When I was little, I remember my
mom soaking the left over rice in water in an uruli (copper or bronze utensils)
. She used to allow the rice to ferment overnight. Me and my little sister
Radhika never looked forward to having this as breakfast the next day as we
always used to feel this is baasi food (old) . Nothing could one compare hot piping
dosas and vadas to curd rice . Idli always won the third price. We could even
do with Upma (which never used to make it to the Top 3 ever). But amma insisted that we eat curd rice with
pickled mangoes.
She used to sell this idea to us
that we would grow smarter and stronger if we had Pazhaya saadam which means
old rice. Amma used to say you could
live a healthy rich life if you take this poor man’s food. Hidden Targets you see, the rice couldn’t be thrown away. So, we were the glorious recepients of pazhya
sadam. I being the argumentative type and questioning type, used to ask her to
as to why this was never served to appa(my dad) and she had quite an assertive
look on her face saying that its only for the kids. No questions were asked
further!!! The look on her face was enough to make me dumb atleast for
sometime.
Amma used to nicely mash the
rice, add some buttermilk some coarse salt and garnish it with a little mustard
seeds, some neatly sliced green chilies and there we go. I remember vividly
that me and my sister used to have a competition as to who would finish off the
curd rice faster. There is a saying that the finger tips of moms have nectar
flowing and God has designed it in that manner.
Me and my sister agree on this since it used to taste so good. My daughter vouches for it, so I can also
double vouch on this one!!!
With Google mama helping us in
every sphere nowadays, he says curd rice contains B12 and rich probiotics. Really!!!!! Fermented Rice, they say. It has a whole lot of complex B vitamins and
lot of fiber which could help you lose weight and at the same time keep you
hale and hearty. With high levels of
energy getting introduced in your system, one can also rest assured about the
blood parameter levels.
I still try and make it for me
some days and carry it in steel dabba.
Curd rice tastes good only when its packed in steel dabbas and not
plastic ones (have tried them) so can talk about them.
Having brought up in a
traditional South indian family with just home cooked meals (like in case of
most of us) eating out was very rare.
Also with deep traditional roots especially when it came to matters
related to food, if a dish has to be cooked in coconut oil or til oil, nothing
else could be used for sure. We as a family use a lot of simple health spices
(as they call it). Hing is something we
cannot do without and so are curry leaves. Not to forget the dark coloured gur or jaggery.
Garnishing has to be with curry leaves
and coriander or else usmein mazaa nahin hai.
The other day I happened to go to
a typical Udipi hotel and asked for thayir saadam (curd rice) and shelled out
around seventy rupees (Rs 70/-). Not humble any more!!!!
So that’s all for now
CYA with something interesting
and spicy – stay tuned!!!!
Love
Rekha
No comments:
Post a Comment