Quint Yummum is a what happens when you ask a food lover (moi) to do a weekly Facebook LIVE.
From my super-awesome-fantastic kitchen to kitchens of the various aunties who have had the singular pleasure of feeding me, to restaurant-kitchens; I take you on a transcendent gastronomic experience.
Among the many recipes, here are three that are easy to cook, good to eat, and have an interesting story behind them.
Eterni-TEA
This happened after I chanced upon one of the (very) few places in Chennai that serve speciali-teas (Speciality teas. hehe).
Mahima owns and runs Cups and Teas, which is a tea boutique. All of the teas are organic. Tea ‘dust’ is frowned upon as intensely as a coffee addict frowns upon instant coffee.
The tiny little store/resto is very close to the Besant Nagar beach. The salty breeze is a constant, cool reminder of this.
As someone who tasted ‘white tea’ for the first time, I must say the flavour is refreshing. Teas are more refined and less in-your-face-slap-you-awake than coffee. It’s all about letting the tea do its job, giving it a chance.
I did, and I’m glad for it.
There’s more to tea than just green tea and masala chai. This might seem like stating the obvious, but it’s a revelation when one goes about exploring new flavours.
Sambar Noodles :-P
There are literally hundreds of varieties of Sambar across the country. In a sense, it is a variation of Maharashtra’s ‘Amti’, which is made with Kokum and a bunch of similar masalas to the south indian version. The only difference south of the Vindhyas is the use of tamarind as an astringent.
The masala in Maggi’s Super Chennai Masala sucks. Simply because it breaks the one rule that is a constant across all of the Sambars in India; garlic. Garlic doesn’t go well with the spice mix of sambar. It overpowers the rest of the flavours, which are more subtle in comparison. In cooking the noodles in my kitchen, I used a very simple, street-food approach to the recipe, with potatoes, tomatoes and some mustard.
Eventually, it wasn’t that much different from the original ‘masala’ flavour. I also didn’t see anything exclusively ‘Chennai’ about it.
Nevertheless, it covers the basics and makes for a nostalgic snack for the rains.
The Godfather Dosa
Tosai is a street food chain in Chennai that serves ONLY Dosas that are cooked over a coal fire. It’s got Italian, French, American, Oriental and Middle Eastern influences that are hard to miss, and yet not too alien.
Tosai’s video of one of their chefs making the Pizza Dosa went viral with over 15 lakh views. It’s a beautiful thing to watch the dosa take shape and metamorphose into a pizza.
I saw it happen. It takes all over five minutes. It makes standing next to the heat of the coals totally worth it. What’s a little more sweat in an already humid city.
Moreover, it tastes delicious! The Godfather Dosa must be on your plate if you ever visit Chennai. In any case, it’ll surely be on your mind.
(We all love to express ourselves, but how often do we do it in our mother tongue?
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