A brave woman’s journey

This is the first time I am making crabs in my life. I was (still a little) dead scared of these creatures. First of all, they look so scary and second you need to buy them fresh, oh my god! But I have eaten them so many times, once I ate so much, chewing even on the shells, I got a stomach ache. I just love to eat them.

But then to prepare, eeeewwwww! I don’t like the feeling of being scared. So, I put on my Brave Woman cap and decided to go and buy them. First I thought, I would go alone, I could get someone at the store to help me in getting those live ones into a bag, but then the thought of driving back with the creatures still alive in my car didn’t seem a good idea.

So, I got the help of my dear husband, who was teasing me all the way and even after eating. Grrrrrr! Now that will go down as a story in our family get together. He hasn’t finished teasing me on how I run when I see live fishes on the hook when he goes fishing. Hmph!!!

So what?? Big deal!! At least I prepared it. *sticking out my tongue*

Crab season typically starts when the weather turns colder. I bought blue crabs. I have no idea how to select a good one, but I think the best way is to choose a one that has all the legs and is huge and is alive and kicking. The live ones crawl to the bottom, so it is good to place the bucket in a slanting position to get the ones at the bottom. (Psst, all these I was watching other smarties do at the store :P)

Now pick them up, inspect and drop into your bag. And if you are like me, occasionally scream and jump when someone is doing that for you and get the entire store laughing at you. Very Funny! It is said, the crabs like these voice massages!

Bring them home, get the largest pot that would fit them all and keep water for boiling and add ½ tsp of turmeric powder and one whole lime squeezed. When the water is boiling, drop them all one by one holding each with a lengthyyy tongs. The blue crabs will turn orange and immediately immerse them in cold water. This will make the crab meat firmer for our curry.

Now is the cleaning process, you would really need to watch this live. If I can, next time I will put up a video of someone else cleaning! hehehe.

First break off all the legs, discard the tiniest legs at the end that has no flesh. Then with a knife, take off the orange outer shell by just poking at the bottom and pulling it apart. Clean out everything that doesn’t look right. I think some of it is good, but if you are not sure, except for the large chunks of meat, clean it out thoroughly. Below is the picture of the cleaned crab. If you want, you can cut through the middle and make these into two.

Below is a wonderful recipe for Crab in spiced and fried coconut paste.

This is for 8 blue crabs.
Grated Coconut – 2 cups.
Shallots – ½ cup

Heat 2 tsp of oil, Saute grated coconut until it turns brown in very low heat. Add shallots, 2 sprigs of curry leaves, 7 crushed garlic pods with the skin, 4 tsp of freshly grounded meat masala powder, 1 tsp of chili powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder.

Grind to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a flat open pan, splutter mustard seeds, and add 2 fresh sprigs of curry leaves. Sauté 1 diced onion until brown, add 1 tablespoon diced ginger, 2 tomatoes chopped and add enough salt. Add some hot water to this paste and cook for 5 minutes until it comes to a boil. Add the crabs and the legs. Mix them thoroughly so that the paste covers the crabs, close and cook for some 10 minutes in medium heat.

Serve with rice or bread. You would really need to know the art of eating to eat a crab.

Kuzhalappam

Hey, wont it be great to have an event for Snacks with holes!

Kuzhalappam or Kozhalappam might be a distant cousin of those donuts and those uzhunnu vadas, if the hole is vital part of the dna of snacks. I am sure they come up with these holes just to fancy the kids, for the kids to get excited, wear it round their fingers like a giant diamond ring, and then munch on them. Oh what a wonderful life it would be if we could be kids again.

It is easier to make and stays longer makes it a Christmas time favorite of mine, since I can prepare it well ahead. The crunchy crunchiness and all those crumbs on the floor and around your mouth, oh what a way to welcome wintry Christmas.

Take 2 cups of white rice flour, mix ¼ cup of fresh shredded coconut. This will make the rice flour get some of the wetness of the shredded coconut. Now grind together 2 shallots, a pinch of cumin seeds, 2 pods of garlic, a single whole pepper. I had all the tendency to add a curry leaf, but I resisted it. Try it if you want.

Heat a flat saucepan or a uruli, heat the rice mixture in very low heat to dry the powder slightly, Add salt and the ground mixture and slowly add thick coconut milk in teaspoons so that it get wet slowly. When you feel the consistency is good enough to make soft balls, take from heat.

Now knead the dough thoroughly for some 20 minutes. If you have a Kitchen Aid (HAHA! SHOW OFF) use it now in low speed for some 8 minutes! :)

When the dough is almost ready, add 1 tsp of sesame seeds to this mix. I added white, but black sesame is preferred.

Make small balls, flatten them out in your hand to very thin, but manageable.

You can either roll some wax paper on a stick or can use the stem of a banana leaf to roll them out as shown in the pictures.

The thing you have to make sure is the rolls are very thin, so that the insides also gets fried properly.

Heat coconut oil and add them. Fry them till golden brown.

I was trying different levels of crispiness while frying, that’s why you see two different colors. I liked the lighter one better.

You can store them airtight for two or three weeks. Those little binoculars you can eat. Yummy!

Sausage Stuffed Egg Rolls

Christmas and New Year Party Time! Easy appetizers!

Buy some sausages, dice them up, sauté them in oil, add some pepper, add some shredded vegetables. Wrap them in pre-made egg roll sheets. I tried to bake some of them, it didn’t come out good, so switched to deep frying them.

Let them pictures speak.

Brinjal Mezhukkupuratti

Many don’t like Brinjal due to its gooey texture after cooking. But at home, since my mom was very strict on us eating all kind of vegetables she could lay her hands on, we never got time to complain about texture. I was told by someone Brinjal didn’t have any nutrients and even plucked out some Brinjal plants. I was wrong. It has a stash of nutrients and those violet colors are good for you.

Mezhukkupuratti is malayalam for stir fry.

I cut brinjal in small rounds one inch thick. Dont cut them too thin, for they will squish too soon. You can cut them in one inch thick elongated pieces too.

For 3 cups of brinjal, dice ½ cup shallots, 1 pod of garlic, 4 green chilies.

Heat 2 tbsp of coconut oil in a skillet, splutter 1 tsp of mustard seeds, add two split red chilies, 1 sprig of curry leaves. Then add the garlic, green chilies and onion in that order.

Now add the cut brinjal and some salt and sauté them well in the oil and lower the heat to a minimum. Sweat the vegetables by covering it and then stir them occasionally.

When they are soft, take them off from heat.

Serve as an accompaniment to rice.

Melting Moments

I am a big fan of spicyana and her fairy like creations. It is not only that she creates beautiful artifacts; she handles the camera at amazing angles and will make you drool over the fantastic pictures. Her aesthetic sense is amazing.

So when she made ‘melting moments’ last Christmas and packed goodie bags, I so so wanted one of that.

I don’t have Archana near by me so I had to make them myself and lo the right time for these ‘melting moments’ is indeed Christmas.


I liked the part in the recipe where it said, it will keep good for storage and so I could make them ahead.

Recipe Courtesy: Joy of Baking.

Sift one and half cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/4 teaspoon salt and whisk them together.

Using a beater beat 1 cup of butter and add ¼ cup of powdered sugar and beat them together to a smooth consistency. Add 1 tsp of vanilla for flavor and add the flour to this and mix thoroughly.

If the dough is firm, you can right away make the balls. Or refrigerate to make it firm for one hour or so and then make small balls (one inch) and keep them on a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Keep the balls one inch apart as they will expand while cooking.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake them for 10 minutes. Now cool them and then transfer to a surface coated with powdered sugar. Arrange them in a single layer and sprinkle powdered sugar

This is my first batch and I used vanilla flavor. These are so easy to make I am going to try these with different flavors.

Melt them in your mouth moments!

Kerala Rich Fruit Cake

This time I made a lot of cakes all at once, Usually I make them batch by batch so that I could correct in the later batches. I tried my luck this time and took one whole day for baking… it was smelling Christmas all last Sunday and as the cakes sit there waiting to be eaten it sure smells like a Bakery. So Welcome to Ginger and Mango Bakeries.

I am not a good baker and I follow K.M Mathews cake recipes to the dot. I am very reluctant to make any changes to it, since I don’t know the complicated science of baking.

This recipe is from her book, Naadan Pachakarama.

I don’t know whether any part of India other than Kerala has this tradition. Maybe Goa? This is a big tradition of cake baking, rich fruit cake. But let me tell you, I had fruit cake in Italy and I didn’t like it a bit. It was soo hard and chewy. This Kerala fruit cake is a mix between fruit cake and plum cake. It is very soft, has lots of fruit and nuts and will keep well for days.

I multiply the quantities and this time I multiplied them by 8 times. If you want to make just one cake for a smaller family I would say to divide these quantities by 4.

One thing about baking is measurement. Do not guess the measurement like you would do for a curry. You have to buy that measuring spoons, measuring cups and the kitchen weighing machine if you ever think of baking. If the recipe calls for room temperature, yes it definitely means room temperature and you cannot directly mix the ingredients from the refrigerator.

Another thing is the freshest ingredients and these do make a big difference in the quality and the storage of the cakes. I usually buy them only the previous day.

The easiest part of this cake is the soaking.

Black raisins – 150 gm
I buy fruit cake mix dried fruits which come in a single packet – 200gm.
(You can buy different dried fruits and mix them together in proportion.)
Now buy some cheap brandy and soak them. For this quantity of fruits you would require ½ cup of brandy.

See the last post for soaking.

Soak the fruits I would say one week ahead. You can also soak them two or 1 days ahead. Soak them for one week in a non-metallic jar and stir them every day to get them mixed nicely in brandy. Keep them airtight and also in a large jar since the fruits plump up when soaked.

The recipe calls for dicing the fruits before soaking. I have tried that and God it is so much work. So these days I don’t do it since I make this in large quantities. You have to dice a raisin into two if you want to follow the recipe. This is to make sure the cake while slicing won’t have crumbs. Ah! I don’t care, let it crumb, let it crumb, let it crumb! :)

Dice a cashew into four. Like that keep ¼ cup raw cashew nuts ready and soak them in Almond essence and keep aside.

Okay, so soaked them? Now onto the next step, caramalization.

Boil ¼ cup of water. Now take a pan and in low heat, add ¼ cup sugar and keep on stirring, You will see the sugar getting dissolved and changing color. When the sugar is browning and not burning, it produces an instant coffee color. Take from heat and slowly add the hot water and keep it again in the flame. While adding water be extra careful, since it will splash and burn your fingers. Now keep stirring continuously until it forms caramel color syrup. Take from heat and let it cool.
(This time I didn’t brown the caramel as I should have to a deep dark brown, fearing if a small mistake would destroy my entire batter. A little more of browning is good)

Now on to Butter. Please do not use substitutes, you are eating a cake. Unsalted Butter. Make sure it is not salted and yes, do not let your hubby dears do the shopping for this.

So, Butter at room temperature. That means it should not be a stick and rather it should be soft and gooey to touch.

Butter 250 gm. With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, lightly beat the butter until fluffy.

Now add 300gm powdered sugar to this and beat it thorough until you don’t see any lumps.

Separate 5 eggs at room temperature as whites and yellows. To do this, make a small hole on the top of the egg and pour out all the white and the yellow will stay inside the egg shell.

Add the yellow to the butter sugar mix and beat it slightly until they mix good.

Sift 250gm of unbleached All purpose flour. Yes sifting is important. Make sure you are not buying flour premixed with rising agents etc. This is the plain All purpose flour and unbleached. Add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to this flour and sift.

Now add this sifted flour in small quantities to the egg butter mix and beat it slow. You cannot use a hand mixer now, since the mix is going to be hard. So either use a stand mixer or use your hand. Incorporate the flour into the mix. After this add ¼ cup of fine sooji into this.

Now you can add the cold caramel. Beat the egg whites separate and add to the mixture. Add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract to the batter. Add one teaspoon of lemon essence and mix.

You are now ready to add the nuts and the fruits. Mix a little flour to the cashew nuts so that they dont sink to the bottom of the cake batter.

Fold the fruits and the nuts into the cake batter and mix with hand slowly.

Now keep aside this batter with a closed lid for 6 hours.

After that you can start baking. Either butter the cake pan or cut wax paper or parchment paper and use it inside the cake pan so the cake wont stick to the pan. What I do is, use butter or margarine and make spots inside the cake pan and then add the wax paper so it will stick to the pan and then pour in the batter

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and when ready, bake the cake. Make sure when you pour the batter, pour only half of the cake pan. Since the batter would rise while baking.

Bake it for on hour or so. Keep checking after 50 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the cake and if it comes clean with no batter, your cake is ready.

This cake needs to age. Yes, at least it would need to age for 2-3 days before you get the real taste. The process of aging is a must for these kind of cakes. So when the cake is real cold after baking, cover it in wax paper and aluminum foil and keep aside in an airtight container.

After 24 days of advent and midnight mass, we would reach home from the church and we all gather around the table for my mother to serve the cake. The cake keeps us kids busy while she heats the curries to break the fasting of 24 days. My mother bakes beautiful cakes in her small electric oven. It was round in shape and would look like a flying saucer especially when it is baking with small red lights. Anyone remembers that small electric oven?

Fruits are soaked!

As every season, I am late by two weeks this Christmas too. I was supposed to soak all the dried fruits two weeks ago and I just did it 5 minutes back.

I have soaked 1200 gm of Raisins and 1600 gm of mixed dried fruits. Poured 1.5 litr of some cheap brandy.



Two days of soaking and I will start my baking.

I am yet to decorate the tree, plan about the snacks, plan about the dinner. I am so busy at work and at home and then there comes Christmas with the extra load. But without all these what is life?

Advent started on December 1st. The 24 day wait for Christmas.

I used to regularly observe advent by giving up two or three favorite food stuff. These days one cannot, since it requires a lot of time and patience, one that I am losing as I age.

So if you havent soaked, soak them up!

Raw Banana Stir Fry (Kaaya Upperi)

Raw banana with smashed shallots and chili, sautéed in some coconut oil… Love to have that with some curd and rice.

Buy raw bananas, any type. Usually in India, we get bananas that are used only for cooking. We call it ‘ponthan kaaya’, they are short and stout and is not good to eat when ripe. That is they are less sweet. So we cook them.

Anyway you can use the same for any raw banana.

Scrape the skin of lightly. Do not take the whole skin. Dip them in turmeric water (a little turmeric powder added to water) to avoid discoloration and to get rid of the sap while cutting.

Cook 3 cups of bananas diced into half inch squares in 2 cups of water with enough salt and ¼ tsp turmeric powder.

Heat 1 tbsp of coconut oil, sauté crushed shallots and a sprig of curry leaves, 4 green chilies, and add the cooked bananas. Sauté them well and smash it lightly. Instead of green chilies, you can add crushed whole pepper.

I have seen some add a tinge of asafoetida. I don’t, so you needn’t :-)

I would say coconut oil is a must for upperi/mezhukkupuratti (stir fry in English) like this, since the coconut oil gives the dish a very unique flavor and taste.

Serve with rice or roti.

why Why why?

I am just testing out this post to see whether it will appear on Taste of India. I wrote three posts this week, scheduled them to be posted on a certain date and time using bloggers new schedule your posts magic. The posts appear or publish at the exact time, but somehow Taste of India never picks it up?

It appears on Reader, if it appears on Reader, why wont the feed be picked up?
hmm......

why Why why

Will this appear?

Tsk Tsk...Oh those readers who will miss this great treasure cove of Ginger and Mango recipes..... It is not about me you know, it is all about you, you, you :) (3 times would make anything sound true) ;)

Mutton Curry

It is very difficult to get good mutton in U.S if you don’t know the right places. The difficulty being most Americans does not eat mutton. Usually Middle-Eastern, or Hyderabadi shops or Muslim shop owners carry good fresh mutton.

Remember the Seinfeld episode where his girl friend feeds him mutton and he chews and puts them into his coat pocket and Elaine being chased by the street dogs?

Mutton is a little harder, chewier and so most Americans dislike them. So you don’t find them in the grocery stores normally and available only at the ethnic stores. Mutton is not Lamb. Lamb is what you normally get here. But once if you are accustomed to mutton, it is a tiny chance you would like lamb and vice versa. Lamb is from the sheep and mutton is from goat – both very different animals.

However there has been an increase in mutton production in U.S, as there has been an increase in immigrant population who prefers mutton. Maybe the stores will start to carry them and you don’t have to go in search of this meat at ethnic stores.

We have goat farms here and we can even choose the goat and they would kill and prepare it for us. So we are lucky to get the freshest of the fresh. I usually buy one whole goat and divide the meat and store it in my freezer.

If you have a choice, buy the leg part of the mutton.

For 4 cups of cleaned mutton, mix 1 cup of coarsely chopped onion, ¼ cup of ginger garlic crushed, 1 sprig of curry leaves, 1 coarsely chopped tomato, 2 tsp of coriander powder, 2 tsp of meat masala powder, 1 tsp of chili powder, ½ tsp of turmeric, enough salt.

Mix well and marinate and keep aside for half an hour and then cook them in a pressure cooker or in a pot. If using pressure cooker, you need to know mutton in U.S takes more time to cook than beef. Usually in India it is the other way, beef takes time to cook. This is what I have normally seen in U.S. It takes the time to cook toor dal in a pressure cooker. Do not add water. The water from the meat will cook the mutton.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil, sauté 1 sprig of curry leaves, sauté and brown 1 cup thinly diced onion, add the cooked mutton and mix and boil in medium heat until the curry thickens to your preferred consistency.

Serve with rice or roti.

Country Style Ribs Fry

Haven’t you seen the country style pork ribs at stores in U.S? Ever bought them? I love them more than the spareribs. They are an easy party dish, cheaper and fattier, more pieces and a party favorite.

Buy country style ribs with the bone and divide each piece into three.

Marinate them in a paste of curd, chili powder, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves, onion, salt, turmeric powder and a little bit of sugar.

Deep fry them in hot vegetable oil. It takes a little extra time to fry them. So make sure you start frying them early.

Serve as an appetizer or side dish.

Mashed Bittergourd and Potatoes

Don’t like bittergourd? Add them to potatoes. Yes, bittergourd and potato is a spectacular combination. Like one big happy family they cling on to each other sharing the sweetness and the bitterness. This is one great way to make all those bitterphobic kids and grownups to have a little iron in their food and to welcome bitter gourd, the nutrient rich gourd into your dinner plate.



Bitter grourd. Deseed and remove all the inner pulp. Cut into one inch pieces – 2 cups

Potatoes peeled and cut into one inch pieces – 2 cups

Boil them together with 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of chili powder, a little salt and ½ tsp of turmeric. When cooked mash the lightly.


Now heat 2 tsp oil, splutter mustard seeds, 1 sprig of curry leaves.
Sauté 1 crushed garlic pod with 1 cup of diced onion and 1/2 cup of diced tomato. Saute well.

Add the mashed potato bittergourd mixture and sauté for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice or roti.

Psst...If anyone asks why the potato has a slight bitter taste, you can exaplin to them that those potatoes are from the mountains of MachuPichu and the soil there turns them a little mineraly richly bitter and that they are having a taste of real MachuPichu…. Oh What all one has to do to get some iron in their food.

Simple Potato Curry

Puris and potato curry for a Sunday brunch, for a train journey, as a friend drops by – it is the simplest and the best.

I am yet to find a pantry that doesn’t store potatoes. With around five thousand varieties, you get them in any part of the World. Imagine a World where there were no potatoes? Well, ask the Irish about the Potato Famine.

Cultivated some 7000 years ago in Peru, they are the quintessential food for many countries. Do you know in some of the old U.S stealth submarines, all they could store were potatoes and the soldiers ate them day after day, night after night which kept them alive.

It is only after moving to U.S, I knew people just eat them as main meal, the baked potato dish. The very first day in U.S, someone at the table ordered potato skins and I was like, Whaaat?? I just pick them up at the grocery like onions without even thinking and put them in everything. And finally when they are too many, I make the ever simple, ever delicious potato curry.

Peel and dice them small like this. 2 cups

3 green chilies
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onions diced thin – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder -/12 tsp.
Salt
Peas cooked (2 tbsp) – optional

Heat 2 tsp oil, splutter ½ tsp mustard seeds, add the curry leaves, diced green chilies and onion and sauté well. Then add the potatoes, add ½ tsp turmeric powder and add 1 cup of water and cook in low flame. When almost cooked, add the cooked peas. Add salt to adjust taste.

When cooked, mash them lightly if you like it that way.

Serve with puris.

Hurray, a neat win!

No I am not talking about Democratic Primaries, but about my $43.06 this week! :-)


Do you remember me? Yes, I am cash. I know I am not popular around here with that cute little plastic thingie you all carry around to swipe. But let me tell y’all something, I am the real one with a capital r.

So girls, guess what. I just impressed myself. Gave myself a pat on my back! Imagine I cut down my weekly grocery purchase to a $43.06.

How I did it? Read on…

Though I didn’t plan what to make, I thought of buying vegetables that can be made both as curry and as a side dish. Making something in curry form means I can feed more people with less stuff. I asked around and found that the Wal-mart and Publix near the Indian stores are much cheaper than where I live. Also, CVS has a better deal on milk.

I decided I am going to go only to one Indian store this week. Also, I relaxed and took my time to shop around. Otherwise I will be in a hurry and won’t even look what the price is. I have this major problem, i.e. if I see something as $2.99, in my mind it gets registered as 2 dollar. In fact, it is 3 dollars. I just don’t see that extra dollar. So how much ever I calculate, the final bill would turn out to be much bigger. That is what always happens.

I bought vegetables only for one week, planning as I examined at the price of each of them and I had taken last weeks receipt with me, so I had a clear idea what each costs at different stores. For eg; bananas costs lesser at Publix. Green beans cost lesser at Publix. But tomatoes, onion etc cost more at Publix than Walmart. Indian stores carry the red onions which costs much lesser than both Publix or Walmart. This way I made sure I checked the price of each item before buying.

Now I know if I take my credit cards, I would splurge. So I took only 50 dollars with me and left the cards in the car. My plan was to aim for a 40$. I kept the extra 10$ as a buffer. That’s what made this whole thing a success. The cash thing! So I calculated each item before loading the cart. This way, it is much better to keep a check on yourself.

That’s a total savings of $24.34 from last week. Hurray!!!

In recent developments, last week President Bush declared during a speech that it was because Indians are eating more these days, food prices around the globe are peaking. Well Mr. President, I am an Indian living in U.S and I cut down my grocery bill. How about you Sir, cutting down some of that spending?

(Data shows U.S consumes five times more. Well, who cares about statistics and data?)

Why you might ask? Why save a twenty dollar? There is a big reason for me. It will clearly show how much I waste and how much I could save. Remember a 20$ might not be big deal for you per week, but it could feed a child here or here.

Now, dont you girls out there wanna beat me? C'mon. Compare your bills and let us have some fun!

Those forgotten mothers

There are not many lyrics sung in their praises, not many stories, not many artists cared for their love. We all grew up thinking mothers can love only their biological children, the image so implanted into our heads, we start to hate them even before we see them. Yet there are millions of them, million of lovely ladies, million of mothers with so much love you are surprised why they are loathed in every story you read.

I am so busy at work, I never get time to enter into food blog events, yet when I saw Jhiva for Love, I couldn’t resist. For I know a woman, who has served me every dish with love. If my mother taught me how to love, my mother-in-law taught me how to create and serve love, hot and tasty. I have written many times about my mother, it is high time I write about my other mother.

As soon as I saw the event details, it is she who came into my thoughts, for if not for her I wouldn’t even have this blog, for she is the one who taught me to keep the traditions alive even if it is for something as mundane as cooking. Then I read an article in a Malayalam blog about a daughter-in-law missing and loving her mother-in-law, and the author depicted it as a very strange thing. Well, well, well. If we daughter-in-laws don’t speak up now for them, when will we?

When I got married, I was naïve as in n-a-i-v-e. I got married young, very very young if you measure my mental maturity too. I was terrified of the whole idea of marriage, watching Sauson ki Zindagi kind of soap serials where mother-in-laws torture their bahus (daughter-in-law). In India, there is a thriving million dollar industry of soap serials running on just that theme. Take any soap serial and the theme is mother-in-law Vs daughter-in-law, like an India Vs Pakistan cricket match.

Family is the most important thing for me. Hence, I was terrified not in fear of her, but I was worried a small wrong word by me, a misstep by me will never be forgiven and I will destroy the peace of the family I am married into.

It was a completely different World.

The few days I stay with her when we visit home, I watch her cooking up excellent dishes, from the scratch, following the traditions, planning everyday intelligently, serving the dishes right on time, with the right amount of flavors and lots and lots of love. She prepares a huge feast in a short time and she does it like a musician with ease. It is from her I learnt that the finer detail is what makes a dish, a beautiful memory.

One time, the only time when I made a dish at my husband’s house was chicken biryani for one Christmas. Since it was a different type of oven I was not used to, it turned out be a disaster. There were so many guests gathered at the house, and I was at the verge of crying. She just smiled and hugged me. Then she took on the reins, swiftly managed the whole show and just fixed the dish here and there doing her magical tricks.

She runs behind me with a plate laden with food, feeds me urulas with her own hands, when I skip food to catch a train or a bus. She playfully frowns at me when I pout and complains fulllllll touching my belly after a sumptuous lunch. She always sits besides me while I eat, forcing me to have more helpings. Many have mistaken her for my own mother when we are together.

She writes letters to her son, asking him always to help me in the kitchen, share all the work and telling me to make sure he does (It is a whole different story, whether he listens to that or not). She taught all her children to be good human beings first. It is from these mothers men learn to respect women, from them they learn to be a good husband. I thank God everyday for giving me such a kind and a real woman as my other mother.

I am still learning, smaller things, yet so important about life and living, whenever I talk with her. Her prayers, her assurance, her strength and courage is the real light in our small family across many oceans, miles and miles away from her.

I dont have a particular dish to serve for the event except to say,

Mother, I LOVE YOU.