Caribbean Beat — November/December 2018 (#154)

cookup
A feast
among
friends
Illustration by
Shalini Seereeram
For Hindus across the Caribbean,
Divali is a time for celebration,
and sharing with family and
friends. After years of enjoying
Divali hospitality, Franka Philip
is imagining her own version of a
festival feast — with some help
from an acquaintance who’s also
a brilliant chef. Here’s her perfect
Divali menu
I
always look forward to Divali, especially to enjoying the
festivities with my good friend Roger and his family. They
always welcome his rag-tag band of friends as if we were
also relatives. His mother is an impeccable host, and she
spares no effort to make sure we’re comfortable and wellfed.
She’s also an awesome cook, and every year I look
forward to her Divali menu: the curried vegetables and silky roti
followed by a dessert of traditional Indian sweets like barfi, gulab
jamun, peera, ladoo, and khurma.
With talk of Divali in the air — radio and newspaper adverts,
deyas for sale in the markets, and gorgeous newspaper photos of
Ramleela being re-enacted at grounds around Trinidad — I’ve
been wondering about Divali food. If I had the opportunity to
cook for Roger and his mom, for example, what would I prepare?
The Indian food we enjoy in the Caribbean is strongly influenced
by North Indian traditions, as most of the Indians who
came to the Caribbean were from Uttar Pradesh. So essentially
we’ve become accustomed to one style of Indian food. The meal
I’d cook would take influences from different parts of India —
especially the sweets. For a greater appreciation of traditional
and modern Indian cooking, my main point of reference is the
London-based Indian chef Vivek Singh. I met Singh in 2007, and
my first memory is of him giving me many samples from a booth
manned by the team from his world-famous restaurant The
Cinnamon Club. I’ve eaten at his restaurant several times, and
through his many books and articles, he continues to inspire me.
In his book Curry: Classic and Contemporary, Singh starts by
explaining that although curry is popular worldwide, he hardly
came across the word in his old menus from India. In fact, his
search for an “authentic definition” led Singh to travel through
India to find out what curry meant to people there. In Mumbai,
he said, there was a “palpable hesitation” from most people,
and he saw only one reference to “curry” on the many menus
he scoured. When Singh visited Bilaspur in Central India, most
people thought his question was “absurd,” because you could
“not group such a large variety of wonderful dishes under a
single umbrella.”
And now for my ideal Divali menu. For starters, I would recreate
Singh’s Punjabi chickpea fritters in yogurt curry,
to pay homage to North India. His recipe is closest to
the ones used in Uttar Pradesh. Pakoras are made from chopped
onions, spinach, chillies, fresh coriander, fresh ginger, and other
seasonings, with gram (chickpea) flour as the binding agent. The
yogurt curry — yes, yogurt is amazing in curry — includes gram
flour, turmeric, ghee, red chillies, cumin, fresh curry leaves, and
lemon juice.
To take advantage of the great seafood found in Caribbean
waters, the main course would be a kingfish curry. This particular
recipe, nadan meen kootan, is from South India. Kingfish, as
a robust fish, would go well with the combination of tamarind
and coconut milk called for in the recipe. I’d serve this dish with
our customary sides, like curried channa, bodi, pumpkin choka,
basmati rice, and roti.
Now, what about dessert? While there’s always space for
traditional sweetmeats, I want to take it to a different level. I
have a chat with Singh via Skype about Indian sweets and their
origins, as well as modern twists on the traditional.
He explains that at Divali, the goddess Lakshmi is venerated
along with the elephant god Ganesh. “Lakshmi brings fortune,
while Ganesh brings good luck, prosperity, and wisdom,” he
explains.
And the sweet attributed to Ganesh is ladoo, made with
chickpea flour. “You will find ladoo all over the country. People
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