Today is the birthday of Kellular Nilakantha Somayaji brilliant mathematician and astronomer from South Malabar in Kerala in India – one of a growing number of non-Western scholars who are being “discovered” by modern academicians and accorded their due as forerunners of the so-called Enlightenment in the West (see my post on Ibn Khaldoun: May 27). I am reminded of a much loved blogger, Pip Wilson, whose Book of Days provided me much information on anniversaries before it went belly up. Instead of the Euro-centric expression “when Captain Cook discovered the SE coast of Australia,” he would write “when Australian aborigines discovered Captain Cook.” We know quite a few details about Nilakantha’s life because he was, unlike his contemporaries, careful to document many autobiographical details. So, for example, he notes in Siddhanta-darpana that he was born on Kali-day 1,660,181 which works out to 14th June 1444.
Kerala was the center of the spice trade for millennia and, as such, has a rich and diverse cuisine to this day, including both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Here is a simple vegetarian curry with spices and coconut milk. It would normally be served with anywhere up to 10 or more dishes with rice as part of a large family dinner.
Kerala Vegetable Curry
Ingredients
1lb (½ kg) potatoes peeled and diced
½ cup (75 gm) peas
½ cup (75 gm) carrot peeled and diced
1 large onion thinly sliced
5 green chiles cut into thin slivers
¼ tsp (1 gm) powdered cloves
1 tsp (5 gm) powdered cinnamon
1 tbsp (15 gm) grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup (2.4 dl) coconut milk
ground black pepper and salt to taste
Instructions:
Put all the ingredients except the coconut milk and coconut oil into a heavy cooking pot.
Add 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil.
Cover the pot and simmer on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes. The potatoes should be cooked but still firm.
Remove the lid and continue cooking until there is barely any liquid left.
Add the coconut milk and simmer over a low flame for 2 minutes.
Add the coconut oil, stir to mix and serve.
Serves 4 to 6 (as part of a larger set of dishes)
Book of Days Tales 
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