I am back, making up for the dismal posting of this month. I have been meaning to post this since last week, but this post had taken precedence.
There are certain lunches when there is absolutely no need for a gravy or a curry, as the side dishes take over the meal completely. I was privileged to have one such lunch this Sunday.
Bakrid has only just passed by, but the bounties of the festival linger on. I had some meat left over from the Qurbani and when mum visited us this weekend, I was all gung-ho about making something with it. Like always, I start with grandiose plans - like making a nice lamb pie with it, or a meat pizza or spaghetti. But the lack lusture response from the ones eating it, had me cajoling mum to make her mutton chukka recipe. Everybody has his/her own recipe that has minor variations of the original (depends who you are speaking to) and we love mum's.
S, who stays clear of red meat and fish, makes an exception for mum's mutton biriyani and mutton chukka. Oh well, he has got taste...I'll give him that. So mum whipped up this wonderful side dish for her son-in-law and our maid had already made an interesting yam dish, which is part of S's Andhra repertoire in our mixed menu house-hold. This yam recipe is similar to the one we Mallus make with tapioca - boil the vegetable with turmeric and salt and mix it with coconut, chilli powder, loads of garlic and then season it. It is so yumm, that it messes with my already yo-yo-ing weight issues. I pig out. No apologies there.
We eat this kind of tapioca with Kerala fish curry, Meen pattichathu and the world is a nice place. S was pushing our experiences and our comfort zone a little by asking us to use the same recipe for the yam. And I must say it tasted as good as tapioca. It was a hit.
Well this is part of my plate; in my hurry to click pictures of this yummiliciousness I had hastily spooned a small portion of the mutton chukka on to my plate. Please don't be fooled by it. There were multiple servings after that.
Hot rice + ghee + mutton chukka + yam + brinjal fry. Do you know how many servings one needs to sample each? Yeah you got your math right, as each side dish only goes well with the hot rice. And then the second helpings. Aw...let's just not get in to all that too much. Suffice it to say that that afternoon, if the world had come to an end, I would have left this world a happy woman.
May be some day I shall write down the recipe and make an effort to prepare the chukka myself. But for now... mere paas maa hai. I don'ts care!
There are certain lunches when there is absolutely no need for a gravy or a curry, as the side dishes take over the meal completely. I was privileged to have one such lunch this Sunday.
Bakrid has only just passed by, but the bounties of the festival linger on. I had some meat left over from the Qurbani and when mum visited us this weekend, I was all gung-ho about making something with it. Like always, I start with grandiose plans - like making a nice lamb pie with it, or a meat pizza or spaghetti. But the lack lusture response from the ones eating it, had me cajoling mum to make her mutton chukka recipe. Everybody has his/her own recipe that has minor variations of the original (depends who you are speaking to) and we love mum's.
S, who stays clear of red meat and fish, makes an exception for mum's mutton biriyani and mutton chukka. Oh well, he has got taste...I'll give him that. So mum whipped up this wonderful side dish for her son-in-law and our maid had already made an interesting yam dish, which is part of S's Andhra repertoire in our mixed menu house-hold. This yam recipe is similar to the one we Mallus make with tapioca - boil the vegetable with turmeric and salt and mix it with coconut, chilli powder, loads of garlic and then season it. It is so yumm, that it messes with my already yo-yo-ing weight issues. I pig out. No apologies there.
We eat this kind of tapioca with Kerala fish curry, Meen pattichathu and the world is a nice place. S was pushing our experiences and our comfort zone a little by asking us to use the same recipe for the yam. And I must say it tasted as good as tapioca. It was a hit.
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| L-R: Brinjal Fry, Yam, Mutton Chukka and Rice |
Well this is part of my plate; in my hurry to click pictures of this yummiliciousness I had hastily spooned a small portion of the mutton chukka on to my plate. Please don't be fooled by it. There were multiple servings after that.
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| A view of our table |
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| Mum's version of the mutton chukka, with loads of curry leaves and red chillies |
May be some day I shall write down the recipe and make an effort to prepare the chukka myself. But for now... mere paas maa hai. I don'ts care!
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