Sonali tagged me for this meme. I felt this meme is very unfair!!!. Only 10 things??? How do I pick up 10 things, there are hundreds of them :). I miss each and every dish that my mom makes. I wish I was in India, I could have run to her whenever I wanted :(.
- Pathrode and ankre tamboli – This is the best combination I have ever had. I am a big fan of this combination from the time I was a kid. Its a must whenever I go to visit my parents at my native. Since we have a big garden, we find all the ingredients easily.
- Pickles – There are atleast 10 types of pickles I can remember. Few of them are the traditional mango pickle using tiny mengoes(appi ambli nonche), diced mango pickle (HinDi), ready to eat mango pickle (karmbi nonche), cauliflower-carrot pickle(flowera nonche), lemon pickles(with and without masala), bitter gourd pickle(karathe nonche), Chilli pickle, cooked and mashed gooseberry pickle (avale hindi) etc etc.
- Masala dosa – There are two types of bhajis that I love the most. Amma’s bhaji (fondly named after my grand mother), my grand mother was an expert in making this. Now my mom makes it exactly same as her. This is the BEST bhaji I have ever had. I could literally eat 2-3 dosas more than my limit :). The second is Pattal bhaji which we call as Aayi’s bhaji to just distinguish between the two. Though both bhajis have the exact same ingredients, there is an amazing difference between the taste and both are SUPERB :).
- Pani puri – I still wonder where my grandmother learnt this. She prepared the best pani puri. Since I come from a very small village, there would not have been any chance of tasting this chaat at my place. But my grandmom and then my mom always knew about my cravings of this chaat. So they prepared it whenever I asked for. Unlike the pani puris that we get in bigger places like Belgaum, Bangalore, this home made pani puri had sprouted moong stuffing.
- Kolmbo and Jeer-meerya kadhi – I am a big fan of Kolmbo from my childhood. My mom used to ask me “what do you want for lunch/dinner?”(because I always created a lot of fuss about eating my food!!! I was a bad kid when it comes to eating). My stapled answer would be ‘Kolmbo’, all others at home had got bored of eating Kolmbo. Since I would eat quietly when my mom prepared kolmbo, they all would tolerate it somehow. But after sometime, all used to protest and vote against Kolmbo!!!. Once my grandfather, who was irritated because of this, told my mom to “prepare kolmbo and dry it in sun. whenever she asks, dilute it in water and give her!!!” that clearly says how they all were fed up of this dish :D. Of late I have picked up the taste of Jeer-meerya kadhi. This, rice and pickle, what else anyone needs in life??
- Crab gravy(kurle ambat) – I was always the ‘Kurle’ kid at home. Even the person who catches the crab knows about it. Because whenever I go home, he brings a bucket full of crabs!!!. I learnt cleaning of crabs at an early age. I would tell my mom, ‘I will clean it for you. You just make the curry’ and she always agreed happily. Isn’t that a good idea? she felt, my kid is taking so much of troble, so let me make the gravy :D.
- Mumbri and smoked eggplant(vayngana bajji) – Mumbri is one kind of rice flour rotti(akki rotti), prepared by spreading the rice flour batter on banana leaf and then frying it on tava. From the time I came here, I am searching for banana leaves so that I could make this dish. This combined with the smoked eggplant is a amazing breakfast. This one is not liked by everyone, but once you like it, you can eat it continuously. My mom used to make the mumbri and my father helped her in making the smoked eggplant.
- Chicken gravy – This is the traditional chicken curry with lot of masalas and lots of coconut. It has an amazing taste and an amazing smell. The entire house would smell of this even after 2-3 days!!!. Since I have stopped eating chicken now, I dont think I would taste it again. May be next gime I will tell her to make it with eggs or potatoes :D.
- Kalva ambat – ‘Kalva’ is a kind of sea food found in the big rocks near sea shore. These are similar to shell fishes but have a different taste. Once my mom had to go to meet my grandmother and I was alone at home with my father. I din’t know a thing about cooking then. My father prepared ‘kalva ambat’ and that is the best ever ‘kalva ambat’ I have ever had in my life. I still can feel the taste on the tip of my tongue. My mom gets annoyed when I tell her Pappa’s Kalva ambat is the best :D.
- Biscuit pudding – This is my Pachi’s dish. I am not a very big fan of sweets. But when it comes to biscuit pudding, I forget everything. Just amazing!!!. I can go on eating this dish forever. This is very very easy to make. I remember, I always had fights with my cousins to get a bigger share. Since I was the guest at there home, I was the one who got the biggest share. (This is the next recipe I am going to post on this site, so keep watching).
It was very very difficult for me to pick these 10. There are many many more of them. But already I am feeling too emotional. So I would not break the rule, and stop at 10 :D.
Nice list , Shilpa. I have to say that your blog itself is a great way to honor your mom. You have so many of her recipes :-). I would like to see the pani puri recipe here, sounds great!
You are right Mika. She feels so happy when I talk abt this blog. I feel like I have won the ‘Nobel prize for recipes’ :D. (well..thats the new category of nobel prize :)).
shipa, thank you so much for tagging me..I will surly present my write up..thanks you so much shilpa once again..And i agree i too i miss pani puris ,..
shipa, the crab story brings tears in eyes..Isin’t mom the best person one can have in this world..Now that we r so far away from them, alll the best things are known its worth isint?
You are right Sudha. I am feeling very bad because I am away from my mom. You know, my mom and dad are not only my parents but also my best friends. I freely talk to them about anything and everything.
What a wonderful meme, Shilpa. I love the family stories you wrote for each dish. That’s what makes them so special in the end, don’t they?
Thanks for tagging me 🙂
Sury, I have many many memories with each and every dish that my mom makes. So as you said, every dish is a special for me :).
How nostalgic! Brings back such wonderful memories from back home. Btw, I am really new to the Blog lingo. But what is a Meme? Thanks Shilpa for sharing this with us.
Shalini, The dictionary definition of meme is “A cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behaviour) that is passed from one generation to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation)”. In the blogging world, to explain in simplest way, sometimes one of the blogger comes up with a topic, he/she posts about that topic and ‘tags’ few other bloggers. Those bloggers continue it with writing about that topic and tagging some other people. Its a great fun to write memes when the topic is something interesting like the current one. We come to know a lot of things about other bloggers :).
Yummy list of food.
Nice post. Eagerly waiting for the recipe of Biscuit pudding. Adding you to my blogroll
I am eagerly blog hopping this morning to read this meme. It is really interesting to read how we associate a particular dish to a memory and hold it very near to our heart. You are doing an awsome job with your blog, most of the recipes are new to me, and i am so eager to try.
Shilpa, i have just played the 10 things I miss of Mom’s cooking Meme..thank you so much for tagging..
Thanks Shilpa! You have explained it so well. I will look into the other blogs as well.
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hey, U’r blog is very different from the rest of the cooking websites I have visited. u give really a personal touch to every recipe which is what makes it so special and different from the rest. My husband is a Konkani and he craves for konkani dishes a lot especially the fish dishes……U’r website is the perfect site to find home made recipes….Great going..
Please post the receipe for pachponosu ani ambye gojju and khol ambye gojju on this blog site.
eagerly waiting for ur biscuit pudding.
Divya, the biscuit pudding recipe is already on this site. I have also given the link in the above post. Please click that link.
Dear Shilpa,
i have been checking ur site from 2 years+…. felt like writing to you….iam happy that u have tasted food from our V.V Puram, to the place ur brother took for ghee roast…..i have visited shetty lunch home(kundappura) atleast 10times n i was wondering what is all that masala abt though i have a local friend n his mom makes very similar ghee roast she refused to tell me the secret..i made the ghee roast as per ur recipe with lil changes cos we like it very spicy belive me it was almost like that n thanks a lot…u know what is there for dinner??? Dosa n ghee roast…..god bless u sister…..there r so many brothers like me who likes u .hey before i forget iam requesting u to do some research on imperial kabab……take care of u n ur family.