(Once upon a time….)
The rain gushes down in torrents.
The sound of the rain falling on the tiled roof is drowned out by the sound of
the solid pillar of water pouring into the
drum in front of the door. I watch it through the wire mesh that covers
the kitchen side of the house. I can see the Cow shed more clearly from
here. As soon as the rain abates, I run
out treading the path with care to avoid the green mossy patches where I know I
will slip and land in the slush. I make my way past the fragrant rose plant –the
huge roses are drenched in rain. I bend down to avoid the low sloping roof and
enter the front part of the ‘kottake’ (cow shed) where “Shukri” is tied. She is
the most beautiful calf I have ever seen. White and golden brown patches with
large luminous eyes and the softest ears. She shakes her head as if to greet me
while her mother tied yonder stops
chewing her cud for a while as if to assess my intentions. I pat Shukri and she
nuzzles back. After tapping all the cows on their foreheads, I race back into
the house, washing my hands in the rain water and tiptoe into the store room to
reach for the huge brass cylindrical container filled with sundried
bananas…….not before my grandmother’s loving voice assails my ears… “You will
get a stomach ache if you eat too many of the sundried bananas!”
Aaaah those sundried bananas …….and
memories of childhood vacations spent at my grandparents’ farm!
(Back to the present…..)
When we moved to our farm at
Chitrapur, I tried my best to replicate what my grandmother used to make. Those sun dried bananas were slit lengthwise
into 4 or 6 pieces, rich brown in colour and a taste that lingered in your
mouth…... well right into
adulthood. I just could not manage to
slit the bananas into evenly sized lengthwise pieces. The thin ones would stick to the plates, the
thick ones would not dry out…..uff.
Maybe those bananas were a different variety, maybe the drying technique
was different, maybe it was the very air , maybe……. Whatever it was, I never
managed to replicate the exact taste.
Finally I decided to try slicing them into
circles. I experimented with steel plates – the slices
stuck to the plates, tried greasing the plates, the result smelt awful ….. finally a clean cloth on the steel tables
did the trick. Putting them in slightly
overlapping lines eased the task of turning them over after the first day of
full sunshine. By end of day 2 the slices are almost done. Another half a day turns them to the desired
level of dryness.
So come join me!
Ready for slicing
Let us put on some nice music,
pull the table into the shade away from the blazing sun, and Peel-slice-peel-slice-peel-slice
in a loop until EOBB (End-of-Banana bunch).
The neat lines of banana slices are all ready for drying.
I will treat you to a special chilled Starfruit
juice for all the hardwork….. but more about the juice in the next post.
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| The end result - Sun dried Bananas! And yes they are available on my online store! |
