Part One: Transit in Santiago, Chile

[1 2 3 4 5 6 ]   Images below are thumbnails. Click on them to see a larger version.

Next I read a small description of Prabhupada’s cooking:
“Auckland New Zealand, 20 February 1973: 
On the Tuesday afternoon, at the request of Tusta Krishna, Prabhupada entered the kitchen to show a couple of the ladies how to cook burfi, a famous Indian milk-based confectionery. New Zealand’s dairy products were world famous. The milk was unhomogenised with a thick layer of yellow cream on top. Magnificent! And it was only ten cents a litre at that time.         

Prabhupada poured a couple of litres of milk into a wide pan, added sugar and brought it to a rapid, rolling boil. Stirring methodically, he condensed the sweetened milk until it reached a creamy, sauce-like consistency. Lowering the heat, and stirring more firmly, he further reduced the mixture to a very thick, dark cream-coloured sticky paste that started to pull away from the sides. Prabhupada then scraped the milk fudge onto the side of the pan. It was done. Now the burfi, when cooled, could be rolled into balls, or pressed into a tray and cut into squares, ready to offer.”

I read for about an hour, then after another hour of questions, a feast was served. My body was telling me I should have been in bed hours ago, and that this was not the time to eat, but another, more dominant inner voice told me to try the feast. It looked impressive. The louder voice prevailed.

Since this was a larger than usual Friday night gathering, the cooks had prepared fried breads called sopai pillas, savoury pumpkin pastry that I could not identify, a delicious-looking herbed chili rice (arroz verde), a creamed cauliflower and potato gratin, and a couple of impressive desserts – gulab jamuns and a wicked pineapple cream sponge. I tried some of each, chatted for a while, then retired to my icy room upstairs for some welcome rest.

<< Previous  Next >>