I am a half Kannadiga and Konkani, my native place being Udupi in Karnataka, that is my dad's side. Dad's family migrated to Hyderabad when my dad was really young. Hence he is more Hyderabadi than most people in Hyderabad :) (Yes with all the nakko and kaiku). While my mom is a Manglorean but born-brought up in interior Andhra, mainly based out of Rajahmundry. So how do you think cooking style was at my home? Very unique and what I would call a true Karnataka-Andhra blend. I am taking this opportunity to acknowledge my mom's cooking and her spirit in maintaining the individual cuisines (Kannada/Konkani/Andhra) in our house intact. Having married a Gult (Telugu/Andhrite) I am immensely thankful to her for the cook that I am turning out to be!
In my opinion Kannada cuisine constitutes very mild and tasty food. Its not that spicy nor is it oily. Some of the dishes are slightly sweet (No not as sweet as Gujju food). And yes they do use dessicated coconut quite a bit in the food and to make masalas. Use of coconut oil is somewhat moderate. Yes! coconut oil. I remember once a friend and I were chatting and she mentioned to me in astonishment when she realized Keralites consume coconut oil. She was a North Indian and she couldn't digest the fact. I dont understand what is the big deal about consuming coconut oil. Isn't it like any other oil sunflower, sesame, peanut, and so is coconut. Now was that tough to comprehend? Or for that matter every part of coconut is consumed so why not oil. As you can see I am quite passionate about this topic. Yes! I get a bit antsy when people cannot accept the fact that coconut oil can be consumed.
Anyway, Konkani cuisine is a mixture of all the South Indian cuisines (except Andhra) and Maharashtrian + Goan. Most liquids (like rasam, sambhar) are made out of coconut based masalas (including coconut milk). Most tadkas (seasoning) are coconut oil based. And konkanis consume a lot of pulses in their food. Its pretty different from your regular South Indian food, healthy and tasty not too mild not too spicy either. (If you have not tasted Konkani food yet and you know me ;) be my guest). And if your a foodie and want to know more what Konkani food is like, check out this blog - its pretty good http://food-forthought.blogspot.com/
While, Andhra food most of us are familiar with anyway curries are mostly in the form of fries/Vepudu. Bit spicy, bit more oily and the yummy varieties of daals /pappu, the pickles, gives a real kick when you eat it.
My mom cooked all three cuisines very well. She mostly preferred Andhra food herself. But she combined all three for our daily meals. For example curry would be Andhra style, the liquids (not sure what else to call it) would be Konkani style. Sometime it would be totally Andhra food and sometimes totally Karnataka. Its more interesting than I narrate it :)
I am finally trying to imitate my mom and do the same and am doing a decent job. I have never cooked until I got married. And hence when I started cooking I made sure I noted down all my mother's recipe in one book (yes title is very cliched: Amma's recipes) carefully. Thats my kitchen bible. I dont need to refer for day to day cooking but once in a while I do take a peep to make some authentic dish. Mostly Karnataka dishes cos Andhra food you find it on the internet very easily. Sometimes I feel everyday-food as in roj ka khana becomes more interesting when there are more than one cuisines involved in the kitchen like my mom's kitchen/cuisine I described. Thats a big plus and makes it less mundane and it mostly occurs when people from different communities get married for us desis.
In my opinion Kannada cuisine constitutes very mild and tasty food. Its not that spicy nor is it oily. Some of the dishes are slightly sweet (No not as sweet as Gujju food). And yes they do use dessicated coconut quite a bit in the food and to make masalas. Use of coconut oil is somewhat moderate. Yes! coconut oil. I remember once a friend and I were chatting and she mentioned to me in astonishment when she realized Keralites consume coconut oil. She was a North Indian and she couldn't digest the fact. I dont understand what is the big deal about consuming coconut oil. Isn't it like any other oil sunflower, sesame, peanut, and so is coconut. Now was that tough to comprehend? Or for that matter every part of coconut is consumed so why not oil. As you can see I am quite passionate about this topic. Yes! I get a bit antsy when people cannot accept the fact that coconut oil can be consumed.
Anyway, Konkani cuisine is a mixture of all the South Indian cuisines (except Andhra) and Maharashtrian + Goan. Most liquids (like rasam, sambhar) are made out of coconut based masalas (including coconut milk). Most tadkas (seasoning) are coconut oil based. And konkanis consume a lot of pulses in their food. Its pretty different from your regular South Indian food, healthy and tasty not too mild not too spicy either. (If you have not tasted Konkani food yet and you know me ;) be my guest). And if your a foodie and want to know more what Konkani food is like, check out this blog - its pretty good http://food-forthought.blogspot.com/
While, Andhra food most of us are familiar with anyway curries are mostly in the form of fries/Vepudu. Bit spicy, bit more oily and the yummy varieties of daals /pappu, the pickles, gives a real kick when you eat it.
My mom cooked all three cuisines very well. She mostly preferred Andhra food herself. But she combined all three for our daily meals. For example curry would be Andhra style, the liquids (not sure what else to call it) would be Konkani style. Sometime it would be totally Andhra food and sometimes totally Karnataka. Its more interesting than I narrate it :)
I am finally trying to imitate my mom and do the same and am doing a decent job. I have never cooked until I got married. And hence when I started cooking I made sure I noted down all my mother's recipe in one book (yes title is very cliched: Amma's recipes) carefully. Thats my kitchen bible. I dont need to refer for day to day cooking but once in a while I do take a peep to make some authentic dish. Mostly Karnataka dishes cos Andhra food you find it on the internet very easily. Sometimes I feel everyday-food as in roj ka khana becomes more interesting when there are more than one cuisines involved in the kitchen like my mom's kitchen/cuisine I described. Thats a big plus and makes it less mundane and it mostly occurs when people from different communities get married for us desis.
4 comments:
Ashwini!!
I thought you were amchi and that was that :-)
I'm a half Tamil, half Konkani (mom) and married to a gult as well. And my Amma also integrated all cuisines in most meals. We have more in common than we think!
Oh wow thats interesting :)
In my rush, I thought you were Ashwini... what fun!!
No I am not Ashwini :)
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