My paternal grandfather, my achachan, was an excellent cook. I am sure if he were alive today he might be outraged at how some of the traditional recipes have evolved bearing no resemblance to their former selves. Achachan had no interest in farming – which was terrible for a household whose mainstay was agriculture… instead he wanted to cook. At some point in the 1930s he boarded a ship and cooked his way to Penang. Here he worked as a khansamah on one of the plantations until WW2, at which point he returned home to his village and set up a Tea Club (the café culture was yet to arrive).
Years later when my mother entered their household, my achachan apparantly found his true successor. And it is to her that he handed down his precious cookbook. Now torn at the edges, its delicate pages brown with age – it perhaps holds the secret beginnings of many tamil-malayali dishes we see today and some that have disappeared up with the chimney smoke.
In an attempt to resurrect these old recipes I have started trying them out in my kitchen. I try not not to improvise and to stay true to achachan’s cookbook, that way we get the idea of what the dish tasted like, back then. The language in the book is old malayalam and I do take a while to read and comprehend it, the measurements are according to old Kerala standards, so I am taking proportionate measurements to suit me.
So here’s Vazhakkai Puli Thuvayal from the good ol’ days. Thuvayal is like a chammanthi/chutney/dip. It essentially belongs to the Tamil kitchen, but I suspect pallakadan malayalis may also be familiar with the taste. The consistency is a bit like hummus, which most people are familiar with. Its really simple to make and I really liked it.
Ingredients
1 large vazhakkai/raw plantain
2, 3 whole dry chilly
1/4 cup urad dal
1 teaspoon tamarind
Salt to taste
Some hot water
Method
1. Char grill the plantain, till it looks cooked, should take around 10 min. or use oven to roast. Discard the charred peel of the plaintain and cube it.
2. In a pan, roast the whole red chilly and the urad dal.
3. Blend together the cubed plantain, roasted red chilly, urad dal, salt, and tamarind, adding a little hot water along the way, until you get a paste with a hummus like consistency.
4. Mix in some warm gingelly oil and have with rice, or use as a dip for chips. Interesting texture, nice taste.
Vazhakkai Thuvayal on other blogs - Cardamom – Vazhakai Thugayal
This post first appeared on my former blog: a vegetarian in the middle east.
Plantain
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http://www.mydiversekitchen.com Aparna
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Rajani
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