It’s been 3 years…

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Brami Jegan

Thank you to Tamil Culture for publishing this little piece about My Tamil Kitchen. A big thank you also to our dear Nesa aunty and for allowing me to weave ‘Recipes of the Jaffna Tamils‘ all through this project. Three years … Continue reading →

The smell, the scent, the joy! Puli saatham!

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Brami Jegan

“The train sped on, taking me from the ones I loved to an unknown world of the city. I could hear, with every roll of the steel wheels against the hard unforgiving iron rails, the sounds of home getting farther. … Continue reading →

உப்பு காணுமா?

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Brami Jegan

After 3 years of My Tamil Kitchen – I have come to realise there are a few basic tips to preparing Tamil food. SALT: Everyone has a different relationship to salt and culture seems to play a leading role. Salt … Continue reading →

Rasam and More

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Brami Jegan

“You couldn’t buy thayir (yoghurt) back then. So we would ask neighbours who made thayir if we could have some culture and mummy would make thayir for us. We would do this on special occasions, like when we were breaking fast during … Continue reading →

The rain and puli kanchi

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Brami Jegan

As the rains began to beat their tempo upon our roof, we gathered in appa’s rest room – always smelling of warm cheroot and coffee. Appa would like on his easy-chair reading his Ananda Vikadan, while my brother Rajadurai, would … Continue reading →

Cooking with fire

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Brami Jegan

In mid-2015 a diaspora Tamil thambi (younger brother) connected with me on facebook saying he had read a piece I had written a few years earlier about the war in Sri Lanka. After chatting for a bit on facebook, I … Continue reading →

பாவக்காய் பொறியல் (fried bitter gourd)

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Brami Jegan

I love going to my family home and finding a pile of garden vegetables on the kitchen bench. Lately it’s been the inspiration for what I make for My Tamil Kitchen. I had been watching the பாவக்காய் (bitter gourd) grow … Continue reading →

கடலை

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Brami Jegan

Kadalai [kah-da-lai] or கடலை – served as offering to Hindu gods, and then eaten by humans or simply eaten by humans for breakfast with a nice hot tea to accompany. INGREDIENTS 1 cup of dry chickpeas – soaked overnight 1/2 tbls … Continue reading →

Handfed

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Brami Jegan

#handfed I am pretty chuffed that my friend, artist and provocatuer Jiva Parthipan has launched Handfed – a project to mainstream the way my (and his) peeps eat our food. In Jiva’s words: A whole website dedicated to the joys, perils and politic of eating … Continue reading →

பால் curries

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Brami Jegan

This is the basic recipe for making a பால் (paal) or milk curry. In the homeland we would use freshly squeezed coconut milk. Because that is not accessible in a country like Australia – we us tinned coconut milk. I … Continue reading →

My Tamil Kitchen

Recipes - Identity - Resistance

முருங்கைக்காய் (drumstick) curry

Cooking with Thushani

உப்புமா (Uppumma)

Beans varai – from Quito