A bite of Orissa in Kerala

Being a Malayalee born and brought up in Gujarat, whose tryst

with Kerala was limited to month long vacations at our ancestral
home at Palakkad, I developed a dislike to food cooked in
cococonut oil. Three years back, I got married to a girl born and
brought up in Orissa and I was introduced to the world of mustard
oil. Surprisingly, I liked mustard oil and got used to
traditional Oriya cuisine.
It was under these circumstances, I found myself back at my
ancestral home for some ceremonial duties. As soon as I reached
home, I found my cousin brothers, aged 18 and 20, waiting to
receive me. Their mother (my aunt) had gone to her ancestral
house, on hearing about the demise of her mother and would not be
back for a week. I got a feeling that my culinary skills were
going to be tested!
I
had
barely
entered
the
kitchen
during
my
childhood,
bachelorhood and post-marriage phases. I could not cook to save
my life! However, I was a careful observer and had familiarised
myself with certain traditional Oriya dishes like Baingan Bhaja
and Kakharu Kasha (Pumpkin) by observing my wife in the kitchen.
Soon, I took charge of the kitchen and made a list of ingredients
to be purchased. Kundu, the older one rushed on his cycle to the
village grocer. On his return he had got everything in the list
except groundnut oil or mustard oil as these were not available
there. Coconut oil was the only oil available at this shop. The
other ingredient Kundu could not get was Amchur powder as the
grocer had never heard about it. Soon, we reached a consensus
over the oil. Srinath the younger one, borrowed a friends bike
and rushed to Palakkad town to return with a 500 ml. pack of
refined sunflower oil.
I began the ceremonies. I cut the tender pumpkin into uniform
squares and the Bombai ulli (onions) were finely chopped. I
heated the sunflower oil in a pan, which had certainly seen
better days, when my grandmother used to cook! I spluttered the
mustard seeds and fried the onions till they acquired a golden
hue. A pinch of turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chilly
powder followed in quick succession. I kept frying this mixture
on a low flame with intermittant stirring. I remembered my wifes
frantic search for tomotoes and the hastily cut tomatoes went

into the pan next. Two freshly cut green chillies plucked from
our kitchen garden followed. The golden pumpkin went in next.
This mixture was covered by the alluminium cover from the vessel
to cook idlis and we allowed it to cook for about 30 minutes on
a low flame. In the meantime Srinath had climbed our backyard
tamarind tree and returned with a handful of green tamarind. We
powdered the tamarind in the Dubai mixer and liberally
sprinkled it over the pumpkin.
As soon as we removed the lid, a little bit of Orissa wafted into
our nostrils. If it tasted as delicious as its aroma, it would be
over in minutes. I added salt to taste and garnished our creation
by sprinkling coriander leaves. Kundu and Srinath had managed to
cook rice in the traditional earthen pot and this fusion of
boiled Kerala rice, Kakharu Kasha and pappadums was one of the
most tastiest meals I have ever had in my life.

Middle by:
Murli Menon
E/503, Borsali Apt;
Khanpur,
Ahmedabad-380001