Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Malayaleeccentricities...Let's talk Food!!

I'm presently in the Kingdom of the Gods (of Malayalees), in the fiefdom of the Menons - we are meticulous book-keepers - or so I have learnt the ancestors were too in the service of the kings of Travancore-Cochin and Malabar. They were number jugglers, I don't fancy numbers at all - they juggle before my eyes. So I document words, practises and those things that make Malayalees uniquely Mallu - and sometimes only a Malayali can understand why it is strange. That's how we like it -little need to be said! And boo-yoo that we aren't much into experimenting with tradition, except when we are not in Kerala. Then we are game to try and re-mould our lives to suit any weather, palate or customs! :) So now for the time that I'm in Kerala, I'm going to attempt to write on Malayaleeccentricities

Our fascination with food, for instance, is not really all-encompassing. Yesterday I was making chicken curry, when Dad sauntered in into the kitchen. I believe I was making a Malayali-version of a simple chicken curry. However, in the absence of dry roasted coconut and a thick gravy, the snap assessment is that it is one of those experimental preparations! Sigh!!! Similarly, coriander leaves are as North Indian in garnish as curry leaves tempered in coconut oil are in this part of the world. Every time I chop a bit up for the fresh aromatic smell, I'm asking if I'm making a Mumbai dish!

Can you understand the lure of kappa (tapioca) boiled with just turmeric and salt with shallots and green chillies crushed in coconut oil again with a bit of salt? Even as I write this, there is a pool forming in my mouth - I have just put it on the list of must-ask-Mom-to-make! Its spicy, its bland, its tuber-y and its blah - ohhh but it is so Malayali. When friends well-versed with Malayali cooking rave about the kappa and meen curry (kappa with fish curry), I ask them if they have tried the humbler fare.

Similarly, in north Kerala, especially Thrissur - during Onam, there is a traditional breakfast made from steamed yellow plantains. Well, there is no recipe to share, because it is just ripe plantains -steamed till it nearly oozes out of the skin. It is steamed either as a whole or after chopping into bits. It is served with the skin on - what the blessed soul that gets to eat it has to do is use just two fingers artfully to peel off the steaming skin and then crush two huge pappadams( the Kerala variety, mind you, which is differently from the poppadums and the appalams and the Lijjat papads you might be used to) and make it into a mouth-wateringly maserated mess ( when I begin to alliterate that means the nostalgia is at its peak!) before popping into your salivating mouth. In several households, there is puttu (steamed rice cakes) kept on standby for the more snooty or fastidious! However, in my family, pazham and pappadam is the tradition - we would be crazy to try and experiment!

 I don't know if the reason it is only served during Onam is to keep some kinds of 'dishes' exclusively to herald Onam festivities. I cannot see the reason why it can't be convenience food for hassled mothers to dish up to their kids. But even on days when Amma was struggling to get us all ready and prepped to school before grabbing her bag to head to work, she never gave us the pleasure of savouring an out-of-turn pazham-pappadam!!

And then I think of our daily fare - not the glorious avials, kottukaris and the other sadya fare. The regular stuff made at home - the theeyals and the thorans and the mezhukkupurattis(this literally translates into vegetables sauteed in a bit of oil!) -the unglamourous, unlauded cousins - ask any Malayalee about their personal favourites and trust me, while they will be impressed by your knowledge of puttu-kadala and avial - they will secretly be craving their Amma's simple mathanga-pulingari or a vazhappindi or vazhakkoombu thoran (that's made from the different parts of the plantain - nothing goes to waste) or even the muringila thoran (drumsticks leaves)...That smell of hot hot coconut oil and curry leaves and mustard tempering in it is infinitely more blissful than the smell of jeera tempering in ghee!

Like there is a good name and a pet name that are distinctly different among Bengalis and 'good' clothes and 'home' clothes among most middle class Indians - Malayali food also has 'home' food and 'guest' food classifications. I'd say it is a distinctly discriminatory practice where we, the Malayalis decide what the non-Malayali will love and savour. The rest we pack it away to enjoy when there are no guests around our dining table. We discriminate and how - call it our Malayaleeccentricity!! :)


19 comments:

  1. oh you are there is it?

    RD will drool over this post...these are like his favorite food items which he NEVER gets to eat...well, as a matter of fact, I can proudly say that I can recognize ALL the items you mentioned, between the mother and MIL they make all the veg stuff..

    Banana and pappadams are a favorite in the inlaws side while puttu kadalai is something bro and I relish so much :)

    now my mouth is watering so much..just have that extra bit of kappa when aunty makes it will ya?? yummmmmmmmm

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    1. Yesss...my louveee..you don't check your mail kya??

      I shall do an R-aaya namaha..before popping in the kappa that I suspect will be on the menu for tomorrow since Dad has already got home some today!! :)

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  2. Wow. The foodie in me is delighted to read this post, and is drooling all over her workspace. :)

    This post made me realise I haven't tasted any of these Malayalee specialities that you mention. Time to rectify that! :)

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    1. Yes thegalnxtdoor, smile sweetly at one of your Malayali friends who have their families in Bangalore and tell them you want to pop uninvited on a surprise visit to their place. That's the only way to get them to serve you the regular fare. Its funny how, just as we have good clothes to wear for going out and 'home clothes' for daily use at home, Malayali food can also be divided into two categories - that what we eat daily at home and that which is served to guests when they come home! So beware, you fall into the second list! :) :) :)

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  3. I am salivating!

    I have tasted avial, puttu from my keralite friend in hostel. Steamed puttus are so healthy for oil-free light breakfast.

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    1. That's true...Except for the non-vegetarian dishes, there is little use of excess oil or things fried and deep-fried..:) Most of my friends too love Amma's cooking and hog like mad when she comes to visit me!! :)

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  4. hey! have a good time indulging while poor us will savour some vicarious pleasure and be content.

    I was lucky to be sharing tiffin with a large group of mallu frinds while in Abudhabi and I got to eat unniyappams, puttu, kadla curry , idli sambhar and( avials with appam) in exchange of aloo , gobhi ,methi parathas and their likes. I just hogged appams with any conceivable curry specially if it had small cubes of Tapioca. One of my friends was such a great cook.
    BTW-mallu dishes have very difficult names to remember and pronounce and i had hard time placing a request to my ever obliging generous friends.

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    1. :) :) :) thanks Kirti..Tapioca is a major dish on our menu...and parathas on the other hand is considered exotic by the Malayali...:)

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  5. Jisha Kishore Kumar10 October 2012 at 17:04

    oooh...such a mouth watering post...I drool over vazhakoombu and muringayila thoran and not to mention kappa - the simpler version as you said. Have to definitely try pazham-pappadam.....hmmm let me have it for breakfast tomorrow...:):) what abt two drops of ghee and sugar with it? will it get along???

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    1. Ghee and sugar will make it exotic!! Pavam nalla pazhutha pazham and pappadam veruthe kazhichu nokku!! Just try it without any other accompaniments! :)

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    2. Jisha Kishore Kumar13 October 2012 at 17:20

      Already kazhichu nokki...minus ghee and sugar and it was yummmmmm...My girls really loved it...:):)

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  6. Aah another foodlog, love these... Too bad people don't get to hear the names of dishes too, I'm pretty sure we are pushing the limits of pronunciation when we write pazham, vazha etc. (this further adds to the malayaleccentricities, for this can be almost exclusively pronounced by us, google has done a pretty decent job with the transliteration though :)

    P.S This inspires something else:
    Chinese food served in Kerala restaurants, A dual kaput?
    (You pretty much nailed this in the inglorious bastards post)

    P.P.S: A dual kaput is basically puttu kadala without the T(ea)(anagrams?)

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    1. Hahaha, I was laughing my way through while reading the comment. And I loved your Dual Kaput too! By the way, the reason for the late reply is that after writing this blog post, fell severely ill with a viral, which basically means there is hardly any taste buds that has survived the assault!

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    2. Oh that's kind of ironic! Get well soon...

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  7. For every non-malayalee in this blog, the secret of the stregth of malayalees lies in the Appams. The palappams, the kuzhalappams, the unniappams. All the Appams in the world, coursing through the veins of malayalees.

    Appam Power!

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  8. You asked where in NZ am I?

    I live in Hamilton right now, because I go to Waikato University. I am majoring in Supply chain management. I am conflicted whether to do a straight out logistics course, or take a detour to E-Business. Cloud computing and its influence on the future of business piques my interest.

    I stay with my dad for some days in Wellington. In late January I fly to Sydney where my Mother lives.

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  9. you’re a great professional for writing it, congrats.

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  10. I’ll be teaching a creative writing class this summer to a group of 11-14 year-olds. I have experience teaching writing (mostly poetry) to adults, but teaching kids will be new territory. Does anyone have some great tips, websites, resources for exercises, and reading materials for this age group? Thanks!.

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  11. I love coming back here and remembering all these quintessential Malayali things.

    We have boiled pazham with jaggery and coconut. It's one of the best breakfasts ever. I miss this kind of stuff all the time! Thanks for refreshing my memory, Journomouse!

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