Madurai-style mackerel curry brings nostalgia

DAVID Sebastian Raja’s voice has charmed so many people across south India. He has worked as a radio jockey first in Coimbatore and then in Chennai. A multi-talented person, he has done voice-overs and worked as a sound engineer as well. David shifted to Chennai for work. He found a mentor in Balaji Venugopal, who introduced him to Ramanagiri Vasan. Through him, David got a break in Vijay TV in a serial called 4ƊHJ in 2013. He has also acted with Vijay and many superstars and has done some stellar roles. There was a lake in Velachery where he used to go fishing with his friends. David sells half the fish and he brings the rest home. His mother used to cook it with homemade masala. The next day, for breakfast, his mother serves the fish curry with idlis. The taste of the fish curry his mother made still haunts him. David also recollects visiting Madurai and Bodinayakanur every summer with his parents. His grandmother was a fantastic cook, who rustled up dishes in no time. The highlights were ragi rotis made of roasted ragi powder, shallots, green chillies, curry leaves, fresh drumstick leaves and a little jaggery. These rotis were not only highly nutritious but also very tasty. Each time they went out to play and come back she would serve them hot groundnut urundai or ladoos. As a youngster he realised the value of that one egg in the curry, as each one was allowed only one egg and if it was urundai kozhambu only two urandais each. On days he could not go fishing, due to school, his mother would wake up at 5 am and go to the local fish market. After surveying all the fish available and helping some fish sellers to clean the prawns, she would get one or two vanjaram (mackerel) as a reward. At David’s house, every Thursday dinner or Sunday brunch will have the

vanjaram curry.

Another childhood memory that has lingered on and which he tries to replicate even today is eating ice biryani or leftover rice in water with small onions and green chillies. Pazhaya soru is the terminology and he says that even today, he prefers it for breakfast. He loves the food served at the shoots, especially, the thalapakattu biryani and fish fry which is always served when Vijay is shooting. During shoots, it is normally shared food with all the crew and cast, where each one brings a dish and shares. Contrary to belief, most of the actors eat everything but compensate with a good work out. David understands the value of food and hates to see food going to waste.

Today, he shares the recipe of his favourite RJJS curry made by his mother. She used to ground the masala on stone and cook it in a mud pot over a wood fire. That taste can never come back, he says regretfully. He prefers homemade food to fancy hotel food.