When my younger brother comes home once a week, my mother cooks chicken, fish or other meat dishes that make for a rich and heavy meal.
But my favourite is the complete opposite, one my mother usually makes during winters, a simple mixed vegetable dish called “labra”. It is usually made with potatoes, broad beans, cabbage, carrots, a few tomatoes, sometimes cilantro, but any vegetable in the kitchen goes well in the labra.
A tadka, after the vegetables are boiled, with pinch a of spices, and it is ready to eat. This is my go-to comfort food during winters.
My mother cooks meat dishes for my brother, but her vegetarian fare is top notch. She is especially the master of the humble labra and I believe no one else can cook it better than her. The taste of it takes me to my childhood: when I would watch the Ashes test match or a travel shows on TV on cold Sunday mornings and amma would call us for brunch as the sun struggled to peek through the fog.
Food would be served on the dining table but eaten in front of the TV. The labra would be accompanied by fried brinjal, dal and other dishes that I usually ignored.
My mother’s labra is the exact recipe that my grandmother followed to cook for her family of 12. She is no more but I hope that by learning to cook labra myself, I keep this recipe alive. I haven’t quite mastered it, but I was pleased to hear my housemate enjoying labra and asking for some more.
