FIRST BLOOM
One can’t possibly enjoy conversations on Sankranti and not mention the Tamil festival Pongal. Shribala, chef at city-based restaurant, Mustard, takes us down memory lane of a culture that barely knew of temples until recent times. “For me and my people, it is a festival of harvest. We thanked Mother Nature for the right amount of sun, rains and wind.” She dotingly talks about Sakkara Pongal, a musthave in her hometown. The curry is a one-pot meal cooked with rice, dal, jaggery and vegetables native to the region. Shribala has come up with a twist to the typical idiyappam, which will be available at Mustard. The chef has used a flower-infused colour and the String Hoppers will be purplish blue. “The Aparajita flower (Asian pigeonwings) grow big and in bounty around this time. I have used its colour to thank nature,” she adds.