My Tryst with Thaligai(Samayal/Adige/Khaana banana)--Part #1

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach--I hear it being said always. But,..for a novice like me some twenty odd years ago, this was the most trying time--literally. My husband loves food! He is a pucca Thanjavur Tamilian and I was a poor Kannadiga girl. Though I did have Tamilian neighbors when I was young, I had not cared enough to learn their recipes. I knew all the terms and tastes of the myriad items my neighbor maamis used to serve us with whenever there was an opportunity....rasam, sambhar, kari/poriyal, kootu, pulianchatham, morekulambu, podimaas, vathakulambu, thogayal, vathal, vadaam, etc. Amma used to say that we had all those in Kannada cuisine too--saru, huli, palya, kootu/saagu,chitranna, majjigehuli, gojju, chutney, sandige, etc. She was careless enough to say that everything tasted similar, whether it was made in Madras or in Mysore. Little did she realise that she would have to serve a son-in-law who had an arm's-length tongue( Muzha neela naakku) and would never agree that the list of items in Madras and in Mysore matched.

Firstly I learned that 'Puli" or tamarind, 'Perungaayam' or asafoetida/hing are the basic necessities, not to forget lots of 'manjal' or turmeric. People in Karnataka , at least most of them cannot bear more than a dash of sourness in their cuisine. Most of them use jaggery to lessen the spice and add a slightly sweet taste to the dishes. This was the first big 'no no' from my husband, Raju. No sweet taste to the dishes--mom and I argued that it was only a small bit to adjust the spice--no, no, he nodded--let the spice be, don't do any 'himsa' to it! We said," Swalpa adjust maadi', meaning please adjust a bit--but he was not for any adjustments. So amma said, just add lots of tamarind, hing and turmeric to every dish and make it like we do at home--it should taste like he wants. Again, this too never worked. Raju argued that we were wasting precious ingredients and yet making no tasty food.

The funniest part of all this was that Raju did not know any recipes himself--but he knew how each one tasted at home. It was a pity that I did not have a mom-in-law to teach me the recipes that would tickle his taste-buds. He seemed to have gathered all the taste for good food(his type) from his relatives.

To be continued,..