Celebrating Passion for Food
I had an unexpected encounter with this chutney, during one of our official team party. I had known its close cousin Hari (Green) Chutney for quite some time as most of the restaurants which I have been to in Pune, serve Hari Chutney as a customary accompaniment with Tandoor dishes.
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Diwali mornings, every year similar scenes would be played out in our one room kitchen home. Mom would cajole me, threaten me and finally forcefully drag me out of bed. I would be required to find my way to bathroom and get ready before Mom lights up the house with clay diyas. I would trudge across laboriously taking a slight detour and make my way to kitchen instead. I would find it on the corner of a table kept in a large vessel, tightly covered.
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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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We had our first taste of this curry during our visit to Kerala. In fact, this curry was part of our first lunch that we had in Kerala at Kannur. I do not recollect the name of the restaurant located near Kannur bus station, where we had our lunch, but it seemed to be a pretty popular food joint as it was crowded when we reached there and were lucky to find seats after few minutes of waiting time. I liked this dish in particular and when we came back to pune we tried replicating this dish in our kitchen several times. After many trials we were successful in creating the similar dish with similar taste.
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At this time of year in Pune (month of October), rains would have fast shut its door like a whimsical, adamant teenager who is difficult to persuade and winters though seem to be around the corner, would still be afar. Sensing this as an opportunity, heat and humidity would torment us for the month of October. However, this year, we are witnessing a turnaround. The rains has picked up in an unprecedented way by the end of its season and I am enjoying it.
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I am an eternal optimist, a person who would look for silver linings in every problem at hand. I stick to this philosophy for most events in my life, however I must admit, there are some events which I rue as a lost opportunity. I regret to have missed the gastronomic experience of trying out the Nawabi (royalty) recipe of Shahi Tukda during my trip to Lucknow last year. This feeling is more so justified when you know that the recipe originated from that city.
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We had a set routine, and we loved it. Every Sunday, Missus and I would set out early morning for a romantic stroll, our hands tightly clasped, she would look into my eyes and we would talk for hours.
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We have been facing issues lately with our refrigerator. It is little over 7 years old and had never ill-behaved but lately it had been turning its back on us. I believed in it and entrusted it with the responsibility of keeping my essentials safe and it did exactly what it promised for all these years.
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We came across this recipe from Koli cuisine in the cookbook “Rare gems- A non-vegetarian gourmet collection from Maharashtra” authored by Aditya Mehendale. This book in itself is an amazing piece or art which clearly demonstrates the hard work and thorough knowledge applied by author in documenting some popular and some less known recipes from culinary landscape of Maharashtra.
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The festival of Ganeshotsav is celebrated with great enthusiasm and excitement in India and more particularly in Maharashtra. This is a 10 day festival that starts with Ganesh Chaturthi. In Sanskrit, Chaturthi refers to fourth day and this festival is specifically celebrated during fourth day of the waxing moon in Bhadrapada as per Hindu calendar which comes around August-September.
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