DAY 50
I left Munnar for the picturesque beaches of Puducherry.
DAY 51
25 September / Puducherry
Formerly Pondicherry, the city is fondly referred to as ‘Pondy’ sometimes. It is located 450 km from Munnar. The place looks like a beautiful slice of France that the colonisers left behind, on the Coromandel Coast of India. And the influence is quite strong, be it in their architecture or in the culinary field. You can feast on freshly baked baguettes and croissants for breakfast, celebrate Bastille Day and parlez en Francais (speak in French) with the locals. Saffron coloured churches, painted friezes and sculptured pillars of Hindu temples, road signs in French; a pleasing mélange is the word that can sum up this lazily beautiful town.
There are two sides to Puducherry: the French quarter and the Tamil quarter. The most beautiful part of the former is the promenade along the shore. I met Mr. Ashok from intach (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage). He invited me to Le café, an old French establishment, famous for its organic south Indian coffee, baguettes and croissants. The building, which is currently Le café, used to be the old French passport office at the dock. Built along the promenade, the café remains open 24 hours a day. Life in Puducherry echoes its tourism slogan ‘Give time a break;’ quite an appropriate philosophy, if you ask me, for a break in this seaside town does take one into the slow lane. Mr. Ashok suggested I lose my car for two days and get a bicycle to ride around the city and that’s exactly what I did. First, we pedalled to the French quarter where we visited one of the most popular churches called Church of Our Lady of Angels, built in 1853, in the Greeko-Roman architectural style. The pastel shades of peach and lime gave it a very serene appearance. It reminded me of Le Basilleque Church in the south of France. One of the Masses in this church is still conducted in French.
Then we visited Bharathi Park, a place which is perfect for an evening walk, and in the centre of the park stands the white Aayi Mandapam. The Park is surrounded by important administrative buildings in Puducherry. It is a treasure trove of 900 varieties of plants and was the location for the zoo shots in the famous movie, Life Of Pi. I got dropped off at the L’Orient Hotel; which earlier used to be the building for the public education offices. It dated back to the late 1760s. The emergence of most Puducherry hotels occurred around this time. Mr. Ashok told me that this hotel was one of the most popular hotels not only for their ambience but also for their food. Their restaurant was called Carte Planche. Set in a courtyard, this was where Tamil spices fused with French fare to create something curiously Creole. I met the chef at the restaurant and he explained this fusion by making a few dishes for me. He made vegetables in Creole spices (a mix of oregano, thyme, cinnamon, dill, cloves and cinnamon), started with white butter and finished with coconut milk. He showed me how tomato and vinegar could be used as souring agents instead of tamarind. Several Indian delicacies were given a twist of the French subtlety. Gravies were treated like sauces in the effort to make the cuisine mild. The food tasted pleasantly different, and the scope for this fusion to evolve still remains.
Because I was in this town I was immediately drawn to the bakeries, especially the exotic breads and the desserts. The variety of fresh bakery products was astonishing and their popularity heart-warming. One such bakery I visited was Baker’s Street. The ambience reminded me of a cobbled French street, with small tables and chairs, perfect for a day out to sip coffee and read. They sold authentic French breads, cheese and chocolates. It couldn’t get better than that!
I tasted the baguette, the macaroons, the caramel custard and a croissant. An odd combination to order, but a good French bakery is judged for its basics. Did they pass my little test? The baguette was dry and hard on the outside, and soft, fluffy and airy inside. The custard was my absolute favourite here. The deep amber glaze of the caramel made the custard look so yummy.
To fulfil my desire for chocolate, I had to dig a little deeper. I found myself at a chocolate shop called Choko La. It is an art to be able to handle chocolate well. They were very popular for their Chocolate Pakoras and for their 54 Degree Hot Chocolate that I had to try. I met the owner, Mr. Srinath, for whom chocolate making was not just a business, but a big passion. He explained the secret behind the 54 Degree Chocolate; according to him, the standard temperature to serve hot chocolate is 54 degrees. He served me the drink, complete with a chocolate stirring spoon and three cubes of chocolate. I was instructed to dissolve the two cubes in the drink to balance the temperature and the texture. Their Chocolate pakoras were basically chocolate clusters…so really, it was just a desi way of selling it. I’ll still pen the recipe down. You can make these pakoras with the ingredients that you love.
Chocolate Pakoras
(Chocolate clusters shaped like popular Indian fritters.)
Ingredients
1 cup + 3 tbsp melted dark chocolate
1½ cup mixed dry fruits (almond flakes, raisins and broken toasted cashew nuts)
Method
1. Mix one cup of melted chocolate with the mixed dry fruits gently. Don’t overdo it or the chocolate will set quickly.
2. Line a baking sheet with baking mat or just butter paper. Place clusters of the chocolate nut mix with the help of a serving spoon. Drizzle some melted chocolate on each cluster from the top to give it a smooth finish. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least one hour or until firm.
DAY 52
26 September / Puducherry
For all those who didn’t know, the popular leather brand Hidesign is based out of Puducherry. The gentleman behind the scene is Mr. Dilip Kapur. He studied abroad and returned to open this establishment in 1979 and his first retail store in 1999, in India. The custom design factory definitely didn’t look like a place where leather goods were manufactured. Instead, it looked more like a mix of a resort and a school. It had ponds, fountains, and lots of greenery. The factory employs a large number of women from the local community and has very strong ethical and moral principles. Mr. Kapur believes that the product is connected to the time and effort invested in the people and the place who then together bring the product to life. He gave me advise about using these same values when I opened my kitchen. The buildings were designed by Ray Meeker.
The generous man that Mr. Kapur was, he made a leather holster for my kitchen knife. I would like to take a moment here to thank him again for such a delicately made beautiful leather sheath. As a gesture of gratitude, I made Apple & Banana Paniyaram for him.
APPLE & BANANA PANIYARAM
(Sweet dumplings made from rice batter.)
Ingredients
½ cup apple, grated
½ tsp cinnamon (dalchini) powder
1 tbsp mint (pudina), chopped
1 tbsp jaggery (gur), chopped into small pieces
½ cup banana, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped walnuts (akhrot)
½ tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
1½ tbsp honey (shehad)
2 cups ready-made dosa batter
Method
1. Make two different stuffings for the paniyarams, one from banana and another from apple.
2. For the apple stuffing, mix the grated apple with cinnamon, mint and jaggery.
3. For the banana stuffing, mix the chopped banana with walnuts, cardamom powder, mint and half a tablespoon honey.
4. Heat a paniyaram, a special pan used for this dish to give it the ideal shape. (If you don’t get this special pan, try making these in the oven with a tray that has interesting shapes or designs.)
5. Add a teaspoon of the banana-apple filling in different sections of the pan. Now top these up with a spoon of the dosa batter. Soon it will start to cook and swell up.
6. Once it swells up, quickly toss the paniyaram on the other side so that both sides cook evenly.
7. Once taken off the pan, coat the hot paniyarams with a little honey and serve hot.
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As the evening set in, I decided I
wanted to know more about the culture of Puducherry and the people who lived there. That is how I met Kasha, at Surcoufe Street. It was a store with an attached café, run by local women and owned by an American lady called Kasha, who had settled in Puducherry nine years ago. The store sold handicrafts, jewellery and clothes, all made by local craftsmen and artisans. The attached café on the roof was also operated by the local ladies, who cooked a fusion of Indian and world cuisine. They promoted a fair-trade system and worked to promote efforts of the local communities to sustain old traditional handicrafts. After having a long chat with Kasha, I tasted a few dishes and they spoke clearly about the thought behind the café: fresh vegetables and grains, refreshing drinks, abundance of greens. They had a European thali; basically, a French take on the traditional Indian thali. I personally loved the Indian enchilada. The tortilla was replaced by the roti and the stuffing was made with masoor dal (red lentil), onions and salsa. It was covered with cheese, baked and served with fresh cream on the side. It was amazing to see local women experimenting with this fusion cuisine and excelling at it. It was a lovely evening spent well at Kasha’s.
Puducherry is a quiet city, so I went to bed early that night. The next morning I spent time surveying the stores and strolling on the quiet beaches. Puducherry turned out to be a chic shopping stop too. One can shop on the crowded Mission Street and visit the funky boutique Casablanca, filled with pottery, jewellery and exquisite linens. I bought a few knick-knacks for my family and spent the rest of my time at the beach, chasing the tide. It was nice to take some time off to rejuvenate and relax; the atmosphere in Puducherry was slow and made you want to stop time and dream for a little while.
DAY 53
After experiencing the quaint ex-French colony, I made my way towards Bengaluru.
DAY 54
28 September / Bengaluru
It had been 307 km since Puducherry. I arrived in India’s third largest city, now called Bengaluru. Since I had a small history with this place, I still prefer to call it by its previous name, Bangalore. I had arrived here back in the days…fresh out of college, with lot of hopes and dreams. Known as the Silicon Valley of India, it supports the rise of innovative entrepreneurs. I had worked at the flagship property of a luxury hotel chain. While I was working there, I did not understand or experience the cultural and religious vibe of the city. I was lost in the large crowds, making most of the vibrant pub culture and the large youth network.
Back in Delhi, in the small tight-knit community that I lived in, religion was, and still is, a way of life. Till today, my parents pray for my success—in life, in love, in marriage…and everything in between. My family and the Gods are pretty well connected. As for me, I have been like a parsley garnish on an elegant continental dish; nobody really cares what the parsley thinks! So, religion for me is more about learning how to have faith in a power that I cannot see. Keeping my faith intact, I stepped inside the halls of the iskcon Temple.
This temple was inaugurated by Mr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, the then President of India, way back in May, 1997. Founded by Swami Prabhupada to promote Vedic culture and spiritual learning, this is situated atop Hare Krishna Hill. The temple is spread over seven acres and a whopping 32 crores was spent to build this up. The main feature of the temple was the gold-plated dhwajastambha, or the flag post, that was 17 metres (56 feet) high and a gold-plated kalash shikara (that signifies symbol of life) at the top of the temple, 8.5 metres (28 feet) high. The Sri Krishna prasadam was being distributed to all visitors during the darshan (auspicious viewing) hours. The temple operated 24 hours a day, but praying was restricted to the darshan times. I met Swami Vasudheva, who spoke to me at length on the philosophy, vision and mission of the foundation. People are drawn to iskcon to discover Lord Krishna, the divine. The magnificent structure of the temple has 130 full-time missionary disciples, who work tirelessly to fulfil the needs of the visitors who come to worship and the Gods who rest there. I was told that the disciples start their day at quarter to four in the morning and perform a ritual called jagaran seva. This involves gently waking up the Gods with chants and prayers, followed by baliya bhog. It is a type of kheer offered to the Gods, before the first aarti (Hindu religious ritual of worship in which light from wicks soaked in ghee or camphor is offered to one or more deities). Does this make kheer the food of Gods? Perhaps. After all, it has pistachio, saffron, almond, cashew nuts, and 60 per cent dark chocolate in it. I am not drifting into a food fantasy here; iskcon does use chocolate in their prasadam.
The iskcon temple has an initiative called the Akshay Patra Foundation. They have taken on the responsibility to provide mid-day meals to children in government-aided schools across India. This programme runs across nine states in 19 different locations, covering 9000 schools, feeding 1.3 million children a year and two lakh meals being cooked on an average in a day. The foundation has generated a lot of admiration amongst the society and the leaders alike; with current US President, Barack Obama praising the efforts made by the foundation to spread their work around the country. Astounded by the numbers and quantities, I requested to be allowed into the kitchens, without any shoes of course. I met the head chef of the temple, dressed exactly like a priest; he walked me through the large kitchens and explained how the operation worked.
They start preparing their food at midnight. Prepreparation leads into the actual cooking only by 5 a.m. I was also told that the food offered was not restricted to ‘regular’ temple food. We all know laddu, peda (a sweet usually prepared as thick, semi-soft pieces), and kheer are offered to the Gods, but at iskcon, surprisingly, there is a bakery too, that prepares cakes and pastries especially for the offerings. It took me a minute to digest the thought and the pastry that I tried. Undoubtedly, the pastry and bakery goods are 100 per cent vegetarian, and 200 per cent pure. They also make muffins, cookies, tarts, puff pastry and bread. A total of 200 varieties of dishes are made everyday. I was inspired and overwhelmed when I found out about Govinda Prasadum, their fine-dining experience, where the food is prepared with the same satvik guidelines, with which their community eating rituals are prepared. For those who spend a day at the temple, this place is a must-visit for an early dinner.
Since I was at a temple and on a budget, I decided my contribution had to be special. I made Blueberry Pedas for the disciples. I made the pedas look like diyas (small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay), garnished with mint leaves that played the role of the flame. They promised to place this on their menu, at the restaurant. Rest of the day was spent roaming around iskcon. I wouldn’t say it changed my perception about the intermingling of spirituality and religion, both being very different things to me, but it definitely showed me all the good things that could be done, in the name of God.
BLUEBERRY PEDAS
(Milk fudge stuffed with blueberries.)
Ingredients
7-8 saffron (kesar) strands
2 tbsp milk
4 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
400 gm condensed milk
2½ cup milk powder
1 cup blueberry compote or blueberry jam
1 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
Mint leaves for garnishing
Method
1. Soak the saffron strand in warm milk and keep it aside.
2. Heat the ghee in a pan. Once heated, add the condensed milk to the pan. On medium flame, stir until both ghee and condensed milk come together as one solution. Add saffron-soaked milk to it.
3. Add milk powder.
4. Keep stirring on low flame until the peda mixture starts to thicken.
5. It’ll take approximately 15 minutes for the mix to be thick and fluffy. You’ll see the ghee separating from the peda and a change of colour; an almost shade of camel.
6. Remove the pan from flame and allow the peda mixture to cool off until you can hold and roll the mixture. Roll out small (lemon-sized) balls and shape them like a peda.
7. Make a deep thumb impression, almost shaping it like a di
ya, leaving room for lots of blueberry topping to go in. Put a spoonful of blueberry on to the peda and finish off with a standing mint leaf.
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Bangalore, this time around, had some interesting places for me to discover. I wasn’t visiting the known eating joints or doing touristy things like I was doing while visiting the other cities. This trip had a special spiritual bent to it. After visiting the temple in the morning, the evening was spent at an old age home called Om Ashram that was specially set up for women. The people behind this ashram were dedicated to make life comfortable and stress free for the women staying there. One benefit of being seen on television is that you can do your share of good deeds by promoting awareness about such problems that our otherwise ‘family-oriented’ society faces. It was very humbling to spend the day with these women, who enjoyed my company and my 'apparently’ quirky humour. They reminded me of my grandmothers. So, naturally, I took my blessings from each of them and cooked my nani’s (maternal grandmother) favourite Palak Sai Bhaji with brown onion rice.
PALAK SAI BHAJI
(A green vegetable dish cooked along with spinach and pulses.)
This recipe is the regular version; reduce the garam masala, green chilli and chilli powder accordingly when serving it to elderly people who might not adjust to the spicy dish.
Ingredients
4 tbsp split Bengal gram (chana dal)
1 cup water
3 tsp olive oil
½ tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
½ cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped potatoes
100 gm colocasia root (arbi)
200 gm okra (bhindi)
100 gm cauliflower (phoolgobhi) florets
India on My Platter Page 12
