Health, Fitness and Nutrition

Health, Fitness and Nutrition

Happy cooking memories.

Cooking evokes a memory. The memory of watching my Avva and Amma who prepares food for the family. Especially, my Avva enters the kitchen, every morning ,after her bath, and  wore a fresh saree and blouse that has been neatly washed and dried on a horizontal pole hung adjoining the kitchen. In our home, the dawn was signalled by the making of the coffee decoction. Traditional utensils made of brass, bronze, copper, iron and wood were a norm in my Avva’s kitchen. She preferred KANCHU(alloy of copper and tin) utensils.

I vividly remember the taste of my Avva’s and Amma’s Aracha Rasam and Paruppu Thogayal .Paruppu thogayal is made out of roasted red chillies,toor dal,pepper, grated coconut and salt to taste. No matter how much I try, I can never recreate the authentic flavour. Their expertise definitely influenced the dish but I strongly believe it was the choice of the cookware they used. While my Amma used ammikal, eeya chombu and kuzhi karandi for Aracha Rasam,I use mixer grinder and stainless steel utensils.

I couldn’t stop here.My memory still goes around vengalapanai and the Pongal, Upma, davara set and the degree coffee ,uruli and the payasam,……..

Finally, it’s my Avva and Amma losing themselves in the rituals of chopping, stirring ,cooking and serving us, which is not lesser than a devotion to God.

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Comments

Roopa M Sep 1, 2023

Very nice 👍🏻 Thanks for sharing. 

R.Kalaivani Aug 30, 2023

VENGALAPANAI - Vengala means  bronze and panai means pot.

 Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.   Vengala Panai is used  during the celebration of Pongal festival for making sweet pongal dish.Pal Payasam, Sweet Pongal,Arisi(Rice) Upma, tastes divine in Vengala Panai.The caramelization  of milk is very pleasant, in Vengalapanai.


R.Kalaivani Aug 30, 2023

@R.Kalaivani

"The secret is to find happiness in the people and places that are close to you. See the beauty in the things that are nearby."

It's true.That's the TOUCH OF VENGALAPANAI.

Smitha.R P Aug 30, 2023

@R.Kalaivani

Very true

R.Kalaivani Aug 29, 2023

Hello  all 

It would be nice to hear about the  cookware's used by your mother and grandmother.

Smitha.R P Aug 30, 2023

@R.Kalaivani

My parents and grandparents used utensils made of copper , pots and also from coconut Shells .My MIL once told me that her MIL used copper utensils .I have sweet memories of my  grandmother cooking in earthen pot .She used saute made of coconut 🥥 shell for sauting .


R.Kalaivani Aug 29, 2023

Happy to share this and love to continue sharing in the days to come.