Without a title from Manjitha

Photo courtesy : Mr.Belli Jayaprakash, http://badaga.wordpress.com/hethe-habba/


The last day of two zero one zero and I am in Manjitha for almost a week,say starting from last sunday, We call it Hetthai Habba, celebrating our Grand mother which happens once a year(sometimes twice a year). Peoples from Six villages will go divine for a month, carrying their ancestors walking sticks and walk all villages where they have been invited. Every village with great hospitality celebrate their arrival and in return the holy people (Hettakkarru)bless the village with happiness and prosperity, just before the last day they visit Manjitha, that was last sunday.
At Manjitha they called the holy power with songs and playing buguri(flute kind of instrument), followed by food and food, I should mention this of all the six villages in our region , Manjitha is notable for its Avai Udhaka( beans khorma), ahh hard to resist, Monday peoples from all six villages make our walk to Jagatha(nearby village)carrying big umbrellas representing each village,and there in jagatha from a hill above they carry our goddess statue to the sanctum sanctorum. With music and dance happiness covers every where and every one.
With all these in mind and thousand and thousands of people surrounding, the Atchikke (dish made from battha- grain )filled my mind, back home my granny is ready with ragi pancake, and atchikke .I met all my friends and friends , its just the words , and just the visuals before me, all my mind is full of you know what. I know getting atchikke is a once a year affair , but no can deny how delicious it is.
Its thirty minutes walk , I rushed to my granny place only to see the worst part which awaited at home. from a platefull of atchikke a couple of years before to just four to five table spoon of atchikke today is really worst.. no place to cultivate or no one wants to cultivate, it do not grow or peoples do not want to grow, Whatever the reason it is, with handfuls of atchikke in my mouth, thinking next year Hettai habba brought worries and worries... for the cause of Atchhikke.

click the link below for more on atchikke

http://sathishmanjitha.blogspot.com/2009/05/from-manjitha.html

The Akshya Patra Foundation

I write this, as I see the numbers of 1253266 childrens who get meal everyday, "The Akshya Patra Foundation" It says Children can laern much faster that you imagine, All it takes is a filling meal. Yes it is. will any one neglect this true words, We talk a lot and talk a lot, rather let us put something in to action for this wonderful cause. Tough I have a very few following me(my words).I know many want to help feeding a child , I do not want to keep writing its all in here just a few minutes for a noble cause www.akshayapatra.org
This post is not for the contest, It for a Cause

The Holy saint and the Azhagar Dosa

One day visit and so many things, Not very far from "the Athens of South India", This place is build during the sixteen hundreds, An early bus from Madurai for twenty kilometers and twelve rupees bus fare, not bad at all wonderful travel.... Its not a pilgrimage , Its kind of visit to new places, and I believe temples teaches more.

As soon I got down from the bus, Its a long one hour walk up the hill to recah Pazhamudircholai, Temple for lord Muruga, its a fertile hill with springs and herbs and believed that Valli(wife of lord muruga) supposed to have lived here. A walk to remember with dense forest and lot of monkeys, Its all safe until you start disturbing them.

You keep moving uphill to reach Noobura Gangai Theertham, where Goddess Sri Raakachi Amman Shrine is there. She is pouring Her blessings on the devotees,in the form of water.I with a mind of taking the holy bath,went to wet my head with holy water, After which I meat a saint who spelled A to Z of me, Very much scared of prophesy, I offered the saint with a One hundred rupee note as an act of worship, Its not foolish as one of my friend said, If I have to evaluate his sayings, its distinction. because he extended my travel to Thirumala next time... I am happy travelling

Its here in Pazhamudircholai ,The great Tamil poet saint Avvaiyar had been tested by Lord Murga here. who was one of the very famous devotees of Lord Muruga, One day Avvaiyar became tired while travelling came under the shadow of a fruit tree. She was very hungry and thirsty. At that time, a small boy who was sitting on the tree asked her whether she wanted fruits from the tree. she said yes. At that time the boy asked Avvaiyar whether she wanted roasted fruits or unroasted fruits. Avvaiyar who was a famous Tamil poet, litterateur and having indepth knowledge in Tamil thought,"Is there any roasted fruit in the world?" and decided that the small boy didn't have knowledge even about a fruit. she didn't want to argue with the small boy and asked him to pick roasted fruits for her. The boy shook the tree and so fruits fell under the tree. The mud under the tree had stuck on the fruit. Avvaiyar took the fruits and blew on the fruit to remove the mud. It was observed that as the fruits were roasted and had become warm, Avvaiyar had blown the fruits to cool them. At that time, the small boy asked Avvaiyar whether the fruits were warm? Avvaiyar was astonished, "How had a small village cowboy played such an intelligent drama? She had thought that the small boy had no knowledge about fruits and how the fruits in the tree may become roasted fruits. But blowing the air on the fruit to remove the mud is like blowing air to reduce the heat as the fruit is roasted. What a beautiful comparison. Such a beautiful comparison would not have risen in her mind even though she had gained rich knowledge in Tamil." She asked the small boy, "Who are you actually?"

Ahh too much of history, with the saints holy words and my lost hundred rupees, I came down to see lord vishnu at Azhagar Kovil, cutting short the history part, I went in search of food, its the temple prasad, called Azhagar kovil doasi, which is tasty griddle fried, Its hot from the kitchen, with all the necessary seasonings one will forget the accompaniment, because there is none.


The elderly one who cooks and sells, said it take thirty minutes to cook one dosa. which is very thick with a crispy crust and a creamy crumb, along with that he gave Adarasam(sweet), and Chakli(deepfried murukku), tough there are four to five varieties my palate kept searching for Alagar dosai, Ahhhh those tasty dosai...Its just half day passed and with soo many place to visit, Its hard to leave Alagar temple, not because of the divine power, or the lord vishnu or the hundreds of years of history... the real reason, the dosas. Its the hard to resist Alagar Dosai.. The bus arrived and I was ready to leave, Inside the bus I hold my bag tightly with a dozen of Dosai packed hot.

Escargots

A three day journey to the union territory was fun , I do not blame the rain for my laziness, did not go much, did not eat much, all I did was Drink drink and drink, with so many varieties of drinks sometimes its hard to resist. I tried some local foods its all same, Its a new place and the dishes seems to be new.

The Best part is you get all varieties of cooking cheese, the French spreads and many Ingredients. Only there is no place for me to cook, I managed the crowded Goubert market,the silent Rue Dupuy, The bussy street, and The Rocky Beach. A Great place to be, not just because of the drinks you get there, Puducherry is Unique in its own way.The bled of Indian and French cuisine, you get all meats and vegetables there in there.

Of all I tasted, the Snail is what lingers in my mind, Which is consumed in the world for more than a thousand years, there are land snails and freshwater snails, Its rich in protein and less in fat, who will neglect a dish like this. In western countries which is very popular, they call It Escargots - which means a dish of cooked land snails , the usual seasoning butter and parsley. But here in puducherry, the Snail cooked with the local spices is really mouthwatering.

Of All three days, with all places I visited, with all the peoples I met, and all the food I tasted. The taste of Masala Snail lingers in my taste buds and creates an interest in me to visit puducherry again. Forget not a pint of beer when you go to puducherry.

Sex On the Beach

Does the name really matters when it comes to Cocktails, Here it goes,The cocktail's history begins in the nineteenth century. One of the first cocktails to be named and recognized is the martini. It can be traced back to an 1862 recipe for the Martinez. This American recipe consisted of four parts sweet red vermouth to one part gin, garnished with a cherry. "Professor" Jerry Thomas tended the bar of the old Occidental Hotel in San Francisco and reputedly made the drink for a gold miner on his way to the town of Martinez. But the revolution in martini happened after the James Bond era.
Is the drink really decorated with the Tail feathers of chickens,or the left over drinks were mixed in a rooster shaped containers,the etymology its hard to trace, but the names of cocktails is myriad.
Absinthe and Cognac mixed together gives an "Earthquake", to the same you mix in Champagne its "Death in the afternoon" some sounds good and for some its difficult to imagine, A "Black Russian" is Vodka and Khalua mixed together, where in Brandy with Kaluha is a "Dirty Mother". Amaretto with Scotch is "God father" when Scotch is replaced by Vodka its "God mother", A martini is a well known, with same when champagne and pineapple juice is mixed its "Flirtini"
Scotch, tennessee, bourbon whiskey mixed is called "Three wise man" where as "Seven & Seven" is 7up and seven crown whiskey,there is "Polar Bear" "Red headed slut" and the "French connection".There is "My fair lady" "White Lady" and "Pink Lady". Shooters are drunk quickly which contains one to four ounces of mixed spirits, A Duo contains spirit and Liqueur and a Trio additionally contains a Creamy ingredient. With so many naames and so many mixes there are n number of cocktails in this world, sip the drink and explore the taste, do the name really matter. to end with , after the drink ,go back and tell the joy of Cocktail, Nothing wrong in telling that the "Sex on the Beach" is just perfect.
"The Last word" vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice mixed together is "Sex on the Beach" didn't I say that the last word is also a cocktail.

Agave tequilana - The blue Agave

Long Long ago.. the inhabitants of Mexico venerated the Agave for the numerous bounties it provided them.The agave represented the Nahuatl goddess Mayahuel, goddess of fertility with 400 breasts that allowed her to feed her 400 sons; reason for which the plant was believed to possess special powers.the Mexicanos used the plant in different ways:
From its leaves they obtained fiber to weave different types of materials, Its spines were used as needles. From its center they obtained juices or syrups for nourishment;
And from the fermentation of such syrups and juices they obtained a mystic drink that allowed them to enter in to the wonderful world.

The name is pulque, a fermented agave plant sap, Which was soo awesome ,Sr Jose Antonio Cuervo, who distilled the Agave around eighteen hundreds to make a great drink and the rest is history, There are around one hundred and thirty six species of agaves in mexico, but the Weber Blue Agave is the one which is used to make the Proud drink of Mexico, Tequila. and by rule it should be from the Jalisco region(Tequila City), like the Champagne region of France

The reason I post this is, that my fiend who was tested H1N1, positive,said that he had Tequila in ECR, mahabalipuram, the day before. Reason number two - My cousin came home the same night with two bottles of tequila, requesting me to keep it safe until he returns. (as if it is safe with me). A surprise from my friend in pondicherry brought a Bottle of Tequila in my shelf, which I drank and Drank and Drank .. . . . . .......

Time goes as I invite people for a tot of tequila, and the quantity keeps reducing and reducing.. my mind went blank, when the bottle were empty, Thanks to ron- The Great bar Tender who took me for a drink, to Flames (Bar)Coimbatore, started with four large and ended with two shots of tequila, Ahh a day to remember....Of all the drinks, I enjoyed Tequila the most, not because you lick the salt , drink the drink and suck the lime, Its a real drink... I mean its a liquid Fire... But to have it with a Real Bartender is really wonderful


HAppy Birthday rohan..

Aag,,,,,A letter to start!

Dear Monsieur Auguste,

I still do not understand how things work in cooking, I know I am green in cooking, just five to seven years of cooking, But do I really know, what a five to seven year old chef should know??? the question really hangs low in my mind, scared it may touch the soil anytime.

The love for cooking never ceased in me Mr.Auguste , I just enjoy every part of
cooking, Its more of a life partner to me, Never a moment I have frowned to cook
something.But many times its all complaints and complaints.... Mr. Auguste, in India we some how tackle the complaints, like how you tackle the football in France.

The most serious question I want to ask is , How you trained so many people in the art of cooking? once my colleague asked me for a carrot and fresh green recipe and I showed him a demonstration of few dishes with carrots,and I was not at all happy with the final dish, You know what Mr. Auguste, My colleague prepared the same dish which I thought him and got a job as Sous chef in a leading hotel in India. Does these kind of things happened to you????

Some time I get a call from, some unknown number to find out that he is, so an so ( my student of so and so batch)who work as a chef in So and so hotel, Ahhh the happiness in it , is really GREAT, Mr.Auguste

The Reason I post this is , A parent of my student, Mr. Murali, called me yesterday (Its actually , I who called him)and said, that her daughter(my student)had prepared carrot hulwa and they really enjoyed the taste of it, you Know Mr. Auguste , how happy I was, that little girl student of mine, cooking carrot hulwa, who is very very green to cooking.. ahhh its great Mr. Auguste,

I know practice makes one perfect, but Mr. Auguste , just practice is enough??? thats my question???I know its easy to ask questions but I have many worse questions to come in , will ask you in my next post. ohhhh Monsieur I forget to tell you something, carrot Hulwa is a sweet from Indian cuisine, Its delicious and not simple as your entrements and sorbets....

Your French cuisine may be haute, but there is more than haute to our Indian cuisine , Until my next post happy resting Mr. Auguste

HaVe A NiCe DaY......

Monnaco Topping

The toughest part is to judge something without any specific rules and regulation, and when you are sad, then the things just won’t work out. But when it comes to cooking the saddest part always diminishes. I do not think any wonder will happen justifying the sad part of me. I believe things will become alright with time, “hope” is what life is all about.
Coming back to the judging part it’s a culinary competition, and the theme is “Flame free cooking” still I do not understand the concept, because of the specification which was not framed and I do not know on what basis to judge. Though I have to

What more to expect than sandwiches , cold drinks and salads, with fruits and vegetables , a few of them had sakes fried gram and soaked pressed rice sweetened with sugar and jaggery etcetera etcetera……hardly any presentation except one which was arranged in an appetizing manner… Really…

Together it was Twenty teams with Two in a team.. the hardest part is some table had just a single dish and some had variety of dishes.. Ahhhh… to call it mean??? I looked for everything in a dish, a table with just plain sandwich and fresh fruits in skewers looked Awesome,,,,,, The name “Have a nice day” I believe Food is first eaten with eyes then with nose at last with mouth……. A price for sure but not confirmed … not to forget the nineteen participants remaining…

Let me finish it Quick, the first goes to a team with monnaco toppings – the description monnaco biscuits with savory and sweet toppings… prepared by a team of Two Boys, the second goes to “Have a Nice day” and the third a cold Coffee where thye bitterness of the coffee lingers in your mouth for a long long time…. You will just Love it…

I forget to tell you something its just Three prices, but I requested for another three more making it to a number of Five…. And long before…… Didn’t I tell you that Boys are really good in culinary………….

yours sincerely bibinca

Its seven years before, I and my friend V were on a visit to Goa for an Educational fair, Ahh those wonderful ten days , Whatever we do, wherever we go the day always we ended up in food. The laziness made us to have chocolates and apple fizz for breakfast, So that, there is no need to wash your hands??
I still remember V saying that the real taste of the food depends on the hand which it prepares it. Yes I do agree, but the germs and etc from your hand really gives a good flavor to food, is what something which was added later by Mr.V.
A friend of ours who was very much settled there, with a massage parlor and a foreign lady took us to a sea side dinner. The first day dinner was chicken cafreal, with pav bun, never will I forget those pints and pints of complimentary beers. There after our days starts very late. say, at nine – nine thirty and laziness lingers till the lunch and the fenni gets in. I do agree that the fenni smells strong, but I hate finding fault with alcohol.
The hunt for search of new and authentic food continued for the remaining days, we didn’t eat what we tasted before, and every time we settled with something new. Pork sorpotel, galinah Xacuti , Prawn Balcho , plates and plates of mollusks, and the spicy frog leg with Good Goan songs on the shore..
There were days spent just with food and drink, and drink and food. I still didn’t knew what makes you sober and sober when you keep drinking all the time and litres of alcohol, is it the sea and its waves or the French fries and scallops. Its after seven years and the Seven liters of alcohol on a single evening and the whole night in the beach, with pillows made from sand , Everything is clear very clear in front of my eyes today.
For next day lunch we had some home made pulao and, and goan style fish curry, a small cup full of mollusks as accompaniment, and a cup of tempered kokum water to aid digestion. I bet you , just the rice and fish curry will make you to forget you hometown, and feel like staying in goa forever.
The best part is always the dessert, for this one the fuels is coconut shell, unlike the gentle flames below the pan, the eagerness to consume those delicious layered cake kept raising and raising. Mrs. Meline dsouza who prepared the Goan layered cake Bibinka, added a dash of fenni along with the batter. The batter is then cooked in a pan layer by layer, once the sixteen layer is finished(that much is the number of layers the traditional Bibinka has) the first few layers turn black, with good amount of ghee to compliment the smoky flavor, Bibinka is always the best. Is that the only sweet?? Dodoll , and……… soo soo many,
Whenever you get a chance to dine goan food, forget not that the alcohol accompanies all the dishes in goa. And know what???? “Old goans never die, they just stumbles and stagger away”.

HAPPY EATING!

Yell, Dwell, Hell nothing like Sorpotel!

When its GOAN cuisine I am FAMISHED

One of the questions I keep asking the students is that how many in the class are vegetarians? And I see many raised hands, Sometimes the Question is like this. How many in the class are vegetarians who eat meat? Again I see some raised hands. Nothing wrong? But I do believe the religious part of it.Not long before I had a pure vegan student, who once said, Sir ,I just hate meat, and products with addition of eggs, and she added, only when I am at home and when my parents are around, otherwise everything taste like chicken. My bro once tried to pull his stomach out , coz of the rice which he ate was cooked by using chicken stock,
One of the most common meat used by humans during the olden times were pork, there were so many reasons for it, and the varieties of product made from pork , sausages, salamis, forcemeats, in brief I put it all together in a single word Chacutiere(pork butchery) . we study of all these and relate continental cuisine to it, and we forget our own Indian pork dishes, there are so many, the best and the best, And all the credit goes to Goa .
There are endless dishes with pork in india, but many of them are from goa, the fact we have to agree. Pork Balcho, Pork Baffado, Pork Assado, spicy Pork sausage, Pastelo, Pickled Pork, Pork Vindaloo and the King of all Pork Sorpotel. Many in goa claim that their Sorpotel is best, the nice thing about sorpotel is that it can be prepared at least four to five days in advance of the special day. It is warmed up once a day till the day it is served with ‘sanna’ a steamed rice muffin.
The say a festival dining table is incomplete without the famous sorpotel and bibinka. And same like the bibinka a dash of coconut fenni is added in the sorpotel recipe. Here is a goan song dedicated to Sorpotel

For the hotch potch known as Haggis
Let the Scotsman yearn or yell
For the taste of Yorkshire pudding
Let the English family dwell

For the fame Tandoori chicken
That Punjabi praise like hell
But for us who hail from Goa
There’s nothing like Sorpotel!

From the bigwigs in colaba
To the small fry in Cavel
From the growing tribes in Bandra
To the remnants in Parel

From the lovely girls in Glaxo
To the boys in Burmah Shell
There’s no Goan whose mouth won’t water
When you talk of Sorpotel

And Oh! For Christmas dinner
Don’t you think it will be swell
If by some freak of fortune
Or by some magic spell

We could, as they have in Goa
A bottle of the cajel
And toddy leavened sannas
To go with Sorpotel!



Recipe:
Parboil the meat for twenty minutes and mince it fine, grind together 12 redchillies, 12 peppercorns, 1 tsp cumin.ginger, garlic, 8 cloves and 2 piece of cinnamon with 3/4cup of vinegar, Light brown the meat in oil to brown color, add the ground spices and stir for ten minutes add little more vinegar, the stock, chopped onions and green chillies add salt for taste and cook till the oil floats on top and the gravy is thick. Forget not to stir. And taste , if you are not happy with the taste. YOU HAVE PROBABLY FORGOTTEN THE MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT “ LARGE QUANTITY OF LOVE’


More of Bibinka and Fenni in my nex blog

The Birthday Cake

The Amateur, the professional, the fresher…..The difficulty in remembering two hundred and fifty grams of Flour, Butter, Sugar and ten eggs, with an addition of fifty grams of cashew and raisins mixed together. Indeed very hard to remember for Mr.Sapan (matlab Dream) a fresher or an amateur in cooking. The list of ingredients were written in a small piece of paper, folded and carefully placed in Mr. Dream’s pocket, the reason it’s his birthday the day after and he wants to prepare his birthday cake. Ah! What a birthday to remember…

Sirji, you do the purchasing and I’ll pay for it, is what Mr. Dream said, my reply of NO is to make him to learn a little bit of purchasing, Mr. Dreams excitement lingered around a few seconds after his exit. The purchase ended the same day after three to four phone calls from him the same evening.(clarification of indent!!!)
It’s he who prepares and I just help him, the creaming of butter with sugar, the long time beating of eggs, sieving of flour and baking powder together with an addition of cocoa powder everything went well. He sounded more like a professional in baking, and it sounds like he completely didn’t knew the functions of Ingredients, and most importantly one should know that a wrong measurement will turn a pro into amateur in baking. I am sure that he learned how to mix, though we didn’t measure the ingredients and I could literally see a finished baked cake in his eyes.
Looking at him , I stopped asking him the functions of ingredients and the reason for mixing, sieving and creaming, after twenty plus and another thirty minutes at Two hundred and twenty degree Celsius, my calculation of equal amount of flour , butter and sugar didn’t deceive me. The cake was perfect with awesome flavor and color, for the taste I have to wait till the midnight. Just a look in his eyes, I could say how the cake taste. The real reason behind this simple yet a beautiful cake is, not just the ingredients and the oven, along with a dash of Mr. Dream’s Love and passion, which made it all wonderful. I shouldn’t have used the word Amateur Isn’t it?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ……
Everyone is green in culinary, we learn something new every day. HAPPY COOKING!

Long Time... but still

The love for cooking have never reduced a bit, there are so many reasons to justify . I do not want to go in detail. I am very much proud to say that I teach cooking. Once a granny asked me, why are you learning to cook? What is there to learn? Those unanswered questions…… and there were many, adding to that, the words my mom says, that culinary is for those who gets an average in their twelfth standard. Yes I do agree that, I myself an average, but cooking does not come like that to anyone. Because I see it and feel it .For the past six years , I have witnessed many. A culinary student working with front office and a student who want to join MBA and work in multinational company, ending up as CDP in a star hotel. Ironic isn’t it? But again it’s hard to accept. The reason, culinary skills are hard to judge in a student in the three years of study.
The ones who are dying patients to sauté onions in the first year, the same ones who are tired to chop a tomato in the second year, blooms like an executive chef after their six months training… in the final year they think that cooking is all what they see and cook in their hotel for those six months. Many forget that cooking is like an open book, without an end and the real passion should come within. I often tell many students to visualize when they learn a recipe, it helps understanding the recipe up to seventy percent, but, there are dishes which deceive your visualized one.
To finish with, there are so many dishes around you, and certain secret recipes are very hard to decipher, whatever it may be, cooking is all what you do, involve yourself and love every second of it, the result is delicious and delicious, knowing the functions of ingredients is very important, and forget not to try something new all the times. Agree that there are lot to learn from the mistakes. So worry not, HAPPY COOKING!

Try this out.
Take 100 gms of butter or Margarine , sugar, and refined flour. Cream butter and sugar to a smooth and fluffy consistency, add 2 beaten eggs , mix well, add refined flour sieved with ½ teaspoon baking powder. Add ½ tsp vanilla essence and 100 gms of chopped dryfruits. Pour it in a greased mould and double boil for one hour or bake at 120*C for 20 minutes.

Punishment

Punishment, will it help?

This is the last term and I want the final years to use the maximum of culinary, but how many understand the real meaning of USE?. I am not calling it useless, may be I one of the reasons for it.Because all knows the students and the class is directly propotional to the teacher who handles it, and have you heard that there is no use crying over spilt milk?

Checking the students for grooming before the culinary session is just not a daily routine. It is in such a way that they really understand the purpose behind it. Is there anything wrong in a daily shave, proper kitchen kits, clean uniforms ? I do not find any, but why there is always a lack?

Too many questions, Punishments a good way for the solution, yes, punishments in diffrent form will help and this one went like this. I cook and everyone just observe(not eat) , its like a demonstration, rather than an usual practical culinay session. In the end its I who eat, and everyone??

The menu for the day was, Foccaccia, Cannelloni, Roast Chicken, three hours is more than enough for preaping all three dishes and to EAT. Starting with Foccaccia everything went well, in the end, a word of Promise from all students(to come in proper groomin) from next cooking session made me to share the bread.

At last my punishment had a purpose.Only I wish everyone comes perfect from the next culinary session, but somewhere around the corner of my mind a new form of punishment bliks.

sorry for the break

Things we do not expect, when it comes... there is always a need for break. I'm alright now, wish i start blogging now without a break... I just wish and do not expect. hope everything will go well, above all Ipray the almighty.