A reflection from back in July - starting to get into that mind 🧠💭 One of favourite things happened over past year is my relationship with Krishna👵🏽 and how, although she cant really cook anymore, our conversations and a lot of how we connected was through food.
On 3 July I made her some kitchi - which had learnt at (yes, you guessed it) back #bhavinsvegetableshop w Rohit, where Krishna also used to shop. Felt so good to transfer the learnings in a way that answered an looped across their Kenyan-Gujarati rootings, i was somehow a thread in it.
Kitchi is a gujarati snack like porridge made from rice and greenbean flour, an alkaline salt, you start by boiling water w green chillies, cumin seeds, ajawan, salt, hing for 10 minish then toss an vigrously mix the flour in. I went through a phase of literally eating it for lunch every day, so simple and sustaining - splash on mustard oil, achar chilli and i put grated fresh ginger (krishna puts in sesame seeds).
We also had #boondi - I bought some fried little balls from @poojasweets with no idea what they were. krishna showed me. soak in water strain then soak in yogurt w salt and dania powder. Watching the lines on Krishna’s hands as she squeezing it over the sink - there has been more than one occasion when, even though such simple things I’m standing there w tears in my eyes and my camera, capturing that movement because it is sacred. From Mr Singh’s magic tupperware parcels delivered from gurdwara, to the little droplets squeezed out of the bondi and phrases Krisha drops as she pats the roti - they nestle into a pouch of memory reserved for these kind of moments only.
When eyes sparkle and yolky smile cracks inside, running to the rivers i u that link w the lines representing the cross sections of travels an lands and passings on. how the recipes hopped from one stove to another - through watching, and curiosities that extend across generations. remember to respect the ones before you, and be willing with urgency to learn from them.
From one stove to another…
Thank you Rohit, thank you Krishna.