Malabar Cooking Wars

Married to a family who never tire of preparing great food and relishing it with vigour, I couldn’t muster enough courage to prepare many of the Tellicherry/Mahe/Kozhikode dishes. However, I excelled at many other dishes, especially North-Indian veg curries, Arabian salads and many of my mom’s delicacies from further up North in Kasaragod/Mangalore. The much-acclaimed Biriyani prepared in these parts was never in my ”CV”. The mutton/chicken stew usually came out well. Gradually, I picked up confidence and succeeded in preparing chicken and mutton biryani as well though I continued to be a failure in preparing the holy grail-the fish biryani. To add to the woes, I altogether quit cooking, hired a chef from 2006 onwards as I was back in university, and subsequently full-time work. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic put me in a situation where I had to resume cooking. I realised the repetitive nature of preparing the same dish over and over again makes one an expert with respect to the intricacies of cooking. But I have to tell you, without your heart in it, you cannot achieve the desired result. Today, I can proudly announce that I have attained a sense of satisfaction cooking fish biryani the central Malabar way! Congrats me! #MalabarCookingWars#interMalabarPeace