Avre Bendi (Navy Beans in a Coconut, Chilly and Tamarind curry)

Avre = Navy Beans

Bendi = a spicy coconut, chilly and tamarind concoction.

and thus, Avre Bendi.

The beauty about so many of konkani curries are the fact that they use just these 3 ingredients, but just by varying the quantity of each or grounding it coarsely or finely, they change the taste and the texture of the curry. The second thing I love about these curries is that there is not much of sauteing or bhunoing involved. You cook the beans in the pressure cooking for upto 3 whistles and while that is happening you grind up the coconut, chillies and tamarind. Add the paste to the cooked beans with salt and bring to boil. Season. Thats it. I mean, all of this doesn’t take more than 10 mins. On the days that I make an authentic konkani meal, I finish all of the cooking– a curry, rice and a side dish in 20 minutes. Using all four burners at the same time, of course. Heck, I could give Rachel Ray a run for her money.

Beans are the biggest source of protein in many predominantly vegetarian cuisine. While, konkani cuisine is famous for its seafood preparations, it is not part of the everyday food. Except, by choice, that is. So, mostly,the daily food is rice, beans and a vegetable together with buttermilk. A complete meal. As I said before, the curries are defined by the quantities used and the texture into which it is ground. In the case of bendi, less of the coconut, more of the chillies and tamarind and ground into a fine paste. Bendi’s are seasoned with garlic. 

The recipe…

1 cup navy beans soaked over night and cooked till soft

1/4 cup grated coconut

8-10 dried red chillies

1/2 tsp tamarind paste / marble sized piece of tamarind , if using actual pods

3-4 garlic cloves

salt

oil for seasoning and roasting chillies

Roast the chillies in a little bit of oil on a low flame. You know they are roasted when they loose the wrinkly look and puff up. Cool them a little bit and then grind them up with coconut and tamarind into a fine paste. This takes some work , if you are using american blenders. Heat up the cooked beans till they start boiling, add the paste , salt and mix. The broth will start foaming and then settle down. The paste is cooked when all of the foam has died down. Remove from flame. Heat up oil and garlic together in a small pan. Never put garlic in hot oil. Always put it in the oil and then heat up the oil. This way the garlic cooks just enough and doesnt burn. Also, the oil gets infused with the garlic juices better. Add this tempering to the bendi and immediately cover up the pot. Mix the seasoning in before serving.

Today,I had these with boiled rice (parboiled rice in the US is just not the same). I used the ones I have from India. Most people in Mangalore still eat this rice as their daily rice. The younger generation, however, seem to prefer white rice. As for people like me, born and brought up in Bombay,white rice is daily rice and eating boiled rice is something that ups the exotic quotient.

Dosa…A Love Story.

He beckons me as I sit sipping my morning coffee watching the world go by from the kitchen window. I try to ignore him but his pristine whiteness calls out to me.

"You know you want me",he says. I stubbornly keep looking out the window.

"I have moved on", I say. "I don't want you as much anymore".

"That's a lie. You wish, I was with you right now, sharing the coffee with you".

"No. I told you, I have moved on. There is a whole new world out there. Its simple,its easy and they dont need as much time as you demand of me."

"Yes, But you always come back to me.You can't stand the quick and easy types for more than a day". I say nothing. It was the truth. I just crave for him.

"You miss me…"

"Alright, alright,you are right, ok. I do miss you. I can't resist you." I blurt out.

"In that case,you know what you have to do." he says.

I nod. There is no point fighting it. It is always like this. I try to ignore it, to get out of the commitment. But, I always give in.

I get up, measure out 1 cup of urad dal, wash it till the water runs clear. Almost on automation, I measure out 2 cups of rice and do the same. I mix both , soak them in water and keep it aside. I don't want to look at it. I don't want to think about him. What is this hold he has over me? Why is it so difficult to let go? Maybe because he's been there ever since I can remember. How do you let go of so many years of togetherness?

I go about my day as if nothing had happened, as if I hadn't given in to my carnal cravings once more. I smiled, I nodded, I laughed as if it was all another day. But, I am thinking about him all the time. Its useless fighting it and I give in. I stop trying to ignore that he isn't on my mind. And it's like a weight off my shoulders. I can't wait to go home.

Late evening, I go to him. He is ready, so am I. I drain the water and put him in the blender. "I have to invest in a dry grinder soon", I say to myself. "It's just not fair to him". I add a little bit of water, and let the blender go at him.I want him to get as fine as he can be. It whirs and grinds as all the while I am humming to myself. Round and round he goes, hugging the blenders contours, thoroughly enjoying himself. But, soon he heats up even though he is not as fine as I would like him to be. I shut off the blender and let him cool off. I start the blender again and this time after a little while, he is all ground up and fine. I touch him, Oh, he is smooth. I giggle like a little girl and pour him into a large glass bowl.

I look at him. "Nurture me", he whispers. "Take good care of me."

That's when the doubts start hitting me. What if I didn't do it right? What if I didn't soak him long enough? What if he is still not ground enough? I shake my mind to throw those doubts away. I have committed myself to this. Might as well see it through. I open up my oven making sure it is not hot and put him in. I keep the light on, just to be sure. I carry on with the rest of the evening resisting the urge to go peek. Just before retiring for the day, I go to him and take a peek.

He seems to wink at me."I will be fine", he says.

I believe him and go to sleep. I wake up in the morning itching to see if he's ok. But I'm scared. I start on the sambhar as I try to find the courage to look at him. Wash the dal, put in chopped potatoes, onions, tomatoes, sambhar pwd , salt and let the pressure cooker do its job. Did I take good care of him? I throw in the grated coconut, a piece of ginger, salt and green chillies in a blender and try to let the doubts drown in the noise of it. No such luck. "Nurture me", he had said. Did I do it or did I let him down? I season the chutney and the sambhar with mustard seeds and curry leaves. I keep a pot of water on the burner to make some authentic coffee. There is nothing else to do but to take a look at him now. Slowly, I open the oven and sneak a look. Oh…he is fine. All light and puffed up and all proud of me. "You did good". I am glad.

I heat up a griddle and bring it to smoking point. I take a wet tissue and wipe the hot griddle with it. Now, it is ready for him. I take a ladleful and pour it on the griddle. It makes a sizzling hot sound and its like something takes over me. I just go with the flow and start spreading him out on the griddle into concentric circles until there is no more to spread. I drizzle a little oil over him and let cook. After a while, I turn him over and let the other side cook up. From the corner of my eye, I see my family rush in, all excited, no doubt from the sizzling sound and the aromas now wafting around the house. I barely notice as I am in a zone.I keep churning them out, one after another, until I hear a loud burp. *I hope it's my son*.

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He beckons me as I sit sipping my morning coffee watching the world go by from the kitchen window. I look at my dosa, take a bite and close my eyes.

I am home.

Back from India…straight into Mistress of Spices…

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I am back within  a month. Through the haze of jet-lagged depression, I would like to thank all of those who envied me my was-supposed-to-be long vacation. Honest-to-goodness, I wish I could say I missed blogging. But, I didn't. I wish I could say, I have pictures of food from back home. But, I don't. Maybe If I had stayed back more, I would have gotten around to it. But, I didn't. So there.

One thing I can say, is that I ATE!!!!…Dear God, did I eat. I ate like there was no tommorow, like every meal was my last meal. And yet, I could eat more. And everybody was just happy to oblige. Its amazing how much love is measured by the amount you feed him/her. As a mother, I do it to my son, too. He knows he's full and tells me so and yet, I wish he would clean off his plate. And the day he does clean his plate, I am left wondering if he is still hungry and sure enough,at his next meal, there will be an extra serving. Of course, he can't finish it all up and the cycle continues.   

Anyway, back to the US and I couldn't wait to post again. On my roundup of other blogs I visit, I came across the 'Mistress of Spice' event hosted by Mythili. Of course, I had to participate. I mean, come on. How can you resist something called as 'Mistress of Spice'?. So here I am, blogging about one of my favorite spices. The one known as cinnamon.

Image Source : arnica.csustan.edu
Names
Ceylon Cinnamon, True Cinnamon,Cinnamomum zeylanicum
French: cannelle
German: Ceylonzimt, Kaneel
Italian: cannella
Spanish: canela
Chinese: yook gway
Indian: dal-chini, darchini, dhall cheene
Sinhalese: kurundu
Tamil: karuvappadai

Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree.The best cinnamon comes from SriLanka, but the tree is also grown commercially at Tellicherry in southern India, Indonesia, the West Indies, Brazil, Veitnam, and Egypt.

Its interesting that what we normally get in the supermarkets in the US or the local baniya in India is not actually cinnamon, but a distant cousin. Whats available in the US is called cassia(Cinnamomum cassia ) while what is stored in India(Malabathrum) is actually a bark of the bay leaf tree. But, its all right 'cos its all in the family, you see. Detailed Info here.

Cinnamon is used more in dessert dishes in the western world. It is commonly used in cakes and other baked goods, milk and rice puddings, chocolate dishes and fruit desserts, particularly apples and pears. It is common in many Middle Eastern and North African dishes, in flavouring lamb tagines or stuffed aubergines. In India,i t is used in curries and pilaus and in garam masala. It is used to flovor chai. It may be used to spice mulled wines, creams and syrups. The largest importer of Sri Lankan cinnamon is Mexico, where it is drunk with coffee and chocolate and brewed as a tea.

And of course, it has some medicinal properties. Recent studies have determined that consuming as little as 1-3 gms of Cinnamon each day may reduce blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels by as much as 20% in Type II diabetes patients who are not taking insulin. It relieves nausea and vomiting, and, because of its mild astringency, it is particularly useful in diarrhea in infants. Chewing and swallowing a very small pinch of powdered cinnamon is considered helpful for cough accompanied by frequent spitting of whitish phlegm.

Me, I just love to use it to flavor my chai along with elaichi. hmmmmm……..