Chicken and Egg Balls

Eid celebrations are colossal in scale in the Arab countries. I remember some of shopping craze I witnessed as a child during this season. For eg, watching an Arab and his considerably large family push several shopping carts loaded with eatables to the billing counter, including a cart that contained only tins and tins of condensed milk! They must have been planning one hell of a party!

Tweet

Making Pathiri, Step by Step

The only time I ever ate homemade pathiri was at my friend Ays's place. It was during the third year of our engineering course, when "mass recruitments" were in vogue; placement agencies were conducting recruitment drives ever so often to cope with the huge demand for freshers. (The scenario somehow reminds me of a fishing net bursting with sardines, and a happy fisherman flashing a toothy grin. Strange, eh?) How lucky for us, especially since the computer science stream was considered "dull" at the time we joined (this made many people join the electronics stream, though they finally found jobs as software engineers! I am still bitter about this!).

Tweet

Semolina and Coconut Pudding

My blog turned a year old a few days back and I didn't realize it though I had been looking forward to the blog birthday for quite some time. My absent mindedness sometimes surprises (even) me. I know firsts are supposed to be really special. They deserve careful planning and mindless partying. But I feel extremely lazy at the moment. My bed, blanket and TV remote call out my name in increasingly honeyed tones. So, to mark the occasion I decide to try out a very simple semolina pudding recipe my parents sent me. Then, I shall jump into bed, some pudding in hand, prop myself against some pillows, and watch "Lie to Me" on TV (that man has too much energy, he needs to take a nap, he really does).

Tweet

Kottayam Style Chummanna Meen Curry/Red Fish Curry

People from my state seem to be just about everywhere. Everytime I go on an outing and hear someone chatter away in malayalam, I think of the popular movie dialogue, "Wherever you go, I am there!" If you ever hear of a tea stall on the moon, be assured it belongs to a Mathai or a Kunjacchen! I would say that in every family in Kerala, there is someone working in some far flung region of the country, atleast one NRI (Non Residential Indian), and even people holding foreign citizenship. Why so? The malayali's financial dreams can never be fulfilled by working in his own state, probably because we dream big (very big, mind you). In the past, many of us have moved to the oil rich middle east or the gulf or Persia, as we refer to the arab world, to finance our large homes, numerous cars, posh foreign schools, diamonds and gold for the ladies etc. Being unselfish, we shared our good fortune with friends and relatives by finding (or creating!) job opportunities that they could fill in, and sent them visas, and voila! we had "saved" one more family. Today, while the middle east continues to hold its charm, more and more people are migrating to USA, England and other countries occupied by the sayippu, with hopes of raking in lots of money, and living the good life.

Tweet

Love Marriage Vs. Arranged Marriage over a Plate of Masala Papad

 
In India, a love marriage causes a huge scandal in the family, the proportions of which are unmatched by any other kind of scandal. Talk "love" to elders, and it causes them shock, shame, concern and high BP; shock because the son/daughter who was taught cultural and moral values right from birth dared to choose his/her own life partner; shame because friends and relatives whose children didn't do the same will look down upon them (the parents) and talk behind their backs and sometimes to their faces about their shoddy parenting skills (why else would the children have gone astray?); worry because kids will always be kids and they might have chosen wrong, an unworthy match; and high BP, well, I think all this will definitely cause some credible blood pressure fluctuations.

Tweet

Sausage Rolls

Hum rahe ya na rahe kal,
pal, yaad aayenge ye pal...

My friends have presented me with some of the most beautiful and craziest moments of my life. As life takes on a quick pace, the memories of laughing together, dividing a tiny piece of chocolate into 9 tiny bits, gossiping about who is with whom, lengthy discussions that wound into the night regarding the facts of life , cussing at each other,  failed attempts to get our hands on the 'Murder' CD that made its rounds in hostel, shopping for jewellery and clothes, the surprise birthday parties, helping each other find the right shade of lipstick, are some of the few things that bring a smile to my face. Wouldn't it be just wonderful if we could get together once more, spend a day without anything to worry us, be totally and absolutely happy and carefree?

If there ever be such an occasion, I'll make these sausage rolls

Tweet