My Kitchen or your Kitchen

Dear newly weds, give at most attention when you pack your stuff from India. Keep in mind once you are here, you get almost all masala powders ( almost all famous brands) but you don't get most of the special patrams (like puttukutti, Appa Chatti, Kadai for Meen curry etc) to make your favourite dishes (even if you get them, you will be paying triple the amount of money in US to get one like that). Then you wait for your next trip to India or to depend on somebody coming from India.

So pack the following.........

• A small pressure cooker (it will be useful to cook dal (parippu) for two of you)


• A medium size pressure cooker with idli lid fitting for that


• To save space and weight of your luggage get a puttukutti which fits on top your pressure cooker
  
• Appa chatti


• Chatti for Mean curry (only if possible, I managed to bring two of them)


• a small deep frying pan


• A chappthi Thava


• A Dosa thava (don't think you can use one for both. If you are doing it, you will spoil one of your dish)

(Thava's are optional. You get very good thava's here)

If your mom or mom-in-law gives you 'kudampuli' don't forget to bring it. It will take sometime for you to find a store which sells Kudampuli. ( When I was coming to US for the first time ( one year before 911 and increased security checking) I packed two big packets of kudampuli. In Bombay I had to rearrange my luggage and somehow the kudampuli packet ended up in my hand bag. At customes they asked me what's that and I said to them it is a well dried fruit. At that time they agreed to take it with me. Now I have no idea what they will do. Keep it in your check-in bag. After that I did bring puli twice by keeping it in my check-in bag)

NOW YOU ARE HERE......FIRST WEEKEND......READY FOR YOUR FIRST SHOPPING?

Do you have a long list of items to be purchased.

-Don't forget to get a good set of knives (You should keep separate ones for meat and veggies)

-Cutting board (That also one for meat and one for Vegetables)

-set of pyrex bowl

- A mixer -grinder (hi...hi.. here you don't get that, you get only blenders. Ostrizer is the best. Select one with glass bowl)

I did burn 3 blenders in 3months before I get settled down with my present ostrizer. Since there is a 6mon. return policy we didn't loose money. But I am not alone. I know at least 10 Indian ladies who burned their blender in first month of stay here. Rule of thumb you cannot grind things the way we do in India with our mom's 20-25 year old still in good condition Sumeet Mixy(am I correct). We need to put more water in Ostrizer. So forget about grinding black gram (uzhunnu) for soft vada. You have to find other ways to impress your hubby with vada. What I do is gring uzhunnu in small lots adding a little bit extra water to it and then add a spoon full of Rava to thcken it. If you can afford to buy a US version of sumeet it will be good purchase (it will cost around $ 180). My friend is still using with no problems

If you can manage to get this (Edi Kallu) it is a sure asset to your kitchen. Now a days most of the Indian grocery stores has this for just $10. You will also find metallic version of them same thing. You will find it easy to crush coconut, ginger, garlic or spices in small amounts with this.

-Then your Atta (fine wheat flour), rice , masalas etc

( My favourite brand of Atta is Lakshmi, Rice Basmati- Tilda, Jasmine Rice and I also get Kerala Nirapara rice for regular use. For our usual spices periyar brand is my first choice then Eastern. I select periyar brand puttu podi, appam podi. Idli and Appam, most of them time I grind rice.)

Here is the funny part of my first grocery shopping. I got all masalas from India and it lasted for more than one year. I went to a Punjabi grocery store to get Atta and we saw different forms of atta, fresh ground wheat flour etc. I didn't know what to buy neither my Rajasthan brought up hubby. But we both remembered our moms used get wheat from stores, get it ground and make soft chappati's. So we decided to buy wheat flour (not atta). I made poori with it and turned out to be pappadam (very hard). Made chappati, it didn't come blown. So it was also a disaster. Then my northindian friend showed me the atta and also gave directions to make good chappati. Now after seven years I am an expert in making both poori and chappati (after getting job I am a little lazy to make it daily. Myhubby has to remind me each and every time)

PS: Those who are in philadelphia area

My best choices for Kerala grocery shopping are The new house of spices on Rhawn street( they bring fresh fish, mutton and beef on every Thursday. Owner is friendly and helpfull). Kavitha Groceries on Welsh Rd (in Welsh Shopping center). They also bring fresh fish on Thursdays and Fridays). JJ Groceries between Market street and 69 street.There are a number of other malayalee grocery stores in and around Roosevelt Blvd.