Mutter = Green pigeon peas.

 Mutter = Green pigeon peas.

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What green peas are to North India =  pigeon peas are to my hometown.

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Recipes made by

 using green pigeon peas is very special during the winters in the place where I come from.

They are called SOLALU in the colloquial north Telangana region.

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During my childhood, I watched the spectacle of aunties sitting on the veranda shelling peas on most of the winter evenings. They never looked down while shelling the peas but their hands moved swiftly and artistically between the pods.

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Some of the homes had the peas coming from the village farms while others brought them from the weekly farm market. 

Whoever had them coming from the farm ensured the peas were distributed in the immediate neighbourhood. 

They never ate in isolation. Everything concerning food moved swiftly between the homes.

All the aunties knew each other's favourite vegetable items and all of them participated In reaching fav  food to their friend's  doorstep by employing children as the courier service.

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The most loved  and demanded  dishes  were brinjal+peas(which I cooked today) and peas biryani(tastes yummier than meat biryani)

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Some of my school friends who live away from INDIA  buy packed pigeon peas from supermarkets and ask for recipes from their moms back home. The pictures they present of the cooked dishes take us all down memory lane.

And each of us travels into the past  discussing the special tastes of our respective homes.

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As I did not have access to the peas in any supermarkets around the town I decided on the last season to grow them here BY MYSELF.

These peas go on t become tuar/arhar dal.

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The last picture of the collage is dedicated to the memory of all the aunties I watched growing up.

Thank you for leaving us a rich heritage of cuisines and values around sharing the food with neighbours.

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