Tonight, we had an extraordinary dinner courtesy of Shyam and Shakuntala Bhat. Shakuntala made favorites idli (steamed rice cakes), coconut chutney, and sambar (a vegetable soup-like concoction), along with some new dishes. She prepared cholle (garbanzo beans in tomato sauce), yogurt rice, chapatis (a thin flatbread), a version of patra (a ground rice dish using taro leaves), a plantain and cardamom puree, and for dessert, we had a mixed fruit salad with ice cream, which was heavy on fresh mango – YUM!

Our dinner was truly wonderful, not a dish was unagreeable. Shakuntala must have spent the entire day preparing this meal as only the cholle is a quick dish; the others require lots of patience. She explained the de-veining of the taro leaves and the preparation of the rice for the patra dish, and it was obvious this dish alone took a few hours to prepare. Not a minute of her time was wasted as her cooking is, in our view – FANTASTIC.

The photo above was taken shortly before dinner and shows Caroline with Leena and Sumar. We were joined by our friends, Rinku, Raenu, and Gautham, while Shyam brought Shylesh, Leena, and Sumar. Shashi, son of Shyam and Shakuntala, did not join us again as this traditional South Indian cooking just doesn’t do it for him.