It’s Guava!

And the answer is Amrood or Guava! This is the beautiful flower of the common guava tree (Psidium guajava) that most of us know very well! Guava is a small evergreen tropical tree. The tree has a very attractive copper coloured bark that flakes off on mature branches to reveal a grey-green-silver layer underneath, giving the bark a beautiful mottled appearance.

Manisha, Nabeela, Sra and Sandhya, all got it right!

And the winner is, none other than Manisha, The Truly Learned One . She posted her answer within minutes of the publishing of the post. And for the next few minute, I had no answer! I went into a tizzy - had to do something to keep the quiz alive ! Into moderation went her comment and then all - for an appearance of fairplay.

She has asked for a little bit of the most expensive spice in the world, as her prize I made no promises, but it is only fair So, Manisha, you can collect it whenever you are passing! Or, you will get it in the mail, in the not too distant future.

Soon after, Nabeela, followed by Sra, and Sandhya had the right answers too. To all of you - well done!

I am especially impressed because I lived for two years in this house (my parents’ house) with the guava tree, enjoyed the juicy guavas, made them into chutney, into jelly, and then distributed the fruit to everyone who would have it , and didn’t know what the flowers looked like! When it fruits, we get 30-35 small-medium guavas from this tree, everyday, for about 4 weeks! Too much of a good thing…even the house help, and the gardener refuse eventually!

It was last year, when I looked at the tree from above (from the terrace), that I saw these most beautiful large white blooms! They do tend to hide in the leaves, and are not that obvious when looking up the tree. But the fruit we make sure we see!

Guava has many medicinal uses as well. For one, it will keep you regular . The fruit is believed to be beneficial for controlling diabetes. In Cuba, its leaves find culinary use in barbecues. It is also a food plant for certain species of butterflies.

Thank you all for participating. I really enjoyed this, especially since many of you got it right! Till the next quiz!

PS: I would give you the recipe for the chutney which was much loved by a friend’s daughter, but it received a very lukewarm welcome in this house And the jelly - it is just too much work- all that straining is just not worth it! Not for guava jelly anyway; though it did look stunning. The fruit is best had fresh, or at the most sprinkled with some chat masala (Indian spiced salt) and a squeeze of lemon.

Kahva - no ordinary Cup of Tea, and a Quiz

A cup of tea is just what I need tonight. Even in this stifling heat. Just the act of making the tea is a sort of unwinding. The relaxation comes as much from the process of making tea as it does from the cup itself. And a cup of tea is what we are going to have.

As a typical Indian, I am a die-hard tea-aholic. And no matter how low-brow it may be, I really love black tea served with milk and sugar. I love the Punjabi tea which is more milk than water that has been boiled with black tea leaves, and some ginger (during cooler weather), and not a little sugar. I also like what I drink everyday - a mix of equal parts (by volume) of granular black tea (Brooke Bond Red Label) and green tea (Brooke Bond Green Label) steeped in hot water for a few minutes to which I add a little milk and just a wee bit of sugar.

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose!

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” spake the great Bard, though he may not have been alluding to the flower at all. And there are many magnificent rose hybrids today that are a lot of show, but hardly any legendary fragrance.

R is for Rosa. The Indian desi Gulab or musk rose (Rosa moschata), a very fragrant rose variety, is closely related to the Damascus rose (Rosa damascena) that originated in Persia. It produces small flowers (2 to 3 inch across) with red or pink petals. The petals retain their delicate fragrance long after drying, which makes them an ideal ingredient for potpourris. The desi gulab is grown on a large scale for the ayurveda and cosmetic industries.

Rose oil is an essential ingredient in itr, oil-based Indian perfumes. Rose water is used in the preparation of many Indian and middle-eastern dishes. A hint of fresh roses is what makes the rasgulla taste so refreshing. Gulab ark (rose extract) is also a key ingredient in Hamdard’s ever-popular summer drink Rooh Afza. Milk shakes made with Rooh Afza are part of my childhood memories - what a deliciously pretty pink that milk shake is!

Gulab, along with the fragrant mogra (Jasminum sambac), is (was?) the flower of choice, to decorate a newly-wed couple’s room (a bed of roses?). Some of the rose petals strewn on our bed got into the gaps of the mattresses and delicately perfumed the bed for months!

A Delhi Summer - On the Streets

It is not easy to sum up an old city like Delhi, with all the layering, in one post. And I am not planning to attempt it.

In this city of 10 million people there is no getting away from the crowd. There are people everywhere, and they continue to pour in – from smaller cities and the villages. The biggest influx into Delhi was in 1947, during the Partition of the country, when many Hindus and Sikhs from West Punjab (now in Pakistan) sought refuge.

It is only natural that a city 3000 years old has imbibed influences from all over the world, and these are reflected in its culture – art and architecture, language, and of course, in its cuisine. The Persian influence is prominent in the Mughlai cuisine, though the Punjabi flavours predominate today. But whosoever came and settled here had to deal with the hot and dusty summers.

An Amaltas in all its glory

Not that that is an entirely bad thing. How else would the mango be so sweet? While the temperate world revels in its fall colours, we have a green green spring followed by the vibrant summer. The sun makes our greens shine, the reds brighter, and the yellows sunnier. Who can rival the Gulmohur (Delonix regia) or the Amaltas (Cassia fistula), when it comes to a show of colour?

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

There are hazaar recipes that we bookmark to make later. Some of them we, thankfully, do get around to trying before they get lost in the oblivion of the must-do lists. This particular list is now threatening to become an avtar of Hanuman’s ever elongating tail.

Melissa showcased a recipe from David Lebovitz’ Perfect Scoop on A Traveler’s Lunchbox a few weeks ago that caught my eye. I am always looking for what to do with over-ripe bananas. If I buy bananas in excess of one , there is always one that cannot be saved. And with inflation at 6%, they are not as inexpensive as they used to be. Besides, I hate to throw food. Barely over-ripe bananas are brimming with goodness and full of flavour. The other thing is that while my son won’t eat bananas, he’ll eat things with bananas in them, banana nut muffins being his favourite banana treat.

I have served baked bananas as dessert many times. Slit bananas sprinkled with brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon, baked till soft, served with or without ice cream. That sugary lemony sauce looks and tastes divine, full of the ripeness of bananas. But banana in ice cream sounded intriguing. And there they were, three ripe bananas, calling out.

Patode/Alu Wadi (Taro Leaf Spirals)

Taro leaves (also called not to be confused with Elephant’s Ears) from the garden

This blog has become a ready reckoner for the family and myself where I record family recipes and favourites. You will not find any disaster stories here (who can tell the future though? ).

We are quite a mixed bunch in the family, and now spread all over the world. There are mostly Hindus, one Muslim, a few Christians, and a couple of atheists thrown in for good measure , with skin tones varying from white to black through all the gold tones, in my extended family which now counts Kashmir, Maharashtra, USA, Gujarat, UK, Punjab, Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Bihar, West Bengal, and Kerala as represented. I am talking first cousins and Aunts and Uncles only. Since marrying into a Maharahstrian household there is much that has been added to my repertoire which is unfamiliar to some of the rest of the family (you’d think!). Over the years they too have developed a taste for this cuisine and enjoy cooking some of their favourites in their own kitchens. Maharashtrian banana koshimbir (a left-side item) getting mistaken occasionally for dessert by the Kashmiri relatives notwithstanding . And, I might add, some Maharashtrians have lunged for the mujj chatin expecting kheer! And this is not the half of it.

The King of Fruits

Thawed, sliced Amrapali (from my Dad’s trees)

Summer is peaking in Delhi and there is, on the Web, a lot of hot air around the most beloved of our fruits, the Mango. On it being exported to the US. On Hapoos vs. the Rest. All the heated debates and discussions are rooted deep in our love, bordering on reverence, for this most delicious of fruits. The Mango is believed to have originated in India, and the best varieties still do! There is no debate over that

The mango is no ordinary fruit; it is woven into the warp and weft (literally!) of this ancient country and its customs. Torans made out of the leaves of the mango tree adorn the doorway of Hindu homes on auspicious and religious occasions, and are included into many of the associated rituals. The tree and its fruit are symbols of fertility and abundance, love and devotion. It is also referred to as Kalpavriksha or Kalpataru, the mythological wish-fulfilling tree.

Babur, the first Mughal emperor, called it the ‘finest fruit of Hindustan’. The beautiful mango tree with its evergreen fronds was frequently featured in the beautiful Kangra school Miniatures.

fruit laden Amrapali (in my parents’ garden)

The beautiful mango is the inspiration for the ageless Indian motif, the ambi that weaves its way into sarees and other textiles. The ambi was later modified into the elongated Kashmiri badam (almond), better known all over the world as the Paisley motif, after the Scottish town where machine-made copies of the exquisite Kashmiri embroidered shawls were manufactured in the 19th Century.