Deepavali 🪔

"'Twas a light that made darkness itself appear a thing of comfort.

- Robert Southey

The traditional Deepavali lantern or 'kandeelu' as we call it, did just that to me. They still evoke fond memories of lights, delicious food, new clothes and a general feeling of love, laughter and warmth.

It was one of the must-haves of Deepavali as were growing up, hanging right outside the house on the porch, spilling muted light into a pool of warm glow. I vaguely remember the excitement of the whole family participating with comments, opinions, advice and anticipation as the lantern was being hung up just before Deepavali every year, but I clearly remember standing under it afterwards, gazing at the beauty of it and a general feeling of "all's right with my world" filling up my heart and making me insanely happy.

Those colourful paper lanterns were made by local artisans and sold at the local market around Deepavali. In recent years they seem to have disappeared and have been replaced by cheap plastic versions. Chinese plastic lanterns in garish colours seem to have flooded the shops and the only other alternative are the cloth ones with mirrorwork on them, that you find hanging in almost every restaurant and cafe in touristy places like Goa.

I've been searching for the lanterns from my childhood for many many years now, but haven't had any luck.

 

 

So this year I decided to make my own version of a lantern. My medium is yarn, and my art is crochet, so I went with that. I did some research for a pattern but could not find any that I liked, so I winged it, and crocheted this lantern.

If you do crochet and want to know how I made this, please ask and I'll write up the pattern for you. 

 

It kind of looks like stained glass and looks absolutely gorgeous hung up on my balcony with a soft yellow light bulb inside. 

 

Just look at the light pattern it throws out! 

 

Muted light - check

Warmth - check

Feeling of accomplishment - check

😇

 

For the next year's Deepavali though, I AM definitely learning how to make my own paper lantern like the old ones. You know, the octagonal ones where each panel has a different colour, and has trails of paper streaming from the bottom... If you know where I can buy them, or a tutorial which will teach me how to make one, please let me know in the comments and I'd be forever grateful to you!

Happy Deepavali, everyone! I wish upon you a festival full of sweet childhood memories, a home full of light, a heart full of joy and a life full of love. 

 

♥️🪔

 

Halubai

 

Rice, coconut and jaggery - three things that define Havyaka cuisine. When all the three combine to make a dish, with very little else added, how awesome do you think it will turn out?

Although I don't have a big sweet tooth, halubai is something I will never get tired of eating. With its melt-in-the-mouth, jelly-like texture, you hardly feel it disappearing down your throat, but leaves such a lingering sweet flavour in your mouth...my absolute, all-time favourite sweet.

There are several versions of halubai recipes out there, but I wanted to write down Amma's version of it which I love, so I'll always remember. It's slightly more gooey than the popular version. Here's the recipe if you would like to try it too:

Ingredients:

(enough for 4 people (although I could eat the whole thing myself at one go if no one was looking and judging))

1 cup rice

1 medium size coconut

1cup jaggery powder or shaved jaggery (slightly more if you like it sweeter)

A pinch of salt

Crushed cardamom seeds from 4-5 pods

Ghee 2 tsp

Pure coconut oil 3-4 tsp

Prep:

- Wash and soak the rice for 3-4 hours.

- Grate or chop the coconut and grind with a little water. It need not be very fine. Coarsely is ok. With a thin muslin cloth, strain the ground coconut to get its milk. Add a little water to the coconut and strain again. Do this two more times or until the water you strain is very thin.

- Grind the rice fine and add enough water to get it to a milk-like consistency.

- Smear a thin layer of ghee on a plate and keep aside for pouring later. You can even place banana leaves on the plate if you have it on hand and smear ghee on it.

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients except the coconut oil in a wide thick-bottomed pan. (Amma uses an antique bronze uruli passed down from my grandparents.)

 

 

2. Place the pan on the stove with the flame on low and start stirring.

 

 

 

3. Keep stirring. (You can't multitask when you're cooking this. It needs constant stirring!) The mixture will start to thicken soon. Make sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

 

4. Keep stirring and mixing for about 10 minutes.

 

 

 

5. The halubai is done when it stops sticking to the pan and comes away, and is thick enough to fall in folds.

6. Turn off the heat and pour the halubai on to the prepared plate and smoothen the surface. 

 

 

7. Drizzle coconut oil on the top.

8. Once it's slightly cooled, you can cut them into any shape you like.

 

Tadaa it's ready to be all gobbled up!

Silence at dusk

 

I stopped to watch these birds on the tree

And they stopped chattering to watch the sky

They forgot to fly...

And I forgot to walk on.

~ ash

2020…ing

Nine months into this Godawful year! Feels surreal, right out of a futuristic novel where Earth is bombarded with apocalyptic events like a viral pandemic, floods, earthquakes, bombings and rioting. Except it's not fiction, but 2020. A world gone mad.

But personally it’s also been a year of revelations, despite the constant worry and fear. Life has slowed down so much, and the mad hurrying without pause feels like an other life now. There are things I learned, and some things were unlearned.

So I thought I’ll sum up what this year has been like for me so far. 30 years down the line if my grandchild asks me “what was 2020 like for you, ajji?” Then I’ll have this post to look back at and remember! 😬

So I’ve been...

Working... from home for 6 months now and not going back to office any time soon. I've tried this whole work from home thing before and I haven't liked it at all. There were too many distractions at home and I lacked discipline. But this time it has surprisingly been different for me. I'm loving working from home, mainly because I don't need to rush in the mornings and evenings and I get time now to focus on other important things like health!

Crocheting… a pocket shawl currently, a lap blanket and a granny square blanket in progress, and finished crocheting a few baby clothing sets (sweaters, booties, caps, mittens, diaper covers) a baby cocoon, some baskets, some pot holders, some earphone holders, some mask extenders/ear savers. a pair of curtain ties, a pair of sock-slippers, some caps... and I'm sure I've missed listing a few. Phew!

Cooking... foods I've never tried to cook before. I've had so much time on my hands now that everyone is home and I don't need to rush around. We aren't even eating out or getting food from outside, but cravings hit as usual right! 😅 I've baked, roasted, blended, fried, steamed, boiled, sauteed and stir-fried to my heart's content and I still haven't tired! 

Eating… only home-cooked food. There are healthy days and there are not so healthy days, but I like to think I haven't rolled (geddit? 😁) too far down the hill!

Moving... much more than before, but still not enough. Yoga for an hour, walking for another hour, the intention is for me to do both everyday, but you know where these intentions go... 😝

Gardening... planting, pruning, watering, weeding, and giving a lot of love to my plants. They have been giving me love right back. One time I even caught myself talking to my plants and looked up to see someone from a balcony above staring at me bemused (maybe wondering if they need to call someone to take me away). 

Missing… trees and plants and flowers and the open sky; wind in my hair, sun on my face; the sea, the waves, the salty spray; sinking my toes into the wet sand; the very frequent trips to obscure ruined forts and temples steeped in history, the absolutely best feeling of being lost in bygone eras; window shopping with my sister, walking aimlessly forever and then eating at our usual Chinese joint; watching cartoon movies in the theatre with my kids and watching them sit on the edge of their seats, popcorn forgotten, fully immersed in the movie; visiting with my darling little nephews - I’m missing so much of their growing up 😒...

Seeing... Bataany grow up so much in the last 6 months. She’s becoming so independent, so responsible, she’s developing strong opinions, and is not afraid to express them. For someone who’s just turned a teenager, she’s so sweet and caring, and very aware of everyone else’s emotions and feelings. And not least of all, she’s watching, cooking, and baking a lot more and perfecting her techniques. 

Realizing... how much of a homebody I really am. I love being home, pottering around the house decorating, rearranging stuff, cooking, cleaning and doing all the odd chores around the home. (Except for folding clothes and mopping the floor!😛)

Reading... a LOT nowadays, much more than usual. Devouring them greedily, while cooking, while eating, before bed, first thing in the morning, and any little free time in between. A lot of historical fiction, some history, some fantasy, some historical fantasy, some magical realism, some Kannada books, many English ones... 

Looking forward to… two whole weeks of no work, pigging out on food cooked by amma, sitting out on the porch and watching the incessant rain, maybe a few trips to the beach, Ratha beedi for a peek at my Krishna and my favourite temple elephant, and most of all, winding down a bit.

Not all flowers are pure love!

 

It turns out, there DOES exist a flower I don't care much about.

Don't get me wrong, I AM a plant lover, a tree lover, a flower lover. But this particular one... if it can even be called a flower... I can't bring myself to even like it.

Called the Brazilian Dutchman's pipe or giant pelican flower, scientific name Aristolochia gigantea, it's apparently an ornamental plant native to Brazil.

Ornament, really? Would you grow this in your garden? 😕 

 

I saw the vine with these huge flowers dangling from them when I visited a nursery recently. I dared to touch one of the closed ones and it felt like a deflated balloon (or a lung? It certainly looks like one.)! 😖 Ugh! Not something I want to try again.

To add to the whole charm, it's also a carnivorous plant that eats insects, kills caterpillars, and it smells of sewage water.

 

The heart-shaped leaves are the redeeming feature of the vine, I thought. I also learned that these flowers bloom only for about 2 days before they wilt. Small mercies!

Was Mother Nature drunk when she created this one? 😅

Cooking with clay pots - My experience with buying, curing, cooking and cleaning 😅

 

When I venture into something new, you can be sure that I don't do it in half measures. 😆

Why I'm saying this is, about a year ago, I thought I was done with non-stick and aluminium kadhais and wanted to start cooking in clay pots. You can imagine the work I did to make it happen later!

So here is my experience with the whole process, in case you are thinking of doing the same, and not sure how to start.

Starting from buying them, to the lengthy process of curing them to finally cooking in them, I have written it all down, with some pictures in between. Read and let me know if this was helpful for you? 😘

When the clay utensils bug bit me first last year, we made plans to visit Bangalore's famous Pottery Street, which turned out to be a super disappointment for me. (You can read all about it by clicking on the link above.)

Then by chance my husband found a vendor on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway, about 10 kms after the Nandi Hills turn, near the Chikkaballapura entrance. He turned out to be quite reliable with the quality of the pots, and had reasonable pricing too. He was also quite happy to exchange a piece if it turned out to be leaky or chipped.

We bought some water jugs, several pots and pans, and one uruli I fell in love with, and lids for all of these, except for the uruli. I also spotted a bag of use-and-throw chai kulhads that were so cute, and bought several. (I intend to keep reusing them for my multiple-chai-cravings-a-day and not throw them after one use though! 😁)

 

The pots need proper curing before they can be used, and I did a lot of research on how best to do it. It's a longish process that will need at least 5 days for getting them ready. The following process is what I found to be the most effective:

Step 1:

Save the water you washed rice with and pour it into a bucket. Immerse the pots in this water. Don't forget the lids too if you have them. You can add plain water to this so that the pots are complete immersed. You will hear a faint hissing sound and see air bubbles forming and floating to the surface. This is because the clay pots are porous and the air trapped in those pores is escaping. 

Leave the pots immersed for 2-3 days. The water will ferment because of the starch and it will help strengthen the pots and make them more durable.

Remove the pots from the starch water after 2-3 days and let them dry. It will take anywhere between 16 hours to a day for it to dry completely. 

Step 2:

Pour fresh water into the now-dry pots and let them stand for anywhere between 12-24 hours. This is to ensure that there are no leaks anywhere. 

 

Once you are satisfied that the pot is intact and there are no leaks, pour out the water and clean the pots using a light scrub and water. This will remove any grime or stray particles of clay from the pots. 

Again, let them dry completely.

Stop after this step if it's a water jug or a curd pot. You can start using them now. 

Proceed to Step 3 only for pots you will be using for cooking.

Step 3:

Once the pots are completely dry, apply oil liberally all over the pots. You can use any edible oil, including ghee. I used coconut oil. Make sure you cover the outside of the pot too, and the lids. 

Let them dry completely. The pots soak up the oil pretty quickly, and I kept it to dry only for about 5-6 hours. 

 

Your pots are now ready for cooking!

Use them to cook any of your favorite dishes. It's a good idea to keep separate pots for different types of cooking. For example, a separate one for rasams and sambars, one for seafood like fish curry or prawns, one for chicken, one for subjis or curries, etc. You also get roti and dosa tawas, and you can follow the same curing process for those.

 

Cleaning:

It's not a good idea to use soap or a chemical cleaner on your clay utensil. You saw how the pots are porous and soak up the water and the oil in the previous steps? The same way, they will soak up the soap/cleaner, which will leech into your food when you cook next.

Soaking the pot in water for about 10 minutes and then gently scrubbing the pot with natural fibres like coconut husk or a gourd scrubber will remove most of the food stuck to the pan. I do not recommend a synthetic scrubber like 'Scotch Brite' since first of all it's harsh and might remove layers off the pot, and secondly, it's not environmentally friendly. If there is remnants of oil in the pan, you can rub a lemon rind all over the pot and then rinse off with water.

I had a bunch of coconut fibre my mom-in-law saved from the coconuts we use liberally in our cooking (we are from Coastal Karnataka, after all! 😁), and I just used a handful of it to scrub this pot. We also save the lemon rinds after squeezing the juice out of them, so I used one of it to clean it thoroughly, then rinsed off with water. All clean!

 

Storing:

Store your clay pots in a place where they won't come in your way when you move about the kitchen. (This is very good advice for especially clumsy people like me! 😜) Keep them in a dry cabinet or get one of those on-the-counter pot stands that have multiple levels for keeping each pot.

I hope this was helpful to you! Do give me feedback and I'd also love to hear about your experience with clay pots.

Happy cooking! 💖