“Anything that has Pandu Mirapa* as an ingredient, it reminds me of my friend Balli”, with a smile I remarked while speaking to my grandchildren who were afraid to eat Palla Usiri thinking that it would be too spicy.

“Was he also afraid of Palla Usiri Grandma?” asked Karthikeya. “Oh, those stories are legends. It will take a long time if we start now”, I said with a pretentious nonchalance. That generated curiosity among them. Gargi and Shruti began pestering me to tell those stories and soon Karthikeya joined them. I let them request me for some more time and then began telling the stories while feeding them in turns. Each episode of Balli’s stories made them roll on the floor and Karthikeya, especially, was all over the place.

In about half-an-hour I exhausted all stories and so was the food in the bowl. “Is Palla Usiri also that Spicy Grandma?”, asked Karthikeya. “You tell me, you have been eating it for the past some time”, I asked him. With perplexity written all over their faces, they asked in unison “Did we eat Palla Usiri till now?”. “Yes”, I said “How did it taste?”.

“It was sour and a bit spicy”, said Gargi. “No, it was sour and tasted good with ghee. I did not feel it that spicy”, said Shruti. Karthikeya was still scratching his head in disbelief that he ate Palla Usiri and did not complain about spiciness.

“Palla Usiri is a beautiful mixture of sour and spice. If you mix it with hot rice and ghee it tastes really wonderful”, I said walking towards kitchen to wash my hands

* Ripened red chillies