Be My Guest – Madhura Kalthappam

I don’t know how to start this post… I seriously don’t know… those initial days when my cooking craze had just started and I was madly checking blogs after blogs for recipes for trials… that was when I landed up at Melange. I was instantly attracted to this blog mainly because of the traditional recipes that she posted. From her recipes, I figured out that she belonged to our neighboring Thrissur district. As soon as I saw the post of Ethakka Kozhicurry, which is a curry of raw plantains and chicken – a very odd albeit a lip-smacking combination for me! – I turned my head towards my fellow Thrissurkaaran colleague seated a couple of seats from me and quickly asked him, “Do you have a combination like this?” Then he started explaining how awesome this combination is… despite his explanation having tickled my taste-buds, I am yet to try this recipe, lying in the fag end of my really long to-do list.

More than this, my interaction with her started from her Paal Vaazhakka post. I have already written about it in so much detail when I prepared it for my blog, as to how much that particular recipe ticked a lot of nostalgic boxes as far as I was concerned. I wouldn’t want to repeat it again… Dhyuthi, from then on, has been a lovely chechi to me. We have been keeping in touch on and off and I have loved our interaction so far. She has been really dotting and I sometimes feel that I have an elder sister that I don’t have in my actual life. Thank you for being such a sweetheart, Dhyuthi… just like I keep saying, you are one of the best things that have happened to me as a part of my food journey…

So what does she bring for me? Another recipe which tickles my memories!!! This is one dish that my aunty-in-law – my HD’s aunt – so effortlessly makes… She calls it “cookerappam” since it is made in a pressure cooker. I have never had this from our place, so the time we got married, I was hooked onto this whenever she made and since she knew I loved it, she would try to make it often for chai times, whenever we would be at home. I have tried making it a couple of times but failed in getting the correct texture, but now seeing Dhyuthi’s post, I feel I have to make this very very soon… Off to her post now…

Rafee, the vivacious young blogger came to Melange as a surprise. Her enthusiasm and vibrance struck me the first time she commented on my PalVazhakka post. It was quite touching to read her lines that spoke for memory and relations. I loved the way she could connect the entire idea of food with life. The young exuberant she remains, hers is a popular face in the food blogging scenario these days. A very confined person myself, it’s with much awe I see her as a person.