I’m a Malayalee who spent a significant number
of my growing up years outside Kerala. This piece of land on the Malabar Coast
has its own unique culture, tradition and way of life. If you are not brought
up here you may just not get modus operandi of the place.
Confession 1 : The Malayalee’s Obsession with
the Coconut.
The sun
was up in the eastern horizon in Kunnathur, the birds were chirping and some
melodious Malayalam song was being played in the radio .The new bride me steps
into the kitchen determined to learn some cooking. My mother-in-law looks at me
with hope in her eyes, the hope to turn me into the next Masterchef. I give her
the I-will-live-up-to-your-expectation look. She smiles and then hands me a
half coconut. I receive it with enthusiasm. “Do you know what to do with it?”
she asks me. I stare at the coconut curiously for a while and then back at her.
Obviously I didn't have a clue.
Then she points to the coconut shredder placed
at the corner of the kitchen. Now for
those of you who haven’t seen one, let me take the liberty of explaining it. It
is a narrow plank of wood with legs that looks like a mini stool fit for
probably a 5 year old to sit. Attached to one end of this stool is what a circular blade. Again I stared at the Shedder curiously for
a while and then back at her. She smiles
and asks me “Have you used this before?” I nod my head in humiliation. In Abu Dhabi where I grew up I've seen my dad pick up a
packet of grated coconut from the departmental store and my mom storing it in
the freezer.
“Don’t worry”, she says “I’ll show you how it is
done.” She sits on the plank took the coconut from hand and starts grating it
with great ease. “Oh! Is that all!” I
tell her, “No problem I shall do this.” I enthusiastically take the coconut
from her hands and assure her that the job will be done in a jiffy.
I sit on the plank stool and something doesn't feel right. I get up and closely examine it. That is when the realization strike
me that sitting on this fragment of a stool alone will be a Herculean task. So I
manage to sit (read bend, flex and balance) on the plank and then I imitate the
up-and-down motion of the coconut on the round blade. The coconut refuses to
budge and I wasn't ready to let go… What followed was a 15 minutes of brutal combat with me on one end
and the coconut on the other.
To cut the long story short, my brother-in-law
who was watching this entire fiasco first in amusement later in bemusement
volunteers to help. Alhamdulillah for the small mercies in life.
After
that day I just can’t look the coconut in the eye without a bit of heartache.
Later that day I got to the bottom of the coconut story. First you call the
coconut climber to throw the coconut down from the tree. Then you barbarically
dehusk it to get the shell. After which you crack it open and grate it away to
glory.
Coconut forms an integral part of the Kerala cuisine. We make sure we use all part of the coconut tree in our daily living and all parts of the coconut for daily cooking. The coconut water makes a refreshing drink. The dried copra goes into making the coconut oil. Coconut gratings whether fresh or dried goes into the making of the chutney, puttu or curry.What I don’t get is that why didn't we Malayalees find a simpler nut to be obsessed with.
Coconut forms an integral part of the Kerala cuisine. We make sure we use all part of the coconut tree in our daily living and all parts of the coconut for daily cooking. The coconut water makes a refreshing drink. The dried copra goes into making the coconut oil. Coconut gratings whether fresh or dried goes into the making of the chutney, puttu or curry.What I don’t get is that why didn't we Malayalees find a simpler nut to be obsessed with.
Confessions to be continued… may be some other day…
