Monday, December 9, 2013

Sweet Tooth



 I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 8th – 14th December 2013.

 Day 2 of the Write Tribe Festival of Words prompt-- FOOD

What a scrumptious prompt! Imagine having a mouthwatering post and not able to concentrate on the given topic. A real diabolical situation I must say. When we were kids food was just something we grabbed to fuel the lost energy indulged in innumerable activities like prancing around, studying and doing sports. I remember how I used to gorge whatever came my way without bothering how it tasted as long as it satiated my hunger.

As we grow, the focus on food becomes an important part of our life, especially in teens. What we eat, and what quantity, everything matters.

My journey with food had been like a merry-go-round. I was born a pure non-vegetarian with the staple diet of seafood and rice. My humble Goan fare of xitt kodi!


                                                        Images courtesy-Google

                                      
Destiny took a U-turn when I married a pure vegan who couldn't consume even a piece of cake nor could his family tolerate garlic or onion. Here comes my journey with food. I was a free spirit and a born tomboy who even hated to set  foot in the kitchen at my mom’s place who had to become a docile south Indian daughter-in-law! :D

In the earlier days of our marriage my masterchef was my husband. He taught me how to prepare most of the south Indian dishes like sambhar, rasam, pulihora(lemon rice),babutlu(stuffed chapattis with chickpea filling) and the regular Telugu Brahmin dishes. It was very tough as I never liked cooking.

But marriage is a great teacher I must say. So, one by one I mastered all the dishes and now the situation is such that my elder brother-in-law (hubby’s elder brother) praises the food that I prepare, in-front of his wife who has been cooking for him for the last 37 years :D  He loves to rouse her goatee :P


Inspite of all the changes in my food habits, I still cannot resist my humble Goan food. Every year I make a trip to Goa and my mom is kept busy in the kitchen cooking up all my favorite dishes :D

I have a sweet tooth and cannot resist sweets at any cost. You can imagine what my luggage will consists of when I come down from Goa.:D These are a few of my favourite Goan sweets.

                     Dosh..prepared with chickpea, sugar and lots and lots of fresh coconut milk.
                                         

                                  Bol..prepared with ripe bananas and coconut jaggery.
                                           
                                Bebinca..layers and layers of coconut, plain flour,sugar, egg yokes and ghee.
                                               


                                 Dodol...raw Goa rice,coconuts, coconut jaggery, sugar, salt and cashew nuts


But nothing can beat my all time favourite dish which is specially prepared during Nagpanchami in Goa.A simple dish made with rice flour, coconut and jaggery and steamed in a turmeric leaf.
                                                      

                                                                Patoleo

It has been an awesome journey shuttling across different states in India. Coming from defence background has its own advantages especially when it comes to food. I enjoy most of the Punjabi dishes too from chole batura to sarson ka saag. Bengali mishi dhoi, rassogulla and sandesh on the favourite list.

There is no stopping me when I discuss sweets..so here I stop ending my journey on Food! :D

                                               



19 comments:

  1. Oh my! That's such a contrast... to convert from being a non-vegetarian to a vegetarian without eating even onion garlic!! And you mastered cooking all that too. Awesome! haven't tried these Goan sweet dishes but they certainly look tempting!!

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    1. It was tough Shilpa. But one has to be a Roman when in Rome right :) thank you for your heartwarming comment :)

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  2. Non-veg to veg... awesome transaction. And you learn cooking after marriage.... you increased my hope. I don't step into the kitchen premises except for making coffee or chai. :)

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    1. There was no other way Sheethal. You will do fine when you have to cross the bridge :)Thank you for dropping by :)

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  3. Patoleo - my Mangalorean neighbour gives me this and I love it steamed in turmeric leaves its yummy.

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    1. I agree Kalpana. They do taste yummy. Thank you for stopping by :)

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  4. a mouth watering post!! I'm glad I read it after dinner!! :D

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    1. Hehehehe..well the sweets will be more edible after dinner I presume ;)..Thank you for passing by :)

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  5. Ooh I love Bebinca. How great it must be to live in Goa.

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    1. I too..Goan sweets are to die for ;) I am biased and I know that :P Thank you for dropping by :)

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  6. I think it would be so hard to convert! Kudos to you for doing so. I love sweets too but what really gets me is something salty to snack on. ♥

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    1. It was difficult in the early days of my marriage Kathy. Now after nearly 3 decades it seems a piece of cake :D

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  7. i must say i am in awe of u now... to go from non veg to pure veg is simply amazing.. I dont think i could ever do it.
    and those sweets look absolutely fantastic!

    my prompt on food: http://www.godyears.net/2013/12/the-chemeen-chor.html

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    1. Thank you Roshan..And congrats on featuring in "Family Matters". Wished you had come for the book launch in hyd :)

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  8. Your post has made me crave Indian sweets - my favourites are dhoodhi halwa, kaju katri, rasgulla. Never tried the Goan sweets. I think as I grow older the charm of non veg starts to fade - still hard to give up completely though as you did. That is a great feat.

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