Step by Step, into the past!

Gone are the days when making vadam was a family event. From buying ready made packets in stores and then directly into tiffin boxes, kids these days don’t know the emotions and sentiments attached to their every day foods.

Nice and Spicy Vadam koozhu

Nice and Spicy Vadam koozhu

Given below is a step by step ’emotional guide’ to the vadam making process.

Step 1: Paati would make the maavu, called vadam koozhu. Just like how we all attack the cake batter before it goes into the oven, the kids (currently, our parents) had to literally be driven out of the kitchen for the same!

Step 2: Paati would spread out the vadam koozhu in different patterns on thatha’s dhoti (which he desperately searches for, in the upcoming week!) and leave it out in the sun to dry.

Step 3: The kids then become the legal guardians of the “out to dry” vadam. They sit out in the sun all day, pretending to study and drive away the birds that come to eat their precious accompaniment to any food!

Step 4: BLAME THE CROWS for the missing pieces of vadam. Always blame the crows.

The crisp sound catches your attention very easily, but it’s the making that enticed kids from the 90s. Many a times, kids are found in the terraces and rooftops trying to shoo crows away. Sometimes it’s a squirrel or a small animal trying to get a nibble of some nicely ground and spiced up batter left to be dried. But, no. The kids would never let the animals win.

“I remember how my mother used to keep the vadam under lock and key. But most of the fun was in eating the semi dried maavu… That was totally in our control,” says Latha, a teacher. Change is the only constant and nothing is immune to it. Not even one of the tastiest traditional snacks of Tamil Nadu. “Nowadays, there’s just no time. Chillies have replaced the children as guardians, Thatha’s dhoti has become plastic sheets [good for thatha, but traditions?] and the packet vadam is still raw,” exclaims Shyamala Gopal, an IT professional.

Such a joyous occasion has been lost to the tides of time. Making Vadam koozhu is a ritual engaging the grandparents and the grandkids when the generation in between is out to work. Such bliss is incomparable. Unfortunately, it is now unrecognizable.

Get back the nostalgic feeling, order your homemade Vadam koozhu and much more, only at www.moremilaga.com

-Anagha Natraj

Joey doesn’t share food. But then…

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Bring out the Photographer in You

Take out your Mobile Phones, tablets and click, click, click….

Share pics of your delicious Vegetarian Preparations ( Paruppu UsiliSakkarai Pongal, Paneer Butter Masala, just anything)  with us.

Mail the snaps to moremilaga@gmail.com

With your due permission we shall use it for representational purpose for the Daily Menu.

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Joey Doesnt Share food3

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Thayir Sadham: The National food of Tamil Nadu

You might have gone out for a fancy dinner at let’s say Leela Palace or Grand Chola, or you might have just ordered a pizza at home. You may relish in the cheesy flavours of Italy or in the hot peppers of Mexico, but the moment your mother says, “Konjam Thayir Sadham sapadraya?” (Will you eat some curd rice?), you just can’t say no. It’s like coming back home after an exile.  Thayir Sadham, it’s not just food. It’s an emotion.


A necessity in some Tambrahm house holds, you could say; their (stereotypical) priority list in life reads somewhat like

-Get son into IIT/Get daughter married to IIT Boy (first priority, sorry)
-Thayir Sadham
-Everything else.

“With pomegranate and grapes!” exclaims Nivetha, a college student.
“With Kadugu thalippu (tempered with mustard seeds) and cold creamy curd. So creamy that it looks like ice cream. With a dollop of manga thokku,” says an excited Prathiksha. “Eat thayir sadham the way it’s meant to be eaten… With your hands,” she says.

“It’s the light at the end of the tunnel, the ray of hope to get me through a bad day. I can say it’s the secret of my energy,” says  Sandhya, an IT professional.

One of the greatest things about thayir sadham is that it can be what you want it to be. Hot or cold. Spicy or plain. Round, rectangular and even heart shaped! (round dabba = round Thachi mammu).

However you may like it –tempered with mustard seeds, chillies, coriander, pomogranates, avakka, chuntney, ketchup, what not!? just sink your hands (and not the spoon) into that box of Thachi Mammu. After all, it is the food (hero) that you(gotham) may not deserve, but it’s a food that you need!

-Anagha Natraj

Order your Thachi mammu now and other homemade food at moremilaga.com!

Eating home-cooked meals may help keep diabetes away: Study

People who often eat food prepared at home are less likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes than those who consume such meals less frequently, new research has claimed. There is an increasing tendency for people to eat out, involving more consumption of fast food, researchers said. The study has found that such people have a diet rich in energy but relatively poor in nutrients -this could lead to weight gain which is, in turn, associated with type 2 diabetes risk, said Qi Sun, from the Harvard T H Chan School of Public Heath in the US.

Sun and his team employed large prospective datasets in which US health professionals were surveyed, with rigorous collection of data on health indicators, including eating habits and occurrence of diabetes. The results were corrected for factors that could affect dining habits, including marital status. The study analysed 2.1 million years of follow-up data.

Flier1

The findings show people who reported consuming 5-7 evening meals prepared at home during a week had 15% lower risk of diabetes than those who consumed two such meals or fewer. A smaller, but statistically significant, reduction was apparent for those who consumed more midday meals at home.

Moreover, less weight gain could partially explain the reported reduction in occurrence of type 2 diabetes in those often eating meals prepared at home. Well-established diabetes prevention strategies include behavioural interventions aimed at increasing exercise and dietary habits.

Source: Times Of India, July 7th 2016

So why wait, order today authentic Home-food from Moremilaga.

 

Keep Calm and eat Puliodharai

Keep calm and eat Kovil Puliodharai is the common refrain in the lanes and bylanes of Triplicane.

On a rainy Wednesday Morning we get on the Puliodharai trail and meet this charming man at the Parthasarathi temple Madapalli.

Parthasarathy photo

“We only use pepper and Gingelly oil for the Puliodharai.  No red chilies or groundnut oil. We don’t want to agonize Lord Parthasarathi coz he has already taken a lot of arrows on the battlefield.

For everything else we use ghee.

Even if you try out the recipe at home you wouldn’t get this taste” He continued

“Why?”

“Coz, the Kovil Puliodharai contains one additional ingredient, the blessings of Lord Parthasarathi”

Puliodharai

FYI, the Puliodharai sold at the temple Prasadam stall is not from the Madapalli.

Yeah, all Puliodharai is not Kovil Puliodharai.

We rush as its getting late to office when this man tells us that it’s Prasadam time.

“Thanks sir but then we gotta rush”we tell the gentleman.

“That’s okay. Keep calm and have Puliodharai. All other things can wait” he tells us

And, things wait and wait as we help ourselves with a third serving 🙂

Share recipes, your thoughts on food or anything in between @ Moremilaga 🙂

My mom isn’t the best cook in the world..

Back then when mom used to work, cooking happened between waking us up, homework, making us eat breakfast, packing our bags, and a million other things.

Umpteen times the potato curry tasted burnt, the sambar lacked salt and the rasam too sour.

Was too embarrassed to share my food with others at school, I confess.

Years passed, I moved. The potato became mashed, changed into wedges or sometimes into fries, Kara curry or Podimass.

The other day I walked into this Mess with my friends and they served Sambar rice with potato curry. Others found the potato to be burnt. But then, I found mom.

Umm, I like it. Let me eat some more of it.

BTW, why do I get reminded of my 9th standard summer holidays spent playing ‘bet matches’ when I eat a particular variety of Manga?

My friends feel it’s too sour. They tell me, after all a Manga is a Manga is a Manga. (Apologies Shakespeare)

I doubt.

Is food about taste or emotions? I wonder

Share recipes, your thoughts on food or anything in between @ Moremilaga

Eat Healthy, Eat Authentic @ MoreMilaga

WATCH OUT FOR SOME COOL DEALS…

Here’s something about MoreMilaga:

You often read stories of entrepreneurs who came up with their killer idea in the hope of changing the world.

Well not us…

We like vegetarian home food. We like Technology. So we tried making technology get us great home food.

Why eat outside when Home cooked food is just 3 clicks away?

Eat Healthy! Eat Authentic!

Discover a home away from home @ Moremilaga.com

Yumm, yes! Straight from the homes of Triplicane, Mylapore, and Tiruvanmyur.

Dear Working couples, senior citizens, Bachelors:

It need not always be a meal. It can even be piece meal. You can just order curry, sambar or curry & sambar combo. Simple! Make yours (rice), mix ours.

High Class Vegetarian Home food! Moremilaga….. Need we say more!