The transition from Mumbai to Alleppey has been meant changing my central concern from worrying about what I might step in to what I might step on. It could be any number of animals including local snakes which we actually saw swimming in the backwaters. It could be husked coconut. It could also be beautiful flowers and grasses. In the teeming tropics, you never know.
The smells have changed too from “I don’t want to know what that is…” to “What is that? It’s wonderful!” The air is gentle with light floral breezes. We smell bougainvilleas, jasmine, flowers we can’t identify, lake, grass, burning rice field trimmings, and sometimes spices being sold in town or used in kitchens.
Kerala uses all kinds of herbs, spices and oils for every purpose imaginable. Our resort stocks our bathroom with bars of natural sandalwood oil soap. I love to wash my hands just to smell it. They also provide herbal shampoo that smells like an herb garden bursting out of the package, creating a tingly Ayurvedic party on my head.
In the dining room too, there’s a dance on my dinner plate as the spices do an indescribable minuet. Kerala food is very different from the food we typically associate as Indian. None of the heavy sauces and lifeless ghee-saturated vegetables we had in Mumbai.
Light curries and sauces that are either water or light coconut milk-based or with fantastic combinations of aromatic spices like cinnamon bark, cardamom, lime leaves, star anise and black peppercorns. If you like it hot, they happily toss in roasted chili peppers. And almost everything has grated coconut in it.
Even the staples have more flavor and variety. Besides the white rice you find throughout India, there’s the local “boiled rice” which is a short, fat grain, coconut rice, cardamom rice, tomato rice, and my favorite curd rice – mixed with yogurt, lime leaves, black and red peppercorns. Why would I ever order plain white rice?
Dal – the cooked lentils which are a dish here in India and an absolute staple in Nepal – also comes in different flavors and styles. Our basic yellow dal comes in varieties cooked with chilies and vegetables, thickened to a paste, and best of all, flavored with one of the rich red curry sauces. Dal here is a treat.
Breakfast is the most interesting. While at our resort we can get a basic Western breakfast including omelets, toast and porridge, the local breakfasts are infinitely cooler. Today Emily had upputam – a seasoned mixture of rice flour and semolina served with a light-flavored coconut-based paste and fresh bananas.
Yesterday I had idlli – fermented rice flour cakes served with a lightly-spiced coconut paste and a bowl of mild, thin red curry with sweet vegetables. I chose the dip and eat method for my idlli. George was sure to stop by and let us know that Keraleeyam makes idlli the right way by actually fermenting the rice flour whereas so many people today throw convention to the wind and use yeast. Lazy-asses in George’s book.
Two days ago Emily had puta, her favorite Keralean breakfast of steamed rice flour pressed into a bowl topped with a grated coconut and sugar mixture and served with a side of chick pea curry. Simple, a little dry textured – so tasty.
Desserts have once again become healthy with plates of fresh tropical fruits. We enjoy amazingly spiced Indian chai. Fresh veggies are mixed into all the main dishes. When we eat in town, we have no idea what half the stuff they serve us is, but it’s all light and flavorful – at least compared to Mumbai and any other Indian food I’ve ever had.
Kerala smells and tastes as good as it looks and feels.
On the topic of how things look and feel, two days ago my Great Aunt Rose – the last of her generation on my father’s side – passed away. I mentioned Aunt Rose last month in my “Aging” post. She was 92 and she always looked gorgeous and felt great.
Aunt Rose was someone who had spice down to an art as she kept her life aromatic and flavorful using her own special brand of love and happiness. She was happy to share her recipe – which involved letting things roll off your back, not engaging in anger or hate, loving people anyway and always making the most of your life – even when age and waning stamina limit you. There is always something to take joy in, and Aunt Rose had a talent for finding it.
Last year, Aunt Rose – who had been married for more than 50 years when her husband died about 17 years ago – got remarried to a man with whom she spent her last 15 years. In our last conversation just a few months ago, Aunt Rose told me that even in her living room without the mobility and stamina to go out the way she used to, she still had Hank to enjoy and adore. She said she was blessed with a great life and that she loved us all.
Aunt Rose, more than anyone, knew how to enjoy the spice of life.
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