Ball curry, rice, and all things nice |
As Christmas approaches, it’s time to whet the appetite by stepping into a typical Anglo-Indian family kitchen that serves up delightful wordplay with a little inspiration from their famed culinary exploits
American Express Bakery’s Plum Pudding. The dish has a different interpretation in the Anglo-Indian phrasebook. PIC COURTESY/AMERICAN EXPRESS BAKERY FACEBOOK
She looks like a real plum pudding!” My nana (grandmother) exclaimed to the family after Sunday mass. Post her session on the latest goings-on in the parish with her gang of golden girls; this sighting grabbed her attention the most. The ‘plum pudding’ analogy was reserved for a recently-married bride who had returned to Tangy (Tangasseri in Kollam for outsiders) for her first Christmas after settling with her husband of “good colour” in Dubai. Soon, I realised that it referred to her having added kilos since the white wedding and her hourglass figure was a talking point. I wondered if nana meant ‘plum’ or ‘plump’. Despite being silently horrified at her unfiltered comments, this Bombay Anglo-Indian soon realised over several visits to the outposts of the community that such expressions were common parlance. Interestingly, I also stumbled upon the fact that our culinary ecosystem found quirky ways of entering the community’s delightfully eclectic vocabulary.
A recent post on social media by the city’s favourite, American Express Bakery, nudging customers to buy their famed