It is the 14th of March, 6:30 am. Honnavar spring morning at its best. We get a chirpy call from Aditi & Mina, they inform us that their team is waiting at SDM College. Off we go to receive them and first
surprise of the day - Team of young chefs – average age being 7 years.
Facilitators at team buDa were undoubtedly happy to be
amidst children. It was a wonderful experience to see the little ones jus woken up
from their sleep trudging with their bag-packs and eyes all observant about the
new surroundings and people. At the same time the team was confused, curious
and wondered how these children will cope with the culinary challenges lined up
for the next couple of days.
Challenge for Day 1:
Confluence at the local market
The task for the day was to visit the local market and
source any vegetable or fruit or root or green leafy vegetable or nuts that
they haven’t seen in Bangalore! To
start with, everybody did wonder if that is possible as Bangalore and Honnavar
are still in the same state – Karnataka.
The group was split into two teams and each team was given
a budget of fifty rupees to complete the task. The teams nominated their
respective treasurers to handle the money and it was agreed that everybody in
the team would discuss before making the final decision on how to spend the
money.
The local market was eye-candy indeed for the little ones.
It was interesting to see the group dynamics and the maturity of 7 year olds in
curtailing their desires of buying catapults, handmade windmills, ice candies
and other colourful toys in the market. It was tough decision making for them –
unappealing roots and leaves to eat Vs interesting and colurful hand made toys.
So, what did the teams buy?
Team 1: A bag full of Soppu. They were happy that they got
a discount from the store and saved Rs 10 !!
Team 2: 275gms of Kokum for Kokum juice. They fell head
over heels seeing the dried and shrivelled purple colour fruit. It was a
unanimous decision - The brown and hairy roots lost the battle to kokum.
Challenge for Day 2 :
– Master Chef competition.
3 groups - 3 different dishes – & Master Chef style of
tasting. Jus that the panel didn’t have 3 but 20 tasters who would critically
review and give feedback on possible changes to the recipe to suit their taste
buds.
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Team 1: Was
entrusted with the task of making Kai - Hallu - Kadabu.If this dish were to figure on the menu of a upscale
restaurant in Bangalore, the menu would read – “Steamed cucumber and rice
dumplings cooked in banana leaves and served with the coconut milk”
With Vijaya-akka and Gowri-akka as their facilitators, the
little master chefs were at it in all earnest – from grating the cucumbers and
grinding the coconut on the granite stone to making the dumplings, carefully
wrapping them in banana leaves and steaming them.
Team 2:
Tambulis and Kashayas.
‘Amma’ was clearly the favourite teacher among the
children and this group was over joyous about having her as their facilitator.
The hush–hush conversations among the children revealed that ‘Amma’ had magic
in her hands. You ask them the rationale and the answer is: How else can one
make thirst quencher tambulis to die for, healthy - coloured juices from
flowers and bark of trees and kashayas that tasted yummy and have one wanting
for more?? !!
Team 3: Soppu and Mango Pickle.
This team’s challenge was to make a side dish with the
soppu they sourced from the market the previous day and make an instant mango
pickle to ring in the onset of summer.
With all chopping boards and knives hijacked by other
teams, this team was given the ‘thuri mane’ to use. There was competition from
all in the team not just to use it but animated conversations on how their
grannies use it till date in their ancestral homes/native towns.
While Nirmala-akka, the facilitator for this group was
wondering her team would fare given the tough task of using the ‘thuri mane’
– they surprised her on how their tiny yet nimble fingers can slowly but
steadily get through the task of chopping the greens and the mangoes.
Besides these complex tasks assigned on Day 1 & 2, the
children also got a hands on experience in making:
* Huri akki undi -
Multigrain,fat and gluten free ladoos. They thoroughly enjoyed the
process of grinding all the ingredients, moulding hot ladoos and popping in the
fresh hot ladoos!
* Divshis - Desi version of momos. It was almost a
clay-modelling class in session. The shapes and sizes that were moulded from
rice flour dough were fascinating!
* Shavige - Rice Noodles. Besides the grinding stone and
the ‘Thuriy mane’ the wooden ‘shavige’ maker caught their fancy. The shape of
this kitchen tool reminded them of the hand pump and it intrigued them that
fine rice noodles were made from the monster like thing.
* Toda Devu - Hot Crepes.
These are thin crepes made from rice flour and jaggery. The minute the
thin batter is spread on the pan, folded neatly and placed on the plate in
vanishes into thin air. There was stiff competition between Vijaya- akka and
the chefs (who by now transformed into food tasters) on the skill front: Skill
of making these crepes Vs the skill of deftly whacking away the yummy crepes
from the plate.
The remark from one such food taster, felt like an award
for Vijaya-akka and Gowri-akka, ‘….these crepes are better than the ones you
get in U.B.City in Bangalore.’ It also got the food tasters wondering if the
chefs got the original recipe from their Portuguese or British ancestors??!!
We didn’t really conduct a survey on what are the top 10
foods they enjoyed, but purely going by the taste meter and a rough estimate of
the number of units consumed per head, the Top 10 would look like:
1) Lemon grass tambuli
2) Instant Mango pickle
3) Kokum juice
4) Holige
5) Toda Devu
6) Divshi
7) Kotte Idlis
8) Bay leaf sweet
9) Plain Shavige
10)Kai Halu Kadabu
The absolute NO- NO on the school kitchen menu would be
Ragi Ambli. While they had good fun and competition using the grinding stone to
grind ragi, the taste of the ambli didn’t win their taste buds.
“All work and no play can make Jack a dull boy” – To keep
the spirits high the chefs were entertained with folk games, folk art form –
Shedi Kale, mat weaving, leaf craft, interaction with the village school children and some fun at the
beach.
Some moments captured during their playtime.
