The day began with me waking up at precisely at 5.55am. I'm totally reading this as a sign!
6.20am
I had soaked methi seeds the previous night. And I had boiled some water with jeera and a couple of cloves. I warmed up this decoction and added a dash of honey and lemon juice and downed three glasses of these.
I really enjoyed the aroma of the jeera and the lemon juice that clung to my fingertips. Drinking this on an empty stomach sent a pleasant warm sensation down my oesophagus, I could literally trace its movement all the way from my lips to the back of my mouth, slipping down into my tummy and settling there like a warm being sending out early-morning glowings!
I could taste the cloves only slightly, the taste being overwhelmingly taken over by the jeera. I loved the last bit in the glass, where the heavier honey had settled. It made for a sweet last sip!
7.00am
Scouted around nurseries of JPNagar for lemongrass and tulsi. Got directed and redirected but finally found them at a nursery at Siddapura. Their fragrance is strong and lovely!
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| the lemongrass twins |
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| holy basil! |
8.45am
Check out my breakfast!
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| melon jaggery & methi |
This hit them tastebuds in all the right ways! The jaggery smelt heavenly and the sight of it melting into the juice of the fruit was tantalising on so many different levels!
The melon felt satisfyingly firm and solid in my fingers and every bite was a pleasure. The outer part was denser while the innard were more fibrous. It was very hard to mindfully retain this in my mouth for long because it naturally slipped down the throat so easily. Both textures were fun in the mouth.
The methi seeds were soft but slightly bitter and were a perfect foil to the sweet and syrupy melon jaggery combo.
11.30am
Papaya break!
This was from a batch of fruit cut up the previous night. The papaya was really ripe and was pretty much falling apart in my fingers, which wasn't very appealing. But the taste was fresh and spirited and bursting with flavour, and it just melted in my mouth. I also noticed the fibrous bits on the inside and how they added a chewy texture.
The smell wasn't the greatest, though.
2.30pm
So I stirred up a baby aloo mutter recipe that I made up mostly on the spot. Things just happened! The baby potatoes came out perfect but the peas got slightly overcooked and lost quite a bit of their perky visual appeal! I also ended up adding a tad too much of the toasted and ground coriander seeds(which smell so deceptively great! But more on that coming up...)
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| aloo mutter that got flavour-bombed by dhania seeds |
The coriander seeds, even though tiny in stature and number ended up overpowering every other spice in the masala. Plus, the dill did not quite make friends with the other guys either.
I prised out every single component and chewed them mindfully. I loved the way I could bite the tadka dal, and how I could tease out the jackets of the baby potatoes to reach the soft, slightly salty innards. The peas were mostly paste and weren't that much fun. The onion rings were fresh and fun, though. I usually love fresh tomato slices on the side, but they did not go well with hot aloo and mutter.
The overwhelming effect of the coriander seeds stayed with me and hung around annoyingly in my mouth, threatening to spoil the flavour of forthcoming food. I tried throwing it off by chewing chana dal, but the memory persists!
6.00pm
I had prepped and cut up mushrooms, so a mushroom-and-pepper soup happened! It's something I've made often and really love but the dhania-persisting-effect completely put me off this! I ended up crunching down a few mushrooms and donating the rest!
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| mushroom-and-pepper! |
Honestly, I added only a finger-pinch of the ground seeds, but it totally took over the aloo mutter and now, persists in my olfactory system like a lousy ghost!
9.00pm
Dinner is a bit of pomegranate, followed by another musk melon, just plain this time. And I was too busy eating it to take any pics!
Pomegranate has a very satisfying crunchiness to it, beginning with the part where your teeth sink into the ruby redness of it! And the smell reminds me of the pomegranate plant. But the seeds can be a cause for concern if they get stuck fast into your molars. So tongue is at work full-time, making sure your teeth are clean at all times.
11.00pm
So as I end this blogpost, I find a new ulcer developing on the left side of my tongue. There's a bit of the jeera-and-clove water left and its aroma and taste is helping me push out the memories of the dhania attack as I swish it around in my mouth.
I'm going to go easier on myself tomorrow. Simplicity is the way ahead!
