As much as left-coast-born-and-raised me loves living on the right side of this vast country, there is one situation which inspires a reaction which is more pathetic than independent– being sick. I’m not talking about the sniffles or an errant sneeze or three, I mean, 102 degree fever, rhinitis which resembles a broken faucet and exhaustion which is so powerful, Ambien is envious of its ability to force sleep. I mean, sick sick.
When you’re sick and at home (or near it, even), parents can do what they love to, they can fuss and scold while they bustle about making clucking noises and shaking their heads. There’s something so comforting about the cadence of a mildly-irritated, slightly-worried parent. I tune out the actual words and just follow along until I’ve reached the portal to that ever-running game of subconscious Chutes and Ladders, and then I slide back to baby-hood in a blissful blur.
Don’t hate. You totally do it, too. When you can, that is. But when you are 3,000 miles away, and you are surveying the destruction which is a charitable way to characterize one kleenex-strewn, studio apartment, there is no such succor. We modern, vesternized children who think we know so much, who move so far from mummydaddy, we do the only thing we can. We wallow during those brief moments we’re conscious, reconsider our stubborn and proud refusal to get married already and then, when it’s 4am and we’re awake because the drugs have worn off, we update our Facebook status with something miserable. What, you don’t? Well, I’m kinda glad I did that last thing. I woke up to a post on my wall which immediately cheered me…
I can only suggest the concoction foisted by many mother on her sick, jaded-by-alopathy children, kashayyam:
…and then there was a fantastic link to the substance he suggested.
Inji kashayam, a medicinal drink made with fresh ginger,pepper,coriander seeds and jaggery.This is mother in law’s famous recipe to make us all feel better when we are down with cold,indigestion or even nausea.Simple and easy to make…[link]
Ginger? Pepper? Jaggery? Awww, yeah. You know, I don’t know anything about cricket, I don’t watch Bollywood, I’ve never seen any of those 2nd gen experiments on celluloid which contain various combinations of “American”, “Desi” or “Chai”, but I’m brown in some very persistent, weird ways and this is one of them; I’m talking about the home remedy, the more random and bizarre, the better.
Back when I was a disdainful ten-year old, if you had told me that one day I’d be drinking, nay, CRAVING Jeera-vellam I wouldn’t have believed it. No way. Eeew. Not me. I was too cool for amber-colored water with icky masses of cumin seeds lurking at the bottom of a glass. And yet, there I was last year, 21 years older and determined to steep this mysterious drink, just so. Yes, I know it’s a brew so simple an idiot can make it, but that doesn’t lessen my anxiety, hokay? I was born here. That fact alone has me convinced that I will never be able to replicate my Mother’s legendary Meenkari-with-no-meen.
Anyway, thanks to a darling friend’s sympathetic post on my “wall”, here was another recipe which required ingredients from a store which probably also stocked ladoos (mmm…ladoos), a recipe which would probably work, if for only one reason (but it’s a powerful one, so one is all we need)– it was desi. And someone’s Mom used to make it. And it has nothing to do with medicine, over the counter or otherwise.
Placebo effect? Sure, I won’t dispute that at all. I also won’t dispute the ridiculously smug sense of satisfaction such a concoction summons, as if we have a secret, cultural-velvet-rope-thang. Those moments, when my brain is being boiled by a fever, and when I’m dazed, crazed and amazed at how good pepper, sugar and something I can’t pronounce which was allegedly smuggled in someone’s suitcase can taste…those are the moments when I am consummately down with my brown.
i’m a total believer in kashayyam – had it last week when i was miserable and under the covers for two days. though i swear it would have tasted much better and been more effective had my mother been the one to make it for me (apparently drinking kashayyam while being babied by your mother over the phone is not the same thing). though i was beyond thankful that my mom had visited me over the weekend and made me a batch of ginger/garlic rasam when she even sensed my first sniffle – i had the rasam for five straight day until it ran out 🙁
i’m also very prone to throat infections – my first line of defense is something called panam kalkandu – a special kind of sugar to ease the throat.
feel better, ANNA!
Awww, I know exactly what you mean!
By the way, what’s in panam kalkandu? I meant to amend the post, to invite people to discuss their favorites/how to make them. We always have fun with food threads but right now, I feel like home remedies are more apposite. 😉
Wow! Panam kalkandu? AK, who’s your supplier?
Anna, kalkandu is crystallized sugar, apparently known as rock candy in English. It’s generally made by dissolving sugar in warm water until it doesn’t dissolve any more, then seeding it with a few crystals and letting it cool. Over the next several hours/days, the stuff will crystallize out of the solution. Panam kalkandu is the same process, except that it is done directly on the sap of a certain type of palm tree, which has a lot of sugar in it. The crystals are much smaller than you might get with cane/beet sugar. Think of it like crystallized natural unrefined sugar.
I remember one time I was sick as a dog and my mom handed me this funky smelling drink and drank it. I asked my mom what did I just drink and she said “onion juice.” then I vomited and she said “See it works so fast, your body is getting rid of all of the germs”
If you are sick, their is nothing better then being at home with the mom.
Yeah, when I was little my parents always gave me misiri (sp?) for my sore throats. It’s the same thing– rock candy. Sometimes I would fake a sore throat just to get some, because my sugar-phobic dad would hide it on the highest shelf in the highest cabinet…
And my mom would give me chai made with adhrak and javan instead of the usual chai masala. Today, whenever I or a friend is sick, I make the same thing.
what pingpong said 😉 unlike regular kalkandu, though, it takes forever to dissolve, so i have a ready supplly of pre-crushed stock on hand. any sign of throat problems, and i add it to kashayyam and herbal teas – even if i develop a thoat infection, this stuff makes it so much less painful…
pingpong – i’m not one to drink and tell. but seriously, my aunt makes sure i am never without it, and it is sent through my parents from india on a regular basis. i’m pretty sure it comes from mylapore (as do most of my favourite edible/beauty supplies).
Aaah the good ole days of kashayyam. My father was a big fan of kashayyam. There was a kashayyam for every occasion. Borrowing from Chris Rock:
“tussin” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd-EBG3a7jU
Anna, hope you feel better soon. By the strangest of coincidences, I was on the lookout for a recipe for kashaaya myself. After paanak it is my favorite desi nostalgia drink. God bless you for providing a link to one right here on SM!
I was wondering if you can use coriander powder instead of seeds, because that is what I happen to have handy – but it’s probably necessary to have seeds to get the flavor out without getting it too strong, which the dissolved powder might do. Also, I think cumin seeds might work well too – in addition/or as a substitute. Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon might also add flavor, especially cloves.
Again, hope you feel better soon, Anna! It’s no fun at all being sick and so far from home. I know from experience, that especially when you’re sick, SM is great as a virtual, if sometimes dysfunctional, extended family. Please know that we’re here for you.
And I see you have two posts out today already 🙂
I didnt know there was an old joke like that. Check out [4:35]the only trilingual comic I know of desi or nondesi. The hindi/punjabi speakers will enjoy this more than the rest.
My mom’s magic potion is made w/ desi lemon grass*, ginger, coriander seeds and jaggery. *Gavati chaha translation: grass tea
Just as good is really hot rasam (with or without rice)… oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Rasam with a little bit of buttermilk poured in ain’t half bad either 🙂
aww, hope you feel better soon! 🙂
Nothing feels better when you’re sickly then having your Mom fuss over you. But I’m Punjabi so my Dad’s remedy for everything was always a shot of brandy…tehe
I hope you feel better, too. Since alcohol kills germs, I usually go for the hot toddy remedy. Not exactly desi, but who can argue against the antiseptic properties of scotch mixed with lemon, honey, cloves and hot water? In truth, it’s not too far off from what my dad would’ve given me (right there with you Ghuriya.)
As for desi home remedies, nothing beats a small handful of ajwain for a belly ache. My partner would say that I am the desi cure for all that ails her, but she’s biased and slightly greedy (but only when it comes to her personal cure-all), so I am regret that the healing properties of my seed cannot be spread as far and wide as I’d like.
And for sore throats, nothing beats Fisherman’s Friend.
I am currently visiting my folks and my mother is a professional nurse who is not speaking to me. Maybe I should feign illness–she’s a sucker for needing to feel needed.
Real panam kalkandu is not made from cane sugar–it’s palmyra sugar, from the palmyra palm, also called the toddy palm. It’s a specialty of districts in southern Tamilnadu like Tirunelveli and I think northern Sri Lanka as well. The candy is brown and tastes quite different from plain old crystallized sugar candy.
I can soooooo totally see my kids on these kinds of boards crying for Ammmmaaa when they are sick! Otherwise they will be macho macho men. The minute they start sniffling they are told to drink up kashayu. I grate ginger, crack open about 8 black pepperpods, turmeric and boil them all in milk. Then strain them and add a generous dollop of honey and down it goes through sore throats.
Please increase turmeric in all your recipes once November sets in. And for the rasam people, when you are seasoning it with mustard seeds add 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper powder at the end to the hot oil. All of this will help you combat the cold season.
Hot garlic rasam is especially divine when you have a bad throat. I am also a believer in Horlicks. It’s my comfort drink-it takes me back to being 15 and studying for my 10th grade exams in Madras. My mom would keep a flask of hot Horlicks on the dining table and go to bed, and I would drink a cup or two while studying.
This is not exactly a home remedy, but I can swear by an evil-smelling hair oil called Tampcol-it totally stopped my hair fall problems. However, no one at home would sit within a mile of me while I had it on (you have to suffer for at least 2 hours to let the oil soak in).
Forgot to add-lovely post, Anna.
“Kashayyam”: how well I remember it from childhood: both the word and the concoction, which left a potent after-taste in the mouth and on the tongue. About irritating minor ailments, of which I have had my share. I was particularly susceptible to them, when living on my own, I did not take the trouble to diversify my meals sufficiently.
AK, thanks! The reason I asked was I wanted to know if there was someone in the US selling it.
Uma – does that palmyra tree grow anywhere in the US? Florida or Hawaii maybe?
Yo people! We’ve got a chamathu ponnu in our midst.
Anna, I hope you get well soon. I didn’t get the title at first….thought you were missing some dude Khashayyam :). I am in Kerala right now and just had Paratta with the most amazing Meen curry(with Meen)….Its called ‘Fish Molly’…after the one and only Molly Andy(Aunty), who invented it. Hope Inji vellum does the trick for you.
pingpong – no problem. if you’re really in need for some, ask and you shall receive – there is an overstock of it at my parents’ house 🙂
Oh ANNA, I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well. I was laid out with the flu two weeks ago; it was the first time I had a full blown flu (not a cold, not bronchitis), and it seriously rivaled my “sickest experience ever” — I’m still recovering!
Haha, my mom is very much anti-alcohol, but when I was 10 and 15 I had a fierce cough that kept me up all night (my first bouts with acute bronchitis), and I remember her mixing brandy, honey and lemon in a small container and having me take a shot. It tasted AWFUL, but it certainly put me to sleep.
Also good is my mom’s zeera tea — cumin, cardamom, fresh ginger, sonph (I don’t know the U.S. name for it?) seeds, Lipton tea, and a little bit of lemon and honey (sometimes she’ll use gud instead). Amazing and so comforting.
My favorite cold-reliever is actually fresh (dried) peppermint tea, which is much easier to whip together. I mainline it when I’m sick, and it keeps me hydrated (no caffeine), alert (yay mint), clears my sinuses (hooray again, mint!), and comforts my tummy. I prefer it to chamomile, which makes me fall asleep. It doesn’t “cure” anything, but it sure helps me push through my zombie-like misery and pretend to be human for a few hours. Also on the “take out” list are Thai lemongrass soup (Tom Yum Goong), Chinese hot and sour soup (strained for broth only), and Miso soup.
The thing that really has me missing home is khichri, though. I am too impatient to make it and have a hard time finding lentils here in CT, but I love it. But the thing I miss most about my mom when I’m sick is the feeling of my mom’s cool, soothing hand on my forehead. 🙁
Fennel seeds.
Sonph=fennel seeds
Anna, if you have ramen noodles and Sriracha thai chilli sauce (the rooster brand w/green lid) its all you need. Make the noodles like a soup and add some Sriracha, you’ll decongest in no time. My kids crave it when they’re sick. In fact adding Sriracha to any broth soup makes it rasam-y tasting in an instant. Its on my list of things to send to college with my daughter next year. My fave mom-made dish when I’m sick is rasam with rice topped with porutu, an Andhra version of scrambled eggs. Hope you feel better!
I always forget that sonph = fennel 🙂 Thanks, folks.
My parents have been giving me their special vegetable soup (with chunks of ginger and some combination of spices I don’t really know) and patla mung dal. My mom also gives me tea and fluffy novels. She knows what a girl needs!
Sorry to hear you’re sick too, Anna. Frankly, this is getting a little tiring. . .
meen curry with no meen? whats that? 🙂
It’s a bit like tea without milk or sugar. Or tea. But with curry.
Sorry to hear that you dont feel so well. Just for yr sake, I ll drink some Kashayyam – my mom’s version of flu shot. If only I can show her my stash of tequilla shot glasses, that would be so cool!
That was my road back to Kashayam. After rejecting homeopathy, various kinds of naturopathy (including ‘light’ therapy), i felt quite proud of myself for publicly discarding things I equated, in effect, with astrology. Misery, especially the kind inflicted by viruses, is not abated by mental images of brave white cells sallying forth to battle the evil virus–it’s only the initial taste, the kashayyamazing aroma and the temperature of the liquid that bring you within spitting distance of feeling ‘normal.’
Meen = meat? it sounds like the Tamil equivalent. My mother and grandmother have long mocked me with their almost providential skills in that Meenkari-without-meen department (having never had to do it in the cuttlefish carcass and lamb-muscle-strewn disaster that is the aftermath of most Lankan dinner tables.)
It’s always more fun to call it anise. Wild anise proliferates across the Yay Area and smells great.
“panam kalkaNdu (sugar candy) & panai vellam (jaggery) 2 different byproducts.
http://mathy.kandasamy.net/blog/2006/12/94
No way – this is my mom’s family’s favorite. Brandy and honey. I cannot tolerate it. It took me until sophomore year of college, to swallow that spoonful. I was ER-sick on Christmas day, and my dad, who was visiting and generally doing every little thing for me, insisted that it was time to follow family tradition. And, another family favorite that I abhor is called ‘steaming.’ You boil a pot of water, and inhale the vapors with a towel over your head, which is rather like a tent over your head and the steaming water. This relieves nasal congestion and clears up the sinuses. But it is a nice simulation of the heat that I will, no doubt, experience in hell.
pingpong, according to the FAO it does grow in Hawaii and southern Florida.
Aren’t anise and fennel different spices, though? 🙂 [disgustingly enough I also like anise, but in much smaller quantities/forms from fennel]
port, our parents are the same people! I still cannot get the brandy-honey mix down smoothly — it always makes me gag –, probably because brandy is freaking disgusting. My dad swears by steaming. I cannot count the times I nearly got a steam burn from the “steaming” method of decongestion (which never helps for more than 15 minutes for me). I also used to wear glasses, so steaming was particularly frustrating 🙂
ANNA, the other thing my nani loves is the haldi-jaggery-milk (or lassi) mix, which I cannot stomach at all. She also likes the half-Pepsi half-milk combo. I can’t imagine the latter being good for anyone, but she finds it comforting.
anise is what is called ajwain in hindi/urdu/punjabi – it is a smaller seed, is more aromatic (in my opinion) and i especially love it in my parathas (stuffed or otherwise).
camile , iam wrong on anise bein the same as ajwain, at least per wikipedia. here’s what it says about fennel vs anise.
regardless – i use anise in parathas (stuffed with aloo or paneer) or savory dishes where i want some zip – but fennel – i really havent cooked with it.
Man, I always get my spices mixed up, too. My mom loves ajwain (or joaan, as she calls it) in her paranthas, too. I am a sucker for onion seeds, personally 🙂
nia, Anna is too sick right now to bother giving translations. So here goes… Meen = Fish Inji = Ginger Vellum = Water Kashayyam = Herbs + Secret ingredients + Alcohol + Special prayers.
My mamma always said- “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know whatcha gonna get”………no wait…. that’s not my mamma it is Forrests’ mama. My Mamma said, if you have a sore throat drink a glass of warm milk with turmeric ( ‘haldi’ or ‘mannjal’). I never listened to her till a few years ago and made endless trips to the Doctor and took antibiotics. These days- I follow the legacy she left behind. and I am good as new in a couple of days, no doctors, no antibiotics. Also,according to my wife, including plenty of veggies and fresh fruits in your diet helps you maintain a reasonably healthy body. That of course is a gentle threat and we have no choice but to follow that rule as we ( kids and me) are in her captivity.
Happy Holidays y’all. Merry X’mas, Happy new year to all you fine folks at SM. Also, to all the contributors, lurkers like me and trolls.
Have a happy, healthy, safe and peaceful hoilday season and cheers to new beginings in 2008.
Cliffy
I fervently believe that coriander (aka dhania, aka cilantro) seeds should go in everything. Like…everything.
And ginger cures everything. My mom soaks haldi root in water and drinks it for her diabetes. She also claims that if you steep cinnamon in water (overnight at room temperature) and drink that water every morning, you’ll never have high cholesterol. Of course, a few almonds soaked in water overnight will cure everything also, in addition to their reputation as “brain food.”
The ultimate desi home remedy is that first morning pee, though. (I’ve been told 😉
Anna, I totally got ur malayalam english here! It’s so great to see these malayalee words written in english. Like u said I have no idea if jeega vellum works, but it is sooo home to me when I drink it or hear the words — and by home I mean all he GOOD things of home.
Just scanned all the remedies and they seem to require a level of expertise – mommy seems to be an essential ingredient. But if you’re stuck on your own, spend a minimal amount of time in the kitchen, and have difficulty telling your sonph from your zeera, here’s a simpler remedy that I discovered a few years ago:
Boil some water. After it has boiled, add some fresh lemon, maple syrup and chilli powder. Stir and pour.
It acts as a good decongestant as well as keeps you hydrated – and it’s delicious.
A N N A,
Hope you are feeling better. Your post brought back achingly sweet memories of home remedies. I make the manjal+ milk + pepper + clove concoction here each time anyone I know has a sore throat and sniffles. I swear it works!
Laksh
I too used to rebuff kashyyam in an attempt to be cool and take Dimetapp like all my little friends so I could miss just as much school. But nowadays when vacation time is a priceless commodity, kashyyam and maybe even turmeric with warm milk is essential. I fought the latter for years due to my irrational aversion to warm milk, but hey it does the trick and brings back those memories of times patti and thatha were visiting and I got the decidedly western disease of chicken pox.
Do you all remember Gripe Water? I just know that it comes in a bottle wrapped in blue paper. It actually tasted pretty good and is supposed to help with stomach problems.
This is too funny…two weeks ago I tracked down my parents while they were travelling in India so I could get their recipe for “yellow milk” (turmuric milk with honey), which is usually used to cure sore throats. Sure I could have looked up the recipe…but there was some comfort involved in letting my parents know I was sick enough to need that. 😉
It was a temporary fix for the sore throat, but the long term cure was more a comfort one. =)
Its that time of year again for Kashayyam.
Kool 🙂