This Saturday night

Oh no, don’t get thinking of pubs, dancing & late night partying. It was a proper family outing. Anna nagar is one place that feels like a mini town of its own. Every big guy is gonna have a branch there. Dad and mom were grocery shopping so they called me to join them there for dinner. Cruising down the main roads, we looked out for a nice place & I got all excited about this Chettinad restaurant called Anjappar. I told my folks it should be a world class restaurant cos it has branches across UAE, Dubai, Singapore, Canada, etc. Me and my predictions! We stepped into a creepy place that was blasting dappankoothu and gave us a menu card in the shape of a fish. It was a well designed card but poor folks like mine who have been vegetarians for generations found it rather awkward. Now don’t ask me if we are Brahmins. A weird bunch we are who almost do everything that they do except talking their dialect. We are something called Pillais, pretty much a minority here.

Then, for safety’s sake we decently went to Saravana Bhavan. Well, Anjappar only gave us a fish shaped menu card, this place was a fish market! Then it hit us that it was the weekend. Poor mom found it difficult getting around with her fractured toe. So we stuck around till dad’s name was called out. We finally got a 6 seater with 3 chairs for us and 3 chairs for another family. Privacy got disgusted and jumped out the window. Mom nudged me after looking at the menu card and pointed to a part that said Ghee Masal Roast – Rs. 71. Soon these guys are gonna call in for patents on their dosas!!. I must warn you to never order the pongal there to save yourself from a stroke. Their policies – scale up the prices to Robinson Crusoe and scale down the quantity to Lilliput men. The only thing that could save you is decent quality in the food and taste. And of course with the whole new show going there don’t go hoping for traditional banana leaves n steaming idlis, all you get is a cafeteria designed plastic plate and finger bowl.

So far I was thinking that the evening could not get any dumber when dad, the most responsible person in the family, found the car keys missing. He rushed down while I stayed with mom. Few mins later when I called him, he goes, “Missing… the car’s missing…Oops! He he.. Jus come down”. At least I have the habit of leaving the key inside the car and locking the whole vehicle up. Dad actually left the key hanging in the key hole of the driver’s seat door. Lucky for him that section was dark and no one noticed. That was the cherry on the top of this whole evening. It totally cracked us up. After all the laughter I told mom, “I have to blog this!!”. And here I am doing jus that.

Tofu More kozhambu!

My lunch today...

As funny as it sounds, yes i did make More Kozhambu with the chinese bean curd that boy I must say, doesn't taste all that great. The result was no different from any regular more kozhambu made with indian vegetables but turned out pretty decent. So for those dieters & health freaks who pick tofu off the store cos of the bold letters saying "CHOLESTROL FREE", "RICH IN PROTIEN" (like I did!)here's a way to digest it:

Ingrdients:
1 green chilli
2 pieces of ginger
1 cup grated coconut
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbs chickpea flour
1 cup curd
half a slab of tofu
oil, salt, aesofotida
turmeric powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 red chilli
few curry leaves

Method:
Grind the first five ingredients into a paste with water. Chop the tofu into 1x1 cm cubes (unlike paneer it doesn't break easily). Heat the cooking pan and pour 1 tbs oil. Drop the mustards seeds and after it crackles add aesofotida, curry leaves and a broken red chilli. Add the cut tofu and sprinkle turmeric powder and salt. In a low flame saute it for few mins. Add the paste with some more turmeric powder to give a lemon yellow colour and bring to boil. Then goes in the curd for another boil. The water added to this depends upon the consistency you prefer.

Serve this hot with rice. When cold the tofu stiffens and does not blend in well.