As I told
you I went last week to Murudeshwar to meet with friends and go
diving. The water there is awesome and so is the marine life. I had a wonderful time.
On
my way back through the Western Ghats I stopped at Jog Falls. To my
disappointment there was hardly any water. But this disappointment
was fast forgotten when I reached the home stay place where I was
planning to and stayed the night. It is called Stay@Matthuga
just off the highway. It is a plantation bungalow and they also have
some cottages all surrounded by lush greens of the farm. I never
expected something like this in the middle of nowhere along an Indian
countryside highway.
The
service was very friendly and superb.
But what
really surprised me, besides the ambience, was the delicious
vegetarian food they served for dinner and breakfast.
Honestly,
based on earlier experience, I expected some masala and oil loaded
home cooked food with vegetables cooked for so long that you can't
define them anymore. Instead I got vegetables that where bright in
colour and still had a crunch to them. Even in the sambar. Most of
the dishes where prepared with freshly grated coconut which gave them
a nice twist. To my surprise there was hardly any oil used in the
dishes. The most outstanding dish was a tomato-coconut salad. I asked
the cook for the recipe. Her answer with a big smile was tomato,
onion, coconut, salt, pepper. Me being curious asked her about the
ratio of it but at that point we both stopped understanding each
others language and just smiled at each other.
Now that I
am back home I spend some time in my kitchen to try out different
ratios of these few ingredients. For the mixture that comes closes to
the absolutely gorgeous salad I had in the Karnataka jungle I take
per person 25g finely diced onions, 150g tomatoes
de-seeded and finely diced, a pinch of salt and pepper
and 25g freshly grated coconut. Mix it all together in a bowl,
cover it with cling foil and let it stand for half an hour before
serving.
Super
easy, super tasty. I have a new favourite salad.
Enjoy an
have fun in the kitchen!
Love
Carola
