three ladies who influenced my cooking

Till I was in the 12 std, I did not know to cook. my mom used to get very upset because I was reading novels or magazines all the time and not learning cooking.

so to pacify her when I started college, starting chopping vegetables for her. and she is a stickler for perfection. I have already mentioned that. In our house we had a long table in the open terrace that led to the kitchen. Such a beautiful and useful design (of the house I meant).

So she used to leave all the vegetables there and many many stainless steel bowls. one drinking water. one tap water. to wash vegetables. And I need to cut for each of the dish and put it together in one bowl. I cannot chop all the onions together or all the tomatoes together. I need to put chopped onions, drumstick or any other sambhar vegetable, tomatoes, green chillies, coriander, curry leaves in one bowl. In another bowl for Kootu I have to get it ready, another for vegetables, another for fries. And she will keep on instructing about how I should maintain the same shape. Shabbaaa…

I never learnt the main cooking fearing her management.

then I left to Bangalore to learn computers. that was the time when computers were introduced in Bangalore NIIT. So joined there and lived with my Mama and mami.

I used to be very picky in eating foods. For eg. never used to like Upma or semiya like that.

the very first day in front of my mom, my aunt told, “here you have to eat whatever I give you, no choices”. Rightuuuuu.

she set the stage. She has three daughters each in.a different age group, one in college, one in high school and one very small. and she is another stickler for perfection. in fact epitome of perfection.

she was a professor in a famous college in Madurai and did know how to cook at all. my mom and dad fixed her wedding with my mama. so she had asked my mom, will your brother hire a cook, because I do not know anything of cooking. my mom had told you ask my brother.

my uncle refused to keep a cook and so my aunt had to learn from the basics. like heating water. she used to boil the water and take to her neighbour to show it was boiled enough. the neighbour will say no. eppadi sudum. by the time she walks and goes it would have become cold. that too in the north. why I am saying this story is, a person who did not know about hot water went to learning different preservative courses in food, bakery, and regular cooking. for regular cooking she religiously wrote inland letters to my mom asking for recipes and clearing her doubts. we were in Trichy and she was in Calcutta. the day we receive her letter we all will be so eager to read it. because her handwriting was so beautiful and her story telling was wonderful.

and every year when she visited the south, she used to hand over all the recipe books to me. and I sit and make copies. all handwritten. So in 1990 itself we made pizzas in a huge round oven, noodles and lasagne.

full north indian cooking only when she visits us. gobi parathas and Kashmiri aloo dum was my favourite. and her art of rolling the roti with the rolling pin. the pin will go in the same direction, and the roti atta will rotate and come into a beautiful round.

and she has a way of enjoying everything. rasanai. I think that Is very important in life. otherwise we are all running behind something that is very elusive. my opinion. cooking a rasichu eppadi pannanumnu I learned from her. not only cooking, but eating too. she always used to chide me saying you are cooking so well, why don’t you relish and eat it? She lived in the present and enjoyed every moment of it. Till she passed away two years ago. we had become very close.

and so I had to live with her. and I felt bad that she was struggling with cooking for so many people. so started helping her out in the cooking after my class hours. and Bangalore those days was Sorghum. rains every night and morning cold, and beautiful weather. coming from Trichy I found it so difficult to wake up in the morning in that cold weather. morning it is always idli, dosai. she makes lovely ground nut chutney and that too in Aatukal. her mom used to grind in it.

for peas parathas also she grinds in it only. she says the taste is good only when ground in it.

so evening when I come back I have rotis and a subzi that she has prepared. There dinner was always hot piping rice, with tonnes of Dhall, veggies and a pulikulambu kai. that was their style.

and almost three to four days we will have esteemed guests so we need to prepare huge dinner for all of them.so invariably I end up helping her. dinner will be a mix of Conti, north and south. haiyo by the time we all have dinner it will be 1 pm or so.

what I like about her cooking is the art and the rasanai in it. combination food. for sambhar that is mild, a spicy potato masala. for pulikulambhu that is sour, potato podimaas. like this her combinations are beautiful.

in some houses I have seen they make everything spicy. oru balance irukaadu.

every dish will be perfect in taste, colour and presentation.

the comedy part is every one gets scared with her in the kitchen. because of her perfectionism. I put up with all criticism because vera vali illa. for example if she needs a bowl to transfer the cooked vegetable we need to see the vegetable size and find the perfect bowl. it should be correct. not too much space from the lid and the lid also should not bulge. oru apprentice a naan evalo kasha patuirukein.:)

how many months it took me to perfect that art. but now I back to totally chaotic.

the same way all her sukka rotis will puff up on stove. so when I saw that I asked her if I can make it and she laughed. she said that she took so many years to learn it. then for me it was maaana prechanai so told, ok, the rotis that I eat I will make. I ate 3 and there was a live in maid she ate 3, so I started making those 6 everyday. all her rotis were round and perfect while mine had all shapes and cooked differently. the maid started complaining. 🙂 no even tone. everyone used to make fun of mine, but in 3 months or so perfected it.

perfect round rotis that puffed beautifully on the stove. and she was so surprised. and the same way learnt to chop onions finely. no one can chop like her. but learnt that too.

somedays when I come home tired, I will see some 25 ks of tomatoes being blanched. she would have decided to make tomato puree and sauce. so much of work.

but in hindsight, I think I learnt cooking from her only. while her strength was Conti and North Indian, my village aunt strength was village snacks. and my mom regular cooking was so awesome, that one staunch non-veg eating relative said that if he gets such good quality veg food everyday, he is ready to become a vegetarian. I think that is the best compliment anyone can give.

so these three ladies played a very crucial role in my cooking. jugalbandhi madiri now I cook everything and each has a story. but still en thedal is only our traditional food.

now that we are growing trees, herbs fruits and veggies in our farmhouse, I have learned to pause and appreciate everything. may because of that, all our food has become more fulfilling and tasty.

more state specific menus will share.