twenty-two: recipes from india

Here are the recipes that we learned to make at our cooking class in Fort Kochin. All recipes are courtesy of Jasmin at Jasmin Villa.  Enjoy!!

Chappati

Combine in bowl:

400 grams of flour (a mix of half white and half wheat is best)

½ tsp salt

Mix together with fingers.

Add 3 tbsp sunflower oil and mix in with fingers.

Add 1-1½ cups of water and mix/knead until it comes together / holds together but not wet.

Let stand in mixing bowl for ~1 hour covered with a plate or towel.

Flour surface and knead 3 times.

Roll into balls (whatever size you want, but when rolled out they will need to fit in pan.)

Flatten each ball with palm and roll out (adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking) to ~1/8” thick.

Place on hot cast iron on medium heat until it starts to bubble.  Flip with spatula, drizzle with sunflower oil and cook until bubbly and lightly brown.  Flip back and forth adding oil as needed and flattening down the bubbles as you go.  Cook until both sides are lightly brown.

(Chappati should have a similar texture to soft tortillas.)

Coconut Vegetable Curry

2 tbsp coconut oil (or sunflower)

10 curry leaves

3 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

1 piece of ginger (garlic clove size), very finely chopped

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp ground coriander

Salt

1 tomato, chopped

5 long beans, cut into bit size pieces

2 small potatoes, cut into bite size pieces

2 small carrots, cut into bite size pieces (rounds cut into quarters)

2 green chilies, sliced lengthwise

1 cup freshly grated coconut (if use dried grated coconut, the mixture’s consistency will be a bit dry and chunky and it may have to be strained.  Can also use coconut milk.)

10 cashew nuts

1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves

In a kadai (or dutch oven), add oil on medium-high heat.  Add curry leaves, ginger, garlic, and onion and sauté until soft.  Add the four dried spices (chili powder through coriander) with salt to taste for 30 seconds.  Add tomato for 1 minute.  Add rest of vegetables for about 1 minute.  Add about 1½ cups of water

and cover.  Cook until soft at a low boil.

Meantime, blend coconut, cashews, and about 1 cup of water in a blender until liquid.

When veggies are soft, stir in cilantro and coconut mixture and serve.

Vegetarian Pulao

2 tbsp + 1 tsp ghee, divided

5 small pieces of cinnamon

3 green cardamom pods

6 cloves

2 small red onion, thinly sliced

10 green beans, cut into bite sized pieces

2 small carrots, cut into thin matchsticks about 1 inch long

1 cup basmati rice

4 tbsp chopped mint leaves

1 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves

1 tbsp cashews

2 tbsp raisins

Salt

Heat a kadai (or dutch oven) over medium-high heat and add ghee.  When hot, add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves for about 30 seconds.  Add onion and fry until golden brown.  Add beans and carrots for 1 minute.  Add rice and stir for 30 seconds.  Add 2 cups of water, mint leaf, cilantro, and salt and stir.  Cover.  Cook for 5 minutes on high flame then lower to low flame for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small fry pan, add 1 tsp ghee over medium heat.  Add raisins and cashews.  Brown the nuts, stirring constantly.  Add to finished rice and serve.

Dal

¾ cup yellow dal  (toordal)

3 green chilies, cut in half

1 tsp turmeric

¾ cup red onion, finely chopped

1 cup water

Salt

2 tsp coconut or sunflower oil, divided

2 tsp mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

Add dal, chilies, turmeric, onion, and water in a pressure cooker until soft (5 whistles).  (This step can be done in a dutch oven until dal is soft.)  Add salt to taste and transfer to bowl.  In a small fry pan, add 1 tsp of oil and mustard seeds for about 1 minute.  Add curry leaves for about 15 seconds and add to dal.  Serve.

Vegetable Raita

Combine the following:

1 medium red onion, finely diced

1 tomato, chopped small

1 cup plain yogurt

Salt to taste

Can add green chili or cucumber, too.

Pappadum

Can buy at Indian grocery.

Poke hole in center with knife before frying.

Add sunflower oil to small fry pan and heat until small piece of pappadum sizzles when added.

Fry each side (turning with a fork) for just a few seconds until puffed and golden yellow.

Okra

Mix together:

2 tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp ground black pepper

¼ tsp garam masala

¼ tsp salt

Trim ends off 8 okra and make a small slit lengthwise in the middle of each.  Stuff each okra with spice mixture.  Fry in coconut oil and brown on each side.

Garam Masala

50 grams green cardamom pods

50 grams whole cinnamon sticks

50 grams cloves

15 grams star anise

15 grams mace

25 grams fennel seeds

Toast over a low flame and grind together in a spice grinder.

Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

twenty-one – days seven to nine: fort kochi and kerala

Emily and I arrived about 10:30am to the Ernakulum train station and took an auto rickshaw to Walton’s Home Stay in Fort Kochi.  Mr. Walton was very helpful by giving us maps with restaurant and site-seeing recommendations upon our arrival.  We dumped our stuff in the room (which was very nice), took quick showers, and grabbed lunch at the Kashi Art Café. 

After eating sandwiches and fresh fruit, we embarked on a self-guided historical walking tour of Fort Kochi.  Fort Kochi came under Dutch control in the mid 17^th century, and so many of the sites have strong Dutch influences.  We visited the Santa Cruz Basilica and a building that once belonged to the notorious Dutch East India Company. 

We peered through the locked gates into the Dutch Cemetery and stopped inside the St. Francis Church.
 

It was nearing 2pm, and Ayse, Emily’s roommate in Dharwad, was about to join us for the weekend in Kochi.  While waiting near the bus station, Emily drank fresh coconut milk.   

Ayse arrived and after getting her settled into Oy’s Home Stay, we jumped in a rickshaw to explore the historical Jew Town neighborhood of Kochi. 

It was Shabbat, however, so the synagogue was closed, but we walked around and visited the Dutch Palace and purchased spices and teas from a local shop.  We headed back to Fort Kochin where Emily and I checked out the museum at the Bishop’s House while Ayse got a snack at the Garden Café.  The museum was filled with many Christian artifacts, but the most exciting item to me was a Manichithrathazhu lock.  Kerala is the name of the state in which Fort Kochi is located, and the Manichithrathazhu door lock is an old traditional lock which adorned the doors of Kerala’s mansions.  This one in particular paid tribute to the various religious represented in Kochi at the time: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.  

After walking around Fort Kochi a bit more, the three of us decided on Oceanos for dinner, a restaurant specializing in Keralan seafood.  We ordered fish curry, coconut veg curry, and Keralan rice.  Exhausted and full, we went to bed.

On Sunday, we took a tour (with Wilson Tours) on a non-motorized boat through the Keralan backwaters.  Our hosts punted us through the tributaries and canals, as we sat back and watched the shores pass by.   

We stopped at a village where women were making rope from the outside of coconut shells.  It was pretty amazing to watch!

 

We stopped for lunch on a small island and ate a traditional vegetarian Keralan lunch with our hands (in typical Indian fashion) off banana leaves. 

The most interesting part of our day-long trip was after lunch during which we took smaller (8 person) canoes through the much smaller waterways which ran through the villages in Kerala.  

Although the scenery was quite beautiful and seeing the homes of Indians who live there was fascinating, it was yet another voyeuristic aspect of this populous nation.  There is no privacy in India.  Everything can be done and is done in public.  As we drove through villages, towns, and cities throughout my travels in India, I witnessed adults and children bathing, urinating, washing clothes, sleeping, and going about their daily activities all along the roadsides.  As our canoes glided silently by the backwater homes, we passed people bathing and washing clothes in the waters, and I couldn’t help but feel like someone peering into a fishbowl and ogling what was inside. 

We stopped for a short tour of a working spice farm where we saw nutmeg and cinnamon trees, pepper, and two types of basil plants and smelled lemon and mint leaves.  We also saw some wildlife.

After returning to Fort Kochin around 5pm, we took quick showers and headed to Jasmin Villa for a Keralan cooking class.  It was just the three of us - Emily, Ayse, and me – and Jasmin, our teacher.  She runs the home stay and has been conducting cooking classes for five years.  It was a demonstration only class, although we did each take turns rolling out the chappati, but this was fine because the class was so intimate and we could easily ask questions and peer into the kadai.  We learned to make chappati, coconut veg curry, vegetarian pulao, dal, vegetable raita, pappadum, spiced fried okra, and garam masala.  Afterwards, the four of us sat down together and enjoyed the most amazing meal.  For dessert, Jasmin sliced up the most delicious pineapple I have ever eaten. 

On Monday morning we grabbed breakfast with Asye at Kashi Art Café and attempted to watch the men work the Chinese fishing nets. 

Unfortunately, while we were able to see the nets, we weren’t able to see them in action; we were either too early or too late for high tide.  Instead, we went shopping and each bought pashminas.  Emily and I then parted ways with Ayse in order to hop in a taxi to the Kochi airport for our flight to New Delhi.  First, though, Emily and I stopped at the Paradesi Synagogue in Jew Town.  What struck me as the most interesting were the dozens of huge chandeliers in the shul.  But the rest of the temple was quite lovely, too.

We spent the rest of our afternoon flying to Delhi on JetLite, and we settled very nicely into the Hilton Garden Inn in Saket courtesy of Dad’s points.  This hotel was the absolute lap of luxury after our week on the road in South India!  We went across the street to the mall food court for dinner.  Although the food court wasn’t glamorous, I did have a delicious dish of channa batura while Emily ate a thali for two by herself.  We went to bed early, as our driver was to arrive at 5am for the next day’s adventures.

twenty – day six: udupi

From British Mumbai to Portuguese Goa to very Indian Udupi.  The third state we visited, Karnataka  is the one in which Emily lives.  Unfortunately, this was as close to Dharwad as we got, but it was nice to see how at home Emily felt being in her home state and speaking some Kannada (the local language).  She says that Udupi reminds her of Hubli – the city next to Dharward and where she once lived. 

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We awoke around 9am and headed to the world famous Sri Krishna Temple.  This temple is first among the seven places of pilgrimages for Hindus. Thousands of pilgrims visit the Udupi Krishna temple year round to see Lord Krishna.   

This temple is a huge complex surrounded by several other smaller temples and guest rooms and shops serving the devotees who visit.  There were also three temple cars, or rathas, in front of the temple.  These are used on festival days and are pulled by many people through the streets.

 

We arrived in time for a daily puja.  We removed our shoes and entered with Hindus going to pray and a few Indian tourists.  (Unfortunately, no photos are allowed inside.)  We saw the idol of Krishna across from which a mother cow and her calf ate some rice from a silver platter.  Music was playing, and the air was filled with the intoxicating smells of burning incense.  The procession was led by three musicians, and the people followed, making offerings to other small statues of deities.  Then came the Elephant Puja.  An elephant lived in the temple, and his handler brought him out to kneel down while they sprinkled holy water on his head and blessed him and fed him.  There was so much going on that we didn’t understand, but it was fascinating and awe-inspiring and curious.

Later, we headed to the beach town (6km west of Udupi) of Malpe and caught a ferry to St. Mary’s Island, famous for its basalt rock formations.  Our rickshaw arrived at the dock as the boat pulled away, but they saw us and were nice enough to return and pick us up!  The boat ride to the island lasted thirty minutes, and we hopped from the larger ferry to a smaller boat that was able pull up onto the beach.  A short wade through the warm Indian ocean and we were ashore.  We walked around the beaches and climbed on the rocks. 

One and a half hours later, we headed back to Malpe.  We grabbed a rickshaw to the Paradise Isle Beach Resort on Malpe Beach for lunch and then we returned to the Sriram Residency for a shower and a nap. 

In the evening, we went to the Woodlands Restaurant for dinner where I had an absolutely delicious - and by far one of the best meals I had in India – masala dosa.  (Udupi is the birthplace of the dosa.)  Then we headed to the train station for the overnight train to Ernakulum (the closest station to Fort Kochin) at 11pm.

nineteen – days three through five: goa

What a transformation!  The differences between the states of Maharashtra and Goa are striking.  For one, Goa is green.  Very green.  Green trees, bright green rice paddies, green grass, green.  The roads are still brown and dusty and the cities, although much smaller than Mumbai, still teem with life.  But it was a welcome change after two days in Mumbai.

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We stayed in Benaulim at Heaven Goa in an A/C room for 1000RS ($22) per night.  Sunil was our gracious host.  Although we sometimes lost power (not unusual for India), the setting, tranquility, spacious and clean rooms, and amazing breakfast far outweighed the minor inconvenience.

On Tuesday, we took inter-city buses and traveled to the area of Ponda which is famous for its Hindu temples.  We hired an auto rickshaw to take us around from temple to temple in Ponda, Priol, and Mardo.  Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to take photos of the interiors of the temples, but we took a lot of pictures of the exteriors.   

The Hindu temples are really beautiful, but as I watched devotees perform the daily puja, I found the religion itself to be completely foreign and out of my realm of context and experience.  However, I found it utterly fascinating and captivating to behold. 

We returned to Heaven Goa and found ourselves in the middle of a Fat Tuesday Carnival celebration!  Who would have thought you’d find that in India?  Kids on scooters shot passersby with water guns and threw water balloons.  We also got sprayed with purple holi water (usually reserved for use during Holi, the spring religious festival celebrated by Hindus) – much to our dismay.  (It didn’t come out very easily but Emily did a great job scrubbing with a Woolite packet and hot water!)  Trucks full of people dressed in wigs and playing music drove the streets, and a parade left Benaulim Beach and headed all the way south to Palolem.  The highlight was getting asked by a cross-dressed guy in a neon orange wig if we wanted a lift to the beach on the back his motorbike.  We declined and ate a dinner of gobi manchurian and veg noodles on Benaulim Beach.

On Wednesday, we traveled to Old Goa, an old Portuguese colony city.  There were many Portuguese influenced buildings and churches.  Old Goa is pretty much a ghost town now except for the tourist sites and the various stalls hawking clothes, jewelry, and cold drinks to the visitors.  The sites were lovely and incredibly well maintained.  I was very impressed with the restoration work that the Indian government and UNESCO have done.

Basilica of Bom Jesus

Se Cathedral Complex

After spending the morning in Old Goa, we hopped on yet another bus to Panjim.  I absolutely loved this city!  It is filled with charming homes of Portuguese architecture.  The roads off the main streets are quiet – truly quiet.  It looked like people really cared for their heritage properties.  We visited some more churches and a lovely gallery with traditional and modern Portuguese ceramic tile art and housewares. 

Church of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception

 

 
We spent some time in a Café Coffee Day to cool off in the air conditioned café with a sizzling brownie with vanilla ice cream before heading back on the express bus to Margao and onto Benaulim.  We walked around Benaulim to find a restaurant for dinner before calling it a night.

On Thursday, we decided to be beach bums.  We rented matching bicycles – purple for me, pink for Emily – and biked around Benaulim and south to Varca Beach.  We stopped for a lime soda for Emily (her favorite – I think she drank one every day) and a fresh watermelon juice for me at a beach shack on Varca before heading back to our beach for lunch at yet another beach shack. 

 
We returned to Heaven Goa to shower before our 8pm train to Udupi. 

This time we rode in the sleeper class on the train because we booked our tickets late and it was only a 3.5 hour train ride south.  This was quite an experience for me; for the first time, I felt truly pushed outside my comfort zone.  The sleeper class train car is not air conditioned, but the windows do open and close, which is nice.  On one side of the train car, there are about six to eight partially partitioned areas each with six bunks arranged perpendicular to the train car (three high on each side).  On the other side of the car, there is the same number of areas except with only two bunks arranged against the wall of the train car.  Since the ride was only a few hours, Emily and I sat on the side of the car with the two bunks and sat together on the bottom.  Across from us were a husband, wife and two children who shared the two bunks on the bottom.  Above them slept four Indian men.  The rest of the car was filled with men.  It’s not that I felt unsafe, per se.  It was more that I felt stared at (because I was), and I was just very ill at ease.  It didn’t help that I wasn’t feeling all that well; my stomach wasn’t one hundred percent, and I was tired.  These facts, combined with feeling unnerved, made the start of the train journey a tenuous one for me.  Emily lent me her Kindle’s booklight and I was able to distract myself with The Given Day.  About two hours into the journey, we passed through what I am only guessing was a dust storm.  I first noticed it in the rays of the booklight; dust and dirt poured in through the open windows of our train car, filling my mouth with grit, and covering me and my belongings with a thin layer of brown sand.  I won’t pretend I wasn’t relieved to disembark the train in Udupi.

We arrived at the Hotel Sriram Residency to check in around midnight, took showers, and headed to bed.