most memorable meal

[Milagai]

i've been reading the "best food" and "worst food"

threads on the main part of eg, and wondered

how experiences in this group were?

i've honestly can't recall a single uneatably bad meal

in india or elsewhere...

either i have a cast iron stomach or i'm very lucky :)

but one of the memorable standouts

(neither best nor worst, just way outside my experience

at that time) was:

breakfast in ajmer, early 1980's.

our host family, very much locals,

friends with my father's family from

around the independence era:

mirchi pakoras, and jalebis

"pehle jeebh jale bhi; phir jalebi".

both items excellent, and one can't

really decide which taste to end with

washed down with great chaai.

really threw one into high gear for the day :)

until that time i had been brought up on

meek and mild upma, idlis, toast, etc.

my mind blew along with my mouth.

any stories to share?

milagai

[Episure]

Milagai, thanks for starting this topic.

My most memorable meal was in the Thar desert on a Rs. 60 per day(circa 1985) Camel tour.

There was a Rs. 200 per day trip with fancy breakfasts, lunches and dinners catering to foreign tourists(muesli, eggs to order,sausages,spam... ) and another at Rs.150 with a few courses knocked off. I chose the Rs. 60 per day because it included the camel + camel driver/ guide who would share his food with me, an opportunity that I could not pass. The tour operator tried his best to dissuade me( Sahab, khana accha nahi lage ga, saath rupaye mein kya milega!) from such a simple tour but I would have none of it.

Food was very spartan and it consisted of a paratha and tea breakfast and Rotis, Dal and a vegetable preparation for lunch and dinner. My Cameleer/Cook had a shallow brass pan in which he would knead the dough and then upturn it to make the rotis on a small fire. He had two more pots for the dal and the vegetable. Provisions for a five day trip included a variety of dals, flours, masalas, ghee, fresh and dried vegetables, vadis and a mean red chilli/kachri/garlic chatni. On a couple of occasions we passed by tribal villages where I was treated to lassis sweetened with gur.

I ate genuine, simple and delicious Rajasthani food and am hoping to experience it again someday.

[susruta]

My most memorable meal:

My favorite Bengali meal is a simple lucchi/chenzhki, basically sauteed onions and vegetables. Whenever I would visit my father in law in India, the family cook would prepare this simple dish for me as my first meal after arrival. One day a very fat pompous Bengali lady was present at this welcoming lunch. She was shocked that the "bou" (daughter in law) was being treated so inhospitably, ordered the cook to go and get me some ice cream, and promptly ate the rest of the lucchi chenzhki. I have resented this ever since.

[Geetha]

I dont know why I don't remember most of the memorable meals today, but I do recall off the top of my head from my cherished tastes cank the meal I had one night in my granny's court yard, it was so simple it is just amazing to be able to describe this here, firstly it was the leftover from the late evening meal, for some reason I was late to arrive.. so I had it with little of what was there left, which was rasam and rice ofcourse, with a simple fhatafhat lemon pickle from the nearby grocery store in our village. mmm never had believed I would like the bitter-sharp-hot taste of the lemon pickle, married to rasam ... well all you know you never know.

[CharityCase]

I think all of my meals in India were memorable. Of course the restaurants where I had them were forgettable too, in that the exterior didn't tell you what was in store.

One of my favorites was a breakfast in Maharashtra state...perhaps Bijapur? It was a breakfast soup of shallot, cilantro, broth and crunchy little cracker things. Served with hot buffalo milk. It was memorable for me because I got lost on a train, and a man in the army helped me out and took me to a a little restaurant to recover.

Another favorite was in Karnataka (don't recall which city I was in) because I had a real cup of local coffee, and for the first time tried Dal Dhansak. I really must make this again sometime.

My first "real" meal in Hampi, sitting in the ground and staring at ruins was very special too.

[Episure]

I think all of my meals in India were memorable. Of course the restaurants where I had them were forgettable too, in that the exterior didn't tell you what was in store.

One of my favorites was a breakfast in Maharashtra state...perhaps Bijapur? It was a breakfast soup of shallot, cilantro, broth and crunchy little cracker things. Served with hot buffalo milk. It was memorable for me because I got lost on a train, and a man in the army helped me out and took me to a a little restaurant to recover.

Another favorite was in Karnataka (don't recall which city I was in) because I had a real cup of local coffee, and for the first time tried Dal Dhansak. I really must make this again sometime.

My first "real" meal in Hampi, sitting in the ground and staring at ruins was very special too.

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Charity Case,

I can see that you have been eating the real stuff which is not easy to come by.

The breakfast soup of shallot, cilantro, broth and crunchy little cracker things is called a 'Misal' and is the standard breakfast dish in Maharashtra especially the rural areas.

And yes eating a 'down to earth' meal and gazing at the Hampi ruins can be an ethereal experience. Not many foreign tourists make it to HAMPI

[CharityCase]

Charity Case,

I can see that you have been eating the real stuff which is not easy to come by.

The breakfast soup of shallot, cilantro, broth and crunchy little cracker things is called a 'Misal' and is the standard breakfast dish in Maharashtra especially the rural areas.

And yes eating a 'down to earth' meal and gazing at the Hampi ruins can be an ethereal experience. Not many foreign tourists make it to HAMPI

←

[Episure]

Sick at Auroville, of all the places!

I'm glad that Hampi (deservedly) has more visitors. I must visit it again, did you find good+clean accomodation?

[Milagai]

add my voice on the fantasticness of hampi.

this misal sounds terrific! any recipes?

milagai