Masala Mania!

Masala Mania!

Blame it on the balmy sea-breeze, the proximity to personalities or the verdant vegetation, people in Bandra sport an unparalleled zeal for action, according to the reports of happenings in newsletters.Life here is always filled with smells, sounds and colours.

I love the colours of life- life for me is a VIBGYOR stretched from birth to death! Lots of sober indigoes, blues and greens, a touch of sunny yellows most of the time, with oranges and reds creeping in bringing troubles and trauma sometimes!

One such event was being organised by the busybodies of Bandra and the announcement proclaimed that the ‘Bombay Portuguese’ community was organizing a fun and food mela at the local Gymkhana! At the mention of 'food', i sat up and took note, food that is cooked by anyone other than me, is a treat. I had to sample the fare, the parade of mouth-watering dishes with exotic names.The disclosure that the recipes were a closely guarded secret by generations made the cuisine all the more mysterious. That brings me to today’s colour of life- Masala !

Though the debate whether man lives to eat or eats to live has been raging for long, it cannot be denied that man cannot live without food- some enjoy it more while others sit with their mental calculators to count the calories till the food goes to sleep on the plate, cold and unappetizing. No respect for the tantalizing aroma wafting out of that delectable dish or the loving labour of those hands toiling for hours at the hot stove. Food is just a commodity. Love’s labour lost is another story, better told another day. So back to the masala……

Like the original inhabitants of Bombay (sorry BalaSaheb, you came much after them!), many experienced cooks guard their recipes as though it is a question of life and death. They deal with the request for the recipe deftly, omitting that one important ingredient that makes or breaks the dish or conveniently forget to mention that the meat has to be basted in the grill not burnt at the stake! With the result that there are hundreds of recipes of the same dish floating around- right from Chole to Churise, Sambar to Sambari and Vindal becomes Indad, Vindalu, Vindaloo( with one o or two)! Appams of some regions begin to wander around as Hoppers when transported to other regions. No Pav-Baji tastes the same at different places in the same city. Oh, the intricacies of Indian cuisine are as vast as the masalas in this land- ask Kunal, my favourite chef!

Stepping back to the time our grandmothers stood over the wood-stoves to make delectable stone-ground masala by ‘throwing in a fistful of this and a pinch of that’, we realize that most of those mysterious menus are lost in the haze of man’s memory. Preparation of food was an art, to be practiced and mastered, not read out of worn out pages. A ‘lemon sized’ tamarind could either ruin the curry or render it inedible, depending on the size of lemons that grew in one’s garden. You see the damage done to the prized recipes by writing them down? Anyway how can you put down on paper the love and care bestowed on each item that went into the pot- the freshness of fish, the unadulterated spices and the stone pressed fragrant oil that lent its personality to the preparation? Tearing tetra or plucking plastic to get at the ready-made contents requires no concentration, leave alone labour of love! But who cares, for those who eat to live, the rubbery scraps of vegetables floating in the cornflour taste like manna!

Oh yes, we know the usual rhetoric- life in the fast lane, aiming for higher achievements, reaching for the stars…..leaves no time to know what a masala is! More than that, cooking is meant for housewives, not high-flyers!

Not many know that many entrepreneurs have pitched in to help just such lifestyles, by packaging ground masalas, some of which are so good that chefs swear by them…..one such is the king of masala, named so for the unique blend of ingredients available in the Eastern spice lands. Just dump whatever you wish to cook in this powder, throw in some yoghurt and leave the mess alone till you complete your office assignment at your PC. The food sits there quietly incorporating the flavours and turning into a delectable dish when tossed on the grill, tandoor, oven or stove. You will get several brownie points for this highly appreciated cuisine and the bonus is you can still guard your ‘secret recipe’!

The holiday season is here……go enjoy some good food and forget calories!

- Vera Alvares