Quickly before you all start asking who Anna is.....I am referring to my late father-in-law! "Anna" in our native language Tamil, means elder brother. Not sure why, but my FIL was always called Anna by his 3 sons - my husband and his 2 younger brothers, and after my marriage I started calling him "anna" too.
Many of you were with me (in thought) throughout his illness last year and his passing away early this year, and your heartfelt comments helped tremendously through the difficult time. So I am sharing with you all his birthday today. The last few years as his memory was slowly fading he would keep insisting his birthday was the 13th of October, even though we all knew it was the 11th of Oct. So we would celebrate both days....maybe he did that deliberately so he would get sweets twice???
Even though he is not here with us physically, his presence is still felt at home especially when I pass by our puja room.
And so today, in his memory and because it was his favorite food (and mine ;-), I made "pongal". Every Saturday night was pongal dinner for him.
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Pongal is this decadent creamy concoction of rice and mung lentils, cooked together and then seasoned with pepper, ginger, curry leaves and cumin, mixed gently with coconut milk and topped off with fried cashew nuts!! Finally something that's not just delish, but good for you too and often recommended as food when you are ill (Ok, not the cashews maybe, but its equally delicious without the nuts!) Most South Indian wedding breakfast menus include pongal and it is the only reason I go for breakfast!!!
This along with coconut chutney is a gastronomic marriage made in heaven!
Many of you were with me (in thought) throughout his illness last year and his passing away early this year, and your heartfelt comments helped tremendously through the difficult time. So I am sharing with you all his birthday today. The last few years as his memory was slowly fading he would keep insisting his birthday was the 13th of October, even though we all knew it was the 11th of Oct. So we would celebrate both days....maybe he did that deliberately so he would get sweets twice???
Even though he is not here with us physically, his presence is still felt at home especially when I pass by our puja room.
And so today, in his memory and because it was his favorite food (and mine ;-), I made "pongal". Every Saturday night was pongal dinner for him.
Pongal is this decadent creamy concoction of rice and mung lentils, cooked together and then seasoned with pepper, ginger, curry leaves and cumin, mixed gently with coconut milk and topped off with fried cashew nuts!! Finally something that's not just delish, but good for you too and often recommended as food when you are ill (Ok, not the cashews maybe, but its equally delicious without the nuts!) Most South Indian wedding breakfast menus include pongal and it is the only reason I go for breakfast!!!
This along with coconut chutney is a gastronomic marriage made in heaven!
So Anna, Happy Birthday! We miss you! I know you're watching from above and licking your lips too! :-)
8 comments:
What a lovely way to remember a loved one.
RIP our Anna now..! I must say thats a lovely way to rememebr someone who is close to our/your heart... Even in my mom's place (my granny's) and my parent's place, we celebrate the birthday of my maternal father (Aaja) the same manner..!Instead pongal is replaced by khichadi and coconut chatni is replaced with a sweeter version of grated coconut with curd and slightly sweet in tatse, we call it pachdi..! :)
Now that your pongal pic is so lovely (and being a oriya), I guess I have to rush to some darshini outlet t grab a plate of Pongal.. May be I will go to Adyaar Anand Bhavan aka A2B..! :)
Beautiful thought and beautiful photos. I love pongal, but unfortunately with a ton of ghee! :-)
How do you take the pro food shots, Kamini?
A very lovely way to remember your Anna.
heartfelt kamini...loved this laksh
lovel way to remember..
Such a lovely post, K! I'm sure Anna will be nodding in approval... :)
A lovely post kamini ...!!
That was very sweet. I saw personally how good care you and Raga were taking and he will be happy wherever he is resting and will bless you all.
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