Hello friends
Our MavinKai MajjigeHuli (Mango curd sambar) has created a good amount of discussions in town!! some told it is the weiredest item they have ever eaten, some complimented, some roared on us and some ommitted!! Finally, by hook or croock, our food has come to limelight!!!
We had been to Managlore store on wednesday evening to buy a very special veriety of Brinjal, called, Vaadiraaja Gulla. It is a typical coastal brinjal that comes with a rough skin. Why Vaadiraaja?? Just because it was very much liked by a Udupi Krishna Mutt monk named Sri Vaadiraaja swami. This breed of brinjaal is very much used in coastal areas like Udupi, Mangalore, kasargod, Puttur, Sulya etc. The palya prepared using this Gulla is famous and a favourite item in any festive food. We wanted to give this veriety to our customers and see their reaction.
When we went to Mlore shop just to buy Gulla, we saw a very rare item there: Boiled Mangoes! Boiled mango is an integral part of Udupi Brahmin's kitchen. They collect mangoes in monsoon, and then boil them, soak them in salt water and this soaked mangoes last for one to two years. Whenever in need, you can just take one mango out of mango jar and prepare Majjige Huli. So, you can just have mangoes in off season also! People in udupi have mango sambar in November which is not at all a time of Mangoes!
Mango majjige huli has a typical smell and it goes well with a fried masala mirchi. Majjige huli will be served in every Udupi Aduge program. If the young girls don't know how to prepare it, their grannies will teach them and thus pass the traditional skills to the next generations. "Take one mango, smash it in curd, add a pinch of salt, put tharka and asifotida, the curd sambar is ready!", explains the granny to her grandchild in kitchen. Boiled mango curd sambar is liked and loved by every family in Coastal Karnataka.
When we saw boiled mangoes in NRColony shop, we felt alllll these... and we felt great! (Once, A K Ramanujan saw corrieander leaves in Chicago market, it seems!) We thought we will give this different special food to our beloved customers! We bought one full pack of mangoes. Gave right instructions to our cook to prepare the best majjige huli in the world... and he tooo liked the idea very much since he is near to coastal Karnataka.
Finally, on Thursday, our Majjige Huli was ready. We got the first compliments from our office boy. "What saar!! Is this sambar or some Khachda phinoil?? Whattta bad smell! I don't prepare the boxes", he told. We felt it is a waste of time to explain the cultural, geographical, historical and traditional richness of this majjige huli to this poor fellow.. (Kattegenu gottu kasturi parimala!!). We prepared all lunch boxes with atmost care. Prepared every box as if we were preparing our child to school. Finally we sent all boxes with lotta expectations....
You might have seen Kylie Kwong or Nigella or Bobby Chinn preparing the weiredest items and crunching and munching them with lot of love. Kylie Kwong in her program, "My China" goes around China and finds some typical items. The way she prepares food is almost like a mad philosopher doing some experiments in Bio-chemistry lab. But, finally she takes a platefull of items in her hand and using two chopsticks, eats every bit of it with a Bigg smile. If this can happen in China and can be telecasted to the entire world, why can't be our Majjige Huli??? So, we dared to do this item. We did it and sent it and now, we were ready for results. We were waiting, as a student waiting for resluts after exams, for our customers to give some good compliments..
And finally, around 2, we got a call from Ms.Chitra, a regular customer..
"hello, sakkatalva..?"
"yes, ma'm."
"Ok.. I had your lunch just now... and today the food was very different"
(we were overjoyed. We were expecting this since we had sent our boxes...) "Oh, is it so..."
"Yes yes, the food was very typical. espically, majjige huli..."
(Now, we were in cloud nine.... Oh God! She is talking about our majjiege huli! Our beloved mango sambar!!)
"enri adu, Sambaara?? Kalagacchu thara ittalri! Ootaane maadakkagilla. Nammejamanrantoo nange ugudu uppin kai haakidru!"
:(
After that Mr.Abhishek called at 2.30. He is a northy, working in an IT company. That day he had ordered South just to see what is "mango curd sambar"! No need to say you that he made a Panchamruta Abhisheka on us..
But on the other hand, Mr. Amar had seen his mama's skills in our majjige huli. He was almost jumping in joy after having our sambar. "what man! Typical mangalore man!! I liked it man, very much man!!" he shouted and we too felt satisfied. Whereas, the customer next to him showed a grim face, gave a weired look and put his thumbs down for our great preparation.
Ms.Pallavi from an IT company, who places bulk orders everyday, gave a call in the evening and asked what on the earth was that majjige huli! "Tomorrow onwards, please inform us well in advance if you people are preparing this kind of thing. we will not order at all!!", she roared. Mr.Jagadhish Achar, a typical brahmin from Puttur had called us to enquire whether we can provide the same food as dinner also...
The whole day, our great huli sambar created a lot of discussions. Many people liked it, some people told a big No No to it, some told it is nice, some yelled on us. We too had a mixture of feelings. Were confused whether to experiment on our customers with different verieties of contemporary foods or to give a typical hotel sambar...
Our genie Ganesh, the next day morning (today) after collecting the empty tiffin carriers from our one new customer, told: "Sir, last night I delivered the food to one new customer, right? He gave tiffin boxes today morning. His wife did not like the food itseems, saar!"
His face was dull, pale and not happy. One could make out that he was very upset. We forced him to tell what happened with that customer. We had given two big mango seeds (Gorate) too in our Sambar to this customer!
he said, "she had continous ommitting after having our Sambar, itseems, sir!"
:(
Can one get a better compliment to one's food than this????
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