Ganesh and Granola

The word of the day is Ganesh Chaturthi: a Hindi holiday celebrating Ganesha, the god of wisdom and prosperity.

Hello! Long time no write! The good thing is two weeks off for me means two recipes and more intrusive thoughts for this post, so get ready for the read of your life. Last Tuesday, September 19th, was the start of Ganesh, a widely celebrated holiday with lots of devotional spirit. My fried Marina and I took a trip to Assago yesterday to hop and skip around, and ended up getting stranded there late at night. Our initial plan was to be picked up by the same taxi driver who dropped us off, but what we didn’t factor in was that it was the 5th day of the Ganesh celebration, meaning no drivers at night, lots of loud booming sounds and giant clay elephant sculptures made out of clay and elaborately decorated trucks, colorful lights, music, and dancing. I celebrated Ganesh last Monday, on my one day off from culinary school (hence the Substack hiatus) but on a much smaller scale. I didn’t realize that Ganesha was so keen to loud sounds, but I think the more sound you create the happier you make him. All I did was light an incense stick and sit on my floor silently, so I feel like he had something to do with the lack of available drivers this Saturday. He probably wanted us to really immerse ourselves into the festivities. Set off a firework or two. Maybe yell a little.

Around 8 p.m., after dinner and a few calls to various taxi services in the area we visited, we asked a group of drivers in the middle of a card game if they could take us back to our apartments. They shook their heads. As we walked along the road looking for another option, my shoe began to fall apart. I think the loudest sound I made last night was the flap of the top half hitting the wooden base of my clog. Marina told me that all she packed were travel active sandals and tennis shoes. I ruminated on my poor packing choices as we continued to walk, shoe flapping, fireworks booming. Assago itself is an incredible place. It used to be filled with locals, but is now home to the newest restaurants in Goa and beautiful homes and Airbnb’s for visitors and anyone with enough money to live there full time. I’d like to go back before I leave India and take a food tour with a different pair of shoes and a sure way of getting home. Flap flap flap (the sound of my shoe). We passed monkeys on tin roofs, cows in the middle of the street, families celebrating, and finally came across a restaurant with a bunch of people our age sitting around and petting a strange looking white dog.

“Hi! Could you help us find a taxi?” (Me)

“Let me call my guy.” (Helpful Stranger 1)

“My guy can’t come tonight. It’s a holiday. I’ll try my other guy.”

“None of my guys are available. Hey, can you help these girls find a taxi?” (Helpful Stranger 1 to Helpful Stranger 2)

“My guy isn’t answering. It’s a holiday. Have you guys tried GoaMiles?” (Helpful Stranger 2)

Sidebar: GoaMiles is Goa’s Uber equivalent. It’s one of the only states in India that doesn’t offer Uber because of the taxi mafia — cab driver’s are resisting competition and changes in the price of rides. We’d need an Indian bank account in order to sign up, so we haven’t been using it.

“It doesn’t work for us. Let me try to call my teacher!” (Me)

“Have you guys tried GoaMiles?” (Helpful Stranger 1)

“My teacher is on his way!” (Me)

“Have you been walking around in those shoes all day? They don't look very comfortable.” (Helpful Stranger 1)

So we made it back thanks to Ashish and his wife, who is the head chef at our school. They told us about their favorite restaurants in Assago as we passed each one, and explained that the elephant statues made of clay were being brought to nearby water as an offering. Ashish almost hit a guy with his car who was setting off fireworks in the street. It was a long day. But I got a tattoo.

Things I’m Doing Differently Post-Ganesh

-Writing my thoughts down instead of letting them brew. I bought a journal for 50 rupees.

-Running.

-Trying to make my instant espresso taste good in the morning.

-Sleeping earlier.

-Reading more. I brought a book called the Living Thoughts of Thoreau with me since it was the closest book to me before I left for the airport three weeks ago. It’s about Henry David’s philosophies and reminds me of college. Hopefully I can find something more entertaining when I finish this one, but for now I’m enjoying Henry’s transcendentalism.

“The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist…Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening.

-Figuring out what to do when I get back from India in November.

No-Bake Granola

I don’t have an oven but I have been trying to work my way through a 2 lb bag of old-fashioned oats, so I’ve been trying to get creative. Here’s a granola recipe I made that’s been getting me through the mornings:

1 ripe banana

2 tbsps sugar

2 tbsps cocoa powder

1 tbsp flour

1.5 cups oats

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

mash banana, combine with remaining ingredients

press mixture onto saucepan until ½ cm thick

toast for 6-8 minutes on medium low 

flip using spatula, may start to break apart

toast for another 5 minutes until both sides are dark golden brown

let cool for 10 minutes before enjoying

store in airtight container for up to 3 days

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It was fermentation week, so we worked with bacteria and met a really interesting fermentation specialist who was featured in GQ India. He wore a fedora religiously and his favorite genre of music is rap-jazz (NOT to be confused with r&b, which he was very adamant about).

Here’s my bread, and some other pieces of my weeks. The lotus chips are still on my mind. Talk soon <3

Visuals below….

Portraits of the fermentation specialist and some students. I’m the angry-looking one.

The class’s loaves. We were in the kitchen until 8 p.m. but this vada pav made it worth it. Sexiest thing I’ve eaten since I’ve been here.

Ingredients for homemade fermented sauce we bought from a local fruit market. We won’t get to taste it for another month, but it will have notres of plum, beet, ginger, orange and chili. Hopefully.

And it rained. A lot.

Lotus Chips

Probably one of my favorite things we’ve made snack-wise. If you live near an Asian market I think you’d be able to find everything you need for these pretty easily! Everything about them is perfect. I wish I could buy them in stores. I probably could, somewhere, but the seasoning wouldn’t be nearly as good. We plated them with Burmese fermented tea leaf rice and tofu, but they’re better by themselves (as the best things should be).

seasoning:

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chili powder or paprika

1 tbsp dried curry leaves or bay leaves

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp cumin

1 pinch black salt (regular is ok too, but black salt tastes like eggs)

2 lotus stems, thinly sliced

2 tbsps corn or tapioca starch

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp vinegar

soak stem slices in a big bowl of cold water

add salt and vinegar

after 30 minutes, drain and pat slices dry

fill a pot with 2-3 inches of canola or sunflower oil, heat on medium-high

add dry slices to bowl and toss with starch and flour

test oil temperature by adding one slice to pot, should take 30-50 seconds to turn golden

once oil is hot enough, fry slices in small batches

place cooked chips on paper towel to soak excess oil

blend spices together into a fine powder

toss cooked chips in spice blend

store in airtight container