Oye guess what? I’m going to share a nugget of trivia with you that you might not have read anywhere before. It’s easier to go North from South than it is vice versa. Ahem. “Whaaa”, that’s probably what you’re screaming in your head at the mo. :D

Well well well, my mother in law (god bless her; she is a sweet and a heart) is visiting us these days. She’s a full-on South Indian cuisine expert. Obviously, you say. She has X number of years of experience behind her. Then there is the Punju me with my x number of months of experience of cooking a fusion of this and that. I can take any cuisine cooked any which way but when it comes to desi food, it HAS to be Punju style. Full shtop. I can handle South Indian shtyle daal-sabzi for one day, two day, but third day, I begin to get cranky and start throwing childish tantrums where I have to be lured to dining table with toys as a bait. At that point, I NEED my tarka!! Full and final! As they say in des, I am like this only! Pshh.

So in order to avoid any such tantrumish situations, I’ve devised a way to keep my Punju taste-buds happy in the midst of all the multicultural cooking that’s going on in our house these days. The strategy goes as such: Amma cooks daal and sabzi her style, everyone but me eats, and I add cumin, ginger and garlic tarka to my portion. Tain tain taiiiinnnn!!! :D How EASY and FABULOUS IS THAT!!! Saves me the work of cooking!!! And I get to please my tastebuds too!! :D

Don’t get me wrong … mother in law is a fabulous cook … I absolutely love her food over any South Indian restaurant food I’ve ever eaten … but c’mon guys, a kuri’s gotta have that garlic and ginger kick to her daal after a day or two, innit!!!

Without digressing more, point of the post is that it’s so much easier to ADD tarka and convert a South Indian daal to a North Indian daal … but how would you reverse the process, kaaliaa? :D :D :D Unless you add imli to any south indian preparation, most of them can be perked up (or down as you might perceive it) to a Punju palate. The reverse can’t really happen with that ease. How are you going to remove tarka from tarka daal, bhai log? :D

Ah I think I am liking this multicultural wedding deal. It makes you much equipped with worldly knowledge that might come in handy when you are fighting off demons that attempt to destroy this world in our lifetime.

Now you can pliss thank me for this piece of life-saving important post in the comment space. :p