It is our first Diwali and we are guests of our new friend, Pravina. Her invitation leads to a lesson in Indian home cooking delivered with love and light.
Rangoli design created by Pravina’s daughter in the courtyard entry
During Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, goodness is illuminated. Good will triumphs over evil, signified by the lighting of lamps and exchanging gifts. Windows and doors are opened for Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to find her way into the homes of the people. Bright rangoli designs are created in patterns of colored rice as a sacred welcome to the gods and a decorative beacon for luck. Central to the holiday is Indian home cooking; the traditional curries and sweets are lovingly prepared for family and friends who come to celebrate.
Betsy and Pravina at her roadside cart
We’re guests of our new friend, Pravina, who has invited us to her home in Korotogo Village for lunch. Pravina is hard to miss if you’re traveling the Queen’s Highway from either Nadi or Suva. Every day, she’s at the Sunset Strip roundabout with her brightly painted wooden cart. For nine years, Pravina has pulled it on foot from her home to sit between roadside and shore. From there, she waves and smiles at passersby, hoping to sell them a necklace or bracelet, some Indian sweets, a piece of fresh fruit, and perhaps a lesson in Indian home cooking.
I am always amazed, although I shouldn’t be, when the smallest things turn out to be most auspicious. Pete had come home one day from a walk down to the reef with the news that Pravina had a red coral necklace I might like. I’d seen one that was very beautiful in a high-priced tourist store in Nadi, but the decision to purchase from Pravina was easy at about 1/3 the price. What happened next, though, birthed a friendship.
Pressing a variety of freshly made colorful sweets upon us – “you try!” – and peppering the conversation with rapid, heavily accented exclamations – “you’re so wonderful” and “darlings” – Pravina charmingly demanded we come to her house for real Indian home cooking.
Pravina’s sweets and savory treats
Indians are the second largest demographic in Fiji’s total population of around 900,000. Since arriving, we’d sampled a variety of Indian food, including a memorable meal at the Krishna temple which dominates the Sigatoka skyline. “Oh no,” insists Pravina, “the Krishna food is not as good to eat! There is no garlic and onion. Real Indian home cooking must have it.” Well, we think, avowed garlic and onion lovers as we are, that’s that. Pete looks this up later and it is true: garlic and onions are thought to be detrimental to meditation in that they root the consciousness more firmly in the body. I guess we won’t be real Hare Krishnas anytime soon.
Pravina’s Diwali lunch is spectacular, laced not only with plenty of onion and garlic, but punctuated by staccato bursts of spicy goodness. Her culinary orchestrations meld flavors in crescendo, glissando-ing between individual notes. We greedily play with sections of the composition, scooping jackfruit curry up with roti, stabbing lentil balls out of their sauce, and surreptitiously emulating the etiquette of eating with fingers instead of forks. “I’ve got to learn how to cook like this,” says Pete.
Diwali lunch at Pravina’s
A few days later, we make our way back to Pravina’s for the lesson in Indian home cooking. This day, as it turns out, will be more than about food.
Invited for the first time into the kitchen, I am struck by its humble simplicity. It is small, perhaps 8 feet by 10 feet. There is a table with open shelving, a glass case of spices and small staples, and large covered trash-can sized containers of flour and rice. The countertop two-burner is fueled by a propane tank in front of what once was a connecting door to an adjacent apartment. Further down the tiny hallway toward the back of the house are the family bedrooms.
Pete stirs at the two-burner
Ingredients at the ready on the counter
Here Pravina cooks, beginning daily at 5 a.m., sending her husband off to his work at the hotel with a midday meal, feeding the children breakfast and then packing their lunches for school, and after that, stocking her cart for the day’s business. She has a fairly new, but small, refrigerator, and her deep freeze is in a corner of the living room by necessity.
Indian spices, clockwise from top: Methi (fenugreek), Jeera (cumin), Shah Jeera (caraway or black cumin seeds), Masala (spice mix), Haldi (turmeric)
Pete in his Full of Passion apron with Pravina
I think to myself, this is not a kitchen I, nor any of my American friends and family, would deem adequate by any stretch of the imagination. And then I am ashamed.
Emotion floods my brain: remorse over my thoughts, admiration for a woman who began cooking for her brothers and sisters at the age of 7, who now sells from a roadside cart to fund her children’s education.
I sit dumbly in the only kitchen chair which has been given to me as an honored visitor, and remember that Nietszche famously believed “in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.” I’m a mess! Trying to clear my thoughts while Pete dons an apron that says “Full of Passion,” I listen to Pravina chattering happily about, showing the ingredients she has prepped for the lesson. We begin.
There are no written recipes here, so I flit between roles: photography and transcription. The names of some ingredients are unknown to us, so we write them phonetically. Pravina is a whirlwind, chopping, rolling, adding, explaining. “Oh, he uses his left hand to write!” she exclaims. “This means very smart, he is!” Yes, he is. “You are lucky!” she trills. Yes, I am.
Pete follows orders, estimates measurements, kneads and rolls, picks and swirls, peeks and stirs. A neighbor walks in with an infant and we ooh and aah, Pravina’s mother-in-law from next door arrives to greet us with bright eyes and a kiss, her daughter studies in the courtyard for an important exam. We taste, tease each other, bang pans and utensils, dig through unmarked bags for just the right ingredient, stain our fingers with turmeric and curry. There is life in this kitchen as it happens and love in the light of Diwali. Lakshmi has delivered us great wealth.
And the food is exquisite.
Indian Home Cooking Recipes:
Rolling out roti
Roti and Puri
Recipe By: Pravina Dutt, Pravina’s Indian Home Cooking
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 pinch salt
- 4 teaspoon canola oil
- water, boiling
Directions:
1. Mix together flour salt and 1 tsp of the oil.
2. Add some hot water. Stir and mash with fork to make small balls of dough that form in the dry flour. Add water as needed. Let cool briefly.
3. Begin kneading the dough into a single ball. Add remaining oil and knead into the dough. Dough will not be sticky.
4. After several minutes, roll into a log and cut into pieces. Small for Puri and larger for Roti.
5. Form each pieces into a ball and flatten (If no one helps you, skip the rolling into a ball part and simply squish). Roll with rolling pin to make tortilla-like. Roti is large, Puri is small.
6. For Roti, heat in a lightly oiled pan, flipping until well browned on each side. For Puri, add 1/2 inch oil to pan and fry, flipping occasionally.
Chick Pea & Potato Curry
Chick peas and chopped potato
Recipe By: Pravina Dutt, Pravina’s Indian Home Cooking
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
- 1 medium potato, Chopped
- 1 cup chickpea
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 pinch methi
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons masala
- 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chile, minced
- 3 small tomato, chopped
- 2 sprigs cilantro, chopped
- 2 cups water
- oil
- 1 pinch chili powder
Directions:
- Add some oil to frying pot over medium heat. Add onion and methi, turmeric, masala, garlic and chili frying until onion has color.
- Add potatoes and chickpeas plus pinch of chili powder. Stir and cover.
- Once the chickpeas and potatoes have some color, add 1 cup water and cover. Add more water as needed to prevent dryness.
- When potatoes are tender, add tomatoes and cilantro. Stir and cover briefly.
Notes: The chile in this and related recipes are fresh hot chiles run through a food processor until finely chopped. The chickpeas are not canned but rather dried. Soaked for several hours. When water is added near the final step, the chickpeas will absorb more water.
For Jackfruit Curry substitute chopped jackfruit for the potatoes and chickpeas above.
Jackfruit curry
Lentil Balls
Lentil Balls in Sauce
Recipe By: Pravina Dutt, Pravina’s Indian Home Cooking
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
- 2 cups dried yellow split peas, soaked 4 hours, mashed
- 4 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons chilies, minced
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 pinches tumeric
- 2 pinches masala
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger, minced
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced length wise
- 3 cups water
- 1 pinch methi
- 1 pinch shah jeera
- 1 pinch jeera
- 2 teaspoons cilantro fresh, chopped
Lentil balls in sauce
Directions:
- Set 1/2 cup of the mashed yellow peas aside. To the remaining, add 1 T garlic, 1 t chili, 1/2 t salt, pinch turmeric and pinch of masala. Mix well.
- Make small balls out of the peas mixture, about a T or so by rolling in your hand.
- Heat 1/2 inch of oil in frying pan and fry balls several at a time until golden. Drain and set aside.
- In a deep frying pan, add a little hot oil from frying the balls. Then add the sliced onion, plus pinches of methi, jeera, shah jeera, masala, turmeric, and salt. Stir then add 2 T minced garlic, 1 t minced chili and 1 t minced ginger. Swoosh around until onion develops some color. Add 1 cup water to remaining mashed peas and add to onion mixture. Stir. Add 2 cups more water to get soupy looking. Bring to boil on high heat, then reduce to simmer until thickened.
- Add the balls. Flavor with a touch of tamarind, lime juice or lemon juice. Add chopped cilantro. Simmer a bit longer.
Notes: Add minced chile to your desired heat level.
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My husband is Indian and this post had me learning a few things and laughing with recognition. One of my new favorite Bengali words is andaj, which means “by estimation.” I spent some time at my mother-in-law’s house to learn how to cook some of my hubby’s favorite meals. When I got there, many of the foods were half prepared or ingredients were quickly thrown in, making it very hard to figure out how to replicate the recipe. When I told my hubby this, he just laughed and said “ah, yes! Andaj!” I also never knew the importance of garlic and onion in cooking until marrying my hubby. Those are two ingredients we ALWAYS have on hand. What a fun post and time for you guys! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Bula Catherine – I love it! Andaj – it sounds so exotic, but really it’s casual! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
“Indians are the second largest demographic in Fiji’s total population of around 900,000. ”
I had no idea about this statistic. When I first started reading your post I was confused because I didn’t think you were in India! 😉 What a friend you made and I readily agree about having garlic and onion on hands, two staples you’ll always find in our kitchen.
Bula Patti – The number of Indians in the population here was something we didn’t expect either. And, as we’d had little opportunity on the U.S. mainland with Indian cooking, we are happy to know it better!
I’d love to experience that Diwali lunch! The spices and flavours sound very enticing!
Bula Doreen – Yes, it was quite a treat. Made all the better with the vivacious company of our host.
Your post brought me back to the time I spent at a meditation center as a personal assistant to visiting Pundits. They would come for about two weeks at a time and my great pleasure was taking them shopping at the local Indian markets (we have a small Little India in North County, San Diego.) If only I could remember all the little tasks that went into cooking. Taking notes wasn’t cutting it either – they’d move so quickly and intuitively. But I do enjoy making Chai from scratch and remembering my Indian friends with each sip. How lucky you were to spend time with the family in their home.
Bula Elaine – Now that sounds like a very interesting gig! What a fascinating experience it must have been.
Betsy, Thank you for sharing this amazing and humbling experience in such vivid detail. I could smell the spice! I love Indian food and cook it a bit so your recipes were an added bonus and inspiration for my husband and I to play in our very American kitchen. Your travels and your writing of them, continues to inspire me as hubs and I are down to counting months before we cut the cord and set sail on our own adventures.
Bula Nancy – How exciting for you! The anticipating is one of the best parts of any new adventure. I’m glad you “got” the emotions I had during this experience.
What a lovely post! The dishes for the sweets are so amazingly colorful. I think the videos really bring this to life. The recipes look doable. I might try one. Re. the remark about a big kitchen producing average food, I have a friend who is an excellent chef/cook and he used to have the world’s smallest kitchen. Now he has a bigger kitchen and he still manages to produce amazing meals, though his style is simpler now probably just because he is also older. So much for that theory. It is more a rationalization.
Bula Carole – Yes, the Nietzsche quote was entirely out of context – he was making an analogous reference to bureaucratic educational systems – but at this point, that’s my brain. 😉
Betsy I just adored this post. This is certainly food traveling at it’s finest. I didn’t realize there was such a large Indian population in Fiji. Thanks for an informative and entertaining trip to your new friends kitchen. I want to meet Pravina if we ever make it to Fiji.
Bula Sue – Thank you so much. I appreciate the compliment all the more coming from you. When you get ready to go to Fiji, I will give you Pravina’s contact info. 🙂
What a wonderful experience. I love Indian food and was exposed to it by my husband who grew to love it while living in London for a short while as a young man (many years ago). I have fond memories of afternoons spent preparing an Indian meal together. As I write this, I realize we haven’t done that in a while and it may be time to do that again.
Bula Donna – How nice that we could inspire you to rekindle one of your own traditions. I will tell Pravina! 🙂
Like Patti, I was confused about whether this was an old post, or you had made a quick trip to India-ha! Love learning all you are teaching us about Fiji! How lucky you are to have made Indian friends who have shared so much of their culture with you. I was hoping to get to Varanasi this year to see the festival of lights-now I am looking forward to that trip someday in my future even more.
Bula Alison – It really was a quick trip, just down the hill! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I’ve never been a fan of Indian food, but I have to admit that this does sound tempting!
Bula Michelle – I didn’t think I was, particularly, either. But I realized I’d never had authentic Indian home cooking like this, and I’m now a fan.
My mouth was watering by the time I got to the recipes. I think I should try making the lentil balls and so something out of my normal range of cooking and I love this type of food.
Last year I had a similar experience – a cooking lesson in a very modest Costa Rican home – but the food and the company – beyond divine. They can do so much with so little. It is a humbling experience.
Bula Leigh – The nice thing, too, about both yours and my experience is the natural ingredients. Everything is so good.
What an incredible experience—and friendship! Never realized that there was such a strong Indian influence in Fiji!
Bula Irene – Yes, this friendship is a blessing I am happy to share.
What a wonderful honor and experience to get invited to Pravina’s house for lunch and then a cooking lesson. Thanks for taking the time to write down and share the recipes.
Bula Billie – Yes, it certainly was an honor, and an experience we will remember the rest of our days. 🙂
I can just see you running from filming to note taking! I have never attempted making Indian food. I think I could try the Lentil Balls – Loved the videos!
Bula Suzanne – It was more like juggling, as there was really no room to run! Everything is fairly simple, particularly the roti and puri breads. Hope you try!
What an amazing cook Pravina is! Her recipes look amazing and I shall definitely try one when next we decide to have an Indian meal. As you say, people like this totally humble us – by their endeavour and their talent in the face of huge barriers.
Bula Jo – Yes, it is an extraordinary talent to produce good food consistently, day in and day out. One that I do not have, but fortunately my husband does. Now his repertoire is larger! 🙂
What a great experience, l loved your videos!
Bula Nat – Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
What a delight it must have been to make friends with Pravina and have her open her home to you for a feast of friendship, learning and food! This is one of my favorite posts of yours (so far!)
Bula Anita – yes, it was a wonderful blessing, and very hard to say goodbye to Pravina when we left Korotogo two days ago.