From Prabha?s kitchen

For many women, life often takes a completely different course after marriage and motherhood in new and interesting ways. Pune based blogger and cook Prabha Kamath tells Nidhi Chawla Manoj how her life took a new direction after further education and learning the computer.

Prabha Kamath

Who says marriage and motherhood is an end to all ambitions for a housewife? For Pune resident Prabha Kamath, 71, life started after bearing three children. A sudden marriage had brought Mrs Kamath’s student life to an untimely halt. Accompanying her husband on his transferable jobs, she grew into the role of a mother without any regrets or complaints. However, this housewife’s journey changed tracks when her husband suggested that she take up her studies once again, through correspondence.

Mrs. Kamath jumped at the suggestion and took up a B.A. correspondence course from Delhi University, which she cleared at first attempt. Her youngest daughter was about two years old at this time so she had her hands full otherwise as well.

The second turning point in her life was a more recent one. She learnt the basics of computer from her daughter around two years back and with perseverance, learnt how to browse the internet and explore a new world. Her husband, an ardent fan of Mrs.Kamath’s cooking, wanted her to start cataloging her recipes and share them with the Konkani community. Hence he prodded her to start blogging on food. Help and guidance came from their US based eldest granddaughter, who helped Mrs.Kamath start her first blog Prabha’s Kitchen on the auspicious day of Ugadi, the Karnataka New Year, in 2009.

The idea of Prabha’s Kitchen was to preserve Konkani cuisine influenced by Kerala, which is where Mrs.Kamath grew up, as it not well documented except in few Malayalam books. Today, she has already documented over 300 recipes in this blog and has about 100-150 viewers on daily basis.

Having accomplished her first agenda, Mrs Kamath started her second blog on Konkani Festivals, where she has been writing about various Konkani festivals, giving finer details like methodology for the puja, offerings, etc. Her interest in blogging did not end with this and she started her third blog Prabha’s Food Court for documenting her non-Konkani recipes. Her latest blog is on Konkani folk songs. The basic premise of this blog is to keep the tradition alive and to hand over traditional songs to the younger generation.

Mrs Kamath’s passion for blogging is well supported by her husband who is the official editor and photographer for all the blogs. With her activities restricted after nightfall, as Mrs. Kamath suffers from night blindness, she starts her day at 5 AM with yoga and walk. In between her household chores and learning spoken Sanskrit language, she dedicates a couple of hours daily to her blogs.

This relentless dedication and commitment to her passion keeps Mrs Kamath happy and busy and gets her a lot of admiration from friends and family. She shares few of her favourite recipes with our readers.

Palya Polo (Leaves Dosa)

Leaves Dosa

This dosa is a favourite of Konkanis. This is a very healthy preparation because of the high nutritious values of the leaves. This preparation can be made by using drumstick leaves, fenugreek leaves (methi) or finely chopped cabbage.

This dosa can be relished even without a side dish. If necessary, any type of pickles/chutneys can go along with it.

Ingredients

Raw rice-1cup

Boiled rice-2cups

Red chillies- 5

Coconut grated-1 cup

Tamarind-a small amla size

Turmeric  powder- 1/4 tsp

Drumstick  leaves, well cleaned- 1 cup

Asafoetida- 1/8 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil as required

Method

Soak both rice together for 5 hours. Soak tamarind in a very small quantity of water. Grind all the ingredients together, except oil and leaves, to a fine batter. Add the leaves and mix well.

Spread the batter on the griddle in dosa shape . Drop a bit of oil all around. When one side is done,

turn the dosa upside down and fry the other side.

Ash gourd curd curry

KUWLYA AMBAT (ASH GOURD CURD CURRY)

This is another favourite side dish of Konkanis and a bit spicy. It is prepared with lot of vegetables. While it retains its sour flavour, the vegetables in it slightly tone down the spiciness and makes it a highly palatable and delicious dish.

Ingredients:

Ash gourd -250gms

Colocasia(AvalaMande)-250gms

Kacchil(variety of yam)-250gms

Yam-250gms

Curd-1 1/2 cups

Coconut scrapings-1 1/2cups

Red chllies-5

Mustard seeds-1tsp

Oil -2 tsps

Curry leaves – few

Salt to taste

Cumin (jeera)- 1tsp

Fenugreek (methi) seeds -1 1/4tsp

Method:

Clean, peel and cut the ash gourd to medium size pieces. Skin, clean and cut the 2 root vegetables also to small medium size pieces. Cook all the vegetables in a pressure cooker.

Fry chillies in oil. Ensure that they are not over burnt and change their colour. Grind fried chillies and coconut scrapings and make a paste. Add a cup of water and cook the masala with salt for 5 minutes.

Add curd and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the cooked vegetables and cook all together for 2 minutes.

Do phannu (season) with mustard seeds, methi seeds, jeera and curry leaves.