Try Adding Curry, Cardamom, Or
Coconut To Spice Up Your Cooking
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANGHORNE (Bucks Co.)
Heady aromas of sauteed garlic,
mustard, or chili powder may not
be a part of every American’s
kitchen, however they are famil
iar smells to southern Asian fam
ilies.
These pungent scents and
spicy tastes have been a part of
Maria Kunjappu’s kitchen for
many years.
Kunjappu, Langhome, now
has experience cooking Indian
food, however most of her prac
tice came after she had left her
home country of India.
Kunjappu, who grew up with
the Indian name Ponnamma
George in Kerala, India the
southern part of the country, a
tropical area is the oldest of
four brothers and three sisters.
“I didn’t really cook when I
was home,” said Kunjappu, who,
although she remembers watch
ing her mother, Marykutty, cook
and clean, left the cooking re
sponsibilities to a younger sister
who had more interest in culi
nary arts.
After graduating from high
school, she traveled to Delhi to
study nursing, where she worked
as a nurse for a year after gradu
ation.
Denmark was next on her list,
as she, who “always liked to trav
el,” applied to an exchange pro
gram and went to the country to
work for a year and a half and
traveled to such destinations as
Sweden and Rome.
She had always wanted to see
America, so New York became
her next destination.
After a short time in New
York, cousins in the Philadelphia
area welcomed her into their
home and “once I settled, I knew
I was going to stay,” in America,
Kunjappu said.
Change Up Your Mealtimes
With Unique Flavors From India
Hamburgers, hotdogs and
pizza will always be standard
fare, but why not add some spice
to your culinary life?
Indian cuisine holds an array
of flavors as vast as the country
itself. The flavors and fragrances
unique to Indian cuisine come
from the use of a variety of
spices, including cilantro, carda
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April
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After moving to the Philadel
phia area in September she met
her husband, Jose, through her
cousin’s family, and the two were
married in December 1975.
Once she settled in the U.S.,
Kunjappu, who “had an idea’’ of
how to cook several Indian dishes
but needed details, which she
learned from friends and as she
asked for recipes.
“I knew some things so I called
and asked friends questions” to
learn the art of Indian cooking.
Learning American dishes
came later, and Kunjappu quick
ly learned to appreciate the ease
of preparing American fare.
“The rice is OK, but you have
to sautee, stir, and grind the in
gredients” of Indian dishes, she
said.
A typical Indian kitchen in
cludes such spices as chili pow
der, coriander, cardamom, cinna
mon, cumin, cloves, fennel seed,
ginger, garlic, tamarind, turmeric
powder, onion, mustard seed,
black pepper, curry leaves, and
coconut.
Some of these spices are used
for both entree and dessert dish
es, such as coconut or cardamom.
Raisins, cashews, or carrots
may also be used in both dinner
and dessert.
In India, mango, jackfruit, and
several varieties of banana trees
in the family’s backyard yielded
fruits for her family a sweet
treat to complement their diet of
rice and fish.
“We lived in front of the river,
and my father used to catch fish,
so we ate fish a lot,” she said.
Festivals, such as Easter cele
bration, were also a highlight, as
the Christian family would enjoy
meat dishes such as beef.
Since fresh vegetables, fruits,
and fish were readily available,
Kunjappu’s father, George, who
did the grocery shopping, made
mom, turmeric, cumin, fennel
and fenugreek.
Vegetarian dishes are very
popular throughout India, but
Indians also cook with a variety
of meats, poultry and seafood.
Often times, the meat is cook
ed in a “masala” or sauce that is
made from a blend of spices and
usually contains tomatoes and
the trip to an open market for
fresh meat or other items once a
month.
Because of the heat, “we never
had cheese,” said Kunjappu, who
grew up without a refrigerator.
The little cheese the family ate
was made from yogurt.
Dairy products, however, were
also a staple of the family’s diet
as “we always had a sheep or
two” and occasionally a cow for
fresh milk twice daily.
“If we didn’t have a cow we
bought milk from neighbors who
had cows,” she said.
Although cow’s milk is avail
able, “sheep milk is really tasty,”
asserts Kunjappu, who also ate
“a lot of yogurt” growing up and
still uses it often in her cooking at
home.
Yogurt was eaten plain or
mixed with a little water and
spiced up with crushed ginger,
onion, pepper, and curry leaves
before it was poured over warm
rice.
“We made it every day,” she
said. One tablespoon of yogurt,
used as a starter, is added to milk
after it is boiled and then cooled
to lukewarm temperature. This
will produce more yogurt by the
next morning.
Chai, or tea, is a fixture in
India, as the drink is an essential
part of Asian hospitality. Accord
ing to Kunjappu, “there are a lot
of varieties of tea” in the country.
“When people come, it’s a rou
tine thing to offer them tea or
coffee,” she said, adding that
many of her Indian neighbors
had access to fresh coffee beans
growing in their backyard.
When the weather is too hot,
however, to serve tea, lemonade
squeezed from fresh lemons
grown on trees in the backyard
is also a refreshing treat.
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other vegetables such as peppers
and onions.
Rice is the main accompani
ment to a meal, but a variety of
other accompaniments are also
popular, including breads such as
naans, chapatis and the ever-fa
vorite pappadum a crispy len
til chip similar to a tortilla.
Traditional garnishes include
chutneys and “pickle,” which are
dips made with fruit, spices and
vegetables.
Dishes from southern India
tend to be very hot and spicy and
are traditionally served with rice,
while recipes from northern India
have more subtle and mild
flavors and are served with
breads made from wheat and
other grains.
North Indian cuisine is also
known for meats and breads
cooked in a clay and brick oven
called a tandoor.
Many people believe that pre
paring Indian cuisine at home
means hours of grinding spices,
chopping meats and dicing vege
tables, but making an Indian
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Featured Recipe
Breaking the vermicelli a thin noodle made of
wheat flour and water is one of the first steps in
making payasum.
Preparing Indian food at home does not have to mean hours
of grinding, chopping, and dicing.
The variety of Indian food products available in grocery
stores makes the unique flavors of India accessible to the busy
cook.
Here is a quick and easy recipe for a typical dessert from
southern India, the creamy “payasum.”
1 pack vermicelli
4 whole cardamom, crushed
1 cup water
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter, divided
V* cup cashews
V* cup raisins
1 tablespoon flaked coconut, or more if desired
Warm one tablespoon butter in a cooking pot. When it begins
to melt, break the vermicelli into small pieces and fry it, then
add crushed cardamom and one cup water. Cook for 5-10 min
utes then add condensed milk and more water if it is too thick
(it should have a soup-like consistency). Take it offbeat.
Fry cashes, raisins, and coconut with remaining one table
spoon butter.
Pour it into the vermicelli mixture. Ready to serve.
Whole cardamom are ground with a mortar and
pestle before they are added to the mixture.
PAYASAM