Photos by Members Chanakya and Harshita L.
HOST
CO-HOST
WHERE WE MET
Suran ki Kheer, a regional sweet made during festivals in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar using suran (elephant foot yam), a starchy root vegetable. Grated and simmered slowly with milk, sugar or jaggery, and cardamom, it has a creamy, earthy flavour and is prepared in winter when suran is in season.
A tangy, seasonal curry made from locally found ambadi (roselle) leaves, Ambadi Saag is cooked down with onions, garlic, and chillies. It’s a monsoon favourite across rural Maharashtra, often paired with bhakri.
This coastal spice, Teppal (related to Sichuan pepper) is largely found and used in Goa and coastal Karnataka. The dried pods are lightly bruised and simmered whole, releasing a citrusy, tongue-tingling aroma into seafood curries.
MEET YOUR HOST
My most enduring food memory
Visiting Pavani in Vidarbha as an eight year old and sitting in a pangat (rows to sit and eat) for servings of rice and pumpkin curry, fighting a losing battle with spice. Until my grandmother came to the rescue and mixed in the perfect amount of salt and ghee.
Salmon nigiri.
Narthangai. Star-shaped, mentos-sized gooseberries, harvested in baskets from the tree in the driveway. Eaten promptly like popcorn, slowly cooked into a syrup, or in podi (with rice, ghee, and tangy tomato saar).
Egg and curd. Almost always in attendance, but rarely chums. Two cases: the first, burji with rice and big dollops of curd. The second, Çılbır.
A nice hot potato, boiled, peeled, mashed. Salt, chilli powder, turmeric.