delicious remixes

sadhuji

At home all of us are very particular about hygiene – we ensure that vegetables and fruits are cleaned properly before being cooked. Some times the extent of cleaning is taken to extremes, especially by the grandmothers who had strict principles of touchability. The practice of touchability exists even today in some households – the concept may appear alien to many but, those who practice it find it natural. In fact, they consider those who do not support such purification as being reincarnations of the devil himself. (Wonder why devil is always shown in the masculine form!)

The saying goes – what the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over. Therefore, eye openers can be really disturbing. All of us love samosas – the triangular shaped typically Indian fast food that is present right from the Kashmir valley to Kozhikode. Within its folds reside a concoction of several ingredients – of vegetables or minced meat or fish. The preparation is tasty no doubt but, if one would have seen the ingredients individually prior to the mixing, he would have run away to a place of safety. Similarly, for the favorite sandesh of the Bengalis – the way the raw material is mixed in large containers has to be seen to be believed. When the delicacies are displayed in the glass showcases and delicately gift wrapped for your loved ones, you will never realize what has actually has gone into preparing these wonderful mouth watering items. Even the elderly ladies who pucker up their noses and preach untouchability in the confines of their homes ignore the process of their emergence.

This is practically true for all food items that are produced in mass scale and marketed to soothe the palates that keep demanding more and more of variety. Therefore, the trolleys that deliver fast foods at street corners enjoy certain advantages. In their case, inventory of the finished product is practically non existent; it is the inventory of raw materials that counts. Their outputs depend on actual demands – hence, stale foodstuff remixed and presented in a new avatar is seldom seen.

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mooning over a moon journey

Eldaras

that happens everywhere... Even in most expensive restaurants around the globe.
When i eat at lunch at work i know that every monday i might eat something that was left on friday. Or if one day is chiken in the menu as the "dish of the day", the next day you'll have another dish with cubes of chicken, and the next day you'll have lasagna filled with a mix of chicken, vegetables and who know what else...

And I'm still alive! so I believe that some tasty samosas won't hurt me at all

PS: I really like your posts Sadhuji!!!

sadhuji

i do not know if you have had the opportunity of really tasting the samosas - i am told that the oil used for frying these are or true vintage. at some point of time, the first can of oil was poured into the vessel for frying. subsequently, depending on the quantity used up, the oil in the vessel was replenished. in fact, that is one of the reasons for the exclusive taste.

and - thanks for the compliments.

jyotirmoy

This re-use of oil is a big problem. Repeated smoking causes complex fatty compounds to form which are very tough on the digestive system & is largely harmful, not to mention adultrated oils used in road side places with traces of industrial grease. So please take care.

Paagla Dashu

Aare Dada, enjoy the mangoes - do not count the trees!

sadhuji

dear sir - that is what makes the final products so tasty. can you ever replicate the samosas of the shops in your kitchen?