People often tease me that Punjabis know of only one type of culture, 'Agriculture'. Well, Pun is a part of 'Pun'jabis with large heart and large-tummies (read foodies). So, I am proud of my agriculture. I have no reason to mind that because we Punjabis are the best at it anywhere in the world. We can even make rocks fertile enough to grow something worth while. All because we love eating. We dream food, we grow food, we love food, we talk food and we offer food without asking and what more..we force people to have some more for our love's sake. Well, that is our culture.
Our telephone conversations begin with a hello, hi and 'khana kha liya' (had food?) or Ki chadiya..(what's cooked today?) Oh, our lives revolve around food so much that no matter what part of the world we live in we still give into the temptation of somebody bringing Saunth Gur (Jaggery with dry ginger and dry fuits), Shakkar (brown sugar) and Pinnies (ladoos loaded with Pure Ghee) all the way from our pinds...from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Chandigarh, Amritsar or Batala or any other place in Punjab.
Recently a friend went to her home town and came back with red carrots, peas, shalgam (turnips), sugarcane, shakkar, gur, cooked sarson da saag and other regulars all the way to Mumbai and made me taste quite a few. OMG, just writing about these is teasing my taste buds. Why not? There is no place in the world where you can get sarson da saag like you do in Punjab. Not many people would know that in Punjab we use the 'gandlan', tender stems and not the leaves of sarson (Mustard) to cook the most delicious recipe. That too cooked on a slow flame and tempered with chillies and garlic with dollops of white butter on it. Mummmy.!!!!!!!!!
My mother is the ultimate cook and host. She never forgets to call me to tell what was 'chaadiya' (read cooked) every day. Even her phrases are laced with delicious Punjabi dishes. 'Khaadi Kadhi' is one such phrase she uses for "so be it". Now how it came into being is another blog. But here's a funny tale about her PUNjab travels. Once on arrival at Hyderabad she was caught for excess bagage on the railway station. Yes! Excess baggage on rail ticket. She was taken aback too and so was the young checker when he came to see a sack full of neatly cut sugarcane, fresh radish and some more. "Don't you get it here?", he asked bemused.
"No, this is from our fields, the farm in Punjab and it is special", she answered cutely. She paid half the fine...."Ganne mahnge pae gaye"..sugarcane proved costly. (LOL)
(Hey guys, think I can go on and on but then I promised to deliver quirkies...so next time!)
Our telephone conversations begin with a hello, hi and 'khana kha liya' (had food?) or Ki chadiya..(what's cooked today?) Oh, our lives revolve around food so much that no matter what part of the world we live in we still give into the temptation of somebody bringing Saunth Gur (Jaggery with dry ginger and dry fuits), Shakkar (brown sugar) and Pinnies (ladoos loaded with Pure Ghee) all the way from our pinds...from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Chandigarh, Amritsar or Batala or any other place in Punjab.
Recently a friend went to her home town and came back with red carrots, peas, shalgam (turnips), sugarcane, shakkar, gur, cooked sarson da saag and other regulars all the way to Mumbai and made me taste quite a few. OMG, just writing about these is teasing my taste buds. Why not? There is no place in the world where you can get sarson da saag like you do in Punjab. Not many people would know that in Punjab we use the 'gandlan', tender stems and not the leaves of sarson (Mustard) to cook the most delicious recipe. That too cooked on a slow flame and tempered with chillies and garlic with dollops of white butter on it. Mummmy.!!!!!!!!!
My mother is the ultimate cook and host. She never forgets to call me to tell what was 'chaadiya' (read cooked) every day. Even her phrases are laced with delicious Punjabi dishes. 'Khaadi Kadhi' is one such phrase she uses for "so be it". Now how it came into being is another blog. But here's a funny tale about her PUNjab travels. Once on arrival at Hyderabad she was caught for excess bagage on the railway station. Yes! Excess baggage on rail ticket. She was taken aback too and so was the young checker when he came to see a sack full of neatly cut sugarcane, fresh radish and some more. "Don't you get it here?", he asked bemused.
"No, this is from our fields, the farm in Punjab and it is special", she answered cutely. She paid half the fine...."Ganne mahnge pae gaye"..sugarcane proved costly. (LOL)
(Hey guys, think I can go on and on but then I promised to deliver quirkies...so next time!)
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