Celebrating Passion for Food
Lauki or bottle gourd is a vegetable that often gets overlooked when one is doing weekly rationing of vegetable. It often gets labelled as a vegetable that is unexciting for the palate. Everyone in family, kids and adults want to shy away from having it served in their plate.
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I had a holiday voucher lying in my closet for close to a year now since its purchase. We knew about it and had discussed several times about putting it to use before the voucher expires. Finally when the last month of its validity had arrived, and we still were unprepared for a holiday, we decided to leverage the voucher for weekend getaway, a holiday in Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani.
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Last week I was unable to make weekly purchase of my weekly essentials which primarily is about buying vegetables. I had a critical issue to address at office, and it demanded my complete attention. Well that is the sad part of my job, I never know when the emergency comes calling. So as it panned out, I could not go out and make purchase of vegetables and all that I was left with was few ripe tomatoes that kept staring back at me as I pulled out my vegetable tray, asking for my attention.
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Being a food enthusiast, I can lay claim to my share of learnings. One of the major aspect of this learning process has been to expect surprises at most unexpected places. My strong conviction into this philosophy was reaffirmed, when last month we went for a road trip. I enjoy the road trips for the foods that I encounter at different places, and interspersed somewhere in heaps of dishes on the menu, one can find few gem of the recipes.
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It tastes sweet at times, and at other times it tastes sour. It may burn your tongue with its heat or make you cringe with its bitterness. The great Indian relish Chutney is as multifaceted as it can get. The relishes like chutney or pickle are an integral part of Indian meal. It may accompany a rich man’s main course or form an integral part of a poor man’s daily meal.
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Suran (aka Elephant’s foot yam in Queen’s language) originated in India and thereafter travelled eastwards and westwards as far as America. In its prime form and best of its health this tuber crop would weigh as much as 10 kg. This crop is widely cultivated in Hindi belt of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and eastern state of Orissa, Maharashtra and Gujarat in west. It is also known as Jimikand in Hindi belt of India.
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Varan is Maharashtrian preparation of Dal that uses Tuvar and moong Dal. It is a unique dish which not only forms part of an everyday meal of Maharashtrian family, but also is an important dish to be served in weddings or even as an offering to deity.
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Cuisine is a testament to our evolution. It has gone through a continuous churning process wherein a new dish becomes part of a culture, an alteration has been made to some traditional recipes and some old recipes fade away from our memories. This fundamental point also applies to cuisines in India. If you must have observed, I have referred to “cuisines in India” and not “Indian cuisine”. Cuisine in India is a perfect example of the basic fabric that describes our country “unity in diversity”.
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At the onset let me admit that neither am I sure about the origins of this recipe, nor do I know much about the evolution of this recipe. What struck me, however, was the fact that I read in an article about Bhindi (Okra) and Rajasthan. Okra is one of the most famous and popular vegetable crop that is cultivated in Rajasthan. This article piqued my interest and I started reading more about the topic.
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Saturday mornings are when I prefer snuggling in the bed a little longer. However, last Saturday, my thin quilt could not keep me warmer and the overwhelming breeze from the ceiling fan moving at highest RPM meant that the room became too cold and I had to get up to switch off the fan. It is then, I realized that the coolness was due to the overcast condition that the morning sky had. I walked into the balcony, stood by the railing, gazing at the sky and admiring the gathering of dark clouds which indicated the imminent showers.
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