Sorry it has been so long since I have written on the blog but here is a little of what I did today in India!!
Today I got the opportunity to have a cooking demonstration on the local Kerala Cuisine of India. Kerala is on of the many states within India. In India, each state has its own language and style of food. I will be traveling to Mumbai on Friday and I am sure I will be having a whole new experience with their local food.
We went to a local woman's house that offers cooking classes and demonstrations, her name was Nalini Verma. She showed us a few dishes and then at the end we were able to have a traditional Kerala dinner. Kerala food is known to be quite similar to Sri Lanka food because they both use a lot of coconut in their dishes.
The first dish she demonstrated was called Fish Mappas. This is a fish curry dish that is prepared all over Kerala and served with plain boiled rice. Some of the ingredients included red chilly powered, pepper powder, Coriander powder, turmeric powder, ginger, garlic, green chilies, coconut milk and Seer fish. She also said that you could use any kind of seafood since Seer fish is not very common outside of India.
The other dish she demonstrated was called Cabbage Thoran. Thorans are dry dishes made with vegetables. All varieties of beans, carrot, beetroot, ladyfinger, can be cut very finely and made into Thoran. This dish included finely chopped cabbage, grated coconut, green chilies, cumin seed, mustard seed, Urad dal, Chana dal (dal is another word for lentils), whole red chilies and curry leaf.
Once she finished demonstrating how to make these two dishes we got to then try them! Nalini also prepared other dishes so we were able to have a full traditional Kerala meal. For special occasions like weddings, childbirths, and festivals, the local people eat on banana leaves instead of plates. Another unique thing is that when eating on banana leave they do not use utensils, although they did provide them to us if we did not want to use our hands. I ate with my hands for most of the meal and it was definitely a new experience when you are told to not eat with your hands back at home. In India your left hand is seen as dirty and you are only suppose to use your right hand for everything like eating, paying with money, etc.
The other styles of food that were served was a yogurt salad which was a yogurt base with various vegetables, yellow pumpkin masala, potato masala, Avial which is a mixed vegetable dressed in a yogurt sauce with coconut and flavored with cumin. When eating on the banana leaf, everything has a place, so the additives go on the left side and the mixes go on the top and the rice in the middle. Everything was absolutely amazing! It was definitely spicy and my nose started to run because it was so spicy but the flavors were out of this world! I have never had something so flavorful and after being on this ship for so long with very few flavors my taste buds were in heaven! There is so much coconut that is made with every dish but it doesn't get overwhelming like you may think, with all of the other spices everything just works perfectly together.
When you are done with your meal you fold you banana leaf in half and then put your utensils on top, facing down to show that you are done and make it for an easy clean up. Now for dessert! Nalini made a rice and milk pudding, which was made with steamed rice pancakes that are boiled in the milk, condensed milk and sugar. It was very sweet and very delicious. Nalini gave all of us a small cooking book that has a few traditional Kerala recipes that I will give you all a copy when I get back to the states! India has been an amazing place to enjoy the cuisine and I am so excited to see what the differences are between Kerala and Mumbai!
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