Semiyayum Nenthrapazhavum - Vermicelli with Plantains

This is a nostalgic post. Some foods remind you of some people, doesn't it? Similarly this recipe that I am going to post today reminds me of my grandmother - vellima, my D's mother, who passed away of throat cancer more than 9 years ago. May Allah bless her soul and give her a peaceful life hereafter! Aameen...

Visits to Kerala, when we were kids, used to be once in two years. We used to go during the summer vacation months of July and August, which means that it would be raining cats and dogs when we were back home and that is what we used to wait for. My D's family is huge. The tharavadu (ancestral house) would be full of people, with everybody sleeping on mats on the floor. It used to be fun. All of our cousins used to chat ourselves to sleep, scare each other during the power-cut times, fight with each other to lit up the candles and so on. During the evening chai time, my vellima would ask umma and eleemas - "Makkalkenthenkilum chaayakkundakkiyo?" (Have you made anything for tea for the children?) The answer used to always be in negative. She would just then go into the kitchen and in no time prepare this as her speciality. Simple ingredients, but the magic that used to be created was awesome. My vellima was a person of less words and more action. I've not been lucky to be with her to learn any of her culinary skills.

This is just an attempt to prepare her specialty. I very well know that it is nowhere close to what she used to make. But at least, it gives me a feeling that I remember something that she used to so lovingly make during our little time we spent with her.