Let’s take the wonderful journey towards the preparation of the simple and humble morning breakfast, i.e., Dosa and Coconut Chutney. That’s it. And No, we are not going anywhere near Sambhar.
PREVIOUS
DAY:
Inventory to be ready:
White Rice and Urad Dal + some fenugreek
2.30 PM: 06 cups of
rice to be soaked. It’s great if it soaks for a long 08 hours.
8.30 PM: 02 cups of
Urad Dal to be soaked. One tablespoon of fenugreek to be soaked separately.
10.30 PM: Set up
the Mixer Grinder and prepare the batter adding enough water. Add one scoop of
cooked rice and soaked Fenugreek also. Transfer contents to a clean bowl. Add
salt and stir. Allow it to rest.
CLEAN
THE MIXER GRINDER IMMEDIATELY, BEFORE IT DRIES UP AND GIVES YOU A TOUGH TIME!!
Clean
all the Utensils used for soaking the ingredients. Wash the tabletop to clear
spilled batter.
Wash
the cloth used to clean the tabletop and put it to dry. Clean the sink to
remove any spilled batter drops. Simple da..
BREAKFAST
MORNING:
Get
up in the morning and smile. It’s a simple breakfast day!
Inventory to be ready:
Dosa Batter, Grated Coconut, Small Onions, Green Chilli, Curry Leaves, Dry Red
Chilli(whole), Ginger, Salt, Oil, Mustard, Boiled water.
8.00 AM: Find out the coconut to be sacrificed for the
auspicious occasion. If you are lucky or if you bought it from the shop, it
will be de-husked. If you are not, Congrats! you have earned the opportunity to
do it yourself. Now the coconut has to be skilfully broken into two perfect
hemispheres because that makes it easier to grate it perfectly. For
accomplishing this feat, you must first take out the “Vakkathi”, the
quintessential weapon in every Mallu home.
Now,
seek the blessings of your Geometry teacher in your short silent prayer, hold
the coconut and pay attention to your meek or not so meek hands so as not to
hurt them. Strike hard in the centre of the sphere, I mean the coconut. If it
did not break open, repeat the steps by laterally rotating the coconut with one
hand. Relax, it comes with practice only.
If
you passed the test with two perfectly hemispherical coconut pieces with no
injuries, well Congratulations again!! You have proved to be a true Mallu.
It’s
not over, move to the coconut grater, it can be the one fixed to tabletop, it
can also be the one kept on the floor which requires you to mount yourself on
top of it first, find your balance and then begin grating.
Grate
the coconut without injuring yourself. Partition the contents into two: One
portion for the Chutney and the rest to be stored in the Fridge.
Clean
the mess around the coconut grate Area. And yes, yet again, clean the cleaning
cloth again to remove the coconut particles stuck to it and allow it to dry.
Dispose the “Chirata” or the Shell along with all the broken pieces it would
have generated during the great smash. Clean the floor/table once again, as the
case maybe.
Now
that the main ingredient for Chutney is ready, ascertain the availability of
other raw materials/ingredients required.
The
big question now is: Do you have Curry Leaves?
If
not, run to your kitchen garden or give a shout out to your neighbour.
Is
it in the fridge..? How long has it been there? You may be in trouble. Take it
out, see what’s left of the stuff, clean the healthy leaves and keep it aside.
Don’t forget to dispose the bad curry leaves and the plastic cover separately.
Waste management is to be done right you see.
Clean
the small onions (also known as Sambhar Onions but fear not, as mentioned
earlier we are going nowhere near Sambhar right now). Wash and dice the cleaned
onions and keep aside. Put aside the onion skin along with other organic stuff
to be disposed.
Wash
green chillies (as required) and ginger (one small piece) and prepare them also
for the grind.
Do
you have Dried Red Chilli? The fun is in the tadka dear. Run…run in search of
the packet. Check if it is good for use or showing signs of fungus attack. In
any case, you want to ensure its edible, clean it with a dry cloth and heat it
slightly to take out the moisture and kill all the germs. Your Dry Red Chillies
are ready! Once again, clean the damn cloth and allow it to dry.
Time
for the mixer grinder once again. This time, it’s the smaller bowl. Transfer
the grated coconut, the cleaned, diced small onions, the chopped ginger, green
chillies (2-3). Add some salt and some hot water. You didn’t boil water? Ok…well
that’s the first thing to do in kitchen. You should have done it without
saying. Nevertheless, pour some normal water and give it a nice grind in the
mixer grinder.
Take
out your Pan, pour some oil, when it heats up, put the mustard. Stay safe from
the boiling oil and popping mustard and skilfully add dry Red Chillies broken
into half, along with the curry leaves into the pan without splashing oil drops
onto your sweet face. Once it changes colour, add the contents in the mixer
grinder, and give a nice stir. Add boiled water/normal water to adjust
consistency.
Check
salt. Once its finely cooked, switch off the gas and transfer the chutney
neatly into a bowl.
Put
the pan and the ladle in the sink. You can Clean the gas stove if you believe
in the clean as you go principle or simple choose to clean it at the end of the
day.
Time
is not standing still; earth has rotated a little more. But what time is it by
now, depends on your speed and skill at this craft called “Cooking”.
MAYBE 8.45 OR 9.00 AM: Make tea. Store neatly in a flask. Flask will be
ready only if you washed it the previous day. Put the utensils in the sink.
Shoo away ants approaching the sugar jar and tightly close the lid.
MAYBE 9.15 AM: Take
out the Tava and start making Dosa, nice round and crisp. Add ghee for the
Healthy folks separately and no ghee for the not so healthy folks. Store
separately in Casseroles. If all of them like it the same way, you save the
time washing an extra Casserole. Put the tava in the sink. Keep remaining
batter in the refrigerator.
MAYBE 9.30 AM:
Watch hungry people finish the breakfast in less than 10 minutes and get on
with their life.
MAYBE 10.00 AM: Finish
washing all the remaining plates, cups, Katoris, Pans, Tava, Spoons, the Mixer
grinder bowl and clean the Dining Area and Sink. Once again, wash the cleaning
cloth and put it to dry. Clean the Mixer Grinder and take off the plug from the
socket and secure the cord neatly. Through away the organic waste in the
backyard and keep all plastic waste ready for disposal.
Forgot
to have breakfast? Oh! Please have it!
That’s
the end of the show…Now you are free to cook Lunch! Smile!
***
P.S: Although I have kept the narration gender
neutral, it is to be noted that the dangerous feats involving use of weapons
and sharp objects like Vakkathi and Coconut grater, are many a times
taken up by menfolk, in a grand gesture to protect family members from any
possible harm. And in such cases, it is possible that the grated coconut will
be readily available in the fridge. However, special care to be taken to not
allow children anywhere near such dangerous endeavours.
Also,
cleaning the workspace can be undertaken together at the end of the activity
instead of the intermittent spells.
