Nostalgia and Irish Stew
Some nostalgic memories remain with you for a lifetime.Memories which are warm and comforting. Memories which can be pulled out of the areas between the sulci of the brain and talked and written about….
We spent 11 years of our young lives in a school started by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in 1877.It was a small (number of boarders was 150!)but elegant school-nestled in a valley amongst the towering eucalyptus trees and overlooking the Ooty lake. This beautiful, picturesque hill station in the Nilgiris (Nila=Blue, Giri=Mountain), also called the Blue Mountains, was at the time called the Queen of Hill Stations. A small town rife with colonial British influence. The Polson cheese factory, the Glenmorgan tea estates. Tea and coffee plantations on the steps of the mountain slopes. The nuns at school, mostly Irish and French, worked so hard on us girls to groom us into “perfect gentle women”.” Don’t raise your voice, don’t slide down the banister, wear your skirts BELOW the knee…be…do…things the right way”. Together we learnt how to sew and do patterns of cross stitch, cook and serve, iron (!) so that we knew how to iron a shirt collar the right way. Netball and hockey and skating. Piano lessons. Ben Hur and Sparcatus in our school mini theater-with the nuns “blanking” out scenes which were “inappropriate”for viewing!Reading Mills and Boon and Archies comics under the blanket by torchlight.Visits to the Botanical gardens ,Dodobetta peak and to King Star bakery for chocolates. Donning cream, brown and red uniforms, attending Mass and Benediction, and being smothered by the love . Something the Nuns had plenty of….Visiting the pristine school Chapel and Mother Mary’s grotto a million times pre-exam. Enjoying scrumptious 4 meals a day, duly supervised, so that we didn’t “waste” food. Food was always good-meatloaves and macaroni bake on Wednesdays. Irish stew sometimes.Eaten with fresh bread from the school bakery –delicious. Dinner was always finished off with a cup of Ovaltine and a couple of fresh school-bakery biscuits (cookies). Ah..Those beautiful child hood days…sans TV, playstations, fast foods and glitz and glamour. Yet wholesome and fulfilling. Like the Irish Stew!
There are 2 type of stew we usually make:
-The Mutton /chicken stew using a thickener and milk
-The Stew (pronounced Estew)in Kerala made with chicken (usually), veggies and coconut milk, and eaten with Appams (fermented rice pancakes)
Mutton Stew
½ Kg Mutton , cubed (boneless or on the bone)
1 onion, cut into 8
1 potato, cubed
½ cup shelled green peas
1 carrot cut in chunks
½ cup green beans cut in 1” pieces
1 pod garlic, crushed
½ “piece of ginger, grated
1 stick cinnamon
6 cloves
6-8 peppercorns
2 tablespoons cornflour dissolved in ½ cup cold milk
½ cup skimmed milk
2 cups water
Salt
½ teaspoon pepper powder
Boil the mutton in the water, along with the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns. When the mutton is tender, add vegetables, salt and pepper. Don’t overcook veggies. Simmer and add cornflour.Allow to thicken, before adding remaining milk.If you feel it’s too thick-add a little stock or water. Serve hot with warm fresh bread or garlic toasts!
Stew- Kerala Style
1 cup boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or any other of preference)
1 -2 pods garlic, chopped
1” piece ginger juliennes
2 green chillies, slit and de seeded
1 bay leaf
½ cup julienned carrots
½ cup green beans cut into 1” pieces
1 onion, sliced
1 potato peeled and cubed
6-8 peppercorns
¼ teaspoon pepper powder
Salt
1” cinnamon stick
1 cup water.
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon oil
Heat oil in a pan. Sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies.Add chicken cinnamon stick, peppercorns, bay leaf, water. Cook till chicken is almost done. Add vegetables to this, and cook till just done. Add salt, pepper and coconut milk. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot with Appams or fresh bread.
I know the picture is terrible -will re-publish this one and add one for the stew!
We spent 11 years of our young lives in a school started by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in 1877.It was a small (number of boarders was 150!)but elegant school-nestled in a valley amongst the towering eucalyptus trees and overlooking the Ooty lake. This beautiful, picturesque hill station in the Nilgiris (Nila=Blue, Giri=Mountain), also called the Blue Mountains, was at the time called the Queen of Hill Stations. A small town rife with colonial British influence. The Polson cheese factory, the Glenmorgan tea estates. Tea and coffee plantations on the steps of the mountain slopes. The nuns at school, mostly Irish and French, worked so hard on us girls to groom us into “perfect gentle women”.” Don’t raise your voice, don’t slide down the banister, wear your skirts BELOW the knee…be…do…things the right way”. Together we learnt how to sew and do patterns of cross stitch, cook and serve, iron (!) so that we knew how to iron a shirt collar the right way. Netball and hockey and skating. Piano lessons. Ben Hur and Sparcatus in our school mini theater-with the nuns “blanking” out scenes which were “inappropriate”for viewing!Reading Mills and Boon and Archies comics under the blanket by torchlight.Visits to the Botanical gardens ,Dodobetta peak and to King Star bakery for chocolates. Donning cream, brown and red uniforms, attending Mass and Benediction, and being smothered by the love . Something the Nuns had plenty of….Visiting the pristine school Chapel and Mother Mary’s grotto a million times pre-exam. Enjoying scrumptious 4 meals a day, duly supervised, so that we didn’t “waste” food. Food was always good-meatloaves and macaroni bake on Wednesdays. Irish stew sometimes.Eaten with fresh bread from the school bakery –delicious. Dinner was always finished off with a cup of Ovaltine and a couple of fresh school-bakery biscuits (cookies). Ah..Those beautiful child hood days…sans TV, playstations, fast foods and glitz and glamour. Yet wholesome and fulfilling. Like the Irish Stew!
There are 2 type of stew we usually make:
-The Mutton /chicken stew using a thickener and milk
-The Stew (pronounced Estew)in Kerala made with chicken (usually), veggies and coconut milk, and eaten with Appams (fermented rice pancakes)
Mutton Stew
½ Kg Mutton , cubed (boneless or on the bone)
1 onion, cut into 8
1 potato, cubed
½ cup shelled green peas
1 carrot cut in chunks
½ cup green beans cut in 1” pieces
1 pod garlic, crushed
½ “piece of ginger, grated
1 stick cinnamon
6 cloves
6-8 peppercorns
2 tablespoons cornflour dissolved in ½ cup cold milk
½ cup skimmed milk
2 cups water
Salt
½ teaspoon pepper powder
Boil the mutton in the water, along with the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and peppercorns. When the mutton is tender, add vegetables, salt and pepper. Don’t overcook veggies. Simmer and add cornflour.Allow to thicken, before adding remaining milk.If you feel it’s too thick-add a little stock or water. Serve hot with warm fresh bread or garlic toasts!
Stew- Kerala Style
1 cup boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or any other of preference)
1 -2 pods garlic, chopped
1” piece ginger juliennes
2 green chillies, slit and de seeded
1 bay leaf
½ cup julienned carrots
½ cup green beans cut into 1” pieces
1 onion, sliced
1 potato peeled and cubed
6-8 peppercorns
¼ teaspoon pepper powder
Salt
1” cinnamon stick
1 cup water.
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon oil
Heat oil in a pan. Sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies.Add chicken cinnamon stick, peppercorns, bay leaf, water. Cook till chicken is almost done. Add vegetables to this, and cook till just done. Add salt, pepper and coconut milk. Simmer for 10 minutes. Serve hot with Appams or fresh bread.
I know the picture is terrible -will re-publish this one and add one for the stew!
Comments
Madan Arora