K for kaanda

Didi aata fakth batata aani kaanda milnaar Baghu ya May 3 nantar kaay honarhellip Sister only onions and potatoes are available Lets see what happens post May 3With those words the veggie vendor in my ilaaka sounded the neardeath knell to all heady culinary pursuits I had imagined indulging in as part of a muchneeded Sunday distraction and egged on by the fun recipes that weve been featuring in The Guide Turns out my neighbourhood being on the fringes of a containment zone was affected by local orders that didnt permit the distribution of most vegetables and fruitsWhat now I asked myself This was surely something that I hadnt anticipated since this new clampdown was a recent development But being born into an Anglo Indian household the onion and potato were both familiar friends in the kitchen Id happily play designated hand for the cutting and peeling of both veggies at home to be of use around the kitchen On any given day Sundays or even a festival or family celebration these two heavyweights made their presence felt in more than one main dish at the tableAngloIndian cuisineCountry captain chicken Devil fry Potato croquettes Beef buffath Masala pork chops Fritharth the list is endless really and so are the memories of those lavish meals had at home or at family gatherings I recall those glorious summer holidays as carefree kids in particular when wed head to my maternal grandparents home Theirs was a spacious tiledroof house with a massive storage room that was a brilliant option during our hideandseek soirees As we would be more than a dozen people to feed during the holidays my nana grandmother would assign tasks to each of the grandchildren ndash from peeling potatoes my top and fave chore to slicing onions chopping beans or scraping the insides of tender coconuts Curing or cleaning all the meats and seafood was her domain if she needed a break one of her daughters would take over for a bit but boy how she would rock the show with her speed and passion with every single ingredient that went into those earthen cooking pots It was like watching a culinary orchestra come together ndash from the crackling display of the tadka and the timing when it came to cooking the beef right to her intuition when she would try a new recipe ndash for a wideeyed kid it was like a warm initiation to live cooking sessions Oh and yes I was also the anointed guinea pig for tasting each dish at different critical stages of the preparation not that I complained at any point For my mother it was a relief that I was occupied here rather than be up to some mischief with the rest of the bachcha log like fall off the branch of a tree bruise a knee in a game of seven tiles pester the neighbours catshellipyou get the drift rightPotato loveComing back to the endless love affair with potatoes and onions my wise papa grandfather would regale us with stories of how both ingredients like many of the spices became part of Indian and our cuisine too after the Portuguese invaded our shores For the uninitiated the Portuguese connect with Anglo Indians goes back to the origins of the latters roots and their ancestry and so he would take great pains to explain fascinating anecdotes about how our food and prep techniques as well as customs had elements and traces that were borrowed from that tiny European country And somehow the potato or the onion found its way into many stories either as a central character or a key parallel element to the plotMany years later as history emerged a favourite subject I discovered its significance in history too where during World War II how Navy men from USS OBannons used potatoes to trick the Japanese into believing they were grenades or about a bunch of families from Germany known as Potato Germans who cultivated the vegetable in Jutland in the mid 1700sTo what extent these two vegetables end up being my saviours during the lockdown will have to be seen but I for sure have enough of history to dip into each time I am found wanting for inspiration and resilience when I enter the kitchenmiddays Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the citys sights sounds smells and stoneswherever the ink and the inclination takes her She tweets bombayanaSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news