The Onion Chutney Brahmastra

For people ignorant of Hindu mythology, I have to explain in some detail that many Indian epic heroes and valiant kings of yore undertook intense penance and subjected their bodies and even their minds to extreme levels of physical strain to please their gods so immensely, that they readily granted any boon their devotees sought. And what did the epic heroes ask? Quite often they asked their gods such  powerful weapons that it was feared some of them could destroy the entire world. The Sanskrit word for weapon is 'Astra' and the 'Bramha Astra' or Bramhastra was supposed to be such a fearsome weapon that even George Bush - well, he represents a contemporary powerful person -would wet his pants!

And now, my friend is one of four siblings (all sons) whose mother is a very affectionate and voluble woman with a perennial genial disposition. The friends of all the four sons simply admire her for her warmth and affection and even more for her generosity. Numerous are the times when she compels us to sit with her and enjoy the food as she doles out, what in Kannada is called 'Kayyi Thuthoo'. Kayyi in Kannada means hand, and thuthoo means a morsel.  So you have it: a hand morsel. Well, this is a way of sharing food in a sort of communion, where the mother mixes out large quantities of cooked rice with Sambar, Rasam, yogurt and so on. The Sambar-Rice combo is scooped out in the palm and worked out into fairly large spherical balls that would fit in the palm and are handed out to the avid, hungry admirers squated cross-legged on the barren floor, who heartily devour the delectable fare.  The fare doled out is also accompanied by many dollops of interesting anecdotes of her village life when she was a young girl, and more interesting ones after she wed and moved to Bangalore.

The four sons have their individual tastes and each of them likes a different dish of their mother's cooking. So if the eldest son loves the 'Avarekai Saru' (a type of soup made from a particular variety of bean found in South India), the second one loves the mixed vegetable Kootu. It seems the third son prefers Ash Gourd Majjige Huli (a type of dish made from yogurt) and the last sibling loves his mother immensely just for the way she makes the Rasam. So the mother is able to hold the reins of her four horses and direct the chariot of her family ably and deftly where she wants it to go.

However there are occasional problems. The four sons are married after all, and it is quite natural to find the attentions of her sons flagging at times and straying more towards their wives. The mother is a wise woman and she lets the sons stray, for after all it is their lives, but when she finds the attentions of one of her sons weakening below a critical limit, she chooses to cook the favorite dish of that son and invites him for a lunch with a degree of nonchalance, that the son immediately accepts the invitation. On arriving at the mother's house he is exhilarated that she has perchance cooked his favourtie dish, and the sons energy levels towards the mother are recharged. The timing and spacing of the intervals of such 'Kayyi thuthoo' invitations are handled with immense restraint and wisdom.

Despite all care taken, it has happened very, very occasionally that the sons have strayed away from the mother in a rather threatening way. It has indeed happened once or twice that despite inviting all the four sons they have seemed to stray rather irrevocably. For such dire emergencies she employs the Onion Chutney Bramhastra.

To let you in on her secret, this is a dish cooked from a mixture of onions, coconut and a combination of spices in amounts that is a closely guarded secret. This dish seems to be the avowed favorite of not only the four sons but is also immensely appreciated by all the four daughters-in-law as well. This dish is prepared by her in such an exquisite way that all differences, divisions and boundaries seem to just melt away and one seems to acquire the ultimate yogic experience of 'unifying with the divine'. With the Onion Chutney-Cooked Rice  Kayyi thuthoo, peace and order and dharma is restored in the universe.

The Recipe

Onion                                      - 1/2 kg
Red Chillies (Byadgi type)     - 20 to 25
Fenugreek (Methi seeds)        - 3/4th teaspoon
Mustard seeds                         - 2 (two) teaspoons
Asafoetida (Hing)                   - one pinch
Tamrind                                  - a ball of about a medium lemon.
Jaggery Powder                      - 1 to 2 (one to two) teaspoons
Oil                                          - 4 or 5 (Four to Five) tablespoons
Salt                                         - to taste

                                      Method

1. Chop the onions to small pieces.
2. Dry roast Fenugreek and red chillies. And powder it in blender.
3. To this powder add onions, tamrind, salt, jaggery powder and make a fine paste in a blender
    without adding water.
4. In a kadai heat the oil sufficiently (for seasoning) and pour mustard seeds. After the mustard sputters, add asafoetida and the onion paste.
5. Saute the contents of the kadai in a low flame till the raw onion flavour disappears.
6. During sauteing a little oil may be added if necessary.
7.  Fine-tune the taste by a little manipulation.


Note:  This recipe is as much as my friend's mother revealed to my wife. As it is a secret that one woman has cared to reveal to another, much may still be hidden that prevents the dish to come up to the standards of the 'original' as developed by my friend's mother !  :-0