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Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s nearly eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoran.

There are many types of thoran, but beans thoran is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.

Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoran.

There are many types of thoran, but beans thoran is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.

Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoren.

There are many types of thoren, but beans thoren is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.

Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoren.

There are many types of thoren, but beans thoren is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.

Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoren.

There are many types of thoren, but beans thoren is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.

Once again lunch at my mother’s. These days when in India she mainly supervises the servants until they make it like she would. She’s eighty now and just doesn’t have the enthusiasm to prepare food with quite the same attention to detail on a daily basis. The food definitely tastes as though she cooked it, and the distinction is clear and consistent between food prepared under her roof and that prepared at her sisters’ houses.

Thoren.

There are many types of thoren, but beans thoren is the template, and this is it. Stir fried with ground coconut, curry leaves, mustard seeds, chillies… I’ve never cooked this so I won’t comment further.

Vendakka mezhukupuratti. Okra stir-fried.

Okra is called “ladies’ finger” in Indian English. Not slimy at all in this preparation. Again, with grated coconut and much other stuff. Way beyond my expertise.

Fried prawns.

These are sea-prawns. They’re smaller than the freshwater ones in the previous post, but not tiny. The taste is very similar. There’s a huge industry farming freshwater prawns in the Kayal, the back-waters around Cochin.

Sambar.

I just cannot emphasise enough the importance of sambar in Malayali cooking and the Kerala psyche. It's a kind of stew with muringakka (drumstick), okra/ladies' finger, tomato, yams, gourds, marrow and various other vegetables. Typically it is not very hot, but it has a very spiced taste. It is absolutely idiomatic, the one thing every cook in Kerala will be able to prepare without thinking about it at all. Absolutely beyond my reach as a cook, and I've never tried to prepare it. It can be eaten with rice, appam, idli, dosa, vada...

Here’s a picture off all the above along with some chicken curry on my plate.