Everyone has that one particular favourite dish that is familiar and comforting. That one dish that can add flavour to blandest of days.
The joys of comfort foodIt’s been many years since I left my parents’ home and moved to Bangalore to live and work on my own. And I have to say I really enjoy living in my own. I like my apartment, I’ve got plenty of friends and all my basic needs are taken care of. In short, I’m very comfortable. And yet, there are some days that I find myself craving for something only my mum can provide me. Nothing exotic or profound really – I simply find myself longing for the delicious, typical Maharashtrian poha my mum makes.
Poha! What is it about that poha? It’s not like I like it too much, I can think of a zillion other things I like much more than poha. But there’s just something about it that spells “home” to me.
Sometimes I think comfort food is as close to time travel as we’ll ever get. Each bite has the power to transport you to happier times in your childhood when mom’s cooking and a hug was all you needed to deal with your problems.
I began to wonder, was it just me or did everyone else also turn to one particular dish which brought them solace and comfort? I did a little survey to find out what the most popular “comfort foods” were. To my surprise, it wasn’t something exotic and complicated! More often than not, it was simple home cooked food that had people drooling and sighing in desire.
The comfort foods survey – Results!
Idlis: Who would have imagined that this humble “rice battered savoury cake from South India”, as Wikipedia likes to describe it, would make it to the list? Some friends even went far enough to profess their undying love for idlis! One said and I quote – “My day isn’t complete without it!!” Yes, I know, I have weird friends.
Parathas: Transcending all states, was the paratha. Stuffed with potato or just plain, the paratha found favour with all kinds of Indians – the north, south, east and west! The thing that varied was the choice of gravies ranging from chicken curry to dahi (yoghurt) to pickle and butter!
Daal chawal: In its many forms, be it Rajama chawal or Sambar rice or Rasam rice or even the simple khichdi did really well on my survey. Not surprising, considering we are predominately a rice eating nation.
Thupka: If you have ever been to a small Tibetan restaurant, you’re bound to have come across the thupka. A steaming bowl of the original “soupy noodles” was the hot favourite with all my northeastern survey takers.
Biryani: Sigh! I guess, for some of us, biryani spells home food. Even though I’m not one of them, I can surely understand their love for it. One survey taker was describing his favourite biryani – “I don’t know if you’ve had it, it’s not dum biryani, it’s this spicy green one which my mom makes. Okay, I’m drooling now!”
Curd rice: I know for most south Indians, the meal isn’t complete till they’ve tucked in a little bit of curd rice. For me, curd rice spells comfort when my tummy hasn’t been behaving itself. With a little bit of tadka and sweet lime pickle on the side. How many of you can almost taste it?
Chhole bhature: I must admit, I was surprised to find this make its way on my list. I mean, after all, how many people could like the greasy bhature and the heavily spiced chhole? Plenty, as it turns out. Me included!
So now that I have you salivating on your keyboards, it’s time to ask you the inevitable question. What are you craving for?
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Photograph by ampersandyslexia via Creative Commons
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