Let's get a couple of things out of the way before we start.
1. Ponganalu is a Telugu word for a savory snack made with Dosa batter.
2. If you have already tried this combo, great! Please read on noting that this is a fresh discovery for me. ( Scroll down for the picture!)
Believe it or not, this innocent mix and match of dishes has opened my eyes to so much wisdom that I am thrilled to share with you here!
So, here are the 5 life-lessons that my ordinary weekday dinner has taught me!
1. Everyday life needn't be boring
What we aren't prepared about being adults are the repetitive days and nights. Dishes, chores, jobs, schedules, meals.... sometimes it feels like majority of our lives are doing the same thing again and again. This is probably why we look forward to holidays and weekends.
But life isn't about waiting for weekends or holidays. If so, we are zooming past 70 percent of our life! And that doesn't feel right, does it?
By switching up things, being playful and experimental with everyday stuff... it just makes the 'mundane' life bearable! And fun!
Is ponganalu and Sambar the ideal dinner? No! But I plated it differently just so that I enjoy it more. A pasta plate is actually perfect for idli sambar and ponganalu sambar or any other sambar dunking dishes, actually! So there it is! A boring week day dinner that I had to eat so that the batter won't go sour and the sambar won't go waste... but in a beautiful dish!
What else could you do to make everyday life more fun for you?
2. Everything is an inspiration
If you are a writer or a creative person, this is for you. Everything is an inspiration.
I firmly believe that the path to the 'marvelous' sometimes goes through the 'mundane'! Little things in everyday life hold a lot of meaning.
This food combination, for instance, can be such a beautiful love story. The sambar was supposed to be married to an Idli or a Dosa. The ponganalu was supposed to get into a relationship with a chutney or a podi. But destiny decides that ponganalu and sambar end up together. At heart, they are just right. Ponganalu gains flavour because of Sambar and Sambar softens the crispy crust of ponganalu! But will the word give them the same value as idli sambar? or Dosa sambar?
Well, if they truly love each other, they won't wait for the validation!
See what I mean! Everything is an inspiration, dear artists!!!
3. Living with someone who's different from you
How easy would it be if everyone in the family had the same tastes, thought the same and liked the same things all the time! But it isn't.
We all make so many accommodations for our kids, parents, spouses, in laws in big small ways everyday, don't we?
My mother, for instance, likes ponganalu to remain crispy. She doesn't understand why people want to dunk crisp food into sauces or gravies or sambar till the crispness is gone? That's why she has an issue with manchurian, kofta gravies and vada sambar too. She ate all her ponganalu without touching sambar.
I am the opposite. I don't like my food crunchy and crispy. The only way I eat biscuits is dunking them in hot milk. I love my bajjis dunked in kadhi or with murmure. But we co exist. And when we cook for each other, we keep this in mind. My mum gets the crisp ones hot on the plate. Mom makes sure mine are stored in a lid where steam softens them and I enjoy them thoroughly!
We accommodate each other - like ponganalu and sambar!
4. You haven't seen all that needs to be seen in your life
No matter what kind of life you thing you have led, this is true. You may be travelled a lot, read a lot, attained spiritual enlightenment. Even then, there's always something that you haven't seen.
There are so many possibilities within our own lives that we haven't even recognized... like this combination. Idli Sambar, Dosa Sambar... these are popular. But Ponganalu and Sambar... here's a possibility that I couldn't even conceive till this night!
That makes me thing what are the other possibilities and what are the other good things in life that are waiting for me to be discovered, unraveled and enjoyed! This gives us such hope to look forward to in life!
Sometimes, things feel like a dead end. Boredom sweeps us into gloom. It feels like nothing new can happen in our life. On those days, its good to remember that there's always a ponganalu and Sambar around the corner, my friend!
And lastly,
5. What you see online isn't the full picture
This picture, for instance. Its enough to salivate the taste buds. Already a mental note is being made by foodies to try this combo sometime. But, here's the catch. There's no way you'll ever know that the sambar was over salted (by me). I asked my mom to under salt the ponganalu batter and that didn't help at all. The sambar had to be repaired by adding some water and that watery sambar didn't make it to the picture for aesthetic reasons. So, while online, take everything with a pinch of salt.. except this sambar which is already too salty.
There you go, dear ones! My pearls of wisdom for the day!
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