The perfect Indian Dinner

Eleven months in Deutschland and I am yet to utter one complete sentence in German.But,but,but, that has never stopped me from watching German TV programmes.The TV is hypnotic.Even if I don’t understand a single word of whats being said,just turning it on turns “house” into “home”.”Loneliness” into “lazing happily on the couch”. And thats precisely why I actually do watch a few German programmes here.One of them is a cookery show.The show is called “Das Perfekt Dinner”.A reality show in which 5 contestants are pitted against each other to make the bestest dinner ever and win the prize money of 1000 Euros.

On yesterday’s show,there was this one contestant who had decided to cook an Indian meal.The menu was as follows :

• Appetizer :Urad Dal.

Yea,just Urad Dal.I was wondering what she was planning to prepare.Was it going to be Medhu Vada dipped in Yoghurt or something of that sort ? The dish served was plain pressure-cooked Urad Dal with turmeric.And a whole bowl of that.How can one finish that off ?

• The Main Course : Aloo Phool Gobi Panneer Sabji

Again,fried potato,cauliflower and paneer soaked in water boiled with turmeric and salt and chilli powder.Served with plain rice.Worse still was watching her prepare the dish.We Indians are so used to the tadka i.e., the mustard spluttering when you drop it in oil that we barely notice it.It was only yesterday I realised how brave Indian women are to face this “mustard spluttering” without fear.The contestant was so petrified that the mustard was going to splutter all over her face,she was standing with this shield all the while she was cooking.

Luckily,she had stuck to some non-Indian dessert that she probably knew how to prepare.And oh yea,our dear Pillaiyar was sitting on the table as a table decoration.You poor Pillaiyar,the amount of respect you get in India and ,there on the show,you were sitting on the table as a little toy .And so ended the perfect Indian Dinner.And,surprise surprise,she ,on an average,got 8 points out of 10 from the others.If I had known,I could have possibly got the 1000 Euros with a simple rasam and curd rice and poriyal and semiya payasam.I missed my chance.Damn.

P.S : I really felt pathetic after watching this.If you don’t know a thing about a particular cuisine,just don’t dare to try it.To me,and especially after eleven months away from home, nothing can beat Indian cuisine.And she made mincemeat out of it yesterday :-(.