Recipe for Black Eyed Beans/Alsande/Chowli/Curry
Chavli/Chowli/Black Eyed Beans or Alsande tondak or samarem is quite a popular
vegetarian dish in a Goan houehold. In Konkani we pronounce it as "Osandem"
I remember aunty Mary in our vaddo making the tastiest Osandem samarem on most
Fridays as she and her family used to eat only Vegetarian food on Fridays. My
Mum n Dad were very close friends with uncle Volley and aunty Mary. During our
summer holidays, my Parents always made it a point to catch up with uncle and
aunty as often as they could. They'd tell us we will go only for sometime but
the sometime often lead to being there for more that 1-2 hours. As kids, we
would be restless and wait for the elders to finish their drinks. It used to be
fun as uncle Volley was super funny and then after 1 or 2 pegs, all the fun of
their good old days would be spoken about by him and my Dad.
After a point, as kids we would tend to get restless as we could never relate to
some of the topics of discussion(and today we miss those times so bad). When
Mary aunty would see me getting restless wanting to go home, she'd lure me with
her food, hold my hand and take me to the "Cuzin" (Kitchen) where there used to
be a long wooden wall table and a long bench where she'd make me and Skeeta, the
younger daughter sit on the bench and serve us. And me being Me, whenever it was
Friday, I'd secretly get excited to stay for dinner because I knew there would
be "Samare" and Pao.
Those memories of friends and relatives visiting eachother without permission or
a prior phone call, was the best era according to me. The beauty was in how
every family always had extra food and we always offered food to anyone who came
over. Back in the day there was no concept of "ordering food" from restaurants
yet, nobody left hungry!!! Those days were truly blessed. How we miss those days
and all the simplicity and ekvotponn that came along with it.
Chowli being one of my favourite pulses, I make it often at home. When I feel
like eating bread or Chapati, I make a Xacuti and whenever I feel like eat rice,
I make this curry. Do give it a try. I know you'll like it. No! this is not
aunty Mary's recipe as I don't think i'll ever be able to match what she makes.
I tried many times, but didn't get there....