Food, Glorious Food

By Frank Krishner

Food is fundamental to life itself. And, the quality of life is directly proportional to the quality of the food that touches your palate.

This blog is taking some time to set up, and every time you visit it, you may see that it looks a bit different. Essentially, this is going to be about food.
It's also going to be about cooking, eating, understanding, and loving food.

I am a food adventurer, and there's nothing more exciting than trying out a new preparation, of inhaling the aroma of an exquisitely arranged culinary creation. No, let me amend that. Creating a sensational and surreal work of art that tantalises the tastebuds is definitely more exciting. nothing can get the adrenalin pumping when waiting for a 'first time flavour' to pass the test of the critics: your friends and family!

There's much more to food than just presentation and fancy cutlery. It's the rough and rugged rural flavours that get the juices flowing. Bamboo shoot and dog meat,  rat and rabbit, pork and pigeon, and duck and dandelion wine, stewed apples and blanched apricots, a saute full of grasshoppers, I've relished them all.

I aim to share some of those adventures here as well.

Here's to life!

Brinjal Avial

By Frank Krishner

Aviyal is a dish that has a unique place in a typical Kerala and Tamil cuisine.


It is a thick mixture of a lot vegetables, curd and coconut.  In fact, my friend Dhanesh Nair's mother says that the word "aviyal" is used to denote an assortment or a mixture!
Aviyal  is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. .Vegetables commonly used in aviyal are yam, plantain, pumpkin, carrots, beans, brinjal and avarai. Some people prefer to substitute raw mango or tamarind pulp for the curd. Aviyal can be made into a gravy and eaten with rice or be made into a semi-solid side dish. .

Here's how I make Brinjal Aviyal. Bachelor style. It's Quick. A ten-minute dish.
First get out to the market and shop for
green brinjals, if not available, the purple ones are fine. So we have brinjal (small eggplant) - about 4, a couple of green bananas or plantains,
two large onions, two medium sized tomatoes.
two or three green chillies, a quarter cup of dessicated coconut or of you wish you can grate fresh coconut.
I use both curd and tamarind: about three tablespoons of curd and  a tablespoon of tamarind paste [ready made]. You would also like to have three tiny onions, a little haldi or turmeric powder [a small teaspoon], one tablespoon cooking oil of your choice.
mustard seeds, vendhayam, salt, curry leaves (don't forget these) and a couple of dried red chillies

I usually chop up the onion, brinjal, tomatoes in longish bits and slit the green chillies.

I use  the mixer-grinder to blend the small onion, coconut, dried red chillies, turmeric powder into a masala paste. Then I mix the tamarind with the curd.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds, vendhayam and curry leaves.Wait till the seeds crackle and then add the copped things: onion, tomato, brinjal and green chillies and fry for about a minute. Then pop in the tamarind- curd mix. Cook tillt he vegetables get tender, sprinkling a bit of water ocasionally to avoid 'burning'.

When the  veggies get tender, add the blended mixture and keep stirring.

After two minutes the brinjal avial is ready .

It tastes good when teamed up with with curd rice

Let BT Bai-gans be Bygone

By Frank Krishner

India is regarded as the original home of the Brinjal or Eggplant. Brinjal has been cultivated in India for the past 4000 years. It is grown all over the country, year-round and is one of our most popular vegetables. The area under cultivation is around 5 lakh hectares. The production stands at around 82 lakh metric tonnes. It is mainly grown in small plots. The average yields of Brinjal in India are reported to be around 200 to 350 quintals per hectare. The main growing areas are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

There are many brinjal  varieties in India, in addition to improved varieties and hybrids. Some  improved varieties include Pusa Kranthi, Pusa Purple Cluster, Syamala etc. Hybrids include Arka Navneet, Pusa Hybrid 6, Utkarsha, Pusa Hybrid 5 and so on.

The Shoot & Fruit Borer in brinjal [which has been the major pest for the past two decades or so] causes from 50 to 70%  damage, and in economic terms, it is estimated to be around $221 millions. It is to lend tolerance to this pest primarily that the Bt Brinjal has been developed.
 
However, most people seem to agree that the BT Brinjal is a bd idea.
Several studies on Bt crops in particular and GM crops in general show that there are many potential health hazards in bio-engineered foods . GM-fed animals in various studies have shown  problems with growth, organ development and damage, immune responsiveness and so on. With Bt crops, a recent study from Madhya Pradesh shows adverse human health impacts in farm and factory workers with allergies caused by Bt Cotton. Itching skin, eruptions on the body, swollen faces etc., were also reported, correlated with levels of exposure to Bt Cotton.

A study from Phillippines shows that people living next to Bt Corn crop fields had developed many mysterious symptoms, especially during pollination time.

Studies elsewhere show that genes inserted into GM food survive digestive processes and are transferred into the human body. They have transferred themselves into intestinal bacteria too. Bt toxin had caused powerful immune responses and abnormal cell growth in mice.

I plan to share some of my favourite Brinjal, eggpant, aubergine recipes with you soon.