curry cooked in a dried red chilli paste. Redolent of garlic, chillis, yogurt and more chillis, the base meat can be goat, deer or any other game meat and while sure to raise your temperature by a couple of notches, this food of the Rajput warriors will transform food into a sensory experience intended to fire your blood with new life and vigour.

Litti Choka (Bihar)
This traditional celebratory food, this spiced wheat and powdered lentil ball is infused with fragrant ghee and roasted over coals or a chulha (traditional oven fired by cow dung cakes), or even deep fried. This cross between bread and savoury fritter is accompanied with chokha, a delicious flame-roasted eggplant and tomato preparation. Litti-chokha is a wholesome meal in itself to be had on winter evenings by a raging fire and while time-consuming to make, is equally comfortable in both urban and rural settings.   

This was published in The New Indian Express Bangalore on 19 February, 2015

Bound In Laughter, Love and Arrack

The Amazing Racist opens on a hot tropical day in Colombo, Sri Lanka. There is a tropical storm brewing in the distant horizon as well as one far more deadly, simmering in the office of Thilak Rupasinghe, top litigation lawyer and former president’s counsel, a protective and dominating father and a man with a diminutive stature but a persona so towering that he could literally frighten away cancer. In the momentary calm before the storm, Eddie Trusted, a rather bewildered English schoolteacher, waits in the verandah burping curry and watching the minutes vanish in the buildup to one of the most significant moments in his life — as he is about to ask this much feared patriarch for the hand of Menaka Rupasinghe, his daughter — a mere seven weeks after he has landed in the country.
Plagued by the effects of spice on his digestive tract, the weather on his constitution and the chaotic traffic on his stress-prone disposition, Eddie is an outsider in more ways than one. And yet, unable to resist the charms of the veritable Sri Lankan goddess Menaka, he finds himself falling so deeply for her that he is ready to marry her and make this little politically fraught island country his own. But first of all, he has to pass the many tests laid out for him by his future father-in-law with a fairly anti-colonialist bent of mind and a distaste for the white man and his imaginary 21st-century burdens.
Chhimi Tenduf-La’s The Amazing Racist (Hachette India) is a rollercoaster ride through the life and times of two men, divided by the colour of their skin, age, cultural traditions and opinions, and brought together by their unusual circumstances, a whole lot of whiskey and the girls in their lives. Their interactions are less meetings and more like mini battles fraught with manic car rides, liver-melting arracks, sparks and tension, racist jokes and the ghost of deportation lurking around the corner. Eddie Trusted and Thilak Rupasinghe are polarised ends of a cultural spectrum forced together by the headstrong and free-spirited Menaka.
The author’s skill lies in his telling of this simple and straightforward tale with generous shots of humour, wit and sensitivity. From laugh-out-loud moments to politically incorrect jokes, from the black humour of human foibles to a witty look at the innards of the modern family mechanism, from the curious frailty of traditional bonds to the poignancy of unlikely and resilient bonds, the book chews its way through human relationships in all its myriad hues.
Chhimi Tenduf-La, who has mined some of his personal experiences in order to bring this world to life, is a fresh and promising new voice on the literary landscape. With a British mother, a Tibetan father and a  Sri Lankan wife, the author certainly knows a thing or two about cultural cross-connections. Also, having spent enough time in Colombo, he had the unique vantage point to write this story with its motley cast of characters dealing with this strangely functional and dysfunctional city.
Set against the backdrop of an ancient-modern country ravaged by war and yet somehow getting on with all the motions of ordinary life, The Amazing Racist teeters away from deeper political issues presenting a light-hearted fictional universe with just the occasional real-life reference slipping through. Unlike hardened semi-fictional narratives of war and terror, this book soars free of the political baggage of its nation and tells a funny, accessible and charming story about a family and its oddball denizens. And the best part is that it doesn’t take itself terribly seriously as it sets out to expound exactly why every character finds himself or herself a place they can call home in Sri Lanka or the “best country in the world”. 

This was published in The New Indian Express Bangalore on 10 February, 2015

Around India in 29 plates (Part I)

India has long been regarded as the land of diversity, and in no segment is that more apparent than in its food which is as varied as its topography and  the culture of its people. Drawing inspiration from the local produce, climactic patterns, aesthetic influences and historical background of a place and its people, food is a true reflection of the nation’s polymorphous identity and in this series, we take you around the country in 29 delicious plates. This week, we introduce some of the standout and perhaps uncommon dishes that reflect the diverse metropolises that are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

 Sitaphal Cream (Mumbai)
This simple and uncompromising dessert is a perfect representation of a city which is always on the go, always open for business and rarely sleeps. A city teeming with people, Mumbai belongs as much to the shanty-town dweller as it does to the Bollywood stars who live in their skyscrapers away from the ground-level grime and dust. Mumbai is a city of possibilities and disillusionment. Hundreds of dreams die every night and new ones are born in its place. In such a city of global cuisine and vada pav, the Sitaphal Cream silently holds its own. Invented at the iconic Haji Ali Juice Centre, this seasonal dish is incredibly popular and standing and relishing a bowl of this dish with the waves crashing behind you and the city going about its frantic life is an experience akin to none. And it’s really quite simple ­— custard apple or sitaphal and cream are served together with some sugar and a dash of vanilla. A juicewallah came up with this divine concoction and it has flown off his counter since then and has not been replicated in the best restaurants in star hotels. While the custard apple ice cream is common enough, the fruit cream is a rare dish and the best part is that it comes at a price point that makes its accessible to all — from a skyscraper dweller indulging in a late night dessert to a balloonwallah counting out the saved up rupees for this treat, the Sitaphal Cream belongs to all.

Daab Chingri  (Kolkata)
This sophisticated delicacy is an exercise in innovation. This dish is believed to be an adaptation of something called the Malay Curry, a recipe that travelled with migrant workers and the colonisers as trade flourished between this all-important erstwhile capital city of the Raj and the rest of Southeast Asia. The Daab Chingri is all about the tender green coconut which blesses this steaming tropical state with its plenitude. It is about the pungent yellow mustard, a Bengali’s response to the Japanese wasabi. And finally it is about the prawns, the queen of all piscine creatures, the crustacean served at every special occasion and found in abundance in the rivers and lakes of this state. In this dish, fresh tiger prawns (chingri) are marinated in a delicious green chilli and mustard paste and then inserted into fleshy and tender green coconuts (daab) and slow-cooked till the prawns are tender and have absorbed all the flavours of the coconut. This dish when cooked right is sophisticated, simple and just bursting with flavour. One could describe it as creamy golden sunshine with a taste of the sea. This is a regal dish and one that could send its eater into a rapture. It also represents the people who put great value on the finer things in life, like the perfect Daab Chingri accompanied with soft, fragrant Gobindo Bhog rice and a refreshing afternoon siesta vis-a-vis matters of industry or a life spent in fast food meals. This dish is the crowning glory of every Bengali kitchen and a testament to the culture’s obsession with all things food.

Idlis (Chennai)
While some might consider this a plain-talking dish, in my books, an early morning breakfast at the Murugan Idli shop in Besant Nagar, with a view of the expansive beach and the blue curling waves in the distance is unmatched. The texture of those warm fluffy idlis with a delicious array of chutneys as well as the aroma of the sweet-sour-spicy sambhar is something that could make me roll out of bed every day of my life. Capturing a unique ethos of the city that combines daily living with tradition and functionality with flavour. Somewhere in between the city’s sunny days, cultural pursuits and political brouhaha, there is always time for this delicious breakfast served on a banana leaf bookended by frothy cups of strong filter coffee and great conversations.

Whole Mango Kulfi (Delhi)
This winner of a dessert is the stuff of sheer ingenuity and a perfect fit in this city of immigrants and erstwhile refugees who have survived and flourished by dint of their ingenuity alone. Old Delhi is a bastion of business which drew in merchants, traders, khansamas, artisans and labourers, basically anyone who had a skill to hawk and a business idea to sell. This congested walled city then became the place for innovations and food like no other. While the culinary delights of Purani Dilli are neverending, there is something about this particular dish that has just embedded a certain blazing summer day under the arches of an old haveli into the brick and mortar of my mind. I ate this kulfi at Pandit Kuremal’s Kulfi Shop in the gullies of Chandni Chowk. This magical dessert is clearly one of the best things I have eaten in this city. The whole mango is sliced, deseeded, stuffed with kulfi and put back together. When it is served later, the mango is peeled and you get delicious chunks of fruit with your creamy and icy mango flavoured kulfi. This dessert could give many exotic ice creams a run for their money and combines the best things about summer – Alphonso mangoes and ice creams in one fell sweep. For me, this is the best indigenous homegrown ice cream there could ever be and a lasting taste memory of the capital city.

This was published in The New Indian Express on 29 January, 2015

For the love of Biryani

For anyone who has grown up in Kolkata, biryani is the holy grail of food in the city and one that is available in plenitude, around street corners, in nondescript eateries, five-star establishments and historical hole-in-the-wall establishments. The distinguishing mark of this biryani is the gleaming white boiled egg and the delicately spiced potato perched on top of the otherwise Lucknowi style of dum pukht biryani. Having been weaned on this particular meat-rice-egg-potato combination my entire life, in my later migrant wanderings, while I discovered much by way of food, the perfect biryani remained elusive even as I trawled the back alleys of Jama Masjid and Nizammuddin in Old Delhi, the heart of Mosque Road in Bengaluru and Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai. It is true that my quest has been far from perfect and I have missed the the two essential stops on the biryani map. Lucknow and Hyderabad, rival bastions of biryani, still remain like hidden pearls.

I have however eaten countless degs of this dish inspired by the styles propagated by the two cities. From Luknowi dum pukht biryanis by specialist cooks to numerous plates of Hyderabadi biryanis from various establishments called Hyderabad Biryani House serving up a spectrum of the dish ranging from virulent to dull-orange.

The entire point of this prelude is that I stuffed by belly with many artery-clogging plates of biryanis, always to return home disappointed. In all those years that I lived away from home, the only plate of biryani that has sparked my taste memory has been a plate of reheated biryani brought by a friend from the legendary Paradise Hotel in Secunderabad.

Even though this box had spent a few hours on a flight before landing up on my plate, the taste was unmistakable and from the saffron-laced long grains of rice to the spiced gravy from the melt-in-the-mouth pink mutton pieces to the mirch ka salan, this pukki-style biryani was as different from the Kolkata-style one as could be and yet it was a keeper in my taste memory.

Many years later, while doing the usual weekend round of our neighbourhood high street, Indiranagar, I spotted a sign which immediately jogged that half-remembered memory. While I may not be an expert on the original Paradise, my sample portion being too small, I know that it is spoken of with the same reverence that I have for my  much-loved Kolkata-based eateries.

While this gleaming avatar of Paradise on CMH Road may not score high on the character and history attached to these legendary joints, it is a smart fuss-free modern format that works for the diner on the go and also serves up a pretty good biryani. And even though   it missed the egg-potato accompaniment, it did check many of the other boxes.

Our group arrived in the middle of a chaotic day as the restaurant had just opened and despite being hungry, we were also feeling rather charitable. And even if it took a few long minutes, the food did arrive without too much of a delay, only our lime sodas were forgotten till the very end, but given the biryani in front of me, I could wait. The mutton biryani was flavourful with the trademark pink-tender mutton pieces, a surprising find in a city where the meat has always been a bit too chewy for my liking. Layered with a rich and flavourful gravy, this typical Hyderabadi pukki biryani came with a cooling raita and a mirch ka salan.

Unlike the over-spiced orange rice in most packaged Hyderabadi-style biryani, this dish with individual grains of white, yellow and saffron-coloured rice, although spicy was also a complex combination of flavours.
Apart from this, their chicken biryani, something I usually avoid like the plague due to the tendency of the over-large pieces to dry out, was rather good.

A plate of chicken tikka did not disappoint though it was a tad on the spicy side. Their mutton tikkas were really well-grilled and tender.  Comparisons always tend to be scathing in their dismissals and a tad unfair and while I am sure there will be those who will argue about the merit of the original joint vis-a-vis these far-flung outposts, Paradise brings to Bengaluru a flavour of an old city and its Nizami kitchens albeit in a 21st century package.  

This was published in The New Indian Express on 24 January, 2015

Travelling Light

One of my favourite science fiction writers, Ray Bradbury wrote in his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, “See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security.” This was imprinted tattoo-like on my mind, teaching me to learn how to travel without an itinerary, experience places through their food, shared conversations over a cup of coffee or a beer, walking the streets endlessly and simply watching a new world unfold.

I wanted space to breathe, not the alarm clock shrilly announcing the beginning of the next day. I longed for a leisurely carafe of wine and cheese by a roadside cafe in Montmartre rather than endless queues to enter the Eiffel Tower. The package tour was my holiday nightmare and all that I wanted never seemed conceivable by a travel consultant sitting across me, completely devoid of imagination when it came to offering anything more than a great bargain price, or a free cruise.

However, things have begun to change as the adventurous who like me love the idea of travel,  have taken this passion a step forward and come up with curated holidays. From the Bengaluru-based WOW or Women on Wanderlust, a travel club that organizes women-only trips across India and the world, to the fast-growing Thrillophilia that offers  high-octane travel experiences across India for all those who want to venture off the beaten path to the newest kid on the block, No Thepla Holidays.

 This startup is the brainchild of three friends, Arjun, Ayesha and Sanaya, who come from backgrounds as diverse as corporate M&As, animal rescue operations and event management, drawn together by their love for travel and especially the kind that does not involve carrying a bagful of deep-fried snacks and pickle in a foreign land.

"We want to cater to the modern Indian flashpacker who is roughly between 25-35 years, is open to meeting a whole bunch of fellow travellers and having a whale of a time in another country discovering its local food, underground clubs and the lesser known experiences," says Arjun Malhotra, one of the partners in No Thepla Holidays.

For the uninitiated, flashpacking is a global trend that seems to be made for the lazy Indian as all the arrangements (stay, internal commute) are made for you which means that you don't have to wander the streets searching for a room for the night, be stranded at a train station because you forgot to book a particular leg of the journey and can also go occasionally posh with a champagne cruise or a truffle lunch!
No Thepla Holidays might have just two trips under its belt so far, but their resounding success portends well for the future and it’s no surprise that they already have three trips planned for the first quarter of the year.
Their first trip was to Europe in June-July 2014. Rather than do the typical six countries in five days itinerary, these guys curated an offbeat music-wine combo that was bound to work. Thus the trip covered five days in Paris during the Fete da la Musique, taking in the different performances across the city, a champagne cruise on the Seine, five days in Barcelona, a 'booze cruise' of the city and exciting pub crawls with your fellow travellers and finally ending up at the village of Haro for the San Vino or a crazy wine fight, just like our Holi, but only with the lovely wine of the region.

In the second trip to North Vietnam, parties and outdoor activities were the focus and thus water sports, local underground clubs and the delicious Vietnamese food formed the highlight here.
So while making friends, sampling street food, partying with the locals and an overall good time with plenty of good cheer, dancing, high-adrenaline sports and a lot of beer form the trademark experiences of No Thepla Holidays, there is also culture (trips to famous archaeological sites and monuments) as well as activities that allow you to mingle with the native communities (like fishing with the locals in the villages around Mai Chau Valley in Vietnam). The winning feature  is their fluid itinerary.

"So while we travel with all our guests offering them our experiential advice as well as inputs for food, tourist-friendly bars, public transport etc as well as plan different activities to keep everyone entertained, we also don't make a rigid itinerary for them. So if somebody wants to go and get a drink at a local cafe with a friend he or she has just made at the hostel instead of a visit to a temple, they are more than welcome to do so," says Arjun.

The company makes internal travel arrangements, provides accommodation at hostels and some homestays, organizes cruises, parties, barbecues and other activities and so far all of the partners actually travel with the group to ensure that a jolly good time is had by all.

Their upcoming trips include a scuba-diving trip to Andamans in March, an adventure-party trip to Cambodia in March-April and another trip to Vietnam later this year. These holidays minus theplas (their website warns that these might go missing if you actually end up carrying any) are the perfect solution for those who have hunted for options that are not determined by rushed itineraries, packing in every monument and museum on the block, or bookended by group meals of chicken butter masala and tandoori gobhi in foreign lands.

These are for the new and improved Indian traveller who is on a quest to explore and understand diverse cultures, sample local flavors, dance to eclectic music and meet kindred souls along the way.
 Visit notheplaholidays.com or email them at info@notheplaholidays.com

This was published in The New Indian Express on 22 January, 2015

Decoding Kerala with a Brief and Whimsical Lexicon

In Fort Kochi, one can never be far away from a good meal, a story and a picturesque photo-op. These are epic tales of a God that resides in these parts and is sometimes benevolent and sometimes not. There are fishermen’s songs whose timbre matches the ebb and flow of the tides; tales of men with red and green faces whose dance chases away the nightmarish hobgoblins; stories of food that makes you weep with its aroma of love, loss and longing. These picture-stories are memory stamps of spectacular sunsets, a hundred shades of green, tinkling laughs and an everlasting romance with the backwaters...

A for Avial
Avial, a simple, steamed vegetable dish transformed  with freshly ground coconut and tempered with just a hint of mustard seeds and curry leaves. It is highly recommended that you eat avial as a soothing first course before the fiery spice-laden fish curries and pepper fries arrive. It is also recommended to eat this wonderfully fresh and flavourful preparation straight off a banana leaf with a mound of steamed rice and preferably a view of the serene backwaters. 

B for Banana
Surrounded by the swaying fronds of young banana tree and lulled into catlike contentment after gorging on flaky and tender banana fritters, it is hard to escape thoughts about the banana plant in Kerala. There is a single-minded obsession with the fruit as the people eat it as chips and chops, jams and jellies, cakes and candies. Grown in every backyard, big or small, eaten in nearly every form sweet or savoury, the banana is an omniscient presence and a familiar green stain along the whole coastline. The banana fruit carries with it memories like those of grandmothers making the delicious puttu for breakfast and the sound of the gentle waves of the narrow backwaters where rural country boats laden high with freshly plucked bananas, make their way to the local markets.

C for Coconut
Coconuts in Kerala are scattered all over the land. Nestled in sheltered boughs and protective fronds, these moon-like spheres come of age under the sun and by the sea. From a tender green fruit to a browned and hardened nut, their sweet water and milk nourishes the men and women of the soil. They form the mysterious quintessence of fish curries, pot roasts, avials, and custards. They reveal a glimpse of a kitchen in thrall of this all-purpose fruit that cooks and priests offer obeisance to.  

C for Chinese Fishing Nets
The Chinese went in two by two...hunting for the fish that had vanished from their own seas. They built giant creaking contraptions like the machines of Mordor. These nets were the scourge of the sea as well as the boon for starving fishermen. Today, they are silent sentinels of bamboo and net that are silhouetted against the docks. Their catch serves this quaint and historical erstwhile fishing village. In Fort Kochi, it is likely that every time you see the sign which says Catch of the Day, its probably found its way to your plate through the Chinese Fishing Net. 

K for Kathakali
The Kathakali dancers twirl in a frenzy of skirts and swords as they tell stories of gods, emperors and folk heroes. They bicker, growl, joust and dance. They are the immortals for the night that they spend on the stage, outside their body, their time and their context. They fence with papier mache sabres. The gods and demons who are stabbed and burnt as the story unfolds in a crescendo of drums and music. They collapse into a heap of red, white and gold. They live and die with their eyebrows puckered in surprise.

S for Spice Market
While the Spice Market had many treasures to reveal, it was home to the wonderful allspice, a miniature globe containing the whole world within its circumference. All the spices in the kitchen dropped their essence into this tiny, innocuous, mud-coloured ball and it bloomed into existence as the Queen of exotic flavours. This apart, the myriad coloured peppers, the rolled and aromatic cinnamon bark, the multitude of dried berries, each with its own medicinal and cooking instructions, a spice market in Matancherry, Kerala is an experience akin to walking into God’s own kitchen.

U for Uruli
Uruli, the light of my kitchen, the fire of my stove, my faithful cauldron of delight. Oo-ru-Lee...the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Oo. Ru. Lee. It is a cooking utensil unlike any other. With its versatile uses, its wide and deep-bottomed character and its ability to heat and cook food to that miraculously perfect temperature, this one merits being lugged across the world. 

V for Vallom
Vallom or the typical Kerala country boat is both livelihood and instrument of leisure. As the laidback life of the backwaters unfolds with each dipping motion of the vallom sluicing through the tranquil waters, one cannot help but settle into a peaceful self-reflection. This one is a ubiquitous part of the landscape from public transport to fishing boats, from a romantic honeymooning couple’s ride of choice to a local lad’s school bus.

This was published in The New Indian Express Bangalore on 15 January, 2015