Supari, Killi or Dhiri (Part 2)

Guys...

I'm back. Got about 2 hours of sleep. Believe me, I didn't intend to wake so early. For whatever reason, I can't sleep well these days. Don't let me bore you talking about my insomnia. Let's continue the "supari thing".

In mid November (if I remember correctly), I had an interview in an area called Whitechapel. That area turned out to be more of a Pakistani area. After the interview, I went looking around. I saw a lot of Asian shops and bought some stuff because it's quite cheap compared to the shops in my area. While I was looking around one shop, something suddenly caught my eyes. It's called "PAN PARAG - Delicious Pan Masala". Hehe... "Dhoom Macha De... Rang Jama de...". I've no idea what that means. It's an Indian product. It was in a silver-blue can (size of a medium heeraa panna can). Quite expensive as well; about £2. I took the can and read the ingredients. Alright; betel-nuts (foah), catechu (no idea), cardamom (kaafooru tholhi), lime, menthol, and some flavours. That's not bad. It's better to have it rather than not having anything at all. Price doesn't matter anymore. I bought it. I went into another shop, found the same stuff and was looking around. Guess what??? Oh man!!! Rasilyyyyyyyyyy... Never been so happy. I bought 2 box. Hehe. I was so happy that day. It felt so tasty, probably because I haven't had that for a long time. And about that pan masala, it tastes horrible. The smell is kind of weird; sweet and mint plus some other smell. I think the smell of some traditional medical thing. Whatever, ate it only once.

Anyway, mid this month, I found another shop that sells Rasili. It's about 25 minutes here, not that far. I bought 1 box from there. I wish I had bought a few more. I'd definitely buy more, next time. I ran out of supari on Saturday, I had only 3 packets left. I was planning to go shopping on Sunday. As it sometimes does, my luck turned me down the next day. It was so cold and foggy; visibility was around 6-10 metre. So I couldn't go out. I had 1 packet left; poor me. Went through that day thinking about it a lot. So one Monday, I went to that shop and they had no Rasily. It was all gone. But few weeks back, they had sooo much. The only other supari they had was called Mehefil Deluxe Supari; it's Pakistani. I bought 2 box. Do you think I had any other option? I wish I did.

You're going to laugh at me again. What was inside the box was, not what I expected. Of course, it's small packets of supari. But what was inside it? At first, I didn't even think about that. I put 1 whole packet into my mouth without even looking. Oh man!! Reminds me of last year, when I was in India. I was dining at some restaurant with my cousin. They brought a tray like thing after we finished eating. But on it wasn't anything like what we get back home after dinner. It was a mixture of aniseed (dhiri), mini-sugar cubes, and some other stuff. I tasted it but didn't eat it. Well, this supari was kind of like that.  It contains betel-nuts, dry date, aniseed, cardamom (kaafooru tholhi), and some flavours. It's mostly aniseed; rest of the ingredients weren't much.

I'm eating it now. It doesn't taste that good, but I sort of like it now. Whatever!! hehe... I can't go without normal supari. I need it. I miss it everyday. I miss the areca-nuts, betel leaves, clove, and heeraa panna. But, I don't think I'd find it here anyway. I will go to that shop again, probably next week. I'll tell you about it, if I get Rasily. Thank you for listening to me moaning about my life. I know. I'm crazy. I'll come back to you later with more crazy stuff.  

Cheers!!

Hammett Image Source: Aromantic, UK

Supari, Killi or Dhiri (Part 1)

How many days can you go without areca-nut, supari, or maybe kill? Especially, if you are a smoker. Not a problem in Maldives though!! But for most of us, living or studying abroad, it's hard to find and some people gets used to not having it. I'm not one them. I need it as badly as I need to smoke. Not that bad, maybe!! I don't know.

I didn't bring supari with me when I came here. Damn me!! Well, I had night flight and I was so busy that day, I totally forgot about it until quarter past eleven. All shops were closed then. I was planning to buy at least 3 or 4 box. Unlucky me!! A colleague of mine gave me something that night. Guess what?? A packet of killi. Don't laugh at me!!! It's not that small. The size of a "chicken-ring" packet. Guess I'm not that unlucky after all. Thanks to Zuney.

I had that killi packet for about 2 months. I was eating it bit by bit. I didn't want to finish it off, or not to eat it. Sounds like my thoughts are quite contrary, right? Still, that's how I felt about it. Thinking about this, a rather sad thought just struck me. Those poor kids, orphaned or born to poor families, they'd be taking food and water in quite the same way or maybe worse. How sad is that? I sometimes think about it, you know. Do you? So sad. Let's not jump back and forth between subjects. When I finished that killi packet (it was sad day), I didn't throw it away. Although there was nothing to eat. Did you just picture me eating the packet? No, I didn't. I just kept it and I started taking "sugarfree gum" more than usual. Sometimes, I rather wished I was in an Asian country. Then, it wouldn't be so hard to find things like that.

Well, I got to sleep now. It's very late and I don't want to make this article any longer than it already is. I haven't finished this story yet. I'd return with part 2, once I wake up. I know that you can't stand me carping. Sorry about it. Thank you for listening anyway.

(To be continued...)

Cheers!!

Hammett Image Source: Spices of India

Another Hilarious and Strange Day in the Kitchen

Dear blog readers,

You might have read my first article about cookery. That lesson being learned, I've purchased necessary items for cooking. Maybe not everything yet, hehe. Well, just as I normally do, I had this strong desire to eat roshi and baked beans again last night. Believe me, my appetite is uncontrollable. With enough motivation to get off my arse, I went into the kitchen.

It was a bit messy in there. One of my flatmate did not clean up after cooking. I made up some space and cleared a bit, spread all the required items on the kitchen counter and I reached for the "electric jug kettle" to boil some water. The jug is a cordless one with a docking station connected to the power outlet. It was half empty; there's an indicator showing the level water in it. I wanted to empty a bit more because it'd take less time to boil. When I tried to lift it, it felt heavier (maybe because of the amount of water in it) than usual. After emptying half of the water in that, it was kind of weird when I tried to put the jug back on the dock. I turned on the power switch on the jug, but it didn't come up. I got worried. Stupid me!! The power switch on the wall outlet was switched off. hehe. I put it on, and still no change. It's more strange now. Maybe it wasn't properly placed on the dock. There's a spiral part protruding from the surface of the dock which goes into the jug connecting power to the heating element. I put my hands on top of the jug, and I pushed it down. Hooray!!! I got it working, but I had to keep it pressed down. In a few seconds, it started making a rather strange noise instead of the usual bubbly sound. Hehe... What have I done? I took the jug up to eye level and looked at the bottom. To my utter surprise, it's surface was burnt. But it shouldn't overheat, because it automatically goes off when water is boiled. Probably a manufacture defect. It must've being caused by someone else who used it before. That's why it felt different when I first lifted the jug. Scared the hell out of me though, it could've have caused a fire.

Anyway, I had to boil water in a pan now. Kneading the dough like a professional (:P) made me feel good this time. Took me less time with the proper stuff for rolling, I was ready to cook. Before moving on to baking, I chopped onion, garlic, and chillies; because I wanted to cook both at the same (to save time ;)). I fried those stuff with curry leaves, and put tuna, then tomato paste, and lastly baked beans. I know I did it wrong. Hehe... When I asked my cousin later, it seems that I've to put tomato before adding tuna. Next time ;)... While cooking that, I started baking roshi. It wasn't easy, I was in a rush. I wish I had four hands (Don't you wish, sometimes). I had to keep stirring baked bean and baking roshi... haha.. Using the spatula to lift roshi was making it too slow, so I  take it with my bare hand sometimes. End up burning a finger, because I tried to lift the pan instead of roshi, not to mention that a few of them were overcooked.

Forget the bad experiences, food turned out to be awesome. :)) That's the most important thing. Oh!! I almost forgot dinner. I could stay here writing all night, but I wouldn't. I'm going to get some food. Thanks listening to me babbling. I try not to do it, but here I've done it again.

Cheers!

Hammett

Kitchen Experiment - Making Chapati

It's been a while since I wanted to make chapati (roshi). When ever I think about it, I get the feeling that it would be too difficult and I would mess up. I sort of did. hehe...I'm gonna tell you about it. Today, I decided to see how it goes. Within this week, I enquired a few of my friends about the procedure. Let's see how I did it.

I put plain flour into a medium sized mixing bowl. Then I made a hole in the middle, and put some cooking oil, little bit of salt, and hot water. I started kneading with one hand, added more water and continued. I was afraid that I would mess it by adding more water. Hehe... But it was dry and hard to knead, so I added more and more water. Finally I got the right feel; it got smooth and pliable (more dough like). Done with kneading, I divided it into ping-pong sized balls (just 6, not much).

Ready for rolling now. I didn't have have a rolling pin or a board. How disappointing huh? I forgot to buy it the other day, and didn't go shopping today. It's time for improvisation. Using a can of baked beans as rolling pin and a baking tray as rolling surface, I started. I had to dust the surface of baking tray, so that the dough wouldn't stick and would be easy to flatten. It was a difficult job. People don't use cans as rolling pins (now they do, :P); it was too short. Took me about 15-20 minutes to roll out 6 roshi. A few of them were in good shape, while others were shaped as some obscure country on the map.

Cooking it wasn't hard not to mention that I overcooked some. Hehe... I enjoyed the dinner so much; roshi, baked beans (with tuna) and black tea. So homely meal, I savoured every mouthful. Well, roshi was a bit hard (not rock hard...hehe), stiff, thick and difficult to eat. I enjoyed making it and I'll do a lot better next time. I hope I wouldn't forget to buy the rolling pin or else I might end up using a pen next time. hehe.. A good experience and definitely an add-on to my menu.

 

Cheers!!!

-Hammett-