It's a beautiful day. Sitting on some steps in the sunshine,
I've got food from Chaula's, a bottle of French cider, and my lunch
companion has been detained. What's a hungry woman to do? Crack
open the bottle, obviously, and start nibbling the food. I munch on
a couple of handfuls of black-pepper encrusted kaju (cashews) and a
lamb samosa. I have been to Chaula's on Station Street to fetch
masala dhosas. Dhosas are light, lacy pancakes, often a breakfast
dish in South India. Chaula's make rice flour ones filled with
potato and onions, served with spicy vegetable and lentil sambar
(the consistency of thick soup) and coconut chutney. Chaula's have
eat-in tables, but Viva needs a photograph of the food before it
can be eaten. Waiting for the dhosas to be cooked, I'm told they're
best eaten straight away, because they lose crispness quickly. I
explain about the photograph, so they arrange a dhosa on a plate,
which results in me walking along Lewes High Street holding a
stainless-steel platter aloft. Miraculously, I don't drop it. My
companion arrives. We take the food into the pretty courtyard
garden behind the Viva offices and lay the dhosas on a table. The
photograph taken, we dig in. My companion uses the sambar as a dip,
I tip it over the pancake and slather on chutney, the colour of
pistachios. The sambar is strongly spiced, in a good way,
especially with the cool chutney. I unpack some deliciously sweet
pistachio burfi. The sun is blissful. Chai and a hammock would be
perfect. EC