Wooden Masher

 

I was in Gondavale for the Punyatithi utsav in Dec. This is the time when the road in front of the Sansthan blooms with local produce and products. While innumerable shops selling Kandi peda are roaring with business, there are small artisans selling their wares on the streets. One has to be able to spot them and my hawk eye for local products ain't going to miss it. I saw a woman selling wood crafted traditional Kitchen tools. On checking what this mace like tool was I bought all 6 available ones back with me to Mumbai. On Facebook when I teased friends with them they were a rage!

Finally I got 100 pieces made.

Even as all those who bought wondered what to do with it. I dug out a little on its origins in the traditional kitchen and its uses in a modern one.

In Satara, this wooden masher is predominantly used to smash fresh green chilies along with garlic and salt and make Thecha which is ubiquitous meal accopaniment in these parts. Besides this garlic is crushed with it and used for seasoning. May be sometimes ginger too is mashed with it and added to the boiling tea. Basically anything can be mashed with it, cardamom, nutmeg. The long handle gives a good grip. The woman told me that it would be great for mashing Pav bhaaji, ofcourse yes!

Then when I brought it home I found it very useful to extract juice and pulp from fruits while I was making the jelly. The wooden masher ensures an unadulterated taste unlike the metal masher that leaches a bit of metal into the food you are processing. 

Yes and it serves as a nutcracker too, nutmegs in shell, walnut, pistas, etc.

Taking care of the wooden masher:

The wooden masher should be washed and oiled after use everyday. Wood stays sturdy and shinny when oiled well. Once you are done with using the masher for the day just dab some oil on your palms and rub into to masher like a massage. This will save it from chipping.

Ever since I brought it home and gave a place to it on my counter, visitors to my kitchen invariably pick it up and admire the craftsmanship and ask me where they can buy it.

This masher is crafted by the artisans in Satara and brought to you by AnnParabrahma at your doorstep. Buy it now on the Eshop.

By patronizing us you are helping small businesses in the villages of India.

Eeya Chombu

Many years ago, for the first time I read about Eeya Chombu on this lovely blog called Saffron Hut. I was totally smitten by this special vessel. Also since I was at the time living in southern India, I have seen older people salivate at the mention of rasam made in Eeya Chombu.

I did a bit of research to find out more about this now elusive utensil. It has almost disappeared from today's Tamil households. In Tamil Nadu this vessel was known to be the most prized utensil in homes and catering businesses. Paeans were sung about the Eeya Chombu rasam at many home dinners and wedding dinning halls.

What is Eeya Chombu? 

It is a vessel made of tin. Tin has a low melting point of 232°C. Therefore using this in the kitchen needs dedication. You can never multi task when making rasam in this vessel else if the melting point is achieved you will be left with a mass of shiny silver metal and the burners flooded in rasam. The secret to this rasam is as much the dedication as the metallic sweet taste imparted to it. It is always first filled with the ingredients of the rasam before it goes onto the fire and that includes water too. It is due to the low melting point of the vessel the seasoning is done in a separate utensil and added on top in the vessel filled with boiled rasam.

Tin is a soft metal and dents easily, especially when it is hot. Due to these properties of the vessel it has faded out from the Tamil Kitchens today. Not to mention it is also expensive. It is believed that in the hay days this vessel saw spurious manufacturing, instead of the pure tin an alloy containing lead was used to manufacture it. This lead to many cases of fear mongering that the Eeya Chombu rasam is toxic. When infact many generation of the Dravids have burped on a meal of rasam sadam.

Two years ago I requested a colleague and friend, Ramesh Babu to go looking for it in the Chennai markets. He though a married man of few years had no idea what I was asking him to look for. He asked his wife and then his parents. It is his parents who smiled at the mention of an Eeya Chombu and shared with him their memories of a wonderful rasam. Ramesh then scoured the old markets, checking out many a shop and many a shapes. Then finally we decided that for a small family 1 litre utensil was good enough and he bought two, one to send for me and another for his family. This size is the best as the wedding caterers will never tell you their secret, they immerse a small sized Eeya Chombu to achieve that fantastic taste in huge pots of boiling rasam! That way they don't need an expensive huge vessel for rasam making for large quantities

The Eeya Chombu arrived in the courier and ever since I have been enjoying the occasional Eeya Chombu  rasam but it took me time to show it to you here, better late than never. This post got a push as two products in the Traditional Kitchen tools category on the AnnaParabrahma Eshop are selling like hot cakes. The greasing brushes and the wooden mashers. This is also a reason to start a new label here on the blog for the Traditional Kitchen. Hoping to post about more such old world charms that need revival.

These days we rarely see comments on blogs even though people are reading them. Yes I know the conversations are happening on FB and twitter but nothing like a comment on the blog to tell me you love my work. Drop a line or a question and I will definitely reply to it, promise.