Festival Food - East West North South

[Kerala]

@KennethTwe popped out to get some basics at a local Nisa store in Maidstone. I guess Nisa stores have a lot of autonomy because this shop haa lot of unusual stuff. As we walked in we saw raw, fresh banana leaves. We chose the best 16 or so, looking for the most aesthetically pleasing leaves. Big Sis had already procured paper faux banana leaves, because it's hard to get real leaves. I think they came to 80 pence or so a leaf. 

To answer your question, the banana leaves were sitting there looking fresh on the floor of the supermarket.

[haresfur]

This discussion is very interesting because I am realising that most of what I know about Indian festivals and food, for that matter, is heavily slanted to northern India. I just watched a video of a race between incredibly long canoes for this festival, which links several of my interests. The whole context for the food is fascinating imo.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

I think they came to 80 pence or so a leaf. 

 

Wow! Here I pay the equivalent of ₤1 for 50! If my maths is correct, that is 2 pence each. And that includes them being trimmed into near rectangles* and delivery to my door within half an hour. Untrimmed are cheaper.

 

* Which I realise may not be what you want but my usage is different.

 

 

 

 

[Kerala]

We would have accepted rectangular leaves if that was all that was available. Of course, there's a small sub-register in my brain saying ,"That's like 80 rupees for one leaf!" But these are an imported luxury here. No doubt I could get them cheaper if I hunted around. However, on that day, just as a surprise find, they were a must-buy!

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerala said:

We would have accepted rectangular leaves if that was all that was available. Of course, there's a small sub-register in my brain saying ,"That's like 80 rupees for one leaf!" But these are an imported luxury here. No doubt I could get them cheaper if I hunted around. However, on that day, just as a surprise find, they were a must-buy!

 

Yes. I understand. I often buy over-expensive imported stuff here because I convince myself "I need to!"

[Kerala]

On 10/1/2024 at 12:35 AM, Bhukhhad said:

How about the fresh lemon pickle recipe

please 

Thank you

Bhukhhad

There are lots of different approaches, it seems, but I used this from Shaan Geo. I halved the quantities involved, so 500g of lemons. It should ideally be ripe yellow limes, but we don't really see them in the UK.

 

The video has English sub-titles.

 

For ease of reference, the quantities he uses are:

1kg limes, cut into 8ths

8 tablespoons (100g) salt

150g garlic cloves, peeled and halved

3/4 of a cup of coconut oil

2 teaspoons of mustard seeds

2 teaspoons of fenugreek seeds

3/4 of a cup of ginger cut to matchsticks

30 medium green chillies or 100g bird's eye chillies

6 tablespoons of sugar

2 tablespoons of vinegar

curry leaves

3/4 teaspoon of turmeric

 

I pretty much followed him cut-for-cut, and the whole thing was easy and straight-forward. Everyone was happy with the results: sour, salty, sweet, hot, herby. He says put aside for at least 5days in an air-tight container. I made it about 2 weeks before our Onam get-together.