Some unsung vegetarian dishes incarnate the essence of homecoming like no other
Banana blossoms dry curry is a lip-smacking South Indian dish that is making inroads in other kitchens too. In the predominantly non-vegetarian taste palette of a Bengali household, there are some unsung vegetarian dishes that incarnate the essence of homecoming like no other.
Chopped and boiled, the blossoms are married to diced potatoes with a holy bond of cumin, coriander, turmeric, and a dash of red chilies. The dry curry, garnished with grated coconut & cashew, can be appreciated by connoisseurs with a dollop of ghee on steamed rice on a sultry summer afternoon.
For the uninitiated, this curry takes multifarious forms in Thai, Vietnamese and Srilankan cuisines as well, and inspires Neruda-esque poems in a Bengali heart:
An ode to Banana Blossom
The banana blossom has its heart at the right place
Incisively peel off the bracts one by one till its bosom’s sought
Nobody waits there except a clenched sadness
(Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts)
The tallow scarlet blending with the deep maroon on the florets is a crepuscular sky
How will one tell the time when one color disperses and the other generates in this confluence?
How will one tell when the earth's pigmentation is prejudiced by your emotions?
The discarded pistils and sepal carry lightness
How a fern is aired by a human touch.
and the gossamer hangs between the mirrors of distance.
Your hands pass through the fog
dispelling the grammar of conversations
dying in the cold of refrigerator
The heart, the door dying of thrombosis
Clear it soon, breathe it through,
Do not let the cluster of flowers
weigh you down with its bodice clasp
This is where you reach, removing the cloth honored by
the inalienable power of being born.
And just born.
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