Rava Idly Etc.,

Nivi and Aditya took me to Sargar for South Indian food, on Sunday the 1st of March. Iddy/Dosa says Nivi has colonized all India from the south, like in the sphere of women's dress the salwar has done the same, from the North. I thought that was insightful. She is a smart person! No insight there :)
In Sagar, I discovered a whole lot of food that was new to me; as I always do -- there is so much variety in every kind of indian food! There were many things to try, so apart from my obligatory ghee dosa, which i simply had to have-- i had rava idly.
rava idly, as it turns out, is made of semolina and coconut, and only really shares a method of preparation from the regular kind I'm used to.



first off, i loved the slice of tomato that had been steamed in. i thought that was really smart and made the dish look so beautiful. the texture of the idly was grainier than the regular one, and it broke more easily in my fingers, the taste also being different. i guess there are many ways to make this: here is a variation i found on the web, with photographs lovelier than mine.

after breakfast, i was dropped off, by request at the National Gallery of Modern Art. I had been there before, but now the gallery has been expanded to a large new wing in two interconnected sections, that is separate from the old Jaipur House. It is, I thought, an extraordinary collection, especially the very contemporary work, which was nearly all new to me. Much of the work, I thought was incredibly good. I spent nearly fours hours wondering around, the only draw backs being the crazy, unmoderated ambient light, the misdirected spot lights and the lack of drinking water inside the gallery.
Actually a cafe with coffee would have been even better! Still just drinking from the ad hoc water bottle thing outside, and returning to wonder around more, was a good way to get over the excessive eating of the dosa and idly.

when i was done i walked through the old sculpture garden, which i had never photographed before.


then i some art work of my own, until Nivi and Aditya picked me up:

Tomato soup & idly, with red chili, tomato chutney

It turned out very complimentary – and so, I’ve declared them fused!

The tomato soup, started with a chicken stock foundation, a good amount of tomatoes, flavored with lots of ginger and garlic, spiced with white pepper and black, and highlighted at the end, with a little tomato puree, and sugar. So much for that.

Soup is always good with bread of course. And I love, kade paan. But then I had a thought: well soup is to bread, as idly is to sambar, right? So why not cross fertilized. And so, I tried the Tomato soup with idly. Now idlies, which I love, can be quite bland. What makes them go is the particular coconut chutney that goes with it. And if it’s a tomato, red chili chutney, you’ve really got things singing along.
The rich, yet clean taste of tomato soup was well complimented by the hot, spicy taste and soft texture of the chutney inflected idly.

Its a tribute to the taste of tomatoes, really.