When I posted a pic of my masala dabba on my face book page people were asking me whats it all about well I said its project masala dabba...lol...good to see many folks at least had a good laugh. everybody is in search of a magic spice which could change our lives for good bad or ugly. adding a little bit of magic pepper and cumin from my project i present my masala dabba.
What you see in the pic is my grandmothers precious masala dabba I'm sure every meal that she prepared was magical...she was married in the year 1945 my grandpa was serving Indian Army (Madras Regiment) he was major and travelling was part of his job where ever he went my granny followed from Kashmir to kanyakumari so did the masala dabba oh by the way the masala dabba was her marriage gift from her mom. there were many sentiments attached to this box.
As valentine day is approaching i wanted to post a romantic journey a journey that never ended and still going strong. I've seen many people getting rid of old utensils and getting new stuff a complete makeover it can never happen at my home everything will remain as it is mom can never get over with all her vintage spoons and vessels sounds like a rant... :D
As per south indian myth as long as we have clean spices stored in a anjarai petti (masala dabba) the family will cherish well. in ancient days people made the masala dabba out of mango wood we had one which was very old but is broken and of no use as per customs if a girl gets married a masala dabba is presented to the girl the meaning behind it was to keep the family together and happy. those days silver, brass, wood and copper were considered to bring good luck to family.
My mom is going to pass this masala box to me as my marriage gift she says...:)
My vintage journey has a downside to it...takes a lot of effort to clean and make it shine its tough process to maintain brass and copper utensils and we use ground water the salt sediment dries on the vessels and gives it dark patches.
I used every possible cleaning agent to clean my glittery vintage masala dabba the cleaning time...whole day...and used up 1/2 bottle pril, cif, tamarind, vim bar soap and pitambari first of all i soaked the whole dabba in hot water for 1/2 hour then cleaned it:D
Finally I filled the compartments with spices in them every region in India have their own choice of spices to store in the masala dabba as south indians we prefer to store dried red chilies, channa dhal, split black gram dhal, cumin, mustard, fenugreek and black pepper corns. with all these spices in one place its very easy for tempering rasam sambar and other curries and vegetables...hope everyone enjoyed this post thanks for visiting...keep smiling...happy cooking...:)
Do view my video on Masala Dabba...Enjoy...:)
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