10-8-2024
Slowly we are entering the last week. From counting weeks to counting days. Last Saturday we visited Geo Fernandez and his family. It was agreed upon long ago that we would have breakfast there and that Jaklien would learn to bake dosa's. Finally the day had come. Around a quarter past nine we ordered a rickshaw via Uber, that drove us to the house on Popular Road, where Geo lives with his family. The extended Fernandez family lives in several houses close to each other: his father's younger brother lives in the house next door, and cousins live across from him. The name Fernandez goes back to Portuguese roots. Geo shares his house with his parents, his wife Karen and their three daughters, Claire, Haylen and Hester.
We arrived as we had agreed, around a quarter to ten. The dosa batter was already made. The batter for dosa's must be made at least one day in advance. It is made from
ground rice, gram and a little salt and water. After spreading a thin layer of batter on a flat hot plate, the dosa is coated on the top with ghee. Making dosa's is a bit like frying pancakes, but the dosa is fried only on one side, until it begins to crisp at the top. The underside is then light brown. You can optionally top a dosa with different kinds of “toppings,” such as masala (spiced potato) or onion. If you add this, you fold the dosa in half after baking.
You can also use the batter from the dosa to make idly, a kind of steamed cakes, which require a special idly pan.
Baking appam
Appam is another breakfast dish. Here yeast is added to the batter to make the pancakes a bit fluffier. Appam is fried in a kind of mini-wok, the appa chati, so the center is thicker than the edges. You can put stuffing on this too, like tomato and onion. Then the other side of the appam is also fried. Both appam and dosa are often eaten with a (vegetable) curry, and with various chutneys. Both dishes are a delicious start to the day.
After brunch, we stayed with the family. The daughters, aged 9, 5 and 3, sang and danced for us. And they showed us a video of a school project of the middle daughter and the first Communion of the oldest. The young ladies, after initially being shy, became livelier quickly. Especially Hester, the youngest member of the family, is a rascal who is always pushing the limits. We saw that Geo is a very loving father who has his hands full on his daughters. Very different from how he comes across at St. Albert's.
While Geo's daughters and parents entertained us, his wife Karen and he himself provided lunch. By one-thirty, the table was full of various dishes. A delicious vegetable pulao, and ghee rice. Chicken curry and some other dishes. They really made an effort for us. Jaklien already had the desire to buy a cookbook with recipes from Kerala. After this pleasant visit, we immediately put that wish into action.
Close to the campus, there is a bookstore, the Fathers told us. And by golly.... we have walked past it countless times over the past six months without even noticing. Although we know that we need to look at buildings a little more three-dimensionally-i.e., at the facade, at the floor(s) above, and at the buildings behind-that's not in our system at all. This bookstore was situated on the second floor. Above the Vodafone store that we have visited a few times already. And that in turn is above a little restaurant, where we have eaten several times.
Anyway, eventually we found the bookstore, and succeeded in our search for a cookbook. Hopefully now we will be able to make some of the delicious snacks, desserts and dishes we have tasted here over the past six months, when we're back in the Netherlands.
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