So we have made it to Hyderabad. Our last meal in Pondy was with our friends at Coffee.com/Touskilfo. We had a special meal prepared in the Mughlai style, which was absolutely fantastic. It consisted of dal and marinated roasted chicken. Our resident vegetarian had paneer in spinach.
The dal was so incredibly rich and creamy, and the roti melted in our mouths. Afterwards our chef came out and explained how he cooked it. He told us to properly cook the dal, it takes at least 24 hours. He also told us that nobody cooks dal in this way anymore.
We all got ice cream afterwards, and it was Gopal’s first try of the saffron ice cream. Apparently, when Gopal makes it at home, it comes out very grainy, so he wanted to get some pointers. Sugar, it turns out, is like poison to ice cream, and makes it turn out more grainy. our man uses honey to sweeten the saffron ice cream. In addition, he uses whole cream milk straight from the cow. He does boil it to make his custard, which is better than pasteurization. He also doesn’t use any machines to churn his ice cream, it’s all done by handheld electric mixer.
We will definitely have to have a CIT2 reunion–with ice cream.
After a surprisingly uneventful journey into Chennai, we made it to the central station with 40 minutes to spare, and were not kicked off the train, as Gopal had feared. We are now in Hyderabad, and have had our first taste of Suresh’s food.
CaseIndiaTrips 2 