Mums sweet and hot brinjal pickle

 

                                               Mums brinjal pickle

As kids, Mum never liked to cook. Anyway we always had a khansama ji who cooked the most divine food of the area. In Delhi we had stuffed mooli and potato parathas. I have NEVER tasted such luxury ever again. 

I too never liked to cook as my sister Christine was the best cook in the family. She still is and turns out ridiculous things like samosas and jalebis in Perth W Australia. Infact all her messages in those days were about her cooking and both Mum and me would grimace and glance them over. Never forget while I was doing my 2nd Masters In Aarhus or Amsterdam I had to make dessert for the pot luck we were having in the hostel and I wrote to her asking for something simple. She send me Cathedral Windows which was 3 or 4 types of coloured jellies cut up and placed together! Tons of work! 

I went to TESCOs and bought a huge flan base of sponge and a carton of ready custard, some cherries and tins of peaches. My dessert was ready and I was hailed as a wonder cook.  Ridiculous really as all of it was ready made! But now as I age and am kind of semi -retired, I cook to relax and find it very cathartic. Pickles especially and Mums goan brinjal pickle is a favourite in the house and among my pals. Its easy, its quick and I have changed ingredients to suit what I like. Infact its in a recipe book written by an author friend with Mums name in print! She'd be chuffed!

                                Use only these fat fleshy brinjals

Here's the recipe which has gone round the world. I make 1 kg bottles

and freeze for my DIL's as they love it and enjoy with tortillas.

Here the men eat it with every meal.

I love it with a hot chappatie.

Only ONE very important point to remember ---

DO NOT use a dirty spoon. Since the oil component is

less and I dont use preservatives s its dangerous

for us humans, keep that STRONGLY in mind so

your pickle does not go off.

Sweet and hot Brinjal pickle.... 

RECIPE

1. Heat 3/4 cup of groundnut oil in a pan till quite hot.

2. Put in 2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste, 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli pwd, 2 tsp jeera,

1 tsp mustard pwd and 1 tsp haldi. Fry well till the raw smell disappears. 

3. Now put in 1 kg of chopped brinjal pieces with 2 tbsp salt and

3/4 cup brown sugar. Stir well. 

4. Add 1 cup brown vinegar and bring to the boil. Put in curry leaves and

20 pods of garlic sliced. Mix everything well.

5. Close the pan bring everything to the boil and cook on simmer

for around 45 minutes.

Check that the brinjal is soft. Cool pickle and fill in bottles.

Here is where I made variations: 1) I used Apple Cider vinegar ONLY

2)Used 1 tbspn of minced garlic rather than the 20 cloves

3) cut the sugar down to half the quantity

as I am diabetic. Now I use jaggery instead of sugar.

4) Used mustard paste in the US rather than powder.

In India the seeds lightly crushed are fine. 5) Used sunflower

oil rather than olive oil or peanut.

6) I put the pieces out in the sun for an hour or more

so the water comes out of the brinjal.

Pour the liquid to your plants!
Comes out really well with the fat purple brinjal.

Eat with chappaties!

All the Life that I have lived

All the Life that I have lived

 Six months ago or more I was asked by a Professor friend in Iowa, to do a story board for a film on a boy who came out of the slums of Chennai to become a magnate in the Paper Industry in the USA. The boy was his classmate in the IIT in Madras and wanted to tell his story. I just ignored it as I was too busy traveling to see my sons and their families and I was unsure of who the guy was, that I was to write about. I needed time to decide.

Alaina 10 years ago when I went to look after her for 6 months!

For me my family was much more important and we were all meeting up in Andy's and Annika's home to have 2 weeks together. Then as things often pan out in my life I opened the email from the Professor in London one morning and reading the mans story I was hooked.

Picking apples in David's home!

I immediately wrote to Professor Prabhu accepting the request to wrote the book. Lucky I discussed the project with David and he said -- "You always charge way below your worth Mum.Just think and charge as this is going to be a lot of work for you spread over months."

"So what do you think I should charge David I said? 50 thousand rupees?"

"More like XXXX $ Mum," he said.

My mind boggled and I wrote back saying I wanted XX $ upfront put into my grand daughter Alaina's College fund. The other half once I was done into Natalie's college fund.  And I began -- what a roller coaster ride it has been for me. 
The reason I did this was because when my son Andrew needed a 2 lakh bond to be furnished by St. John's Medical College incase he did not do his village service and my Dad who did not have the money at the time, did a quick calculation and invested an FD in his name which would finally mature into 2 lakhs. Andy has been forever grateful to his grandparents for that. We never had that kind of money as parents ever. The boys always earned their education seats on merit.

One of Davids apple trees loaded with fruit.

So inbetween gardening in his beautiful garden I started writing in the room Rashme set up for me with a desk that looked out onto the woods beyond the house. I cannot go anywhere without my DELL laptop which Andy bought me. Light and easy to carry and probably is the 4th laptop I have had. A Toshiba was my first -- solid and dependable.

So, I work by writing down the contents and chapters first and then flesh out each chapter and maybe shift them around. The shifting and changing names of chapters is a continuous process as I work.

 

Andy and family all set for a Triathlon in S Carolina.

I was relaxed after spending time with all the kids and was glad to get my teeth into a project which I would enjoy working. The very first chapter leapt out and grabbed me with the fact that the boy had gone to Loyola College, Madras in the '60's for the job of a peon and the principal just by chance saw his marks card and said two words -- "Admit Him!" Loyola had been Dads pre-university college too.

I have always believed education plays a huge role in anyone's life and here was a story that I was going to write about a poor boy who hardly had proper food to eat, educates himself out of the slum into the highest echelons of the IIT Madras and onwards and upwards into the US. My Dad always said, God helps those who help themselves and here was an inspirational story which I immersed myself into -- writing it into 28 chapters in flat TWO months!

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher that visits every winter!
 

Like the Flycatcher that visits every winter, I put on my writing cap and wrote and wrote, pounding away at the chapters and was done with all 28 chapters including the synopsis and the Afterword. The flycatcher has come and gone back to the Himalayas and I feel vindicated that whoever talks about getting a writers block is someone who cannot write. Thats it!

Baking Coconut Bhaat inbetween writing!

I am a professional editor but I still believe I need a peer review done on my work. So my  sweet and generous friend Sheila Kumar will definitely professionally review my work before it goes to the publishers.  Sheila and Keerti Ramachandra will have a glance too and then armed with my two girl friends views the publishers shall publish.

Lets travel the length and breadth of the US to launch my book. Really?? I start receding into my computer, as I am more attached to my desk today. Travel for me today is just visiting my boys and ofcourse to Goa to check on the old homestead. Thats it. I have traveled all over the world for conferences and have exhausted my travelling trainers forever.

 My bird clock with its bird calls kept me company while I wrote!

Now I will be glad if this mans story goes out across the world telling people that it is ONLY with education you can change your life. What a guy, I really admire his grit and determination even with being so ill now.
 He echoes what my parents drilled into us and we drilled into the boys and now they are drilling into their kids. While I feel happy that I could contribute to their University fund.