Indian Festive Flavours

Chapter 2 – Festivals in February/March Nombu There is a very romantic tale about a married couple called Satyavan and Savitri. Satyavan, the husband, was doomed to die young and Savitri married him even though she was fully aware of this. When “Yama”, the god of death , came to fetch Satyavan’s soul, Savitri followed them to the heavens. Finally, impressed by her perseverance, Yama agreed to grant her a wish. And you guessed it; she tricked him into returning Satyavan back to life by asking for a blessing of many children with Satyavan. During her long trek following Yama, Savitri is said to have prayed to Goddess Ambika. As she had no food to make an offering to the Goddess, Savitri used clay to make “Adai” (a small pancake) as an offering. Nombu is celebrated by making Adais but luckily the main ingredient is rice and not clay. Kalli Kootu (Vegetable Stew) ¹¹ Serves: 3-4 Preparation time: 10-15 minutes Cooking time: 40 minutes Ingredients: Broad beans: 4-5 Raw green banana (small sized): 1 Potato (medium sized): 1 Yellow pumpkin: 25g White pumpkin: 25g Peas: ½ Teacup Green chillies: 4 Grated coconut: ½ Teacup Turmeric powder: ½ Tsp Mustard seeds: 1 Tsp Split Black Gram: 1 Tsp Curry leaves (crushed): 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil: 1 Tbsp Rice powder: 2 Tsp Salt: to taste Method: Cut all the vegetables into small pieces (about an inch long). Try and keep them to the same shape and size to ensure they cook evenly. In a pan, bring 2 Teacups of water to a boil. Add salt, turmeric and all the vegetables and let them cook on low heat. In the meantime, grind the coconut with the green chillies and a Tbsp of water. When the vegetables are cooked (test them with a spoon), add the coconut-chilli paste. Add the curry leaves and remove from heat. Sprinkle the rice powder and mix. In a small pan, heat the coconut oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the Split Black Gram. Remove from heat and pour on top of the vegetables. Serve hot with the salt adais. Note: You can try various other combinations of vegetables – squashes and courgettes can replace pumpkins and gourds.