October 2022

Pandi curry is a traditionally famous Coorg food dish all over India. This is a 500-year-old Indian traditional dish. This food has been around since the beginning of the Kodava culture. The preparation and recipe of this food have been going on since that time. Pandi curry, a spicy semi-dark pork dish. And it’s a perfect combination of pork and local spices and vinegar. This dish is found in many places in India. But if anyone wants to test the authentic Pandi curry, he/she will definitely have to go to Coorg.

Kachampuli -The Main Ingredient In Pandi Curry

Coorg or Kodava people have some unique dishes, which have evolved. One of the most famous dishes is Pandi curry. This unique dish is not found anywhere else. Because it has a few unique ingredients. The most important ingredient is kachampuli. It’s Fruit vinegar. In India, Kachampuli is grown only in regions around Karnataka. It has grown in Indonesia, thousands of years ago. It is used both as a souring and preserving food. The liquid that is formed after the fermentation of this fruit is used in this pork curry. This liquid is very typical. With the seeping of the liquid, the fruit loses its bitterness. This bitterness gives this dish its correct taste. Vinegar used in Indian cuisine for over 2500 years. It is first mentioned in Buddhist literature.

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About The Traditional Food- Pandi Curry

Pork is a common dish in Coorg and any celebration is not complete without it. Reference to pork eating in South India is found in the 2400-year-old Sangam literature. Historically, the curry made using pork is said that to be 500 years old. When Kodava culture was prospering in Croog. The animal known as the wild boar is not found easily. So the local people of Croog would go into the forest to hunt them. But in Coorg, it becomes a delicacy for now. The style of preparing this pork was perfected slowly over time. Thus the pandi Curry dish was developed over the centuries. Nowadays, Pandi curry is quite renowned among the people. This curry is always served in a classic combination. Pandi curry is served with Kurumbattus. These are steamed rice balls. These are amazing combinations that cannot be broken. These combinations have been created over time.

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The Food Recipe

Ingredients
1 kg pork with fat and skin cut into cubes
10 fat cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 Inch ginger finely chopped
3-4 green chilies deseeded if required finely chopped
10-15 curry leaves
1 big onion finely sliced
1 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric power
1 cup of water
little oil
Salt to taste
1/2-3/4 th tablespoon Kachampuli adjust to taste
For the spice mix (to be dry roasted one by one and powdered)
2 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 inch cinnamon/cassia bark
5-6 cloves
10-15 peppercorns
1-1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
10-12 methi/fenugreek seeds don’t add too much or it will lend a bitter flavour
10-15 curry leaves optional but recommended

Instructions
Cook the meat with garlic, green chilies, curry leaves, onions, red chili powder, turmeric powder, little oil, water and salt till it is tender. And needed slow cooked

My Story About The Traditional Dish

I waited about three and a half years for the 500-year-old traditional and original pandi curry recipe. The first time I tried this dish in Mumbai but I didn’t understand what the test smelled like. I have received so many good reviews about the dish that my demand for the food keeps increasing. But I had to wait to get the original pork dish I try to make this pork curry by watching Youtube videos but it never worked. Because I don’t have the real ingredients. When I finally reached Coorg about three and a half years later. I can feel the test of the original traditional Pandi curry. And believe me, I can’t express my feelings about the dish. it is really delicious.

Durga Pujo-The Grand Festival:

At the festival, Durga puja, play Jenga with your emotions. Chatim phooler gandho works like a spell on your mind. Pizza, pasta, and continental become things from different planets, vaat, daal, rui kalia, khashir mangsho,chaltar chutney become things you crave, along with Chinese cuisine. I know I added Chinese to the Bengali cuisine list because chow-min and chilly chicken are very much Bengali. no debate on this topic.

We save money for Durga Puja. Celebrate the festival forgetting all the tension about the future. As a Kolkatans, the 5 days are meant to be enjoyed. This is our birthright. Like adda, gossiping, jhari mara, on Satyajit Roy, Rabindranath, gorer math. Sons and daughters are expected to fly down to Kolkata, even from hell. “Pujoy bari asbi nah, ma durga swargo theke morte baper bari chole alo, tui asbi nah”. This is our “abdar” and we are allowed to be spoiled. And this feels so good, this feels so right.

Durga Puja Changes Scenario In Kolkata:

In today’s apartment culture, we hardly know each other. While taking the same elevator ride, we look at the other person and try to remember “in which floor this person lives?” “have I seen this person?” “Is he eligible for my smile?”. Scenarios changes in Durga Puja. It gives a colorful sun-glass without any lens. We all are people who can feel the drum beats inside our veins 24/7- “dhikki chikki dhikki chikki”. We invite friends, and relatives from outside, ” Tumi Durga Puja dekho ni, Durga pujoy chole aso Kolkatay. Thakar chinta ki, amar bari ache toh”.

The whole city becomes a joint family, a single home. We will hear random people giving you knowledge about when to visit which puja mandap to avoid the crowd. Our “hi”, and “hello” changes to “pujoy kota jama holo”, “Pujoy ki plan”, “Pujoy kolkatay toh”…

A Festival Which Unites:

Durga Puja is a festival that brings everyone together. Every year, it comes back to remind people of the same lesson. And Kolkata knows this, that’s why she will cherish, welcome, and flourish Durga Puja to the world as her inherited proud symbol.