Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Why People Eat With Their Hands in Kerala

You may have often wondered why people eat with their hands in Kerala. Eating food with your hands feeds not only the body but also the mind and the spirit. That is the Vedic wisdom behind Kerala's famous Banana Leaf Experience whose pleasure can only be appreciated fully, it is said, if one eats with hands and not fork and spoon.

Traditionally, Indians -- not just in Kerala -- have always eaten with their hands but the experience and its virtues have been elevated to a gastronomic art by the chefs at Vivanta by Taj Bekal, a picturesque 26-acre resort in the northern Kasaragod district of Kerala, flanked by the famous backwaters and the Lakshadweep Sea.

And to lend logic to the eating-by-hand experience for fussy foreigners, especially Westerners who would think twice before scooping up curry with their fingers, the maitre d'hotel lays before each guest at Latitude - the multi-cuisine restaurant with an accent on regional Kerala cuisine and a scenic view of serene waters and swaying palm fronds - captured pithily in printed paper the "Vedic wisdom behind eating with your hands".

"Our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements. The Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. The thumb is agni (fire) -- you might have seen children sucking their thumb, this is nature's way of aiding the digestion at an age when they are unable to chew; the forefinger is vayu (air), the middle finger is akash (ether -- the tiny intercellular spaces in the human body), the ring finger is prithvi (earth) and the little finger is jal (water)," the paper explains.

The 'banana leaf experience' has been redefined by the hotel from the traditional 'sadya', or banquet, in Malayalam, says Ashok Pillai, the executive sous chief. Sadya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a banana leaf on special occasions, during weddings and other celebrations. All the dishes are served on the leaf and eaten with hands sans cutlery, the palm and fingers being cupped to form a ladle.

A sadya can have about 24-28 dishes served as a single course and is usually served for lunch as it is quite heavy on the stomach. Preparations begin at dawn and the dishes are made before 10 in the morning on the day of the celebration. "At Vivanta by Taj at Bekal we have given a twist to the experience by adding delectable preparation of fish or meats as per request," Samir Khanna, the affable general manager, told IANS during a recent trip.

The centerpiece of sadya is navara, a medicinal rice type, that is one of the native genetic resources of Kerala and famed for its use in Ayurveda. Navara is used as a nutritional rice and health food and is said to be therapeutic for conditions such as arthritis, paralysis, ulcers, urinary tract infections, neuralgic and neurological disorders.

For a novitiate to Kerala cuisine, the food does not stop coming, and the helpings are as much as you can ingest. Most people stop at the second helping and react in surprise when waiters with buckets of curry offer to ladle more on the leaf-plate.

Foreigners, after their initial cultural reservations about eating with their hands, awkwardly slurp and lap up the food, any messiness be damned. As a concession to non-vegetarians, karimeen or pearl spot, the local fish, is served fried or in curry form.

Since the "experience" requires some preparation, those guests who want to partake of it need to intimate the chef in advance and tables are laid out separately in the restaurant for those who are eating on the banana leaf.

A typical sadya menu -

Banana Chips
Jagerry Chips
Achar
Kerala Pappadom
Parippu Curry (Simmered lentils enhanced with ghee)
Pachadi (Preserved cucumber in Yoghurt)
Inchi Puli (An emulsion of tamarind, jaggery and ginger)
Kichadi (Coconut enriched gravy with pineapple)
Erissery (Mashed Pumpkins and red beans in coconut)
Kaalan (Raw banana cooked in mildly spiced coarse coconut)
Olan (White pumpkin simmered with beans in coconut milk)
Avial (Ethnic vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut and yoghurt)
Thoran (Any local vegetable cooked dry with coarsely ground coconut)
Kootu Curry (Assortment of vegetables and spices)
Sambar (Stew of lentil and vegetables)
Pulissery (Tempered yoghurt with turmeric with curry leaf infusion)
Pachamoru (Spiced butter milk)
Banana Payasam (Dessert with jaggery, coconut milk flavored with cardamom)

Other Recipes

Paal Payasam
Kozhikodan Biryani
Thenga Choru
Kerala Chicken Roast
Kerala Fried Prawns
Kerala Vegetable Stew
Meen Moilee with Steamed Rice
Malabari Parotta

Tags: banana leaf, kerala, onam

Mr.MODI

NDTV Cooks, Modified: September 30, 2014 11:49 IST

The Menu at Barack Obama's Dinner for Narendra Modi

Though it was expected that the menu at President Barack Obama's dinner would all be a vegetarian affair, the royal feast was a balanced mixed of food items. According to sources, the Indian side had expressed a desire not to include non-vegetarian dishes during the private dinner keeping in mind sensitivities of the Prime Minister who is observing Navratrifasts.

Last week, the White House had said they respectfully accommodate the practices of visiting guests.

"As with all guests hosted by US Presidents over the years, we always work to respectfully accommodate the practices of our visitors," said Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson of the National Security Council.

The menu however, comprised of a spread including compressed avocados, crisped halibut, safron Basmati rice and salmon. US President Barack Obama hosted this grand dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had only warm water due to his navaratri fast. Though there was a plate put in front of the Prime Minister, he only had warm water and asked rest of the guest not to feel embarrassed and continue with their dinner, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
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The dinner was attended by limited number of guests from each side. While from the US, Vice-President Joe Biden, Secretary of State William Burns, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, USAID's Rajiv Shah were among the nine guests, Indian delegation had External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Indian Ambassador to the US S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh among others.

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The dinner also had mango creme brulee for the guests. The Prime Minister has been observing Navratri fasts for last 40 years and this year it coincided with his five-day US visit from September 26

How PM Modi Will be Greeted at West Wing: 10 Developments

| Updated: September 30, 2014 13:56 IST

PM Narendra Modi With US President Barack Obama

WASHINGTON: An Oval Office meeting today with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be the centerpiece of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to the White House.

Here are the 10 latest developments in this story:

Mr Modi will be greeted with a formal arrival ceremony outside the West Wing.
Typically, visiting heads of state spend just a portion of a day at the White House meeting with President Obama and other US leaders. The second day of attention from President Obama is rare.
Last night, the PM met President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other key US officials at the White House for dinner. The PM and President Obama sat down under a gilded chandelier in the antique-festooned Blue Room of the White House.
The PM sipped only water at the dinner; he is keeping the nine-day Navratri fast that he observes strictly every year.
In a joint statement issued after their first meeting at a White House dinner, the two leaders said they would work together on "a transformative relationship as trusted partners".
Mr Modi, who was denied a visa to the United States in 2005 on human rights grounds over communal riots in his home state of Gujarat three years before that, has been courted heavily by the US since he took office - several cabinet level delegations have visited him in Delhi.
The United States has been keen to expand business and security ties with India, which it sees as a key counterbalance to an increasingly assertive China in Asia.
President Obama has backed Delhi's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
As part of an effort to spur foreign investment, the PM met more than a dozen US corporate leaders for breakfast in New York on Monday and told them he is committed to liberalizing India's economy and slashing the country's infamous red tape.
Mr Modi said that despite some differences with Washington, the wider relationship could still improve. "It is not necessary we should have comfort in everything, even between a husband and wife, there is never 100 percent comfort," Mr Modi joked at the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday.