The House in Pudukkottai That Woke Up at 5AM

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By 5AM, the house in Pudukkottai was already awake. The old tape recorder would be blaring Pithukuli Murugados songs somewhere inside, and above everything else you could hear the steady creak of the wooden swing moving back and forth. My athai paati — my grandfather’s sister — would often be on that swing, singing “Gopala Krishna Swamy Gokulathiley,” a soft Krishna lullaby . She had been widowed young and lived the rest of her life in that house, and to me she always felt like someone straight out of an RK Narayan story. For us, summer meant Pudukkottai and Gobichettipalayam. A couple of days after the final exam, we would take the overnight Trichy Express from Bangalore, then a bus onward, and by the next morning we would be inside that long, bustling house full of cousins, relatives, and noise. Athai Paati with the kids on the swing The house itself stretched from one street to another, a lon...

Poruchcha Kuzhambu

It does get frustrating to cook the same things and have it time and again. So, that's when I decided that for a change, I will look into something different. I got the recipe for Poruchcha Kuzhambu from India and decided to experiment with it. It is always a 90-10 ratio of getting a dish right. Come on! We are staying in the United States for ten months now and that's already a good learning experience as far as cooking is concerned. Even if it goes the other way (I am referring to the ten per cent chance), we have no other choice than to eat it up. To be honest, it is not a bad proposition to eat it even if it is not as good as the way it comes at home. On a lighter vein, I tell my friends Nowadays, I can mix up rice even with sauce and eat it! I know that's a lot of exaggeration and we are not bad cooks either.

Luckily, the dish turned out pretty well and the two vessels of kuzhambu that I made got over in no time. Don't hesitate to ask me for the recipe. It is not everyday that I get to teach somebody how to cook!

Comments

  1. true.. it's hard to make something uneatable... unless you dump a jarful of salt or chilly powder into the dish and even then you can use buttermilk / potatoes and even it out.

    I mean, the other day to test the theory I sauteed onions, added chopped beef patties and some black eyed peas and what have you, a dish that got finished in 2 hours flat.

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  2. dear praveen, you have not mentioned the name of the person who gave you the recipe for poruchcha kuzhambu and when. i feel proud that you are able to prepare the food as instructed by a person from india. it is more than sending a rocket.

    n.kalyanasundaram.

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