The GSBs (Gowd Saraswat Brahmins) from whose ranks come I, have at least four different gravy dishes based on which fish is being cooked. 1. Alle-piyau: - Literally, Ginger-Onion. The sauce is made from ground coconut to which is addded red chillies and tamarind. THis is ground to a fine paste in a grinding stone which, once the consistency is like sandalwood paste, is mixed with water and heated. Fish is added at some point (hazy about this. At the start? Midway? When it begins to boil?) When it begins to boil, a few crushed onions and a little crushed ginger (both raw) are added. Used for delicate fish such as pomfret and a fish called Nogli or, in Shetty type restaurants, Kane. For some reason, this is called 'Lady Fish' in English, which, unless they've been fooling me about biological processes, is a definite misnomer. They can't all be lady fishes
2. Kotthambari-Metthi:- Coriander-Fenugreek. Hazy about how this is exactly made. The base is the same, grated coconut, tamarind and red chillies. I think the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds are roasted and ground with the coconut and like 1 above, brought to a boil with the fish in it. Used for strongly flavored fish such as mackerel and sardines 3. Hinga-udda: - Literally, asafoetida water. Same as 1, except instead of the onions and ginger, this is seasoned with a liberal pinch of the strongest asafoetida you can find, added to smoking hot coconut oil and tossed into the gravy before the asafoetida has a chance to burn. Used for prawn. 4. Phanna-upkari: - Don't know the transaltion for this. Spicy red chilly based gravy, seasoned with mustard sputtered in coconut oil and thickened with finely chopped onions in one version and just lots of red chilli powder in another. Also used of the strong fish, mackerel and sardine. On 4 August 2016 at 10:54, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote: > Wow, what a collection. I thought "meen kuzhambu" was just one > dish...I realize now, there is a whole variety. Being an impure > vegetarian (I'll try anything once!), my researches have necessarily > been very cursory. I don't like the taste of most fish. Rohu and > Bhetki maacher jhol being made in the landlord's home downstairs from > us was never a very happy memory....it's only now, with layers of > nostalgia sanitizing the remembered smell, that I am able to look > back. > > And.... I am intrigued by the word "saivam" for vegetarian in Tamil. > Saiva would be a follower of Siva...so how does that go with > vegetarianism? Many followers of Siva are staunch non-vegetarians.... > so is Saivam as opposed to Vaishnavyam (followers of Vishnu)? The > association of certain foods/diets with certain religion is most > interesting. Would like some information on this word and its origin. > > > On Thu, Aug 4, 2016 at 10:37 AM, Suresh Ramasubramanian > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thejaswi Udupa [04/08/16 10:29 +0530]: > > > >> On 04-Aug-2016 10:28 AM, "Suresh Ramasubramanian" <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>> Almost every coastal state has a fish in gravy sort of dish > >> > >> > >> This is a good time to mention fellow silklister Samanth's excellent > book > >> Following Fish > > > > > > There's also this collection of fish recipes - hosted on the > paradoxically > > named "syvum.com" > > > > "syvum" / "saivam" is a tamil word - or maybe euphemism - for vegetarian > > > > http://www.syvum.com/recipes/inf/ > > > > --srs > > > > -- Narendra Shenoy http://narendrashenoy.blogspot.com
