Anotha one! Beat the delayed content allegations.
This one is short and sweet, and actually a completely different menu than what I’ve made in the past so this is technically menu v2 (since it’s not an iteration of another menu) and the rest should have technically been menu v1.0 through menu v1.3 (bc I am a stupid idiot).
Anyways! New menu, letsgetit.
The Vibes
This is the most basic menu I’ve done, and I took a step back with the menu for 2 reasons:
I’ve had a tendency to lose the plot with my menu R&D and end up complicating things just to complicate them
I was a wittle tired and ‘eepy that day
I’ll talk a little bit more about number 1 in the Learnings section but this was the most middle ground I could take a traditional South Indian menu between “every day meal” and “a fancy high effort dinner”.
I feel like my last menu was borderline overwhelming, so I wanted this menu to be a sigh of relief. It was a long day, lots of work, had friends over, let’s have a low stress yummy dinner.
The Menu
Here what we got cookin:
Spicy, garlicky, peanuty roasted grean beans
Roasted peanuts → roasted grean beans → roasted garlic
Kind of did like a traffic jam of a salad here… roasted some things together till they had color and were aromatic. I had fresh veggies so I wanted to make sure you could taste those fresh veggies… sometimes only slightly cooked can really push a side dish far.
The good
I’ve been really big on texture recently and I think this salad was great because it was just soft enough and crunchy enough for you to eat it alongside other dishes.
Hot take: a salad that you feel like you HAVE to eat first instead of alongside your other dishes is a ~ b a d ~ salad. Come at me.
The bad
I think what could’ve elevated this a lot more was a slight grain. I did the salad with only veggies and a small grain like a couscous OR (and I’m having this idea as I am writing this) an upma rava???? INTERESTING.
Would’ve elevate it jusssstttt a smidge.
Pulihora (Tamarind rice)
Okay so for those of you who don’t know, pulihora is a tangy South Indian rice flavored with tamarind, tempering spices, and often served as a temple offering or festive food.
Pulihora is a standard to South Indian cuisine, especially for families around festive times. It’s not particularly polarizing, nor is it outwardly celebrated, but it’s a constant wherever you go throughout the region.
As I was making the dish, I found myself asking why? So I did some research and thought I’d share here so we can learn together… it’s cool to learn some history behind culturally significant dishes and can sometimes give you a newfound appreciation to what you’ve been accustomed to for years of your life without really knowing why.
Thought this would be a cool moment where a Youtube video cuts to a section where there’s a brief historical explanation with charts and graphs and images and classical music in the background.
So for your comfort here is a rendition of The Fountain by Karl Bohm to listen to as your read:
Pulihora: A brief history
Pulihora (as it is called in Telugu) is a tangy, savory rice dish common in South India, particularly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.
According to historian Dr. G. Deivanayagam, the recipe for pulihora finds mention in inscriptions of Thanjavur temple kitchens dating back to 1010 CE. The dish holds religious significance as prasadam (food offered to deities) in temples and is prepared during festivals like Ugadi, Varalakshmi Vratham, and Diwali.
The preparation varies by region - Andhra versions tend to be spicier with green chilies and curry leaves, while Tamil Nadu versions may include various nuts and spices. The core ingredients are cooked rice, tamarind pulp, and a spice mix that is tempered called puliyodarai podi. The tangy nature of tamarind elevates the basic rice dish by creating a savory, umami flavor profile that mimics some of the depth found in meat-based dishes. Pulihora's popularity in religious contexts stems from its vegetarian composition, aligning with traditional Hindu-Brahmin dietary practices that exclude meat.
There’s not a lot of historical context around pulihora but if you’d like to learn or hear more about it, I found a great podcast episode on it that you can listen to here.
The good
Okay I know I’m kind of being repetitive but the texture is what makes pulihora great to me. Almost like an alternative universe stir-fry with crunchy bits that absolutely explode with flavor after every bite… elite tier when the flavors are expertly balanced.
My mom was the expert here so thanks moms :)
The bad
Temperature. I have always found myself confused on what temperature one should eat pulihora. I’ve had it freshly made where it’s nearly hot, I’ve had it lukewarm after it’s been sitting out during a puja, and I’ve had it right out of the fridge after a day or two its made.
The interesting thing about pulihora, particularly because of it’s inclusion of tamarind, is its alchemy and how the taste of the dish changes slightly across time and temperature. I think it’s very preferential but I think maybe lukewarm is the vibe here because it’s served with a hot curry.
Coconut Pulao
At every normie Indian restaurant, most curry dishes are served with either plain white rice or a cumin rice.
Excuse my french, but both are often a$$. They taste bland, dry, and are just there to be there.
Don’t waste effort just to “be there”.
Coconut pulao is a perfect way to amplify rice to give you 1) a grain to eat a curry with and 2) something with a distinct taste to compliment your dish.
Coconut pulao is basically basmati rice pressure cooked with peas, a myriad of dry spices, and coconut milk to give you a flavor packed, moist, and fluffy rice to eat literally anything with.
The good
Coconut. Next.
The bad
Nothing. Next.
Tomato Potato Curry
A classic, age-old dish that has basically become the classic “idk what to make so imma make this” dish.
It’s nothing crazy at all, tomato and onions slowly cooked together with powdered spices (your coriander powers, cumin powders, garam masalas) and tossed with some boiled potatos.
Like a baked potato w/ gravy but not like that but so much better. You know? No? Just me? K.
The good
Just the ultimate comfort food taste. Savory potatoes with a little kick of spice? Perfection.
The bad
I think, and really just a hunch, is that the curry I made could’ve been a bit less thicc.
But then again a curry that’s watery might not have vibed with coconut rice, which is a super rich rice dish.
Not really a ‘bad’ but something to keep in mind.
Madatha Kaja w/ Vanilla Ice-Cream
Where I am from in India (Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh) has a namesake sweet dessert that is one of the greatest things you can ever eat in your entire life: the Kakinada madatha kaja.
Madatha kaja is basically a ghee fried filo-type of dough that is folded over and over and over again (madatha means to fold) to create a beautifuly golden pastry that is then soaked in a sugary syrup.
Here’s what they look like:
Makes me emotional just looking at it.
The good great
Here’s exactly what I did, it was unbelievable:
Warmed up the kaja in the oven till it was warm and gooey
Two scoops of french vanilla ice cream
A quick few drops of extra virgin olive oil
Flaky salt on top
A sprinkle of raspberry dust on top
Another I’m him moment right there^
The bad
Not enough of it.
Learnings
Curbing a "chef’s ego”
Like I mentioned, this was the easiest menu I’ve ever done. Nothing was uniquely different about these dishes than the 1000s of times my mom and I have made them, no special ingredients, no out-of-the-box ideas, nothing. Just good food. Which made me think back to why I started cooking stuff… which was to make cool things and bring cool food to other people. For a while during these R&D sessions, I realized I was focusing too much on the moving parts that you would visually see or hear me tell you about that you might think are cool. But throughout that process, I really struggled with honing things in and creating an end product throughout the entire menu that was great at every level. This stemmed from an arrogant chef’s ego I had to try and go above and beyond to basically recreate dishes I loved for no other reason but to recreate it. But after this menu, I realized that what makes the dishes I want to cook cool… is that that they just taste f*ck!ng good! THAT is what makes food cool, the rest is just an add-on. Your food is meaningless if the taste doesn’t create a lasting impression with your audience and I think that’s what my focus will be from now on.
I said short and sweet in the intro and here I am many a words later, hours of blood, sweat and 1 McChicken / 6 chicken nuggs / and a small fry before I got to the end of this post. It’s like 3 AM… I need help lol
Anyways, I honestly think this menu was a turning point for me as a way to reground myself into what I know intimately about Indian food, which is that the flavor profile of everything is calculated in an extremely streamlined way. It’s good to surprise people but perhaps not too much to the point where it becomes unsustainable for not only yourself, but also the people eating your food.
Big thank you to my good friends Steph and Laurel for this one and helping me realize some of these insights.
More to come! Thanks for hanging gang, if you’ve gotten to this point of the post please comment chickennnn jockeeyyyyyy.
Also please like and share and subscribe okay thanks bye.
ఇట్లు,
Saketh