Will try and keep this brief ... today was supposed to be "Unpred plays host" day with me having bravely (recklessly) invited 6 (yeah you read that right - SIX) adults home for dinner that I would cook (Its arguable who was braver, the feeder or the hapless 'feedees', but let me not digress!) in my little misshapen, tough to navigate kitchen which provides almost as much exercise as my daily jog.
Obviously, like every little significant / insignificant thing in my life that gets wordspace on this blog, tonight's dinner will be written about.
Rasam .. or was it Sambar?
The rasam turned out FABULOUS (and i'm gonna need one of kinks/ vijay/ palli/ deepa/ pangal/ sid to vouch for this! so leave a comment people!!!).
Not without event though. Here's how the story went ..
(rasam making almost done, Unpred turns to nearest innocent to-be-victim)
Unpred: Lalitha taste this and tell me if it reminds you of rasam
Lalitha: Hmmmm .. emmmm ... mmmm ... Sambar type look and feel is happening ...
Unpred: But tell me, net net, what's the diff between rasam and sambar?
Lalitha: (Sighs at the utter stupidity she's having to encounter as a guest) Duh! Sambar has coconut!
Unpred: Well .. then what's wrong with this? I don't even stock coconut! How can this be Sambar then (grappling with understanding Lalitha's sense of logic)
Lalitha: (With all the knowledgable solemnity of a Remy in Ratatouille) Hmm ... too much dal .. too little water .. too little tamarind also ..
Unpred: So we add water and tamarind juice?
Lalitha: Not sure if its all that simple woman! Just tell junta you made Sambar no ...
Unpred: *Sambar again??? But there's no coconut! :S Bleddy, shudn't have committed and raved about how i'd make rasam .. now i'm stuck ... is pride more important to me? Or is maintaining the semblance of taste?*
(Makes rather quick decision and allocates priority to pride - OBV!)
Unpred: Tamarind juice+ water it is! So it might taste of nothing finally, but what is life without a little calculated risk (agreed its NOT calculated, and 6 other people's lives are at stake but the words PRIDE PRIDE PRIDE are doing a small dance around my head)
(Quickly pours the aforementioned into bubbling liquid and realizes now salt and sundry spices will have to be added to make up ... now realizes what Lalitha meant by 'not so simple'... Adds everything through the dawning realization ... )
Outcome: The bubbling concoction magically tasted like rasam finally methinks. Sid did make a comment about it being Sambar, but promptly took it back once he tasted it (Ok fine, it was coz i threatened to never invite him again if he didn't call it rasam ASAP, HAPPY?)
And honestly, even to my discerning tastebuds, it did taste pretty good. Anyone who wishes to try can come over, really, half of it still sits in the fridge. I may be great at taste, but proportions - clearly not my strength! There was much most sighing and oohing and aahing over the rasam (and lalitha's awesome potato curry - dry, oily, spicy and PURRFECT!) and we felt suitably elated.
Game of Taboo - Men vs Women.... Women kick ass :D
Lots of tabooing has been happening lately, yes. So it happened tonight as well. The jealous buggers split the dream team of Unpred + Kinks after our recent spate of victories and proposed a men vs women match. I shed tears, even tried proposing a P&Gers vs. non P&Gers split ... anything to get my incredible taboo mate back on my team .. but didn't happen. Ah, well, such is life. And all's well that ends well. We beat the boys. By a 12 point margin. *Evil Grin*
Highlights of the game:
1) Vijay running out of cards and screeching ... "No more no more .. pochu pochu" with frantic worried expression on face ... (ok u really had to be there!) while the rest of us rolled in laughter
2) Vijay: "You use this to soak up something spilled on the floor ... no no .. not mop .. close ... u use it to SOAK up split stuff ... "
Kinks: TODDLER!!! (WTF!!! More rolling laughter! Logic was explained later, apparently he thought u cud use the toddler's diaper to soak up spilt stuff :S ... don't ask me, I have Taboo chemistry with him, but even i wudnt have cracked that one!)
3) Lalitha: Pointing excitedly at me ... "What's the difference between Rasam and Sambar" (dear reader, hope u were paying attention earlier)
Me: Emmmm .. DAL! Tamarind! WATER!!!
Lalitha: Woman!!! difference !!! Sambar!!! Rasam!!!
Me: emmmmmm .... more dal? less dal? more water?
Lalitha: COCONUT!!!
(ur right, I shudve seen THAT coming!)
We still think Kinky's toddler joke was the highlight of the evening. For the record, we were SO obsessed with the game, we finished EVERY SINGLE card in the deck... it was 11.15 pm by the time everyone left. And guess what i did right after? Eh, well .. my blogging obsession is common knowledge now, so no genius points for that anymore.
[for the record: Harika, Mr Roy and Soggy, we missed you guys, and i shall do this once again sometime over a weekend when i have enough time and resources to cook for 10 people... pls don't be mad!]
Fancy fancy ... hits from never before continents
Oh did I mention, i got my 1st ever hit from South Australia and Russia this week. You can check it on the neoearth counter at the right bottom of my blog :) Nuts and whoever it was in Aus, THANKS!! :D
Edited to add: After the half-line description i gave Lalitha's potato curry and her ensuing outburst on my comments page, I'm a little scared that she might never explain the difference between various gravies to me in future. So here's some more praise for the curry. The potato was perfect, soft on the inside yet roasted to ideal crispness on the outside. The taste was subtle enough, perfect to go with the tangy rasam. And if we really have to compare, while half the rasam sits in my fridge, all of the curry was wiped out. It was THAT good (or my proportions are THAT bad but let's not go there :D) Palli - happy a? :-)
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16 comments:
LOL :)
Eh. I am thinking the seppangkazhangu gods are sabichufying me. Every time I've made in the past 2 months its cruelly turned into one big 3-D globby (albeit crisp and nice tasting) mess. Alas.
Still, when you are to come here, one night of our takkar times we can cook ok? My glob and your hybrid concoction. kbai.
-M'bo-
Yesyes, the rasam was the very wonderful - that wafting fragrance of kothamalli - aiiyaah!
But woman, what kind of cheap behaviour is this?? My potato curry gets a half line mention - I PROTEST!!!
- L
Thanks thanks! *Bowing with a flourish* I feel the very good now. :-)
But yes, you must take credit for telling me that potatoes can be microwaved without water - whattay discovery that was for me. My mother will be extremely proud of me for having such learned friends.
PS - You should soooo use Meenakshi Ammal (sitting in Suja's book cupboard) for difference between gravies, man! She gives free entertaining tips also in her books. Read, woman, read!
- L
me hungry :-((
And why dont i ever get an invite? :((
that was hilarious! :)))
SS: :) it really was ROTFL all the way coz we were even sitting on the floor and all :D
Mbo: Seppang... something can be cooked, we shall reapply Palli's superior potato curry making skills to this tuber and make a success out of it :)
Lals: phew .. so u WILL help me make morukozhambhu and all no?
Dush: Hiiii!!! Did u see the comment i asked u to?? :D Cho chweet!
Nayak: I've invited you to rasam rice in the past and gotten declined, am not getting heart broken again sorry!
Kavs: :DDDD In 6 months, u cud be party to all this u know :)
fedex some to me in a hot pack (dont forget to mention very very urgent on the slip)
Morkoyambu..mmm..yum yum yum.
:)
Vish: Fraud fraud!!! U can't even spell kozhambhu!!! :DDD
in my defence:
It was dark near the dining table
and i was merely inquiring whether you made rasam or sambar
i also said small tear came because the food was so good!
(is that enough ..or are you still going to ask me to plug your excellent culinary skills???)
Sid
Not too long ago, to appease hungry roomies (one in particular) tired after an outing, I ventured to try out a cookbook recipe of "quick rasam". As expected with any 10-minute hash of a complex-flavored dish, it turned out quite pathetic. Worse, it was transparent. While the rest of us were smart enough to order pizza, the to-be-particularly-appeased roomie was so hungry he ate/gulped it with pickles. Stories of my supreme culinary feat abound to this day...
ok, brace yourself - bad joke coming up....
we can make more mor kozhambu. Heeheehee :-)
On second thoughts, I should not insult myself thus on public forum, no?
- L
Sid: Would i ever ask someone to plug like that for me? Would I? WOULD I??? (Ok fine, i probably would!)
Prasad: Lets just say he downed the goodness of ur cooking heart, not so much the rasam! :D
Lalitha: Woman, why ask questions that you have answers to awwready? I won't discourage you but, go on .. insult away self :D
invite me next time!! :-D
Archie: Yes yes woman .. get urself within 30 miles of me .. and invitations will pour in!
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