Look past the masala dosas and medu vadas of the city’s Udupi hotels and delve into an all-vegetarian menu that is simple yet satisfying
Nendra Kela Phodi
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The word ‘Udupi’ immediately calls to mind images of the countless tiny restaurants in the city whipping up generic South Indian fare. However, if you look beyond the staple dosa, idli and vada, you will learn that there is a lot more that Udupi cuisine has to offer.
Next weekend, home cook Jennifer Sapna Salins, who hails from the sunny coastal city in Karnataka, will present vegetarian recipes that would never find their way into a restaurant’s menu.
Spartan fare
Udupi cuisine is believed to have its origins in the religious Ashta Mathas founded by Madhvacharya. Owing to this, the food is impressive in its austere simplicity.
It makes abundant use of cereals, pulses, vegetables and spices. In addition to this, tubers like yam and gourd, and fruits such as ripe banana and pineapple are predominantly used in recipes. Moreover, the Brahmins hailing from the region eat only sattvik fare, minus onion and garlic.
“Since I grew up in a Christian household, our meals were usually non-vegetarian. However, we had neighbours who were Brahmins — including Goud Saraswat Brahmins — and they would prepare vegetarian dishes,” says Salins.
Decoding the menu
The pop-up begins with a winter drink called Panakkam, which is sweetened with jaggery, spiced with pepper and ginger, and flavoured with cardamom and lime.
Once your appetite is stoked, Salins will bring out all the food, which will be served to guests the traditional way, on banana leaves. Some of the snacks you will be trying include crunchy Nendra Kela Phodi (shallow-fried ripe Nendram Pazham bananas) and Mashinga Sanga Bajo (drumstick fritters), while mains include Southae Menaskai (a sweet-tangy-spicy curry made with Mangalore cucumber), and Valli Sasam (Malabar spinach in a coconut gravy).
Moode
“I’m also making Moode, a dish for which you need to steam idli batter in a cylindrical mould made of pandan (screw pine) leaves. These moulds are only found in southern Karnataka,” says Salins.
Southae Menaskai
Also on the menu is a rather uncommon dish called Timare Tambli, a yoghurt-based curry flavoured with Brahmi leaves and spices. She says, “In Udupi, Brahmi plants are grown in Brahmin houses, so this dish is made quite often. It is to be eaten with rice.”
Chitranna
There are two types of rice that Salins will be serving at the meal: the steamed variety, and Chitranna, which is lemon flavoured rice spiced with freshly ground masala, and garnished with peanuts.
Jennifer Sapna Salins
Of course, no meal is complete without dessert, and at the Salins’ home, you will be treated to a payasam of a different kind — one made with sweet potatoes. Explaining it to us, Salins says, “The dessert is called Genasina Payasa, and it has chunks of sweet potato in coconut milk sweetened with jaggery and flavoured with cardamom.”
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