People - Food - Places

Do you associate food with people and places? Not asking about eating in restaurants, but rather about food that’s served with love at home. 

I’m an ardent lover of food, and appreciate deeply when someone cooks food for me. I have a notable few foods that always remind me of the place and the person who’d served it to me for the first time. Invariably, every time anyone talks about that food item, instantly that person and the memory springs up in my mind. 

The first ever item on that list is Akki Roti. A Karnataka delicacy where they make rotis out of rice flour instead of wheat. Well, the first ever time I’d a bite of this was at my Mami’s (A) Amma’s house in Bangalore, probably when I was 10 or 12 years, maybe? We’d gone for a visit early noon, and in 10 minutes she cooks it up and serves it with some amazing home-made Nandini ghee. Gosh, the smell of the ghee, the crispness and the taste of the roti, even after all these years, still makes my mouth water. I still remember the numerous other times I’d went over to their place in anticipation of this, and don’t remember being disappointed ever, as this was always served first, without fail. The other day as my friend was talking about Akki Roti, guess what popped up in my mind - A’s amma and her impeccable roti.

The next one on this list are Methi Roti and Sabudana Khichdi. These ones come from Pune, Maharashtra. As for the methi roti, it came from my dad’s maternal aunt. The fresh tender methis together with a bit of ajwain, turmeric, chilli powder, salt mixed with our usual wheat flour results in this amaze max methi rotis. It’s really versatile in the sense that you could either gobble it up plainly, or with a side of raitha or plain curd or pickle - absolute freaking yum! Sabudana Khichdi coming from the same household, from the aunt’s daughter-in-law. My goodness me, this is literally my all time favourite dish in the whole wide world. Making Sabudana Khichdi is an art, for you to be need careful with the sabudana - they tend to get really sticky when subjected to heat, and become a whole mashy mess. The secret ingredient to stop them from getting sticky is to add powdered groundnut. This recipe by MathuSoundar is a keeper, works like magic, every-freaking-time. I could even mildly (proudly) brag that I’m becoming an expert in making this dish now. Thank you Mathu!

Lastly on this series, is something that my friend used to bring for lunch in during our internship. Vegetable or Peas Pulao/fried rice with some Vazhakkai cutlet. Good god, I’ll never get over this dish ever. The fragrance, the taste, the way it looks, everything about this dish is just perfect. We used to literally hijack her entire lunch box and hand over our boring rasam or sambar rice or most often some juice to her, as we hog all of her lunch. It’s been more than 10 years now, but the memory still lingers. I really do have to go to her home once to relish this dish all over again. 

Well, that is all for now, and I’m signing off with a lot of fond foody memories.

Until next,

G!