Melting Potluck

People worry quite a bit about social media and its effects upon society, their children and so on, but I must admit that in the limited and rather benign way I use it, I’m enjoying this phase of the Internet enormously. My mother for one would have LOVED Instagram.

Particularly food! Growing up, I think households stuck with their traditional ways of doing things. As a young, inexperienced householder, my mother’s talimpu or chaunk, her mix of spices, even her preferred way of chopping vegetables displayed a certain particularity; a style made up with a few elements – certainly including her caste, her region, her mother’s ways of doing things. She branched out hugely as she went on, loading more variety in a meal than we could possibly eat.

I, who wasted my mother’s presence while I had it by not learning very much, am not very hardwired. My knowledge for whatever I may seek comes from Youtube Akka, the collective sorority on the web. Some searches go back, diving into traditional recipes, some expeditions are made into the brave new world of other cuisines and experimentation.

“Akka, pandu mirchi pachchadi cheyyadam…?”

“Idigomma, ila!”

“HoLige maaDo vidhana?” 

“Yes, yes, sariyagi noDulkoLi…”

“Maami, kozhukattai eppadi…” 

“First outer maavu panDradu kattikonga…”

And then there is the unsought. I had no idea the humble rava coupled with a cup of curd could be so versatile. And then there are combinations that I had not previously considered.

One of my favourite summer recipes has come to be this lovely cold soup, which was described as a kind of gazpacho. It pairs cucumbers and green grapes with yoghurt. I don’t know what Ayurveda has to say about it, but I have decided it’s worth the risk.

In my version, in go a couple of green chillies, some black peppers, four or five bird eye chillies, two pods of garlic, pink salt and a dash of olive oil. The addition of dill makes it fabulous but equally nice are coriander and mint. Blend it all and serve chilled.