Practice English Speaking&Listening with: ഉഡുപ്പി അമ്പലത്തിലെ ആഹാരം | Udupi Sri Krishna Matha Community Food + Udupi Woodlands Veg Food

Take a piece of semige and dip it in the coconut milk.

This is the best way to eat this.

Good morning. We are in Udupi.

Udupi is all about temples and traditions.

So we are starting our video in front of a temple. Akshay and Martin are with me.

Akshay is from Udupi. He knows more about this place. We are in a place where there are three temples.

This is the oldest temple of Udupi. There are two more temples here.

We are standing in front of Krishna Math.

Akshay, how old is this temple?

According to what history tells us and what we believe, this Krishna idol was built in 13th century.

So this temple had its Krishna idol from 13th century.

There are 2 more temples nearby. We can see a temple pond also while coming here.

That pond is for the people connected to the Math. They take bath and perform their rituals in the pond.

There is a small canoe in that pond. It has a significance.

Once in a year, Krishna idol is removed from the sanctum and taken to the Mandapam in the middle of the pond, in this canoe.

These are the rituals of the temple. We saw three chariots here.

We can see one of them here. There are two more.

Once in a year, a Rathyatra (chariot procession) is organized by the temple authorities.

We can also organize rathyatras individually, as an offering to God.

All around the temple, we see an ancient and culturally rich architecture.

The other two temples are nearby. What is that temple called?

It is Chandramauleeshwara temple. The architecture of this temple is similar to Madhur Temple.

I saw only pictures of the temple. Didn't go inside.

The oldest temple in Udupi is Anantheshwara Temple. It is close by.

How old is it?

We believe that it was renovated in 8th century.

According to historical records, the temple was renovated in 8th century.

So it must have been built much before that. There are no historical records beyond that.

So let us walk around the temple and enjoy these vibes.

After that, we can have some Udupi special breakfast. While in Udupi, we think of dosa, idli and such items.

There is much more in Udupi. Let us start with this.

This is Krishna Math. On this side, we find the oldest temple of Udupi.

It was renovated in the 8th century.

Even now, it has retained the ancient appearance.

The next temple, Chandramauleeshwara Temple is also nearby.

This one is Anantheswara Temple.

On this side is Krishna Math.

These 3 are located in a triangle. If we come here, we can go to all three temples.

The person who founded Krishna Math chose 8 disciples to manage the Math.

Only these 8 disciples were allowed to conduct the temple rituals.

There are 8 small Maths around this, each belonging to one of those disciples.

All those Maths have been maintained in the traditional manner, retaining the antique look.

There are small vendors selling flowers and other things around the temples.

Shall we now go for breakfast?

Akshay, shall we go for breakfast?

We are going to taste a good vegetarian breakfast.

Akshay is not a Malayali. He is from Udupi, but he can understand what I say.

See, there is one more chariot over here.

We saw 3 chariots around the temple. I don't know whether there are more.

There are more chariots. Ones with silver, gold and gems.

Okay, so there are more chariots with gold, silver, and even gemstones. We could see only 3.

We can't see them here. These are ordinary chariots.

I said ordinary because it is not made of gold or silver, not that this is not important.

There are lots of vegetarian restaurants in Udupi.

This is one of the most popular restaurants.

We have come here to taste some vegetarian dishes of Udupi.

This is Woodlands Restaurant, one of the most popular vegetarian restaurants of Udupi.

There are many other veg and non veg restaurants in Udupi.

We will see those later. Now let us go to Woodlands.

Banana buns, ghee masala dosa and vada.

Kesari too.

Masala dosa is for Akshay.

Ghee masala dosa with sambar and two types of chutney.

All of us have one vada each.

Martin has ordered banana buns.

We had tasted Mangalore buns from Mangalore. This is almost the same. Here it is called banana buns.

This is similar to our idiyappam. We saw this in Mangalore, but I didn't taste it.

Abhilash tasted it, and he said it is good.

So I am tasting this from Udupi. It is called semige.

We have coconut milk and kurma as side dishes with it.

We have kesari bath too for a sweet touch.

Kesari bath comes in many flavors. This is in pineapple flavor.

Mostly we leave the dessert for the last. Let me taste this first.

The main ingredient in this is semolina. There are pineapple pieces, cashew and raisins too.

Superb!

It has a rich taste of ghee, light sweetness and the taste of pineapple.

I got raisins too.

Let me take more. Taste of ghee stands out.

Let it be there. I will taste the other dishes.

We have coconut milk and kurma along with semige. Shall we start?

How is banana bun?

This is moderately sweet. I felt this to be softer. Maybe due to the difference in the cooking style.

Chutney is also very thick.

Is it the same as Mangalore buns?

Yes, it is the same. This is softer, maybe due to the difference in their styles.

It is tasty.

There is kurma and coconut milk with this. I think something has been added to coconut milk. Let me check.

Yes, jaggery has been added to this. So we get a sweetness with the taste of coconut milk.

We can have this with kurma or coconut milk. Let me pour coconut milk over this.

Although this feels like idiyappam, it is actually semige.

There is a difference between the two.

In idiyappam, we squeeze the dough into thread form, and then steam it.

In this, they first steam the dough and then squeeze it into thread form.

Only semige with coconut milk and jaggery.

Taste is different from the taste of idiyappam.

When coconut milk and jaggery mixture is added to it, it gives a special taste. I liked it.

But I doubt whether I tasted it in the right way. It is our individual choice.

I think there maybe a more suitable way to taste it. Let's see.

Take a piece of semige and dip it in the coconut milk.

This is the best way to eat this.

We get more coconut milk like this.

Akshay, how is your dosa?

It is good. I come here often, so I brought you here.

You already told me that this is one of the best.

Let me take some more semige and taste it with kurma.

Vegetable kurma has mild spiciness and a good flavor. It is tasty.

I think there is coconut milk in this. Very thick kurma.

It is a super combination with this.

There is vada too. It is very common everywhere.

But let me taste Udupi special vada.

All vegetarian dishes in Udupi are very popular.

We can have vada with sambar or chutney.

There is mint in this chutney.

We are not ending this video here. We will go for lunch later on.

A little while after breakfast, we returned to Krishna Math.

Here they provide lunch for people.

There are some interesting stories about this Math. Mahesh bhai told me all those.

Mahesh is a friend of Rajendra. He introduced Mahesh to me.

We explored a little in Udupi yesterday with Mahesh.

Today he is with us to tell us more about the Math and to have lunch.

This is Subramanyaswamy Temple inside the Math.

After telling me the stories of this temple, Mahesh went inside.

I will tell you those stories. It is inscribed on these walls.

The Swamy of this Math once visited Delhi which was then the capital of Mughal Empire.

He prayed near the grave of the dead Mughal prince. Soldiers prohibited him from praying there.

But as a result of his prayers, the prince came back to life.

The Emperor was very happy, and he gifted lots of wealth to this swamy (saint).

Swamyji was not interested in any wealth. So he offered everything to River Ganga and returned to Udupi.

The Emperor came to know about this.

He came to Udupi, and gifted plenty of gold and other wealth to this Math and its residents.

This story is painted and inscribed on these walls. What language is it?

It is written in Kannada.

He read and explained everything to me.

Now let us go and see more, and taste their food.

Because of Mahesh, we got a chance to enter here, and take videos.

Normally, they don't give permission to take videos here.

We got it because of Mahesh's help.

The roof that we see over here is made of 100 kilos of pure gold.

The roof is worth 35 crores in rupees.

These are the specialties of this temple. There are many more stories about it.

All these are a small part of history of India.

Now let us go for lunch.

They give two types of sambar, and a kottucurry along with rice.

The second sambar has a different taste. Koottucurry has plenty of coconut in it.

I couldn't talk much as it was very crowded here.

Sambar has a mild sweetness.

This is sweet because they add jaggery to it. This is not very spicy.

First sambar is more runny. Second sambar is thicker and has more vegetables.

First sambar is sweeter. Second one is less sweet, and has coconut.

Koottucurry is made with vegetables and grated coconut.

How many people eat here?

Before Covid, it was 10,000 per day.

Before Covid, 10,000 people used to dine here every day.

Their aim is that nobody should leave here with an empty stomach.

They served payasam already. As we are taking videos, I couldn't eat fast.

We will see whether they serve payasam once more.

While entering the dining area, I got a rich aroma of cardamom.

It might be the aroma of the payasam. It was a tempting smell.

I am sitting with common people to have food. There is a special seating arrangement as well.

There they serve food in banana leaf.

I am now sitting in the common dining area. By the time I finished, all others have left the place.

We will go there and ask for payasam. They have started serving for the next batch.

Let us taste some payasam.

They served me double quantity as I didn't get earlier.

This payasam is made of big lentils. I don't know its name.

I think there are many varieties of lentils in this.

Two or three varieties of lentils, right?

Many varieties of lentils with coconut and jaggery.

Yes, this is what gave the tempting aroma as we entered.

This is not too sweet.

I get the taste of coconut. I can't identify all the lentils used in this. Sorry about that.

This was the starting of Udupi food.

Keep watching our videos. Always be happy, and smile a lot.

Mahesh has a smile on his face.