Skip to main content

Finely Chopped

Search This Blog

Subscribe to this blog

Follow Finely Chopped by Email

Why we fell in love with South Goa's Martin's Corner

on March 25, 2019

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps

Comments

Search This Blog

Follow me on Twitter

@finelychopped

Follow me on Instagram

@thefinelychopped
Instagram

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Translate

Search This Blog

Popular Posts

Thirteen types of puris from eleven states of India. All in one city. The Mumbai Finely Chopped Puri Trail. All hail the Republic of India!

Annaprashon, or Bengali rice eating ceremony, menu

A close friend of mine has become a dad recently. I am still trying to imagine him as a father and I must say visions of Steve Martin in The Father of the Bride often come to my mind.

However, it will be years before he has to throw out his daughter's boyfriends across the door. Right now he is planning for his daughter's annaprashon. This is a Bengali rice eating ceremony which celebrates a child's first bite of solid food. If memory serves me right then the honour of giving the first bite goes to the child's Mama (maternal uncle) if possible. There are other rituals too. For example the child is offered a lump of clay, a pen and a currency note. What he or she picks up is supposed to indicate the child's future profession (farmer, scholar, business). I must confess that my knowledge of rituals is a bit rusty though. Of course, there is a feast for guests.

My friend wanted my suggestions for the menu for the ceremony which he will hold in Calcutta. I am a strong bel…

Will the real slim Shetty please stand up? Shriya Shetty's Shetty Lunch Home Festival at the Bombay Vintage Restaurant

Let's start with dessert‘The jackfruit payasam ice cream is based on my childhood memories of temple meals at Mangalore. They served the coconut milk based jackfruit payasam at the end of the meal on the banana leaf on which you had already eaten. So when you scooped up a bit of the payasam with your fingers you also took in a bit of the remnants of sambar, the sabzis, the rice, the salt, the fried chillies in the same mouthful!’
As I took a bite of the this dessert, which was made with scoops of creamy jackfruit payasam flavoured ice cream (made by the Taj Ice Cream folks who supply the ice creams at the Bombay Vintage Restaurant) and which had candied jackfruit seed chips and jackfruit pickle too, I was teased by flavours of jackfruit, coconut milk, salt, chilli heat, tart... all at one go. There was a reason why this seemingly strange melange made absolute sense to me, as I realised later in the day.
This is because it reminded me of my childhood in Kolkata and of wedding meals …

Powered by Blogger